First Thessalonians, 4:13-15 The Lord's Return

So this morning we're going to start into what we've labeled the Lord's Return, or the Lord's Coming. And can I get a volunteer? I'd like to just read basically, there's going to be two parts. We've kind of divided this into two sections, kind of intentionally, because it's kind of a neat section. And we're going to take this first section, 13 through 15, then next week we're going to do 16 through 18. But I'd like to read basically 13 through 18 and First Thessalonians chapter 4. If I could volunteer to do that. Yes, thank you. But we do not know or we do not want you to be uninformed brother.

If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not perceive those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with the shout and with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them.

Thank you. So this is a wonderful section about our Lord's return and I really found some really neat things in here in terms of just that phraseology, those who are asleep or asleep in Jesus. It's just such a comforting thing and I could not get that out of my mind, because I think of so many people that I know that are asleep in Jesus.

And that's so different than what the world knows. A person's, well, this guy's left, and who knows what's happened to him. And they have all kinds of theories. But the Lord's going to tell us. He's going to comfort us and tell us that our brothers and sisters that are asleep in Jesus, it's OK. And they're going to come back with him. And it's really neat. I just got really excited about this section.

So actually, I found in the study, Hampton Keithley, in his commentary, kind of tried to say, here's what I see, actually it's 13 through 18, here's what I see in terms of questions that Paul's trying to answer in this section. So the first one was, there seemed to be some anxiety among the believers in Thessalonica about their loved ones who had died. They were concerned, just like we might be, they were concerned about that. Well, we have the benefit of scripture right now. We can look at it and read it. They had a letter, basically. That's all they had at that point, it seems like. They were concerned about their loved ones who had died. What's going to happen to them?

It kind of filters through that whole passage. They were expecting the Lord's return at any time. That's kind of key. We're going to see here that Paul expected the Lord's return to be in his lifetime. It could possibly be in his lifetime. Just really amazing. That was kind of neat.

One of the questions was, what about the loved ones who had died since trusting Jesus? And then, they were wondering how their loved ones who had died in Jesus affect the ones that... Let's see, I'm getting confused here. Let's just go back for a second. I'll just read it here. There was a certain amount of anxiety considering those who were having regard for their loved ones who had died.

They were expecting the Lord's return at any time, so that's His imminent return. But what about the loved ones who had died since trusting Jesus? From the content of 13 through 18, it is clear that they were asking how Christ's return would affect their loved ones who had died. Would their death hinder or handicap them anyway? So they're saying, well, if they've died, is the Lord going to return?

And then they're sort of off here. Here's the ones that have died already. How's the Lord going to address those? So this passage is going to address both the ones who have died in Jesus, who are asleep in Jesus, and the ones that are living. And then the last question was, would there be any advantage Will those who are alive at His coming have an advantage over those who have died? So those are some of the questions. Hopefully they're helpful. I kind of stumbled through them. I apologize.

But basically it's a relationship between believers who have died in the Lord Jesus and the ones who are alive at His coming. Is there any difference between how the Lord treats these, how the Lord sees them? Are they equal? Is there any arrangement for just the interaction of those two. The ones who have died in the Lord Jesus and the ones who are alive in his coming.

So that's kind of what this three passages here, actually it's going to go through 18, are attempting to answer. Okay, so the first phrase here is talking about basically the Lord doesn't want us, and Paul is speaking, he doesn't want us to be uninformed. And he's speaking to the brethren, the believers at that time. We do not want you to be uninformed. And actually uninformed is this word for ignorant. He doesn't want us to be ignorant about what's going to happen. Uninformed. And basically being ignorant is not knowing, being uncertain, being unsettled.

And he kind of filtered down here toward the end, kind of relating our assurance of what happens with those who don't know the Lord. And they're kind of flailing around without hope in this world. And there are passages that talk about the unbeliever and how he has no hope in this world. But the believer has a steadfast hope in the Lord Jesus.

