Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - May/75

Contributor - H. Van Essen

Title - Eschatology V: Teachings About That Which Is Yet To Come

Topic - Eschatology

A DISCUSSION OF I THESSALONIANS 4:13-18

This time I invite you to take your Bible and first read the above passage. We want to consider what this passage says by itself. In other words, we will not let other ideas or Bible passages influence us right away as to what Paul is trying to say in these sentences.

Why written ?

Paul has I a definite reason for writing this part of the letter. He does it because apparently the Thessalonians are deeply worried about the fate of the Christians among them who have died. When he was with them he preached Christ crucified, risen, and coming again; and he proclaimed that each one who believed in Christ, who received Him (John 1 : 12), would receive eternal life, or - which is the same - everlasting, never ending life. Furthermore, Paul was convinced that the Lord would return soon, even during Paul's life time. From all this the Thessalonians had apparently concluded that a believer now would not die anymore, but would continue to live until the return of the Lord, after which he would be with the Lord always. But now some believers had died, and more were coming to the end of their earthly life.

Left-out ?

The Christians in Thessalonica were worried that the believers who were dying would not be able to share in the everlasting life with Christ. Once you had died you were gone. You existed until you died; with death you as a person simply stopped to be. Death was the border line between being and nothingness. Such was (and still is) the reasoning of many non-Christians. The young Thessalonian Christians still had that way of thinking. They sincerely believed the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ; the return of the Lord; and the gift of eternal life. But in order to receive this gift you had to be, to exist. For how could you receive a gift if you had stopped to exist, if you are not anymore, if instead of you there is now nothing? Thus the Thessalonian believers really grieved (vs. 13) over their fellow Christians who were dying, since these would miss out on the glorious future promised, since they died before the Lord had returned.

Purpose of this passage

What Paul seeks to do in vs. 13-18 is to let them know the real truth about believers who die before the Lord's return. Paul's first words we would not have you ignorant form an expression used more often by him to draw attention to some important and/ or new point of teaching (comp. Romans 1 :13-; 11 :25; I Corinthians 1 0 : 1; 12 : 1 -1 II Corinthians 1 : 8) The important point in this passage is the future of the dying believers. It is very important for us to realize this, as we listen to this passage. Paul's purpose is not to focus on the return of the Lord and all the fine details thereof; his purpose is to set the Thessalonian Christians at ease concerning the dying Christians ("that you may not grieve as those who have no hope" vs. 13; "therefore comfort one another with these words" vs. 18).

Background

It is as with a T.V. camera at a hockey game: it follows the play and the play centers around the puck. But as the play moves from one end of the rink to the other, we get to see quite a bit of, for instance, Maple Leaf Gardens. I have seen the gondola where the broadcasters sit, doing the play by play description. But to this day I could not tell you where precisely in the auditorium this gondola is.

For the purpose of the television broadcast is to show me the hockey-game, and not Maple Leaf Gardens. But if someday I do get into Maple Leaf Gardens, then I will recognize various things and finally see how it all fits together.

Return of Christ

In the same way Paul brings in the return of the Lord Jesus Christ by way of background. Look again at this passage in your Bible, and notice that in every verse, except vs. 18, the attention is focused on the Christians who have died: vs. 13, 14 and 15 "those who have fallen are asleep"; vs. 16 "the dead in Christ", vs. 17 "them", referring to the "dead in Christ", who by then have risen. Just once more: Paul teaches us how the dead in Christ will fully share in all the promises of everlasting life. Paul does not teach us here all that will take place, and the time-table of these happenings, when the Lord returns. The Thessalonian Christians were grieved that those dying Christians would be left out. Paul strives to correct this view. Nothing else.

The Use of this passage

However, the almost only times this passage is used for that purpose is when somebody has died. If we now want to explore the background of the passage for answers to our questions about the return of Christ, then we will have to be very careful, remembering that in every picture the background is somewhat patchy and hazy. Yet Christians will use this passage quite often as the basis for their theories about the Lord's return. The one teaching that is very closely associated with this passage is the one about the rapture of the Church. (Rapture = here: being carried away). Before e turn our attention to that, one general remark on Bible reading: it is extremely important always to ask yourself when reading the Bible: "What is the theme of this passage? What question(s) does it seek to answer? What teaching does it seek to present? What is central and what is background? How am I to make use of this passage?"

The Rapture of the Church

In many Christian circles the expression "the rapture of the Church" has become a concept, a thought, with a life of its own. Lt is by now a teaching that goes much further than the meaning of the words indicate. "The rapture of the Church" is a human theory, constructed by men out of various widely scattered Scripture texts, which theory had its start around 1830, put together by people whose doctrinal convictions would keep them out of the Reformed Churches. We will have to take a detailed look at this theory some other time. At present we will listen to the background of our passage.

Meeting in the air

The apostle paints the glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will return as He left: visible, from above, that is, from another world than our own. Not, of course, from a star or from the by the human eye, or detectable with the help of the most perfect instruments. Christ re-enters our created world, coming from the uncreated presence of the Father, which presence we call heaven. This coming does not happen completely secretly, for there will be: a) a cry of command, b) an archangel's call, and c) the sound of the trumpet of God. All this is directed to the ear, sounds reaching every part of the earth.

The cry of command is like a shout from the captain to his crew, or of the hunter to his hounds. We are not clearly told, from whom this cry comes. The call of an arch angel points to the services per formed by the angels for their Lord (Matthew 24 :31, Hebrews 1 :14). The trumpet has always played a large role in Israel. At the blast of the trumpets and the shout of the people the walls of Jericho crumbled. Here it is trumpet of God. It calls people "into the life of a new Day, a new Sabbath, a new Year, a new Jubilee Year; it is a sign of judgement and of hope.

Triumphant Entry

These three world-wide calls bring the message to all Christians, whether dead or alive, that the Lord Jesus Christ is on His way to the earth. We are not told whether non-Christians also hear the calls, for (remember) Paul is here concerned with the dead in Christ. At the sound of these calls all the dead in Christ are awakened and rise first, that is, before anything else happens. Then these, together with all the Christians living at that time, will rush out to meet the Lord, as for instance, liberating army troops may be joyfully welcomed. The return of the Lord thus becomes a glorious triumphant entry with millions and millions of Christians rushing out to meet Him, and to welcome Him back for ever! vs. 17. There is no suggestion whatsoever that the Lord makes a U-turn in mid-air to disappear once more, this time with all the believers. The believers go out to meet the One who is coming to earth, descending from heaven. moon, There is only great joy, no sorrow. When The Netherlands was liberated in 1944-45 from Nazi occupation, there was great joy, but also grief and tears, because of all those who had died before freedom returned. These dead, who also hoped and fought for freedom, could not share, they were no more. Not so with all those who die in Christ: they will not miss out on anything; there will be no reason for sorrow since all will be there.

In the air

The air is often considered the territory of the Evil One. He is "the prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2 :2), while Paul also speaks of the "spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ph. 6 : 12). That the believers then meet the Lord in the stronghold of the Evil One demonstrates the complete victory of the returning Lord, the full liberation of the believers from the power of Satan and his spiritual host of wickedness. Once they have met, they continue with the Lord back to the earth, where He will rule forever. He comes to occupy the throne claimed on the Palm Sunday before His death. "And so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words."

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