And if you have a set of Bible maps in the back of your Bible that cover Paul's missionaries journeys, you might also want to put your finger there. I'm not sure what you expect from the passage, but I can guess you're expecting an exposition of the pre-tribulational rapture. And of course, I think we need to be careful about running into a passage with that idea in mind. If you come to a passage of Scripture with an idea in mind of what you're trying to find, then you'll tend to read into the text what you want to find rather than read out of the text what is actually there. So this week, I mainly want to read out of the text what is there. That's to exegete the passage and then answer the question, what is 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 13 through 18 teaching? And then if I find justifiable cause to do further work on the timing of the rapture from this passage, then we can do that next week. That would cover the debate between the pre-trib, mid-trib, pre-wrath, partial, and post-trib rapture positions. But this week, let's just mainly focus on what Paul is teaching. Now, up to this point in 1 Thessalonians, we've had mainly historical narrative. And on the map, Paul had gone down to Thessalonica, which is there in Macedonia, and I forgot my pointer, but it's over here in this yellowish area. After only one or two months, the impact of his ministry was so great that the political authorities got upset. They came searching for Paul and Silas at a believer's house named Jason. When they couldn't find them at Jason's house, they decided the next best things will just arrest Jason and some of the other believers at his house, and they took them all down to the police department. In trying to get them to give up Paul and Silas, they eventually worked a deal where Jason and these believers could get out of prison for a large sum of money. But if Paul and Silas ever came back, then these believers, Jason and his friends, would be thrown back in prison. And so this created what Paul interpreted in 1 Thessalonians 2 as a satanic hindrance. He and Silas were effectually blocked out of Thessalonica without legal repercussions for Jason and his friends. And so that night he and Silas departed and went down to Berea. And this should all be on your map if you have one in the back of your Bible. We gather that Timothy joined them a day or two later and they began to minister at Berea. When some of the Jews from Thessalonica find out that Paul and Silas had gone down to Berea, well, they came in to Berea and began to stir things up again. And so Paul was sent out to the sea as if he was going to set sail. But it was really a diversion, and Paul was escorted by land down to Athens. When he got to Athens, he sent word back with those who escorted him to Silas and Timothy to come join him in Athens as soon as possible. And after some time, they joined him. And when they all got together in Athens, they began to reflect upon the mission and the premature departure from Thessalonica. And because of Paul's great concern and anxiety over them, They decided to send Timothy back. Now, Timothy was not blocked. Timothy had had some training, though, under his belt. And so at this point, God, the Holy Spirit, is injecting Timothy into the ministry. And so Timothy went back to the Thessalonians to give them further doctrinal training and to find out about their faith. They knew that these believers in Thessalonica had been under tremendous pressure. There was heavy persecution in Thessalonica. That's why they had to leave. Now the believers left behind had to pay similar persecutions, and it was so heavy that a number of the believers there had actually been killed. So Timothy went back to find out how their faith was holding up. And after he returned to Paul and Silas, he gave a good report, despite the tribulations that they were facing. The believers of Thessalonica were standing firm in the faith, though they had been tempted by the evil one. They had not fallen to the temptations, but they had learned and been walking by the spirit. So Paul. In response to this report, sat down and wrote the very letter that we're studying. He tells them at the latter part of chapter three, that he's continually been praying for them and he exhorts them to excel still more. And then he begins to answer finally some doctrinal questions. Apparently they had asked Timothy some doctrinal questions that needed Paul's expertise. And so, in chapter 4, verse 13, Paul begins to answer these doctrinal questions. So, in other words, we're breaking chapter 1, verse 1, through chapter 4, verse 12, into historical narrative, and we're breaking chapter 4, verse 13, down to 511, into doctrinal questions. Now, the only difficulty is this. What doctrinal questions did they ask? I mean, we don't have their questions. We only have Paul's answers to their questions. So just as in the letter to the Corinthians, it's very clear that Paul is answering doctrinal questions, a list, so to speak, that the Corinthians sent. But the question is, well, what are the questions that they were asking? Where's the list? And all you can do is infer from the answers what the questions were. So we have to work our way back from the answer. You can infer or deduce what the question was they asked. And here's what it appears they had asked. We've had a number of believers recently killed here in Thessalonica. Now, since they were killed, since they died before Christ coming for us, will they miss out on the resurrection? Do believers. Who do not live to see Christ coming, miss the resurrection, and we infer this is what they were asking for a number of reasons, but they were grieving over these believers as the pagans do. They were grieving as those who have no hope. That is, those pagans who had no hope of resurrection from the dead. So their issue was not, you know, like, well, what is the timing of the rapture? You