A couple of passages I'd like to maybe just kind of look at briefly here. So can I get a volunteer to read Romans 11 25? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, but lest ye should be wise with own conceits, that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles Right. So in this passage, Paul doesn't want us to be ignorant in terms of what's happened to Israel in relation to the Gentiles, basically, and that there's a partial hardening. So we're going to see in these couple of passages, in the next passage here in 1 Corinthians, we're going to see he doesn't want us to be ignorant about the Holy Spirit, and then later on it's about Satan.

I just wanted to give you some parallel. It's a common theme that the Lord says, I don't want you to be ignorant about that, and then he goes ahead and he tells you He gives you the information you need to know. So that's kind of a common phraseology or terminology. Okay, let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Bonnie, I'll get you to read that. I'm sorry. I thought you were there. Yes.

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to Right. And then he kind of goes on, he gives more detail to that, but just once again, this phraseology, he doesn't want us to be uninformed. And then right after that, he's going to go right into, he's going to say, I don't want you to be uninformed about those who are asleep. And we're going to look at what that means about being asleep.

And then in the 2nd Corinthians passage, 2nd Corinthians 2.11, I'll just go ahead and read that one.

2nd Corinthians 2.11 says, Let's go back to 10. But whom you forgave anything, I forgive you also. For indeed, what I also have forgiven I have forgiven anything I did it for you for your sake in the presence of Christ in order that No advantage be taken of us by Satan for we are not For we are not ignorant of his schemes same word here, we're not ignorant or Uninformed about Satan schemes. Okay.

Well that kind of as a as a setting I wanted to kind of go on to the So I have a couple of questions before we start here. So he doesn't want us to be ignorant about this middle part here, about those who are asleep. So how would you say, before we look at it, and don't look at your handout, it's hard to do, I know. Why do you think he uses the word asleep? We kind of read through the context, and you kind of pick up on the context. Why is he using the word asleep? Here. Why do you think? Good. Excellent. Excellent. I think there's a series of points you can build up.

Why the Lord did she use the word asleep? We're going to look at a bunch of passages about that. That's good. That's temporary. Anything else you can think of besides temporary? Okay, I like that. Others? You're taking all my, that's good, keep going, this is good. People look somewhat dead when they're asleep. Good, right, okay, that's what I said, people, you know, sometimes you can't tell, people will listen, put their ear down to see if they're breathing, you might do a mirror sometimes, you know, if you're doing first aid or whatever, a mirror, I'm not sure if a mirror is the right thing, but they want to see their breath. Other things? Okay, good.

So actually, there you might have a little bit of a difference. I mean, if your son or daughter are asleep, you can go in and wake them up, right? You say, wake up. But what we're going to see is, we can't wake our brothers and sisters up Because they're not here, right? So there are some differences there. And rest comes to mind because we sleep because we need to rest.

Right, right. How about when a person's asleep, are they inactive? That's not a bad word, inactive. Obviously they're inactive, they're not asleep. Let's see here. Well, what I'm trying to say is, are there some things that may be going on while a person's asleep? Can you think of some things that happen while you're asleep? There we go. Excellent, excellent. So you're not comatose, right? You're not dead. I mean, you're not dead, dead, dead. Totally unconscious.

Okay, there we go. Thank you, thank you. So I think we're going to see some similarities. When he says we're asleep in Jesus, we're going to see that asleep, for us, we say the person's dead. Well, their body's dead, but they're with the Lord. They're in fellowship with him moment by moment. I think they're really very active. It's just that you can't see the active parts.

Excellent, excellent. Okay, good, good. All right, great, good answers. Okay, so about or concerning those who are asleep or the sleeping ones. And basically, you know, by the context, it's believers, right? I mean, Paul addresses, he's saying we, he says we like, it was basically Silvanus and Timothy, right? And he's talking about the Thessalonians. So we as Paul, And basically, he's talking about the Thessalonians.

