When the Lord
Jesus comes again, Paul the apostle told the Thessalonian church
members those who are “asleep” will “God bring with
him”, and “the Lord will descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the
dead in Christ shall rise first:”.
In chapter four and verse seventeen of his letter, Paul continued to
share what will happen to “we which are alive and remain”
where we read:
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.
The
verse begins, “Then we which are
alive and
remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,...”
Paul began
with the word “Then”
which means, “thereupon, thereafter and afterwards” “we
which are alive”
which refers to “those who are living, breathing, not dead and
among the living” “and remain” or
“are left over, remain and survive” “shall
be caught up”
which is the Greek word “harpazō”
and means “to seize, carry off by force and snatch out or away”
“together”
or “at the same time, at once and also” “with
them”
which refers to “alongside and beside those who are asleep” “in
the clouds”
or “in cloudiness”. Paul's promise is for the living who have put
their trust in Jesus Christ to be “snatched out” of this world to
join both Jesus and believers who have died before in the sky.
The verse continues,
“...to
meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
Paul added
the reason why those who are alive and remain will be “caught
up”, “to
meet” or
“to encounter or have a meeting” “the
Lord”
which refers to “he to whom a person or
thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master and the
title given to God the Messiah”
“in the air”
which means “particularly the lower and denser air as distinguished
from the higher and rarer air or the
atmospheric region”:
“and so shall we ever be”
which is the Greek phrase “esomai
pantote esomai”
and refers to “the future state, shall and what will follow”
“with the Lord”
which refers to “God the Messiah”. Not only will those who are
“alive and remain” “meet the Lord
in the air”,
but they have the promise that this will last for all of eternity.
When
we meditate upon Paul's words, we may have a sense of jubilation in
our hearts and minds. What a promise we have from Paul if we know
Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. The words “caught up”
or “harpazo” in Greek is a derivative of the Latin word “raptus”
from which our English word “Rapture” comes. Paul wrote in the
book of First Corinthians in chapter fifteen and verses forty-nine
through fifty-four:
“Now
this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom
of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew
you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and
we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption,
and this mortal must
put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then
shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is
swallowed up in victory.”
One
day soon, the Lord will descend from Heaven, bring His predeceased
believers with Him, and “catch us up” to be with Him “in
the air”. Oh what bliss it
will be when we finally go to be with the Lord Jesus, and Oh what a
surprise it will be for those who are left behind. We must “repent”
and receive Jesus as our Savior before it is too late.
Next
time Paul tells the Thessalonians to “comfort one another
with these words”, so read
ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow…there is more…
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com
; http://www.barnesandnobles.com
; download to e-books, and find it locally at
www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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