For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise.For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first,For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first;
15 sermons cite this verse
… but the Bible speaks of an event that is coming when the Lord will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first and we which are alive and remaining shall be caught up. Caught up, it's the Greek word harpazo. That's translated to the word rapture. So we're caught up in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. Jesus said two will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left. Two are grinding at a mill, one is taken and the other left. Two are laying in a bed, one is taken and the other left. So here's how it goes. Here we are in the world being salt, stopping the spread of evil, keeping the lid on things in a way. And suddenly the Lord calls millions of people who put their faith in Christ to heaven. That is going to allow the spread of evil to happen quickly. …
… who died in faith that one day the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we who are alive and remaining shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. That's what you say. You say you'll be reunited with your loved one again. And that is why after he made that statement, the Apostle Paul added this, therefore comfort one another with these words. And Bible prophecy causes us to want to live a godly life. Studying Bible prophecy causes us to want to live a godly life. the more that we learn about the future, the more we'll be motivated to live right in the present. You know, it's an interesting thing to note that whenever you read what the Bible says about the future, there is usually an exhortation to live a godly life attached to it. …
… archangel, the trumpet of God that says, come up here. Aren't you looking forward to hearing that voice? It's coming for those who know Christ. The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. And we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. That's what's going to happen to these two witnesses. Verse 13. And in that hour, there was a great earthquake and a tenth of Jerusalem fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. That doesn't mean they were converted. That means they realized what any imbecile could understand that God had done something great. They see this great sign, but it's not enough to lead them to repentance. Verse 14, the second woe is passed. That is the sixth trumpet is passed. Behold, the third woe, the final trumpet is coming quickly. And it comes in verse 15, the sounding of the seventh trumpet, which signals the beginning of the bold judgments and the return of Jesus Christ. …
… Israel at the second coming of Christ. And finally, there'll be a trumpet that will announce the rapture of the church. Remember 1 Thessalonians 4, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the what? The trumpet of God. I'm ready to hear that one, aren't you? Believers are going to hear that one day, that trumpet blast that signals the rapture of the church. These trumpets signify the beginning of a war. These angels are going to sound the trumpet to announce God's war on planet earth. Each one has a trumpet, but before the first angel blows the trumpet, notice something else John sees, and that is the angel with the gold censer. Now, this is so interesting to me. Look at verse three. Another angel, not one with a trumpet, but another angel came and stood at the altar holding a golden censer. I'll explain what that is in just a moment. And much incense was given to him so that he might add it to the prayers of all of the saints on the golden altar, which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand. You probably wonder what in the world is this talking about? Remember in the Old Testament temple, there were two altars. One was called the altar of sacrifice, the brazen altar. And it was busy day and night. Priests were continually offering …
… will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with the shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. Their bodies will rise first. If there's anything that we could add to this carefully, it would be their bodies will rise first because he's bringing those saints with him remember I told you about my mom? Her body is in the ground. She's with Jesus right now, tonight. When he comes, he brings her with him, but her body's gonna be resurrected out of the ground. That's, yes. Verse 17, then, watch this, then, that's a timestamp, then, it means a lot. Then, time, then, we who are alive and remain, shall be what? Caught up. The word's rapture in Latin. Anybody have a Latin Bible? If you have a Latin Bible and you turn to this chapter verse, it's the word rapture. The word rapture's not in the Bible. …
… Any day now, that trumpet could blow and the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, the Bible says, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. What comfort. Paul says, stir each other up to, well, that's a different writer, to love and good works. I'm misquoting verses here. But we're to think on the future and what God has in store for us and to comfort one another with these words and remind each other. What a blessing to anticipate it all. Friend, have you placed your faith in Jesus? We would really like for you to join us there. And you can. that's why Jesus God in the flesh died on that cross because of his great love for you the Bible says he died there in your place to suffer the judgment you deserve for your sins so that you could be forgiven so that you could be rescued from spending eternity in hell and be brought back into a right relationship with your maker but Jesus rose from the grave three days later and today he is offering all humanity the forgiveness of sins, peace with God and the free gift of everlasting life in his eternal kingdom. …