So, sleep. And basically, like we kind of found out, it's use of natural sleep, of death, of the body. Also, it has the idea, inherently, to lie down. So that, I think somebody, we were trying to point out the fact that a person lying down, it's conceivable they could be dead and you might not know it. So you can't tell sometimes. So the same word is used. And here's some examples. Let's look at some examples here of Luke. Can I get someone to read Luke 45?

And then someone to read Acts 12.6. Let's see.

When he rose from prayer, he came to his disciples and found them sleeping. Okay, so the same Greek word was used for the, he came, he found them asleep because of sorrow. Okay, how about the ax passage? Gene, are you there on that one? Sorry. Okay, all right, well that's good. If you have, actually interrupt me if you have comments about some of these things. Don't let me just ramble on here.

On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. So here in these two passages it talks about normal sleeping. We have an example of Paul sleeping and the disciples sleeping. They both were physically sleeping.

Then there's a series, and this is not an exhaustive list, there's a series of examples of believers who have died physically. I want to look at these as well. It kind of helped me as I went through here to see, oh this word is used, this is how it's used, there's a variety of ways it's used. So, may I get people just to kind of sign in here.

Vani, would you read Matthew 27.52? And Peggy, would you read John 11, 11? And let's see. Doris, would you read Acts 7, 60? And then Lindy, would you read Acts 13, 36? And each one of these, I think, kind of adds, especially the last three I found, are really talking about notable people in scripture and referring to what what happens when they die physically.

So Acts 27.52. Bonnie, would you read that for us? Excuse me. I'm sorry. Thank you. Okay. So actually, in this sense, let me just see here for a second.

If you go back to 51, this is basically the death of the Lord Jesus. Right before 51 it says, Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split. And then basically, the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. All right, how about the one in John 11? Actually, could we maybe read 11? Now, this actually is a really interesting one. Let's read 11, John 11, 11 through 15.

I'm sorry, I expanded a little bit on you. These things said he, and after that he said unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, so I know that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall dwell. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death, that they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest and sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there.

To the intent ye may believe, nevertheless let us go unto death. What's interesting in this passage, it looks like they thought it was literal. He's just sleeping. Well, the Lord says, no, he actually has died. He's really dead. He's not asleep. So it's interesting. The Lord kind of clarifies. But it's the same word that we've been looking at, the same word about being asleep. So I don't know. It's interesting. Okay, how about in Acts 7, can we read maybe 59? Doris, how about 59 and 60?

And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Now I just find, as I started reading that, over and over again, believers are asleep. That's a very comforting thing. Even though the Lord back in John there kind of clarified it, yeah, he's really dead, but he's only physically dead.

I think that's one of the key things. Exactly, exactly. And that's what's kind of interesting. Isn't that like a metaphor? Using a word in another situation. It has one meaning here, but you take it and say, I'm going to use it over here. I think it implies it's just temporary. Exactly, exactly. We kind of went through some of the things.

What does asleep mean? Sleep is temporary, right? It's going to have an end. And what's wonderful is, the ones who are asleep in Jesus, that sleep is going to come to an end. Okay, how about the last one in Acts 36? Acts 36, thank you. 1336, thank you. For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. He was buried with his fathers, and his body decayed. Okay, that's good. Here's somebody in the Old Testament, same word. A couple of other points. Let me just summarize. Some things were already mentioned. A person who's asleep does not cease to exist. He's still He still exists. He still exists. He's still existing. It's temporary.

We talked about that. And then a couple things here about the body, the physical body, and the soul and the spirit. So let's look at Philippians. I'll read a couple passages here. Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1 verse 23 it says, I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for this is much better. So Paul is saying here, he wants to be serving Christ here, but he also wants to depart and be with Him. So this sleep in Jesus is with Christ. That's part of the whole thing. Being asleep in Jesus means you're with Christ.

And then another really maybe key verse is in 2 Corinthians, talking about the relationship of the physical body and the soul and the spirit. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And let's start reading in verse 6, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 6 through 8. Therefore, being always of good courage and knowing while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith and not by sight.

