1 Thessalonians 4:16 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Lord himself The Lord Christ, arrayed in all his own glory, and in that of his Father; shall descend from heaven “This expression does not imply that the Lord Jesus will fix his tribunal on the earth; but that he will descend so as to fix his seat in the air, at such distance from the earth that every eye shall see him, and every ear shall hear his voice, when he passes the awful sentence by which their state shall be unchangeably fixed. This conjecture is confirmed by 1 Thessalonians 4:17, where we are told that, after the judgment, the righteous shall be caught up in clouds to join the Lord in the air.” Macknight. With a shout Raised by millions of happy attendant spirits. The word κελευσματι, so rendered, denotes the shout which the soldiers of an army used to make at their first onset to encourage one another in the attack; it is therefore used with great propriety to express the loud acclamation which the whole angelical hosts will utter to express their joy at the coming of Christ to raise the dead and judge the world. The voice of the, or rather, (as the article is wanting in the original,) an archangel He, probably, who will preside over that innumerable company of angels who are to attend Christ when he comes to judge the world. And the trump of God Sounding, doubtless, with more loud and terrible blasts than those uttered on mount Sinai when the law was given. Perhaps the voice of God himself is meant, or a great and terrible sound made by attendant angels, analogous to that of a trumpet. This circumstance is mentioned likewise 1 Corinthians 15:52, where see the note. And as Theodoret remarks, If the loud sound of the trumpet, when the law was given from mount Sinia, especially when it sounded long, and waxed continually louder and louder, was so dreadful to the Israelites, that they said to Moses, Let not the Lord speak to us lest we die; how terrible must the sound of this trumpet be, which calls all men to that final judgment that will determine their lot for ever! And the dead in Christ Those that had departed this life in a state of union with, and conformity to him; who had received his Spirit in its various graces, and imitated his example; shall rise first Shall spring forth out of their graves in forms of glory, to the infinite astonishment of the surviving world, before the rest of the dead are raised, or the living saints are changed. Then we who are alive Those in Christ who are found living at his coming; shall be caught up That is, after their bodies are changed and rendered glorious and immortal; together with them Namely, with the saints now raised, while the wicked remain beneath. What is intended by the expression caught up, Dr. Scott ( Christ. Life, vol. 3. pp. 1, 204) thinks shall be effected by the activity of the glorified bodies of the righteous. But this opinion does not seem consistent with the original word, αρπαγησομεθα, here used, which implies the application of an external force. Doubtless they shall be caught up by a mighty and instantaneous operation of the divine power; to meet the Lord in the region of the air Where his throne shall then be erected; and there, having been openly acknowledged and acquitted by him, they shall be assessors with him in that judgment to which wicked men and angels are there to be brought forth; and when the final sentence is passed upon them, shall accompany their re-ascending Saviour. And so shall we ever be with the Lord Where we shall spend a blissful eternity ill the sight and participation of his glory. Wherefore Make these grand events the subject of your frequent meditation; and when your hearts are distressed with grief for the loss of your pious friends, or on any other occasion which can arise in this mortal life; comfort one another with these words The tenor of which is so important, and the truth contained in them so certain, as being taught by the infallible dictates of the Spirit of God, and revealed to us by him, from whose fidelity, power, and grace, we expect this complete salvation.