"I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 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.”
ON entering upon the consideration of the above passage, the first question is, What were these saints of Thessalonica sorrowing about? They were not, I believe, mourning because they feared lest their brethren might possibly have perished: they knew them to be believers; and hence such a suspicion could not enter their minds. Neither were they indulging in mere natural grief because of their loss. This with them was altogether a secondary point. Their sorrow arose from neither of these two causes. From whence then did it arise? It arose, I believe, as the apostle intimates, from their being ignorant, with regard to these saints, of something touching THE HOPE OF THE KINGDOM. They did not in truth understand how they who had fallen asleep could partake with themselves of the coming glory of Christ. This fear therefore the apostle meets in a twofold way—positive as to some, negative as to others. First he shows them, so far from their brethren who had fallen asleep in any measure coming short of the blessing, that when God bringeth in the first begotten into the world, when He introduces Christ to that kingdom which He is to receive as the mead of His humiliation on earth, He (God) will bring with Him (Christ) those who previous thereto shall have died in the faith. Secondly he tells them that, as a necessary consequence, the survivors, those whom death will not touch, who are to live on to the coming of the Lord—namely, the point of time when Christ comes in glory—shall not prevent, that is, anticipate or get the start of, the others, by entering into life a thousand years before them.
Observe, the words "we which are alive and remain," which may also be read, "we, the living, the left," (ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλεπόμενοι,) determine nothing, at the word "remain" might incline us to think, as to the place where these saints will be at the time. They merely show that they, in contrast with those who are asleep, will be exempted from dying. The same phrase occurs twice in this passage; verses 15 and 17: connected in the former with the Lord's coming in glory; in the latter with His previous descent into the air; the object, in both cases, being merely to designate those who are thus left, as destined to enter the kingdom without passing through, death; the interval between these two events, and the change which is to pass on their bodies, making no difference as to this—not being taken into account in the mind of the Spirit: in both cases they are truly spoken of as those who "are alive and remain," that is, living and left, in the sense given above.
True it is, that in verse 15 they are on earth, and in verse 17 in heaven (they having been caught up and changed in the interim); still we maintain that locality does not in either case enter into the question; the real object being to mark such as are destined to put on immortality without passing through death, and who will forever be known and distinguished as those who had outlived the rest of the Church who had fallen asleep.
To make it more simple, verse 15 may be paraphrased thus: "We, who are at present alive, in the event of our remaining or living on to the coming of Christ, shall not, as you Thessalonians imagine, prevent or get the start of those who are asleep, so as that' while we are living and reigning with Christ they will continue to sleep, and not rise again till the last day, after the kingdom is ended.”)
He then proceeds to explain the means by which the former will be effected, the latter averted. He shows them, in verses 16, 17, that in order to come with Him they must be previously raised; that—as in the case of a sovereign visiting some city or province of his dominions, the nobles dwelling therein must go forth to meet him, in order to mingle among his retinue as he enters the place—so the saints (at least those of whom he is speaking—those who have fallen asleep—) must ascend in order to descend with the Lord when He comes in His glory. Having, in verse 14, spoken of the ultimate thing, he then turns back; and in verses 16, 17, he shows what, previous thereto, must of necessity happen. Observe, the resurrection meets the whole difficulty: it marshals them all, as it were—sets them all in their right places. They are both by this means brought into blessing together; and not, according to the fears of the Thessalonians, the former at the beginning the latter at the close of the day of the Lord.
The point on which the Thessalonians were ignorant, and on which they needed to be thus enlightened, was the doctrine of a "first resurrection." Like Martha, when she said of her brother, "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day," and like many in our own day, they had some vague thoughts of a general resurrection of the righteous and the wicked at the end; but of "the resurrection of life" contrasted with "the resurrection of judgment" they knew nothing. They thought that the dead and the living would meet and be equally blessed in the end; but that in the interim there would be a difference: they fancied that they who were alive would "prevent" or get the start of the others; so that in proportion to the duration of the kingdom, of which, as we have said, they knew nothing as yet, the latter would lose the honor reserved for the former.
Probably indeed they had little or no idea of any of the saints, either the dead or the living, coming with Christ; but supposed, according to the notion of many at present, that He is to come and establish His kingdom in connection with a people on earth, already prepared to receive Him; as we know will really be the case with regard to His ancient people the Jews; while His Church will at the same time be manifested in heavenly glory, reigning with Him over the earth in close connection therewith. All this then the apostle was called on to meet: and he does meet it, as I have said, in this passage.
