First Thessalonians 4:13-18 5

First Thessalonians 4:13-18

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: (II Thessalonians 2:8)

There shall take place a glorious appearing from Heaven, a shout of battle from the armies of Heaven, the mighty cry of the chief angel, the trumpet of God, and the resurrection of the dead and living saints. All of this will occur immediately after the great tribulation.

When the Church and the world have been prepared, when both the wheat and the tares have come to maturity, the Lord Jesus will return. The tares will be bound in bundles to be burned. The wheat, the Lord's saints, will be glorified in righteousness in the kingdom of their Father.

The coming of the Son of Man will not be a secret event. It will be as the lightning that comes out of the east and shines to the west (Matthew 24:27).

After Jesus made it so very clear He would not come in secret we are still teaching a "secret rapture." Will we ever learn?

According to Matthew 24:30,31, the Son of Man is "coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." At the sound of the trumpet of God the angels will gather together the elect of Christ from one end of Heaven to the other.

First Thessalonians teaches us there will be a shout, the voice of the chief angel (perhaps commanding the angels to gather together the elect), and the trumpet of God.

The "clouds" are mentioned, and the gathering together of the elect in Christ. Christ will bring all of His saints, His elect, with Him. We who are alive on the earth at that time will be "caught up together with them."

This is the same gathering together of the elect mentioned in the twenty-fourth chapter of the Book of Matthew.

The "elect," as we are told so many times in the New Testament writings, are the people, both Jews and Gentiles, whom God has called out of the world and given to Christ (Romans 8:33; 9:11; 11:7; Colossians 3:12; Titus 1:1; I Thessalonians 1:4; II Timothy 2:10).

Christ is coming from Heaven and we shall be caught up together with all the saints from all time to meet Him in the air. But we must prepare ourselves today because the Day of Christ will not come until there has been a worldwide revolt against all lawful authority and the Satan-filled man of sin is revealed.

Jesus will destroy this man, the Antichrist, with the glory of His coming.

Great darkness even now is coming upon us. We are to prepare ourselves by prayer, by learning God's Word and living what we learn, and by consecrating our lives, our loved ones, our possessions, to Christ.

If we are living carelessly and at ease today we will not be able to endure the circumstances that are coming. We will fall. But if we learn to trust Christ today we will escape the events that are coming to pass and we will stand in victory and joy before the Son of Man.

Every saint is to prepare himself and his household today by prayer, by assembling with fervent disciples, by behaving as a Christian should. We are to untangle ourselves from the cares of the world and begin to live as disciplined soldiers of Christ.

Continued. First Thessalonians 4:13-18 6