1 Thessalonians 4:17

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. WE WHICH ARE ALIVE AND REMAIN SHALL BE CAUGHT UP - after having been "changed in a moment" (1 Corinthians 15:51-46). Again he says "we," recommending the expression to Christians of all ages, each generation bequeathing to the succeeding one a continually increasing obligation to look for the coming of the Lord (Edmunds). If Christ's servants be secretly caught up (as some think) before the judgments upon the earth, how shall the Gospel be preached up to the end? (Matthew 24:14) Also, the gathering of the elect succeeds the great tribulation through which, though shortened for th...

17_And so we shall be ever_. To those who have been once gathered to Christ he promises eternal life with him, by which statements the reveries of Origen and of the Chiliasts (588) are abundantly refuted. For the life of believers, when they have once been gathered into one kingdom, will have no end any more than Christ’s. Now, to assign to Christ a thousand years, so that he would afterwards cease to reign, were too horrible to be made mention of. Those, however, fall into this absurdity who limit the life of believers to a thousand years, for they must live with Christ as long as Christ himself will exist. We must observe also what he says — _we shall be_, for he means that we profitably entertain a hope of eternal life, only when we hope that it has been expressly appointed for us....

13-18 Here is comfort for the relations and friends of those who die in the Lord. Grief for the death of friends is lawful; we may weep for our own loss, though it may be their gain. Christianity does not forbid, and grace does not do away, our natural affections. Yet we must not be excessive in our sorrows; this is too much like those who have no hope of a better life. Death is an unknown thing, and we know little about the state after death; yet the doctrines of the resurrection and the second coming of Christ, are a remedy against the fear of death, and undue sorrow for the death of our Christian friends; and of these doctrines we have full assurance. It will be some happiness that all the saints shall meet, and remain together for ever; but the principal happiness of heaven is to be with the Lord, to see him, live with him, and enjoy him for ever. We should support one another in ti...

THEN WE WHICH ARE ALIVE - Those who shall then be alive; see 1 Thessalonians 4:15. The word here rendered “then” (ἔπειτα epeita), does not necessarily mean that this would occur immediately. It properly marks succession in time, and means “afterward, next, next in the order of events;” Luke 16:7; Galatians 1:21; James 4:14. There may be a considerable interval between the resurrection of the pious and the time when the living shall be caught up to meet the Lord, for the change is to take place in them which will fit them to ascend with those who h

EXPOSITION CONTENTS.—With this chapter the second portion of the Epistle—its practical application-commences. The apostle exhorts and entreats the Thessalonians to make progress in the Christian life, and to practice those commandments which, when he was with them, he gave them by the authority of Jesus Christ. God had called them to holiness and to the renunciation of their heathen practices. They must especially be on their guard against impurity, to which as Gentiles they were formerly so prone. He who rejected his injunctions rejected, not man, but God, whose commands they were. As they were already taught of God in the active practice of Christian love, so they must abound therein. They must not allow themselves to be led away by excitement, as if the day of Christ were at hand, but with quietness and honesty perform the duties of their earthly calling, and so commend the gospel to...

THEN WE WHICH ARE ALIVE AND REMAIN,.... 1 Thessalonians 4:15. SHALL BE CAUGHT UP; suddenly, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and with force and power; by the power of Christ, and by the ministry and means of the holy angels; and to which rapture will contribute, the agility which the bodies both of the raised and changed saints will have: and this rapture of the living saints will be TOGETHER WITH THEM; with the dead in Christ, that will then be raised; so that the one will not come before the other, or the one be sooner with Christ than the other; but the one being raised and the other changed, they will be joined in one company and general assembly, and be caught up together: IN THE CLOUDS; the same clouds perhaps in which Christ will come, will be let down to take them up; these will be the cha

1 Thessalonians 4:13. _But 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._ You cannot help sorrowing, for you miss your dear ones so much; but you do not sorrow like the heathen who believe their departed friends to be extinct and annihilated. You have a glorious hope concerning those who have fallen asleep in Christ, you believe that they are still live, and that, by-and-by, their bodies will rise again. 1 Thessalonians 4:14. _For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him._ There is such a union between Christ and his people that they never can be divided from him. In life, they li

CAUGHT UP Not church saints only, but all bodies of the saved, of whatever dispensation, are included in the first resurrection (_ See Scofield) - (1 Corinthians 15:52) _ as here described, but it is peculiarly the "blessed hope" of the Church. Compare (Matthew 24:42); (Matthew 25:13); (Luke 12:36); (Acts 1:11); (Philippians 3:20); ...

1 THESSALONIANS 4:17 oi` perileipo,menoi {A} By some accidental oversight, several Western witnesses (F G itar, b, f, g, o _al_) omit oi` perileipo,menoi....

IV. THE SEPARATED WALK AND THE BLESSED HOPE CHAPTER 4 _ 1. The separated walk 1 Thessalonians 4:1)_ 2. The coming of the Lord for His saints 1 Thessalonians 4:13) 1 Thessalonians 4:1 “Furthermore, then, brethren, we beg you and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, even as ye received from us, how ye ought to walk and please God, even as ye also do walk, that ye would abound still more. For ye know what charges we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor (not in passionate desire, eve