We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be, here's the preferred state, to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord. So a person asleep in the Lord Jesus is absent from his physical body. That's in the grave, but he's present with the Lord.

So I found that kind of encapsulated some of the ideas of what does it mean to be asleep in this context here. So basically, Paul's saying here, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who are asleep. And then later on, he's going to say it's asleep in Jesus or through Jesus. And here's the reason.

The last part is the reason why he doesn't want us to be uninformed, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. So he wants us to be assured of what's happened to those who are asleep in Jesus. So what follows is, so you will not grieve, and grieve is the idea to be grieved. Actually, some translations have it mourned, to be mourning. He doesn't want us to be mourning for our loved ones. He wants us to have a confidence of their place in Christ, right now, as they're asleep in Jesus. Exactly. That's good. Excellent. Thanks, Swanee. That's good. And we're going to see that there's a parallel verse that's really, really important here about that. OK, so he says, so that you will not grieve, as do the rest.

So in this context, the rest, I believe, the rest of the people, and rest actually is a word signifying the leftover pieces to leave and the remaining portion. So they're believers, and then there's everyone else, basically. That's the rest. The rest, and they have no hope.

And there's a verse in the Ephesians, I think, that really speaks to that, talking about when someone comes to faith in Christ, and looking back on what they were prior to coming to faith in Christ. Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 11 and 12 says therefore remember that formerly you Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision which is performed in the flesh by human hands remember that you at that time were separated from Christ, excluded from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in this world. So he basically does not want us to act like an unbeliever. Unbelievers, they have no hope. They're without God in this world. He wants us to be confident of what's happened to those who are asleep. And he's going to go on and tell us more about those who are asleep. Sure, go ahead. Good, excellent, excellent.

Yeah, actually, you know, in fact, I may as well share it now. I was kind of thinking, as I was reading through here, and I asked him the question, and this is exactly your point, Jack. Is there ever a time, once we trust Christ as our Savior, is there ever a time that we're separated from him? This is kind of silly. We've already kind of said that. So think about it. But Christ actually had it different. This is amazing.

He was separated from the loss of fellowship with the Father as he paid for our sins, but we're not. Absent from the body, present with the Lord immediately. There's never a time period when we're separated from them. It's mind boggling. It really is. There's never an instant. All our loved ones, it just excites me so much that they have fellowship with him in this life. His presence, that's it. It's really neat. That is another wonderful thing to contemplate the fact that ...

Go ahead. I'm sorry. Right, exactly. This body was dead. Right. That body was dead. When the resurrected were, already from the time we died in that body, were perishing with the Lord. Exactly, exactly. And I think that's part of what, that's our bodies. Our bodies, well. And then, then we were reunited Right, but we're going to be in a new body then too. That's another part of that too. That's right, that's true. No, no, and you're right.

Actually, our physical body is decaying in the ground, right? That body is dead, but the real us, like when you go, we see our brothers and sisters, and if they have an open casket, you look up there and you think, boy, that's not our brother or sister. I don't look anything like him. I don't know if you folks remember Sam Dalton, but at his funeral, the person that was performing, he was an evangelist over the years. He came to Holly Hills a few times, but kind of a comedian, a funny guy, but a neat guy.

At his funeral, it was open casket in front of the church. They knocked on his chest. They put him full of all those chemicals. He says, Sam's not here. He's with the Lord. Knocked on his chest. You look at that physical body and say, that's not the person I knew. That's not that person. And it's not, because they're not there. It's really neat.

It's exciting to read these passages and to realize that that they're present with the Lord, and that at the continuum, from once we trust Him as Savior, that never changes. Even though our Lord did, He had to undergo the awful being separated from His Father while He paid for our sins. So that's something to really ponder there and think about. And marvelous, too, that we had that unseparated.

