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 Jesus will return to the Earth                        May 16, 2020

1^st Thessalonians 4:13-18   The Coming of the Lord, Jesus

Paul clearly explains that Jesus will return to the earth, set up His Kingdom on the Earth with the changed resurrected Saints to be Kings and Priests during the Millennial Kingdom for 1000 years rule.

Let’s take a review of this subject and see what we will go through to be like Jesus.

·      Before the millennial kingdom (1000 years rule),

·      Jesus would leave the earth and go back to heaven

·      to wait until it is time for Him to return (6000 year Satan rule);

·      When Jesus returns,

·      He will gather up His Saints for the wedding supper,

·      Change us to Spirit Beings to be Kings and Priests and then set up His Kingdom on the earth. 

·      The early Christians were looking for some to be taken home and changed without dying.

·      The Thessalonians were not concerned about their salvation,

·      but their question was “when?” 

·      This is what the Apostle Paul was explaining to them. 

The Coming of the Lord, Jesus

1 Thessalonians 4:13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed {or ignorant} about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.

Paul is telling us, he want us to know what happens to a Christian when he dies so that when it happens, we will not be full of sorrow, as those who have no hope in the resurrection.  

We:  Paul, Silas and Timothy,

·      Paul introduces a new and important topic, Christian Hope.

·      Uninformed about what: the doctrine of the {1} resurrection of the dead, {2} the second coming of Christ, and {3} the future happiness of the saints

·      The Hope of the Christian in regard to the saints at the second coming of glorified Jesus.  This hope that the unbelievers did not have.

·      The Church expected Jesus to return quickly, mourned over some who had died, counting it a great loss that they did not live to meet Jesus.

·      Paul is writing about the Christians who have already died. 

·      He urges them not to sorrow the loss of loved ones in the manner of those who have no hope.  We know that they shall wake up again.

·      Most pagans believed in a shadowy afterlife in the underworld

·      Paul will explain that those who have already dies in Christ will not miss out Should it happen that Jesus returns in the lifetime of those believers who were then still living.

We know the resurrection of unbelievers cannot be described as a hope.

John 5:28-29 "Don't be amazed at this, because the time is approaching when everyone in their graves will hear the Son of Man's voice (29) and will come out--those who have done what is good to the resurrection that leads to life, and those who have practiced what is evil to the resurrection that ends in judgment.

·      The leading topic of Paul preaching having been the coming Kingdom,

·      Some perverted this teaching to a cause a fear in respect to church friends who died,

·      As if these would be excluded from the glory which those found alive alone should share.

·      This error teaching Paul corrects here. Acts 17:1-10

·      How certain is our hope in Jesus?

·      It depends upon our belief concerning the death and resurrection of Jesus.

·      Jesus resurrection is God’s seal and evidence for us.

·      Many churches do not declare His death and resurrection can hardly expect to preach His Return.

·      Question is:  Do we really love the Lord’s appearing and do we really expect it?

1 Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe {1}  that Jesus died and {2} rose again, even so through Jesus God {3} will bring those who have {4} died with him.

·      If we believe in the death and resurrection of Christ,

·      We must believe also that all who sleep in him will be raised with him.

·      This message is to and for those who truly believe that Jesus died and rose again.

·      It is for true believers who accept the Bible teaching of the bodily resurrection from the dead. 

·      Since spirits cannot die, only bodies die, only bodies can be raised from the dead

Genesis 2:7 So the LORD God formed the man from the {1} dust of the ground, {2} breathed {spirit} life into his lungs, and {3} the man became a living being.            

Job 32:8 But it is the spirit in a person, the breath {spirit} of the Almighty, that gives them understanding {insight or intelligent}

Ecclesiastes 12:7 then {1} man's dust will go back to the earth, returning to what it was, and the {2} spirit will return to the God who gave it.

Zechariah 12:1 A declaration: a message from the LORD to Israel. The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who frames the spirit of man within himself, declares,

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in the Messiah, he is a new creation. Old things have disappeared, and--look!--all things have become new!

1 Thessalonians 4:15 For we declare to you what the Lord has told us to say: We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have died.

·      Paul said his instruction was taken directly from Jesus teaching.

·      We who are on the earth when the Lord comes, will not precede those who died in the Lord to meet him

·      Some scholars have suggested that many those who died, died as martyrs.

·      They either died a natural death, or were removed by violence, through the rage and fury of their persecutors, for whom their surviving friends were pressed with sorrow.  When a friend dies.

The Coming of the Son of Man

Matthew 24:30-31 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all 'the tribes of the land will mourn' when they see 'the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven' with power and great glory. (31) He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to another."

The dead in Christ will be raised before we are changed when Jesus returns. Paul is explaining what is going to happen to our loved ones who have preceded us in death?

1 John 3:2 Dear friends, we are now God's children, but what we will be like has not been revealed yet. We know that when the Messiah is revealed, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.

What is Jesus like?

·      Jesus’ Resurrection Body

·      Could appear and disappear at will (Lk 24:31; Jn 20:19).

·      Could move through solid walls (Jn 20:19, 26).

·      Could be seen and felt; touch or handle (Mt 28:9; Lk 24:36-42).

·      He could eat food, although it wasn’t necessary (Lk 24:41- 43).

·      Though glorified, He could be recognized (Lk 24:30-31).

·      No more experience of death, aging, crying, mourning, sorrow, or pain (Rev 21:4). 

·      All believers will be given new bodies like the glorious body of the Lord (Phil 3:21; 1 John 3:2).

