I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
And born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, died, and was buried;
[He descended into hell.]
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven,
And is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
The holy catholic church,
The communion of saints,
The forgiveness of sins,
The resurrection of the body,
And the life everlasting. Amen.
Someone once did a calculation and said that there is at least one reference to the second coming of Jesus in every 13 verses in the NT. Lord Shaftsbury one of the prime social movers in Britain in the 19th century said; “I do not think that in the last forty years I have lived one conscious hour that was not influenced by the thought of the return of Jesus Christ.” This thought absolutely gripped him. He embossed all his envelopes with the Greek text of Revelation 22:20 (Even so come Lord Jesus). He would frequently say; “Why do we not plead for it every time we hear the clock strike.”
READ – 1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18
We will tackle this subject of our Lord’s return under four headings.
- RETURN – We see this at the beginning of vrs 16; for the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God. Make no mistake this coming of the Lord is going to be something to behold. It will be
a) Personal – Notice vrs 16 says for the Lord himself. The Greek word for come down is parousia. This word is used for the visit of a leader or royal dignitary.
b) Visible – In Revelation 1:7 we read; Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. When we in the Southern hemisphere look up at the night sky we see very different stars to what people in the northern hemisphere see. But when the Lord Jesus Christ returns it will be so spectacular that every eye will see him. Quite how this will be so I don’t know but remember his coming will be like nothing ever seen before. Because every eye will witness the same event at the same time.
c) Glorious – In vrs 16 we read; for the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God. Titus 2:13 refers to the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. - RESURRECTION – Vrs 16 ends with the glorious expectation; and the dead in Christ will rise first. When a believer dies there spirit enters into the immediate presence of Christ and those who have died in the Lord. Their bodies however are said to sleep in the ground waiting that day when they will be raised by the command of the returning Christ. This will be the moment when believers receive their new bodies, resurrection bodies, patterned after the Lord’s own resurrection bodies. Bodies that fit us for heaven itself. How encouraging this must have been for the Thessalonian believers who were grieving the loss of loved ones who had died in Christ. Remember in John 11 when Jesus was called to the home of Lazarus who had died. When he went to the tomb we read in vrs 43; when he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” Even though Lazarus had been in the grave for four days and the body was starting to putrefy he obeyed that shout of authority. The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Earlier in John’s gospel in 5:25, 28 Jesus said; I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live . . . do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out – those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. I suggest that this loud command that the returning Christ utters will be that which raises the bodies of those believers whose spirits are already returning with Jesus.
- RAPTURE – In vrs 17 we read; after that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. In certain church circles it has become quite popular to think of a secret rapture of the church where Christ comes secretly to rapture his church leaving the rest of human beings to endure a period of great tribulation (usually 7 years) after which the Lord will return with his church. Interestingly enough this word rapture is not found anywhere in the book of the Revelation. The only unambiguous reference to the rapture when it concerns the return of Jesus Christ is found in our text. How does Paul understand this rapture? Does he think of it as being secret? No! There will be dramatic visual and auditory manifestations. Nothing secret about it at all. Furthermore this business about the raptured church being spared a seven year tribulation period is also hard to establish from our text. Look again at vrs 17. Living believers will be raptured to join departed believers to meet the Lord in the air. The Greek word translated meet (apantesis) is a very interesting word indeed. When an important visiting dignitary came to a city the leading citizens (mayor and town council) would go outside of the city to meet him. What did they do next? They returned to the city with the important dignitary. The word (apantesis) is used in Acts 28:15, 16 to refer to believers in Rome coming out to meet Paul on his way to Rome. What did they do next? Spend seven years in secret safety? No! They escorted Paul into Rome. If words have meaning at all then when living believers are said to be raptured and to meet the Lord in the air it is with a view to accompanying him on the last leg of his journey to earth where he will set up his throne of judgment.
- REUNION – Vrs 17, 18 end by saying and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words. If the returning Lord Jesus Christ will be accompanied with a cocophony of sound can you imagine how the decibels will be raised even more when the living Christians are raptured to meet those who have gone before in the clouds. The joyful reunions will be something to cherish. On earth we get tired of saying goodbye. But there will come the day when we will no longer have to say cheerio. We will be reunited with our loved ones forever. But of course the thing that thrills us most is not reunion with our loved ones but being with the Lord forever. This is what makes heaven, heaven.