Go ahead. the new body. After we go to be with the Lord and our body goes to the cemetery, it's a new body, but it's still the same body, is it not? Yeah, actually, as I went through this, there's all these rabbit trails. I didn't go down that path, I apologize. And it is a new body.

I'm not sure I can tell you. Somebody help me here? Yeah, I think so. I don't think it tells us a lot. Maybe there's some more to fish out of there. What about this new body we have? I don't know. Hi, I'm Margaret. Hi, I'm Margaret. Remember me? Remember me from Holly Hills? Actually, I think, do you have a comment you wanted to make? I'm sorry. Actually, I was just reading in Shapers, you know, Systematic Theology the other night.

Our bodies, as far as the actual material that makes up our body, recycles itself about every seven years anyway. So you don't have a body you were born with anyway. or the same substance, or the same, you know, anything like that. So, it's just interesting. Along that line, if you got a new body and it looked like the old body, wouldn't it look like the old body at 20?

Well, I know, I know. We've all been, actually, I've had long discussions. I think Bud has something else. That's sort of part of it. I see it basically as like resurrection. Now, in Jesus's body, when he was put into the tomb, Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. No. No, I agree with you. I agree with you. Got a new body. Right. Right. Right. Well, it says glorified body. So, you know, the thing is, so what will our glorified It doesn't really give a description of the glory of my body. This may be a little bit of a rabbit trail here. We went to the family reunion in Illinois in October.

This aunt I hadn't seen in about 25 years came up to me. and hugged me, and she said, you don't look like yourself. Don't tell me how I've changed. You don't look like yourself. Well, maybe that'd be the thing, you don't look like yourself. She made me look more like herself. That's right, I changed less. Okay, well, we probably better go on here right away. But that was good, that was good.

So basically, here's Wiest's kind of rendering of this, in order that you may not be mourning in the same manner as do the rest who have no hope. So we have a fixed hope, we have an eternal hope in our Savior, unwavering, will never change. Okay, so now in 14 he says, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, In this case, it's what they call a first-class condition. It's assumed to be true. You could render it, for in view of the fact that we believe that Jesus died and rose again. He's basically saying, if Jesus, who is the first fruits, if he's gone through this process, it's guaranteed that you'll go through it as well, because you're in him, in essence. That's the central fact of the Gospel, the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus.

In 2 Corinthians 5.15 it says, And he died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf. I was just thinking that there will be no left behind. Every believer will be with the Lord Jesus. And if he dies or he is asleep in Jesus, he will come back with him. So there's no left behind in this.

Here's the cool part here. So now he's going to talk about what happens to those. We talked about the fact that they're asleep. So now he's going to say he's going to bring those who are asleep, all our brothers and sisters who have died in Christ, they're going to bring them with him when he comes. Even so, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.

And to bring is to carry, to lead, And let's see here, there was some interesting... And the idea here to bring or to carry, excuse me, there are several passages about that. It's actually the idea, just as you might think, to lead someone along, to carry someone along. It talks about in Hebrews, bringing many sons to glory. It talks about in Timothy about physically bringing with you a brother or a sister someplace.

So it's literally that he will bring with him, literally, those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. And there's two examples I just told you about. So it's the same word, asleep is the same word we saw before, but now, have fallen, and this is really interesting. Have fallen is talking about, it's a past tense, it's a participle, and it's in the passive voice, which is interesting.

The fact that we fall asleep in Jesus, and this is wonderful, is not our decision. I know our brother Hal, whatever the Lord wants is okay. I think that's the way we should look at all death of all believers. The Lord is the one that determines whether there is sleep in him or not, not us.

It may seem like we do it, and we say, I try to eat right, I try to exercise. It seems like it's a futile job sometimes. It makes me feel good, but I don't know whether it extends my life anymore. I feel good about it. And it could be rendered through Jesus. And there's an interesting passage here. Let's just look at this for a second.