·      Resurrection implies death. (Job 14:14).

Job 19:25-27 I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.  (26)  And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;  (27)  I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

1 Thessalonians 4:16 With a shout of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of God's trumpet, the Lord himself will come down from heaven, and the dead who belong to the Messiah will rise first.

·      The church seemed to have thought that the living saints would first to meet the Lord,

·      That the dead would be powerless to follow

·      The trumpet blast as a signal to the church and a summons to come forward from the grave

·      When Jesus returns to the earth, the first act is the gathering of the saints who has died;

·      The next, the gathering of the living saints. 

Luke tells us Jesus will return just as He was seen to leave, will come down

Acts 1:11 They asked, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you saw him go up into heaven."

There are three specific places mention as Heaven.

1.   “First Heaven” – sky, clouds, our immediate atmosphere

2.   “Second Heaven” – stars, galaxies, is outer space as far as it stretches

3.   “Third Heaven”  - is the place where God himself dwells 

The archangel’s voice will be one of triumph because of the great victory at the coming of Christ, ending 6000 years of Satan spiritual conflict with God. 

The final signal will be the trumpet of God. 

The elements consisting of verse 16:

1.   Shout of the Lord Himself, - like a General war shout, excitement

2.   the voice of an archangel, and - Michael

3.   the trumpet of God – the last trump

4.   Dead in Christ will rise first

The order of this glorious day, separate events occurring in rapid succession

1.   Descend from heaven, somewhere within the earth’s atmosphere

2.   Shout or order, shall be given for the dead to arise

3.   Archangel shall repeat the order, Arise, Saints who died

4.   When all dead in Christ are raised, then the trumpet shall sound

5.   The dead in Christ bodies are made like Jesus glorious body

6.   Those who are alive shall be changed and made immortal (body died)

7.   We shall be caught up together with them to meet Jesus in the air

8.   Marriage supper, rewards, become Kings and Priest, Rule under Jesus those who are left on the earth for 1000 years. 

1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

·      The saints of past ages, and the saints of the current age, shall ascend together to meet the Lord and the wicked will remain beneath

·      We will always be with Jesus, which shall never end.

·      Jesus in the Bible is often accompanied by clouds, signifying His glory

Psalms 68:4 Sing to God, sing in praise of his name, extol him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him—his name is the LORD.

Psalms 97:2 Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

Clouds: at Sinai (Ex 19:16; 24:15-18); and the Tabernacle (Ex 40:34); at Solomon’s Temple (1 Kg 8:10,11);  at the Transfiguration (Mt 17, Mk 9:7); and the Ascension (Acts 1:9-11).

As a side, The English word rapture comes from the Latin verb meaning “caught up.  The Greek word is harpazō, har-pad'-zo, G726 means: to seize  catch (away, up), pluck, pull, take (by force).  Occurrences: 13 times

The church will be removed as suddenly and as mysteriously as it began.

This is the “mystery,” a truth once hidden, now revealed by Jesus, which Paul shows

John 14:1-3  "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. (2) There are many rooms in my Father's house. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going away to prepare a place for you? (3) And if I am going away to prepare a place for you, I will come back again and welcome you into my presence, so that you may be where I am.

1 Corinthians 15:51-55 Let me tell you a secret {or mystery}. Not all of us will die, but all of us will be changed-- (52) in a moment, faster than an eye can blink, at the sound of the last trumpet. Indeed, that trumpet will sound, and then the dead will be raised never to decay, and we will be changed. 

(53) For what is decaying must be clothed with what cannot decay, and what is dying must be clothed with what cannot die. (54) Now, when what is decaying is clothed with what cannot decay, and what is dying is clothed with what cannot die, then the written word will be fulfilled: "Death has been swallowed up by victory!" (55) "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"

Paul taught us we are to expect our Savior, the Lord Jesus

Philippians 3:20 Our citizenship, however, is in heaven, and it is from there that we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

Titus 2:13 as we wait for the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, Jesus the Messiah.

Paul seemed to include himself among those who looked for Christ’s return 

2 Thessalonians 2:1 Now we ask you, brothers, regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, and our gathering together to him,

Some Christians believe very strongly that Jesus was going to be back in their lifetime, they started to set dates and stopped work and had to be pushed to return to their jobs. 

Many had this strong view and had stopped work and had to be told to return to their jobs

2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 While we were with you, we gave this order: "If anyone doesn't want to work, he shouldn't eat." (11) We hear that some of you are living in idleness. You are not busy working--you are busy interfering in other people's lives! (12) We order and encourage such people by the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.

And have Patience

James 5:8 You, too, must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the coming of the Lord is near.

Matthew tells us:

Matthew 24:36 "No one knows when that day or hour will come--not the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father,

Matthew 24:42 "So keep on watching, because you don't know on what day your Lord is coming.

Matthew 24:44  So you, too, must be ready, because at an hour you are not expecting him the Son of Man will come."

1 Thessalonians 4:18 So then, encourage {or comfort} one another with these words.

Basically, Encourage, comfort, cheer one another with these assurances, even in the face of suffering and death.

·      First, that those who had died in the faith would not always lie in the grave;

·      Second, that when they rose they would not occupy an inferior condition because they were cut off before the coming of the Lord;

·      Third, that all Christians, living and dead, would be changed and dwell forever with the Lord Jesus.

Finally, we should remind one another of this truth as a source of comfort and encouragement in the face of death and to mediate each day on this, When Jesus will return and we are changed at the twinkling of the eye. 

Inspiring words.