"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
1 Thessalonians 4:17-18
Part 4
Yesterday:
Verse 16:
“For the Lord, himself shall descend from heaven.”
Jesus will come personally!
“With a shout.”
Jesus will come with a shout, a command!
“With the voice of the archangel.”
Jesus will come with the archangel’s voice!
“And with the trump of God.”
Jesus will come with God’s trumpet, calling!
“And the dead in Christ shall rise first.”
Jesus will come, and the dead saints will be raised!
Today:
Please take a moment and read the paragraph, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
“Then we which are alive and remain.”
In this verse – “then,” helps us to understand the sequence of events.
“Then…. The next step, not the identical time…, but immediately afterwards” [1] (Robertson).
Believers who are living on the earth will rise to meet the Lord in the air. But this is after the dead believers have come out of their graves and met with the Lord first.
“Shall be caught up.”
This Greek word means “to carry off”[2] (Robertson). Vincent describes it as “shall be caught up” as “by a swift, resistless, divine energy.”[3]
“‘Caught’ in the original implies a sudden, irresistible force,—seized, snatched up!” [4]
Paul uses this same word for what happened to himself in 2 Corinthians chapter 12.
“I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (2 Corinthians 12:2,4).
The Latin text uses the word rapio for the word “to be caught up” (Robertson). This is where we get our theological expression, “rapture.” This is the event that is being described here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.
“Together with them in the clouds.”
Those believers who are still alive when Christ returns will join the resurrected believers with Jesus in the clouds.
“In the Greek order: together with them will be caught up in the clouds, emphasis being thrown on the precedence of the dead: ‘we the living shall join their company, who are already with the Lord.’” [5]
“As He was taken in a cloud at His ascension…, so at His return with clouds…, they shall be caught up in clouds….
“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen” (Revelation 1:7).
“The clouds are His and their triumphal chariot…” [6] (JFB).
“Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind” (Psalm 104:3).
“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him” (Daniel 7:13).
O-There’s going to be a meeting in the air.[7]
In the sweet, sweet, by and by.
I’m going to meet you, greet you over there,
in that land beyond the sky.
Such singing you will hear, never heard by mortal ear,
t’will be glorious when we are there.
And God’s own son, will be the leading one.
At that meeting in the air.
[1] A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, the electronic version in eSword.
[2] Robertson, ibid.
[3] M.R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, the electronic version in eSword.
[4] Cambridge Bible, the electronic version in eSword.
[5] Cambridge Bible, ibid.
[6] Jamison, Fausset, and Brown. Jamison-Fausset-Brown’s Commentary, the electronic version in eSword.
[7] “Meeting In the Air,” lyrics and music by Mae Taylor Roberts (1925). Copyright: Public Domain.