CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
1 Thessalonians 4:15. We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord.—“We must recognise that Paul here includes himself, along with the Thessalonians, among those who will be alive at the advent of Christ. Certainly this can only have been a hope, only a subjective expectation on the part of the apostle” (Huther). Shall not prevent.—The meaning of “prevent” is “to go before.” But the connotation came to have more prominence than the meaning, so it came to signify to stop (by standing in the way). R.V. gives, “shall not precede.” It is the same word as in 1 Thessalonians 2:16 (in another tense). The apostle says, “We shall not arrive before them.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16. With a shout.—Like the ring of command heard over the noise of battle. “We must not look for literal exactness where things are depicted beyond the reach of sense” (Findlay). With the tramp of God.—The trumpet here, like that in 1 Corinthians 15:52, is the military trumpet.
1 Thessalonians 4:17. Shall be caught up.—The idea conveyed by the word is that of sudden or violent seizure, as when the fiery messengers carried off the prophet Elijah, or as when St. Paul was “caught up” to the third heaven.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18
The Second Advent of Christ.
Among the words of consolation in the valedictory discourse of Christ to His disciples was the promise, after His departure, He would come again and receive them unto Himself. Time has sped noiselessly along; events of vast magnitude have rapidly succeeded each other, and left their lessons for the ages to ponder; nations have passed through the throes of suffering and revolution; generation after generation has gone down to the grave; for nearly nineteen hundred years the Church has been strained with profound, intense, and anxious expectancy: but still the promise remains unfulfilled. Will He come? Are the hopes of the Church doomed to be for ever unsatisfied? Must the bodies of the pious dead be for ever shut down in the sepulchres of land and sea? Will the wrongs of the universe never be redressed? If questions like these flit for a moment across the mind, it is not that the Church has lost confidence in the promise. Faith in the second advent of Christ is more widely spread and more firmly held to-day than ever. Long waiting has sharpened the longing, brightened the hope, and clarified the vision. In these words the apostle assures the Thessalonians of the second coming of Christ, furnishes some important particulars of the event, and points out the bearing of the glorious doctrine in consoling the sorrow of the bereaved.
I. That the second advent of Christ is the subject of divine revelation.—“For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:15). In a subject of such vast moment the apostle was anxious to show that he had the highest and most incontrovertible authority for the statements he uttered. He had a special revelation from heaven, and spoke under the direct and immediate inspiration of the divine Spirit. The second advent of Christ is emphatically taught in the Holy Scriptures (cf. Matthew 24:3; Matthew 25:31; Mark 8:3; John 14:3; Acts 1:2; Acts 3:19-20; Romans 8:17; 1 Corinthians 1:8; 2 Timothy 4:1; Titus 2:13; 1 Peter 1:5; 2 Peter 3:12; Jude 1:14).
II. That the second advent of Christ will be distinguished by signal tokens of terrible majesty.—
1. There will be the triumphant shout of the divine Redeemer. “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Just before Jesus expired on the cross He cried with a loud voice, and though there was the ring of victory in that cry, it sounded more like a conscious relief from unutterable suffering. But the shout of Jesus on his second coming will be like the loud, clear, joyous battle shout of a great Conqueror. That shout will break the silence of the ages, will startle the universe into attention, will raise the dead, and summon all people into the presence of the victorious Messiah. Formerly He did “not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street” (Isaiah 42:2). But now is the revelation of His power. “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence” (Psalms 50:3-4).
2. There will be the voice of the archangel (1 Thessalonians 4:16).—The angelic hosts are arranged in an hierarchy of various ranks and orders. The archangel is the chief of the heavenly multitude. In response to the majestic shout of the descending Lord, the archangel lifts up his voice, like the loud cry of the herald announcing the glorious advent, and the sound is caught up and prolonged by the vast hosts of celestial attendants.
