APOSTLE Paul unravels the mystery of the translation of the living and dead saints at the end of the church age in I Thess. 4:14-17. In verse 14, he affirms the resurrection of Jesus and applies it as a confirmation of future resurrection of all dead saints.
And in verse 15, he affirms with a certainty implicit in an oath that: “For we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep”.
Apostle Paul appeals to a higher authority than his own with the opening sentence “for we say unto you by the word of the Lord”. This is a strong spiritual authentication to what follows. He graphically explains that the living saints or those who will remain, alive at the time of Christ’s second advent will be received by Christ not before the dead saints. For clearer understanding of the importance of this verse, it is necessary to throw some light on the Greek word “phthano” translated “prevent” here. The Greek “phthano” means “to come before” “to precede”. This was the meaning of “prevent” when KJV was translated. However, the meaning of the word like a number of other words, has changed since then, so that it no longer correctly translates Greek “phthano” with the original meaning Paul assures all believers that the living Christians will not be united with the Lord Jesus Christ before those who have “fallen asleep”. “… The dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them (1 Thess. 4:16 & 17).
The foregoing means that the living saints will have no priority over those who have died in the Lord. Those who died in Christ “are asleep” awaiting the Saviour’s coming. They too have not been united with the Lord, but like the living saints await the second coming of Christ for their reunion with Him.
The word “coming” is a translation of Greek “parausia” which connotes’ a triumphal procession for a great General or King And Paul says: “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God…”.
The foregoing is a vivid prophetic description of what the second coming of Christ will be like. The personal visible bodily appearing Christ in great majesty is here described. Christ will not send a deputy nor will He come in spirit. He will come in person in fulfillment of the Scriptures: “…this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).
The Greek word “keleusmá” translated “a shout” means “a command” “a shout of command”. This implies in 1 Thess. 4:16 that Christ comes down from heaven proclaiming His victory over death and the grave for Himself and the just and the righteous – the saints. The voice of the archangel and the sound of trumpet arouse the “sleeping saints’ to wake. The righteous dead respond to the Lord’s command (hence Greek “keleusma”) and are lifted up from paradise — in the glory and majesty of the Lord ushering in His glorious Kingdom on the prophetic “Day of the Lord”.
The event does not end there. Apostle Paul in I Thess. 4:17 says further: “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 be with the Lord”.
Again, the Greek word “harpazo” rendered “caught up” here means “to snatch away suddenly” “to’ seize” “to carry off by force” And from this word comes the Latin verb “rapio” from which English word “rapture” is derived, a term some use in a technical theological sense to describe the events under discussion here However, the association of the word “rapture” with any secret or invisible pre-appearance of Christ in the air of the earth to catch away His saints while the rest of the earth’s population lives on through a period marked by tribulation under the rule of antichrist is roundly rejected. The etymological application of the Latin word “rapio” as well as, the Greek “harpazo” from which it is’ translated, in no manner connote “secret” or “private”. The qualifying words “suddenly” and “forcefully” cannot be, nor mean the same thing as “secret”. Besides, Christ’s coming with a shout, with the voice of archangel and with a trump of God can hardly be a secret event. And of this second coming of the Lord, Apostle Paul in 2 Thess. 2:1 talks of “our gathering together unto Him” and in verse 3 warns: “ Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of prediction”.
Simply, the gathering for Christ of His own will not come until after revealing of the antichrist. Greek “he apostasia” meaning “the falling away” although rendered “a falling away” due to transliteral error means “the apostasy” denoting a particular or definite apostasy. Paul in his address to the elders of Ephesian church, predicted that the apostasy would be due to men within the church rising “to draw disciples after them” (Act. 20:30). He warned, Timothy of similar dangers, and added that, time was coming when men would turn to fables, closing their ears to the truth (1Tim. 4:1-3; 2Tim. 4:3,4) like what today’s Christian is passing through in the church. Peter and Jude speak with, searing words about those who have forsaken the right way (2Peter 2:1, 12-22; Jude 10:13). And John testifies that at his time of writing, many antichrists have come (1 John 2:18). And Jesus Himself warned His saints to beware of false prophets (Matt. 24:11).
From the foregoing, the much that is quite clear include: (1) The apostasy is a religious matter of spiritual rebellion. (2) The falling away was still future at the time Paul wrote, but is partially taking place today within the church. (3) The apostasy was not only to preceed the second advent (2Thess. 2:2) but would serve as a sign of the nearness of Christ’s return, hence the second coming should not be expected before the apostasy.
