“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).
This passage references an event that has come to be known as the “rapture of the church.” We derive the term “rapture” from an ancient version of 1 Thessalonians 4:17 known as the Vulgate. That translation renders “caught up” as raptus, thus providing us with the word “rapture” and an easy way to identify this Biblical doctrine.
While many hold various ideas and opinions regarding “the rapture,” it’s best to build our view upon the information given to us in the passage quoted above. (1) We can begin by saying that Paul the Apostle received this information directly from Christ, for he says, “…we tell you this by the word of the Lord” (NET). Because of this, we can say that this disclosure originated with Jesus Himself.
We can also make the following observations from this passage…
- Jesus will personally descend from heaven to lead this event with an upraised voice.
- There will be some degree of angelic involvement. The reference to “…the voice of an archangel” has led some to speculate that the archangel Michael will be involved in the events that accompany the rapture.
- There will be a definitive signal from a sounding horn. Contemporary readers of this passage should be familiar with this reference for modern-day societies still use various types of horns to direct our attention to an emergency situation, an alert condition, or a call to action.
- The men and women of God who are already in the Lord’s presence will receive new bodies, followed by those who are alive at the time of Jesus’ return.
- That meeting will take place in what modern-day audiences would identify as the lower atmosphere or the region where birds and aircraft travel.
- Jesus will never be separated from His people again following this event.
To borrow a phrase from the closing verse of this chapter, this future reality should serve as a great comfort to God’s people.
(1) As well as the information given to us in 1 Corinthians 15:35-58. See related discussion beginning here