Talking about 1 Corinthians 8, verse 6. And it says, Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through him. So, saying that we are falling asleep in Jesus or through Jesus, it's because we're already in union with him to start with, before we leave this, before our body and soul goes to be with him, we continue that relationship. you continue to exist through him or in him. Another interesting point here is that it says, even so, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. Think about the big picture. the saints for all time. Is there a certain category of saints? Does this limit who's going to be coming with Jesus? Is David going to be coming with Jesus? It's kind of a trick question. Be careful here. Just based upon what he says, those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. Basically, thank you. It's a church aid. I'm stumbling here. It's a church aid. This limits who's going to come with him.

We're going to see later, actually in the last chart, we're going to see the Old Testament saints are resurrected when he comes from his power and great glory, what's called the second coming, rather than the rapture. So the rapture will be just for the church aid saints. And that is somewhat based heavily upon this verse, not the only verse, but it talks about those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. That limits who it's going to be, that it's going to be coming with him. Doesn't that also kind of cast light on chapter 2, verse 13, where it says, so that he may establish your hearts without blame and holiness before God, the Father, the coming of the Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Right, right. That's a parallel verse. Exactly. Exactly. Right. So this limits who's going to come with it. Also, it helps us distinguish that there's a rapture and there's a second coming. Some folks will try to merge those two events. They'll say the rapture and the second coming and make them one event. Then, of course, where do you place that event? They'll say, I don't want to place it before the... They'll put it different places. They'll put it before the tribulation, after the tribulation. Go ahead, I'm sorry.

It's your... If they're bringing them with them... and they're not going up in the rapture, this is talking about his second advent? Okay, this right here, I believe, is talking about the rapture. Bringing? Bringing those who have fallen, it's like it says, for if we believe, or since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. There are still believers on the earth, he's going to address those in a minute here, but these are the ones that are dead in Christ or fallen asleep with him. Is that help? Say again? No, this is the ones that have fallen asleep. These are the ones that are dead in Christ.

They were asleep, they were present with Him. When they died, they went to be with the Lord Jesus. They're present with the Lord Jesus. And now, at the rapture, He will bring them with him. He will bring those saints with him, every single one, all the entire church age. But there's another event, the second coming, which he'll bring the Old Testament folks. Those ones who's coming with him, they're disembodied currently.

They don't have a body. You're right. They don't have a body. And that's explained elsewhere about how they got to get a new body. And that's right. They're without a body. A body isn't much use with the Lord, for those who are asleep in him. I found this, you could just go off in about a hundred different ways, which are all good. Okay, so last verse.

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord. So he's talking to Thessalonians again. So it's like he's going to basically, Paul's saying, this is not my idea. I didn't think this up, this is God's word. This comes directly from God. And there are several verses, and I'll just flash them real quickly, about the word of the Lord.

The word of the Lord in Thessalonians 1.8 has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place that your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything to you. So he's saying that This word has come from God. This is God's plan and His purpose. And then in 2.13 in Thessalonians it says, for this reason we also constantly thank you, thank God, that you received the word of God which you heard from us. You accepted it, not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs this work in you. So I think Paul's going back and saying, this is God's word. God's standing behind it. There's no doubt of its veracity. That's the first part of this verse here.

Okay, so now he's going to say, okay, we have the Lord Jesus is bringing back those who are with him at the rapture. He's bringing back those who have died or are asleep in Jesus. And he's going to try to clarify that relationship to those two groups of people.

That we who are alive, so we have the alive believers and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. OK, so let's just look at that for a second. So basically, we have the one, this is kind of interesting, the two aspects to the believers that are alive on the earth when the Lord comes. They're called the living ones, literally, the living ones.

And it's present active. and the remaining ones, the ones that are remaining. And this is passive. So this is kind of cool. The Lord takes who he wants to be with him, and he keeps who he wants here alive. It's the Lord's doing. You think, well, let's see. Like I said, I better do this and do that. The Lord, in both cases, whether we remain here or we're with him, it's the Lord's doing. And he's the one who's performing the action there. until the coming of the Lord.

