But blessed as this answer to their question is, it produced another
difficulty. Hearing that the saints who had fallen asleep would come
with the Lord on the day of His glorious manifestation, they would ask,
"How is it possible that they can come with Him?" Are they coming as
disembodied spirits? What about their bodies in the graves? How shall
they come with Him? To answer these questions the special revelation
"by the Word of the Lord" is given, by which they learned, and we also,
how they would all be with Him so as to come with Him at His appearing.
"For this we say to you by the Word of the Lord, that we, the living,
who remain unto the coming of the Lord, are in no wise to anticipate
those who have fallen asleep." He tells them that when the Lord comes
for His saints, those who have fallen asleep will not have an inferior
place, and that, we, the living, who remain to the coming of the Lord,
will not precede those who have fallen asleep. When Paul wrote these
words and said "We, the living, who remain," he certainly considered
himself as included in that class. The two companies who will meet the
Lord when He comes, those who have fallen asleep and those who are
living, are mentioned here for the first time. How the living saints
will not precede those who have departed and the order in which the
coming of the Lord for His saints will be executed is next made known
in this wonderful revelation.
"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with an assembling
shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God; and
the dead in Christ shall rise first, then, we, the living, who remain,
shall be caught up together with them in clouds, to meet the Lord in
the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one
another with these words." This is the full revelation of the blessed
hope in its manner of fulfilment. Nothing like it is found anywhere in
the Old Testament Scriptures. In writing later to the Corinthians Paul
mentioned it again: "Behold I show you a mystery; we shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of
an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead
shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1 Cor.
xv:51-52).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account