But it may be objected that verse 14 cannot apply to the Lord coming in His kingdom, because the saints spoken of here are only a part of those who are to accompany Him then. True it is that they are but a part; but this does not at all interfere with the interpretation here given. The fears of the Thessalonians, be it remembered, concerned the dead, not the living; for which cause St. Paul confines himself to the former, without (ver. 14) alluding at all to the latter: he speaks of those which sleep in Jesus, without deeming it needful to say, what is true, that God will bring with His Son the rest of the redeemed, even the living, as well as those who have died, at the very same time.
True it is, when he comes to treat of the rapture of the saints in verses 16, 17, he speaks of the living as well as the dead. But why does he do so? Because the time was come for a new revelation to be made, not to these Thessalonians alone, but to the whole Church of God. And hence he takes occasion, from the circumstances of their sorrow, to bring this new unrevealed truth to light. Having shown them "by the word of the Lord" that the dead and the living will equally share the glory of Christ, he goes on to detail the order of events in reference to the resurrection and ascension of both—those who sleep in Jesus, and those who are left alive without dying. He tells them, that when Christ descends into the air, the first thing which will happen will be that the dead will be raised; next that the living will be changed; and then that they will, in their glorified bodies, both be caught up together to heaven; all which, we might be tempted to think, would take some time to effect, but which, being God's work, will be done, as we read, "in the twinkling of an eye"—will be the work of a moment.
The foregoing remarks were written for the purpose of meeting a view of this passage which I find is more general among Christians than I was at all prepared to expect, and which, I must own, greatly surprised me. "If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." This, it has been said, applies to the coming of Jesus when He shall descend from heaven into the air, accompanied, as is thought, by the spirits or souls of those who have fallen asleep. Now after what I have said, it is needless for me to add that I believe this view of the passage to be wholly mistaken; and that unless we allow that verse 14 applies to the ultimate thing, as I have said, even the coming of Christ when He appears in His kingdom, and verses 16, 17, to what will previously happen, namely, the resurrection, the change, and ascension of the saints; we do not catch the object and mind of the Spirit through the apostle in this passage.
And here, with regard to the separate spirit, before I conclude I would say a few words. True it is that the souls of those who are asleep are now with the Lord; and equally true that when Christ descends from heaven they will take possession again of their bodies. But observe, the apostle says nothing at all in this passage of spirits. He speaks of the saints as individuals, neither viewing the spirit apart from the body, nor the body apart from the spirit. What he treats of is the whole man-the believer. His word is, not "the spirits of them which sleep in Jesus," but "them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." If indeed he at all speaks of one more than the other, it must be of the body, that part of us which dies, which ceases to act, in contrast with the spirit, which we know cannot sleep, but which becomes more actively alive, more energetic than before, as soon as it is freed from our present bodies of sin and death. This however I say, merely to strengthen my assertion as to the silence of scripture with regard to the reentrance of the spirit into the body; because, whether St. Paul speaks in verse 14 of the coming of these saints with the Lord, or in verses 16, 17, of their previously leaving their graves, he views them, as I have said, in the totality of their existence—as men raised to life—as beings composed both of body and spirit.
To me, I confess, the thought which I here venture to combat seems to lead to the conclusion that the soul sleeps while apart from the body; a thing which we cannot for a moment allow, but which notwithstanding we have no right to deny if we once admit that it is the soul, not the body, that is spoken of here; simply because that which "God will bring with him" is to sleep; and if this be the spirit, then the conclusion of necessity is, that the soul sleeps as well as the body.
Far be it from me to accuse any one holding this view of believing anything so false, so unscriptural, as the sleep of the separate spirit. I have no such thought or suspicion, I can truly say. Still, I repeat, that the view, if duly considered, will be found to involve this conclusion; just as the denial of the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15) involves nothing less than the denial of the, resurrection of Christ. The apostle never meant, because the Corinthians failed' in understanding this doctrine in reference to themselves, to accuse them of saying that Christ their living Head was not raised; because in so doing he could scarcely have owned them as Christians. He deals plainly and candidly with them, however: he exposes the error of the views they were actually, holding, by showing the conclusion to which, if followed out, they must of necessity lead.
Where the heart is right and the eye is single, the Lord in His mercy keeps us from the consequences of many a mistake in the understanding of scripture into which the wisest among us may fall. This is comforting, considering that now at best we see through a glass darkly. Still, as in the present case, we should be careful as to what views we are holding; not knowing what advantage the enemy may thereby gain over us, as he sometimes has done, by leading the saints to push their conclusions so far as in the end to get into positive error. May the Lord keep us from this: may He keep us simple, humble, and dependent, in the study of scripture, on the teaching of His own blessed Spirit!