Coming is this word that you can trace through Thessalonians and also other books, and it's parousia. It has two parts. It has one part is para, which is with, and then ousia is being. It's the idea that there's an arrival aspect of this, and there's a presence with it. So the Lord's going to arrive and be present with us. So that's cool.

He just doesn't arrive. Some people arrive, like my kids arrive, and they're out of the house and go off to their friends. Well, he's going to arrive and stay. I'm sure people haven't experienced that, where they arrive and eat, and then they're gone, right? They're coming to stay with us? Here's my dirty clothes.

The Lord's going to hang around, present with us. Basically, here's the order. We'll not proceed those who have fallen asleep. The Lord's going to come with those who have fallen asleep, and they won't proceed us who have fallen asleep. And actually, we're going to have to wait. The next verse really kind of gives us some more detail. So next week we're going to see more of that.

So basically, he didn't want us to be uninformed about those who had fallen asleep so we wouldn't grieve. Those who have fallen asleep in Jesus, return with him, and they won't precede us who are here alive presently on this earth. Okay, so now I wanted to do one more thing here, and here's a comparison that was done back in major Bible themes, and Hal did this. It's really kind of good, and it kind of hopefully will answer maybe a few questions, and you're going to see some of the Thessalonians passages show up here. So the first point is that there's really kind of a key phraseology here. At the rapture, Christ is coming He's bringing saints with him, but he's coming for the living saints. He's coming for the living saints in the earth.

In the second coming, Christ comes, in essence, with all the saints. In the rapture, the saints go from earth to heaven. The saints who are alive go from earth to heaven. In the second coming, the saints come from heaven to earth and were with the Lord to rule and to reign on the earth. The rapture starts the tribulation, the second coming ends the tribulation.

The asleep church saints are resurrected. They get a new body and there's a passage there and other passages. And here the Old Testament saints are resurrected at the second coming. So the different groups of folks there. The alive church saints a rapture, taken up to be with the Lord, and there's no rapture that occurs because all the saints are with him.

After the rapture occurs, there is unrighteousness on the earth, and the second coming, this will be the millennial kingdom, righteousness will rule on the earth. One thing I didn't point out, if you look at We'll have to go back here, but if you have your handout, just look at verse 15 for a second. It's really interesting.

I didn't point this out, but verse 15 says, 1 Thessalonians 4.15 says, For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we, so who's the we there in that verse? Paul's talking. He says, we, we who are alive. So Paul's saying, we, including Timothy and others, we who are alive. He was viewing himself as being alive. We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord.

I didn't point that out when we were there, but that's where this, and there's another passage that picks it up too. So the return of the Lord Jesus, even in Paul's day, was an eminent return. Whereas the second coming, You can look at the second coming and trace through many signs and events that are to occur before the second coming. Not so with the rapture. The rapture was a mystery, not revealed in the Old Testament, but the second coming was revealed.

This initiates rewards to the church because the church age believers are with him. And this initiates judgment, the second coming initiates judgment on the world. Satan remains active through all the tribulation period. And Satan is bound for a thousand years at second coming.

We have a little closing music here. Okay. That was a lot. I kind of whizzed through that. Actually, we're going to have more. What's nice is we're going to have the other three verses next week. We can talk more about that. Think of more questions about being asleep or other things in the rapture. I'm sure we'll have fun talking about those. Hopefully it was helpful today.

I just came away with the fact that we can trust the Lord whether he's taken us or we're here. He is the one in control, and we by faith trust Him whether we remain here or with Him. And we don't know. I mean, we could go tomorrow, we could go ten years from now, who knows? But we can trust Him. Alright, well let's close in prayer then.

Dear Father, we thank you so much, Lord. We thank you for your word, Father. We thank you that we can trust you in all things, Lord. We thank you that we can rest that our dear brothers and sisters are with you, and we look forward to being with them with you when you come and take us to be with you. We thank you for that. In Christ's name, Amen.