3. There will be the trumpet-blast.—“With the trump of God,” with trumpet sounded by the command of God—such a trumpet, perhaps, as is used in the service of God in heaven. Besides the shout of Jesus and the voice of the archangel, the sound of the trumpet will also be heard in the host. It is called in 1 Corinthians 15:52 “the last trumpet”; and in Matthew 24:31 we read, “He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect.” Among the Hebrews, Greeks, and ancient Latins it was the custom to summon the people with the trumpet. In this way God is said to gather His people together (Isaiah 27:13; Jeremiah 4:5; Jeremiah 6:1). The whole passage is designed to show that the second advent of King Messiah will be attended by the most imposing evidences of pomp and regal splendour.
III. That the second advent of Christ will be followed by important consequences to the people of God, living and dead.—
1. The pious dead shall be raised. “We which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. And the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-16). The living at that day—who, it would seem, would be spared the necessity of dying and seeing corruption—shall, nevertheless, have no advantage over the dead. Before any change takes place in the living to fit them for the new condition of things, the dead in Christ shall rise first, and be clothed with immortality and incorruptible splendour. Whatever disadvantages may be the lot of some of God’s people over others, they are ever recompensed by some special privilege or prerogative. The best state for us is that in which God places us. And yet every man thinks another’s condition happier than his own. Rare indeed is the man who thinks his own state and condition in every respect best for him.
2. The living and the raised shall unite in a simultaneous greeting of their descending Lord.—“Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). The living, after passing through the wondrous change from mortal to immortal, shall not anticipate for a single moment the newly raised bodies of the pious dead, but together with them, in one reunited, loving, inseparable company, shall be caught away in chariots of clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and greet Him in the descent. He comes to fulfil His promise (John 14:3)
3. All believers in Christ shall be assured of eternal felicity with Him.—“And so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). For ever with the Lord in familiar companionship—in rapturous communion, in impending glory, in ever-enchanting revelations. With Him, not occasionally, or for an age, or a millennium, but uninterruptedly for ever, without the possibility of separation. How great the contrast with the brightest experiences of this changeful life! There are three things which eminently distinguish the heavenly life of the soul—perfection, perpetuity, immutability.
IV. That the contemplation of the second advent of Christ is calculated to minister consolation to the sorrowing.—“Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18). A community in suffering creates a community in sympathy. “If a thorn be in the foot, the back bows, the eye is busy to pry into the hurt, the hands do their best to pluck out the cause of anguish; even so we are members one of another. To him that is afflicted, pity should be showed from his friend” (Job 6:14). The best consolation is that which is drawn from the revelations of God’s word. There are no comforts like Scripture comforts. The bereaved were sorrowing for their loved ones who had been smitten down by death, and were full of anxiety and uncertainty about the future. Shall they meet again, or are they parted for ever? The teaching of inspiration on the second coming of Christ assures them that their departed relatives shall be rescued from the power of death, that they shall meet again, meet in glory, meet to part no more, to be for ever with each other and with the Lord.
Lessons.—
1. The Church is justified in looking for the second advent of Christ.
2. The second advent of Christ will bring an everlasting recompense for the suffering and sorrow of the present life.
3. The record that reveals the second advent of Christ should be fondly prized and constantly pondered.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1 Thessalonians 4:15-18. The Second Coming of Christ and Sorrow for the Dead.
I. The final period of the world the apostles left undetermined.
II. Though ignorant of the final period of the world, they were confident it should not come till the prophecies respecting the destiny of the Church were accomplished.
III. The Church, being ignorant of the day in which Christ should come to judge the world, should be always ready for that event.
IV. Sorrow for the dead is compatible with the hope of a Christian.—
1. When it proceeds from sympathy.
2. From the dictates of nature.
3. From repentance.—Saurin.
1 Thessalonians 4:18. The Duty of comforting One Another.
I. We must observe a rule and method in this duty.
II. This method is taught not in the school of nature, but of Christ.—
1. In general we must comfort one another with the word of God.
2. We must comfort one another with the Scripture teaching on the coming of the Lord and the resurrection of the dead.—Farindon.