At Christ’s second coming His saints will he reunited with Him. The redeemed continue the journey to where Christ will be, according to His promise in John 14:3.
Apostle Paul further touches on the form the saints will assume in this reunion: In 1 Cor. 15:51-54:“Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall 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 shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruptible, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruptible; and this mortal shall have put on immortally, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory”
DEATH AND SLEEP
The Greek word “koimao” often rendered “sleep” or “sleepeth” in the Scriptures is most of the time a figurative expression of death. In Matt. 28:13; Luke 22:45, it is used to denote natural sleep, and of the sleep of death in Matt. 27:52; John 11:11; 1 Cor. 7:39; 1 Cor. 15:51.
Sleep is used as a metaphor of death in this passage (1 Cor. 15:51), and Apostle Paul draws attention to the fact or gospel truth that there are some who will not die, who will be translated from the imperfect physical state into the perfect heavenly state when Jesus comes at His second advent. This instantaneous change can only be the heritage of the saints of the Lord. They will instantaneously exchange their mortal bodies with immortal bodies. This glorious transformation will take place at the second coming of Christ at the sound of the “trump of God”. This will “awake” all faithful believers who have died. They will be raised in bodies entirely free from all effects of sin (Col. 3:4). At the same time, living Christians will undergo a marvelous change, in which all traces of corruption and imperfection are removed from their bodies which will be made to be like the glorious body of Christ Himself spoken of in 1 John 3:2: “Beloved we are the sons of God, and it doth yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”
The saints whose bodies now assume the glorious perfect bodies like the glorious body of Christ will have the wonderful experience of being taken from earth to heaven without dying like Elijah who was a type of all true believers who will be living at the time of Christ’s glorious second coming (see 2 Kings 2:11).
The resurrection bodies of the righteous dead will differ from the bodies put in the grave. They will have flesh and blood since there is a gospel promise that “…our vile body may be fashioned like unto His glorious body…” (Phil. 3:21) which consisted of flesh and bone (Luke 24:39). The resurrected bodies must be different from the body that disintegrated in the decay of the grave because man’s corruptible body is unfit for the enjoyment of the perfect kingdom of glory. Prior to the entrance of sin into the human race, the human body was adapted to the conditions in the perfect world (see Gen. 1:31). But when man sinned, his nature was changed. Therefore before he enters the bliss of restored-Eden, man’s body must be changed and adapted to the perfection of heaven.
The text of 1 Cor. 15:50 “…that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God…” does not teach that the resurrected bodies will not be composed of flesh and blood. Such a conclusion will be most unwarranted by virtue of 1 John 3:2; Phil. 3:21 cf Luke 24:3 9. “Flesh and blood” of 1Cor. 15:50 is a figurative for man of this earth (see Matt. 16:17, Gal. 1:16, Eph. 6:12) for similar use of “fresh and blood” figuratively, even by Jesus Himself see Matt. 6:17. Apostle Paul here is simply affirming that man’s “decayable” body is unfit to enter into the kingdom of God.
It must be emphasized that the change of the bodies of the living Christians and those of the raised dead will take place in an indivisible point of time or in an instant as indicated by the Greek words “en atom” used for this action in 1 Cor. 15:51. The English word “atom” is derived from “atomos” the noun form of “atom.” Along with the expression of “twinkling (or wink”) of an eye, the phrase points to the extreme rapidly with which the change in bodies of the living saints will take place.
The Greek word “enduo” rendered “put on” in. verse 53 of 1 Cor. 15, means “to put on oneself” as a garment; points clearly to the maintenance of the individual and personal identity even after the change had taken place. Each one of the redeemed will retain his own individual physical character. And all such saints will be with Christ where He is and they only will receive the gift of immortality, having accepted God’s, salvation offer through Jesus Christ (see John 3:16; Rom. 2:7; 6:23; 2 Cor. 5:4). They also will witness and experience, how that man’s great enemy – death – will no longer trouble the saints of the Lord. As they see Christ as He is (1 John 3:2), when the gift of immortality is conferred on them. Their first sensation will be great joy of the manifestation of the gospel truth – that never (after Christ’s second advent) will the redeemed experience the second death (Rev. 20:5, 14) nor succumb to the power of sin and death hence “O death where is thy sting. 0 grave where is thy victory” (1 Cor. 15:55). The whole process is the revealed truth of the NT mystery of the translation of the saint after the church age which will be marked by Christ’s second coming to usher in the kingdom of glory. All who are taken up by Christ at His second Advent will, reign with Him for a thousand years (Rev. 20:4,6).