A BRIEF ABSTRACT OF THE FOREGOING.
1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18; 5:1-613But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then 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. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13‑18)
1But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. (1 Thessalonians 5:1‑6).1TH 4:13-1813But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then 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. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13‑18) 1TH 5:1-61But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. (1 Thessalonians 5:1‑6)
"I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." (Ver. 13.)
THE DAY OF CHRIST.
CHRIST COMES WITH THE CHURCH.
GOD'S PURPOSE AS TO THE CHURCH, CONTRASTED WITH THE MISTAKE OF THE THESSALONIANS.
"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him," (i. e. with Jesus, at His coming in glory, namely, His παρουσία, referred to in the following verse.) (Ver. 14.)
"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain (i. e. the living, the left or surviving ones) unto the coming (παρουσία) of the Lord (i. e. His revelation in glory at the end of Daniel's last week) shall not (as you falsely imagine) prevent (i. e. forestall or anticipate) them which are asleep." (Ver. 15.)
THE PREVIOUS RAPTURE.
CHRIST COMES FOR THE CHURCH.
"For the Lord himself shall (1st) descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and (2ndly) the dead in Christ shall rise first; then (3rdly) we which are alive and remain (i. e. we, the living, the left or surviving ones,) 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. (Ver. 16, 17.)
"Wherefore comfort one another with these words." (Ver. 18.)
THE DAY OF CHRIST.
THE CHURCH EXEMPTED FROM JUDGMENT.
"But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you: for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night: for when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness," &c. (Ver. 1-5.)
What troubled the Thessalonians as to their brethren was, the fear that they who had fallen asleep would for a season be excluded from blessing. They thought, it is true, that they would rise "at the last day;" but that in the interim, namely, during the time of the kingdom, they would still be asleep; and in this way that the survivors would "prevent" or anticipate those who had died; that is, that the former would enter into life at the beginning, the others not until the close of the day of the Lord. The apostle therefore begins by declaring two facts: FIRST, that, so far from this, when Christ comes in glory the dead will come with Him (ver. 14); and SECONDLY, that they who are alive at this juncture, having escaped death altogether, will not in the way above shown get the start of the others. (Ver. 15.) According to which, BOTH PARTIES WILL THEN BE ALIVE, AND BOTH WILL COME WITH HIM FROM HEAVEN. After which he proceeds, in verses 16, 17, to explain the means by which this is to be effected. The Lord, he gives them to know, before then will descend into the air, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God; on which the dead will awake, and in company with the living be caught up to heaven, there to wait till the time shall arrive for them both to come in glory with Christ.
This, we feel assured, is the interpretation of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-1813But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then 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. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13‑18); by which it appears that verses 13 -15 refer to the day of the Lord, while verses 16-18 relate to the previous rapture; so that the coming of the Lord, of which the apostle speaks in verses 13-15, is not, as many suppose, that of which Jesus tells His disciples in John 14:33And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:3), namely; his coming for them from heaven, but His coming with them in His day.
And observe, it is to this point that the survivors are here spoken of as living, not merely to the rapture, as shown in verse 17, but to the day of the Lord. They do not, in fact, die at all. They are changed, it is true; but this is not death; it is passing from natural into resurrection life: and hence their being alive and remaining unto the coming of the Lord means simply that they will be alive at the point of time when the kingdom begins. Observe, the apostle does not explain to them the doctrine of the resurrection (a truth which they had not hitherto known,) till verse 16; therefore, anticipatively to touch on it in the foregoing verse, as he is thought by many to do, would be altogether beside the whole line of his argument.
Then there is another point. In chapter v. 1-5, the Church is cheered with the assurance, that being in this wonderful manner taken out of the sphere and region of death, they will wholly escape all that which in the dark interval between her ascension and the day of blessing that follows will come on the wicked. Children of light and children of the day, as they are, and, as we elsewhere are given to know, being associated with Him in the act of judging the world, (1 Cor. 6:22Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? (1 Corinthians 6:2); Rev. 2:26, 27; 19:1426And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 27And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. (Revelation 2:26‑27)
14And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. (Revelation 19:14),) they have no more occasion to fear than Himself. They are not in darkness; and therefore that day will not come on them as a thief. A powerful motive this, as we here find, to the saints not to sleep, but to 'watch and to wait for His coming.