The Dead in Christ First
When the sounds announcing the rapture are heard by believers as the Lord descends from heaven, Paul tells us the first thing that will happen is that the bodies of the believers who died during the church-age will be raised and joined with their perfected spirits, which will have returned with the Lord. These raised bodies will be glorified, incorruptible bodies fit for the heavenly realm.
But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have when they come?” You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow—you are not sowing the body that will be, but only a seed, perhaps of wheat or another grain. But God gives it a body as he wants, and to each of the seeds its own body. Not all flesh is the same flesh; there is one flesh for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is different from that of the earthly ones. There is a splendor of the sun, another of the moon, and another of the stars; in fact, one star differs from another star in splendor. So it is with the resurrection of the dead: Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption; sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power; sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. Like the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; like the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven. What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption. Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality. When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law (1 Corinthians 15:35–56).
For we know that if our earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens, not made with hands. Indeed, we groan in this tent, desiring to put on our heavenly dwelling, since, when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment (2 Corinthians 5:1–5).
Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself (Philippians 3:20–21).
First Thessalonians 4:16 teaches that the dead in Christ will be raised when the Lord returns for the saints. This resurrection will be a selective resurrection--not all dead will be raised. Revelation 20 makes it clear that those who are not saved (in Christ) will not be raised until after the millennial reign of Christ.
Who are the dead in Christ spoken of in this verse? Are they all the saints who have died up to this point, or is it those who were redeemed and died from the Day of Pentecost until the present time (the church-age)? The key seems to be in the phrase in Christ.
John Walvoord explains that,
“This expression in Christ in every one of its many instances in the New Testament refers only to the saints of this dispensation. As far as the expression “the dead in Christ” indicates, only those in Christ are raised. Of course, all the saints are in Christ in the sense that Christ is their substitute, but the question is whether they are in the body of Christ, baptized into His body, as the Scriptures picture.
The doctrine of the resurrection of the Old Testament saints, as it is revealed in the Old Testament itself, relates the event to the second coming of Christ to establish His kingdom. By way of illustration, Daniel 12:1 deals with the great tribulation. Daniel 12:2 speaks of many being raised from the dust of the earth. If that is a genuine resurrection, it is a clear indication that according to Daniel the resurrection of the Old Testament saints occurs after the tribulation. The resurrection of the church, however, occurs before the tribulation. There is no explicit teaching anywhere in the Bible that reveals that the Old Testament saints are resurrected at the time the church is resurrected. In other words, the two events are never brought together in any passage of Scripture. The best explanation of the expression “dead in Christ” is to refer it to the church alone.”1
The dead in Christ are genuine Christians who lived and died between the Day of Pentecost and the present time.
The Clouds in the Air
Then we who are still 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 (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
When the dead have been raised, then we who are still alive will immediately be transformed into the presence of the Lord. As 1 Corinthians 15:51 says,
We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed.
The raising of the dead saints and the transformation of the living saints will happen quickly with little time span between them since Paul tells us that it will happen in the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:52).
Notice that the appearing of the Lord is described as a catching up of all the saints. The expression will be caught up articulates the main thought. D. Edmond Hiebert notes the significance of the word,
“The verb caught up... denotes a sudden and forcible seizure, an irresistible act of catching away, due to divine activity. It might also be rendered 'snatch up, sweep up, carry off by force.' The Latin for the Greek verb is rapturo, from which we derive our English word rapture. Here is the revelation of the bodily snatching up of the church to meet her returning Lord.”2
Caught up here literally means “snatch up, swept away, take away, or carried away by force.”
We will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord; it parallels the Lord’s ascension (Acts 1:9).The clouds may be a reference to the presence and glory of God (e.g., Ex 14:19-24; 16:10; 19:9, 16; 20:21; 40:34-38). At the rapture, the glorious Christ appears and brings the saints into the presence of His glory.
The meeting place will be in the air, somewhere between heaven and earth. This distinguishes the rapture from the second coming when He comes down to the earth.
The living and the dead will join Christ in the air. All believers back through the centuries will join those who are living at that moment, forming the church united with Christ. And then we will always be with the Lord.
Results of the Rapture
(1) The Lord’s promise to come back is fulfilled.
If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also (John 14:3).
(2) It is the completion of our salvation. At the rapture, our bodies are transformed, and the “flesh” is no longer there to promote sin. Our salvation will be complete, and we will be completely liberated from the power and effects of sin.
Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits—we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23).
(3) We will be with our precious Lord forever (4:17).
(4) All believers will be united with those departed family members. It is a doctrine of hope and encouragement for all believers.
Therefore encourage one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:18).
1 John F. Walvoord, The Thessalonian Epistles (Copyright © 2008 JFW Publishing Trust. Digitized from the 1976 print version © Lamplighter Books / Zondervan Publishing House), 44.
2 Edmond D. Hiebert, 1 and 2 Thessalonians (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1992), 214.
All Scripture quotations, unless indicated, are taken from The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
Copyright © 2021 by Miguel J Gonzalez Th.D.
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