… to be resurrected and then we're going to follow them up. Watch this. For the Lord himself would descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel. And here it comes again. This is that last trump. There's only two trumps. Not two trumps. There's a lot of trumps. Two trumpets. I don't know why I said trump. There's the first and the second, first and the last trump. Don't confuse the trumpets with the tribulation trumpets. And with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up. That's the word rapture in Latin or hapazo in Greek. Together with them in the clouds. Notice where's the location? In the clouds, in the glory, in the atmosphere. To meet the Lord in the air. and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. Can you say amen to that? Amen. The return of Jesus Christ, if it's tonight, should excite you to no end. …
… have fallen asleep or died for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with the shout with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them, wow, in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And of course, based on John 14, verses 1, 2, and 3, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. And all God's people said, amen. Absolutely. The imminent appearing of Jesus Christ ought to be a motivator for our Christian maturity. Knowing that Christ could come back tonight should cause us to grow up. Knowing, really believing. You know what? I'm not going to rush. I'm going to start to land. I got seven minutes to land this plane. We're still like 80 miles out from the airport. So... if you're asked or if you ask someone do you believe in Jesus yes Okay, that's the right answer. …
… He included himself in the people who were alive. He said, we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout and the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain, notice this phrase, shall be caught up, not just caught up, but caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. The Christians in Thessalonia were so expectant of the coming of the Lord. They had seen Him do miracles. They had seen the truth of the gospel. They believed his death, purchased their salvation, and he resurrected from the dead. They believed that message. And so when Jesus said, I'm coming back again, it was very real. …
… The last few verses. The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Remember, they were worried about their dead loved ones who, if the Lord is coming back and they're dead before he comes back, will they participate in his kingdom? And so he addresses that. The dead in Christ will rise first. They won't be left out. They're first in line. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up, harpazo, raptured together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. So he concludes chapter 4 with the joyful hope of the gathering together of the saints with the Lord in the air, including those loved ones who have died before those who are alive at that time to meet the Lord. we'll all have an incredible reunion with the Lord, with our loved ones, in glory. …
… all those phrases that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. I wanted to read to the end so that I could technically say no matter when we stop tonight that I have finished the chapter it's my little cheetah moany thing that I do. Okay, so back to verse 13, I do not want you to be ignorant. I've discovered whenever Paul uses this terminology, I don't want you to be ignorant about something. It's generally an area that Christians are the most ignorant of. …
… Oh, you're going to love this. The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God. Command, voice of the archangel, and the trumpet call of God. Three features of the return of Christ. A generation of believers will witness that moment. won't your heart leap if you are alive when Christ returns if the Shackleton sailors were thrilled at the coming of their captain how much more will we be thrilled at the coming of Christ may I go on record and volunteer to be among those who are alive when Christ returns and he comes for us Christians who are alive at that moment will hear a loud command. Now this word command is actually a military term and it was the same term used to call the troops into action, to muster the troops. It was a signal to break camp. Not only will there be a command from Christ, but we will hear the voice of the archangel. …
… they're actually gonna go first, he's saying. He said, for the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command and with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. So those who have fallen asleep in Christ, they're gonna rise, they're gonna get glorified bodies and they're gonna go and meet Jesus in the air. And after that, we who are still alive, the believers, and who are left will be caught up. We're gonna come back to the words caught up. We'll be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. And Paul said, this isn't something to be afraid about. It's not something to worry about. He said, this is something to be excited about. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. This is very, very good news. Now, how's it gonna go down? I'm gonna tell you exactly precisely how it's gonna go down. …
… believers until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. This isn't talking about judgment. This is a very comforting passage, letting us know that the Lord is going to come and take His church out of this world. There's nothing about judgment in that text at all. And beyond that, after the rapture has taken place, comes the beginning of the judgments, and the day of the Lord, of course, culminates that. The day of the Lord is seen to be near. Ezekiel says it's near. Joel says it's near. Obadiah says it's near. Zechariah says it's near. …
… the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words." comes to the earth. Believers go to heaven. Amen. Because we are not of the darkness. We are sons of light, sons of the day, and we are not destined for wrath. Jesus said, I go to prepare what? A place for you, and if I prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself. That's why in the book of Revelation you see the church in chapters 1 to 3 on earth, and then all of a sudden the church in heaven in 4 and 5, and then the tribulation begins in 6. …