But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
The second coming of Christ will not be like his first coming, both in character and purpose. The first coming of Christ was essentially an infiltration of humanity. There was no big noise for the whole world to hear or other demonstration that God had taken on flesh. Jesus just snuck into the human experience, being born as a human baby. There were some supernatural accompaniments. The angels announce his birth to the shepherds. The star the Maji followed, and the voice of God to the Maji. All in all, the Savior’s birth was a pretty quiet affair.
The environment for the second coming of Christ will be a lot like when he first came to earth. It will be as in the days of Noah when everybody went about living their lives, ignoring the preaching of Noah, marrying and giving in marriage, building homes, and establishing families. No one expected life to come to an end for them all. But it did.
Jesus told us that he will come as a thief in the night, that is when no one expects him. Today’s preparation for a thief is a monitored burglar alarm system. But no one expects to have to use it. When Jesus comes again, it will be a shocking surprise to everyone. Not that his followers don’t anticipate his coming. We are like families with monitored burglar alarm systems. We are looking for him but don’t know when he will show up.
Then the sensational announcement of his coming. There will be a loud cry of command coming from Jesus (I imagine something like, “Arise, come up here and join me in the battle.”), the voice of the archangel (I can’t imagine this one except that I believe it will be heard around the world), and the sound of the last trump, the trump of God (This one I can imagine because we have some other demonstrations of the trump of God in Scripture). His coming will be loud and proud. The King of Kings is descending on the cloud of his glory. He will be surrounded by a host of angels, and the saints from all ages will appear with him. And now that he has gotten all of our attention, we will rise to meet the Lord in the air. His second coming will be radically different from his first coming. The first was quiet and under the radar. The second will be loud and will not be under the radar. Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.
A trio of loud proclamations
A cry of command (also translated as “shout”): This, I believe, refers to a loud command or battle cry of King Jesus as he comes to consummate his Kingdom. Numbers 23:211
With the voice of an archangel: Archangel means “chief of angels.” One of the bosses in angel-land, you might say. Matthew 24:30-31 seems to parallel what Paul writes about here.
30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Mathew 24:30-31
Bringing these two passages together, it appears that the voice of the archangel is the command to the other angels to gather together the saints of all time from the four winds to this great day of the coming of Christ. If so, the angels will participate in the process of resurrection at the second coming of Christ.
With the sound of the trumpet of God: The trumpet or trump of God appears throughout Scripture and signifies God’s presence as when God met with Moses on Sinai.
On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled…And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.
Exoddus 19:16, 19
The sound of the trumpet is associated with war and/or victory:
My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
Oh the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
I cannot keep silent,
for I hear the sound of the trumpet,
the alarm of war. – Jeremiah 4:19
When Christ returns, it will be to engage in the final battle in which he will seal the final victory and usher us into the New Heavens and New Earth. Showing up for the final showdown to clash with your arch-enemy is not a calm, quiet afternoon tea party. It is the headliner of all human history.
My goal in this writing is two-fold. As I write, a new friend of mine lies in the hospital, dying of a combination of cancer and congestive heart failure. He just celebrated, well, he didn’t really celebrate, but he had his seventy-sixth birthday. In the next few days, my friend Jack will die and have the great joy of joining Jesus face to face. He will have left behind all suffering, pain, and disappointment and entered into his life free from the brokenness of life on this earth in this age. I have several family members and friends who have also died and “gone to be with Jesus.”
There is yet a great future event for creation to experience, the resurrection and what this passage in 1 Thessalonians calls the catching away. Many people refer to it as the rapture. When Christ returns, those of us who are left alive on earth will be “caught up” to meet the Lord in the air. This will happen with the cry of command, the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God.
The Thessalonians had a big question about this event which they believed could happen anytime. We who are alive when Jesus returns will be caught up with him, but what will happen to our family members who have already died? Will they not join us in the presence of Jesus? Paul was writing this insight-packed short passage to answer that question. His last sentence is, “Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
Lots of people are frightened about the second coming of Jesus, probably because they have an insufficient understanding of the grace of God. But Paul tells us this is an occasion for encouragement. This will be the greatest homecoming any of us have ever experienced or even dreamt of. It will be a grand occasion.
Frankly, I also hope I have changed the image of the second coming for some of you. Many think of this passage as referring to some quiet secret catching away of believers. I hope I have disabused you of that thought by simply expounding the text that makes it clear that this event will be loud and proud, not quiet and secret.
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Footnotes
- “The shout of the King should be understood as a militaristic threat implying that the King is a warrior leading his host to victory” The Bible Knowledge Commentary quoted in Bible Hermeneutics https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/58633/what-does-with-the-voice-of-the-archangel-mean-in-1-thessalonians-416 accessed 7/26/23.