know, and we want to debate mid-trib, post-trib, pre-trib, whoever-trib. OK, that's not what these believers are thinking about at all. To them is a very personal issue. It's a very practical issue. You know, I mean, what about these believers who we love and they're dead now? Are they going to miss the resurrection because they didn't live to see Christ coming? So that's what Paul is responding to. Now, since that is what Paul is responding to, we can infer what Paul had taught them, can't we? At least partially we can infer what he had taught them. Paul had evidently taught them that when Christ came, those who were alive on earth would be caught up in the air and resurrected. And Paul was evidently teaching them, you know, you need to live each moment as if Christ is going to come back at that moment. And that's the same thing that I would tell you. Live your life right now, every minute of every day of your whole life, as if Christ is going to come back at that moment. But Paul, after he was locked out of Thessalonica, a little problem arose in Thessalonica. Some of these believers were persecuted unto death. And now they want to know, well, hey, Paul, we know about those who are alive. We know what's going to happen to them when Christ comes. But what about those who don't remain alive until Christ comes? Are they going to miss the resurrection? So we infer that Paul had not answered that question. And they were ignorant on the subject. And that's why in verse 13, he begins. Now, we do not want you to be uninformed is the Greek word for ignorant. And he's saying, we don't want you to be ignorant, brethren. Why not? Well, because it leads to an emotional grieving that is out of kilter with the facts about those who have died. So Paul wants them to know the facts about those who are asleep. He doesn't want them to be uninformed on doctrinal questions, because if they are uninformed and they believe false doctrine, then it will lead to false emotional responses. So Paul begins, now we do not want you to be ignorant about those who are asleep. And those who are asleep are defined for us at the end of verse 16. Who are the ones who are asleep? They are those who are the dead in Christ. And so asleep is being used as a metaphor for physical death. A number of their group had been killed, which shows you the level of tribulation these believers were facing in Thessalonica. OK, it was very intense. You might show up at church one Sunday and you have certain people sitting around you and the next Sunday you might come back and some of those people were killed between Sunday and Sunday. That's the level of persecution they're facing and they want to know about him. And Paul refers to those who've been killed as asleep, a metaphor for physical death. It is not referred to soul sleep. OK, the context is the resurrection of the physical body. And the body sleeps, OK, so he's not saying that the soul sleeps, he's saying that their bodies are asleep. OK, the soul does not sleep, OK, because to be absent from the body is to be where is to be present with the Lord. And that means in a conscious state. So when we die, our souls depart from our body and go immediately into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. But our body remains on earth and is said to be asleep. Now, what is so helpful about this metaphor asleep? I mean, what do you expect if you see someone lying asleep on the couch? You expect them to wake up, and that's why Paul used it. His whole point is to comfort them. that these fellow believers bodies are simply asleep and one day they will be woken up. So he's already begun to answer their question about the dead in Christ, simply by using a metaphor asleep. Okay. They're going to be woken up. Then in verse 13, he gives the reason. Okay. Why does he want them to know this truth about the fact that they're just merely sleeping so that you will not grieve as do the rest. You have no hope. Okay. Every evidently they were grieving as those who had no hope of the resurrection. And Paul is saying, I'm teaching you this doctrine so that you will not grieve as those who have no hope. That is, those who have no hope of resurrection. Now, who are those who have no hope? What is the popular Greek philosophy that was floating around the air in Greece at this time? And that was Epicureanism. Epicureanism was a philosophy of life founded by Zeno. And Zeno taught that there was no afterlife or bodily resurrection. So this was being taught just down the road at Athens by all the top professors. And Paul, in fact, Paul had just been to Athens, right, before he went to Corinth and wrote this letter. And what did he do at Athens? Well, he had to stand up and give a defense at Mars Hill against all the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, according to Acts 17. And so it's no wonder that Paul is couching his response to them in terms that are familiar to them, because the popular teaching in the university was floating all over the Greek world, just as in America, the popular teaching floats all around our world. It was Epicureanism, the idea of no afterlife or bodily resurrection. As one author writes, his letters to the Thessalonians and Corinthians in particular show this tendency. These letters offer strong indirect evidence that Epicureans were the principal ideological opponents that Saul had to contend with in Greece. And so Paul had to face false doctrines from the world system, just as we do. And he's saying here, guys, you're Christians, you're not Epicureans. Christians believe in a bodily resurrection and an afterlife, and so we have hope. Epicureanism doesn't believe in those things, so they don't have any hope. And a corollary to each of these two systems is how you grieve. So we have a resurrection, therefore we don't grieve like the Epicureans. Okay, so now Paul intends to inform them about the bodily resurrection of those who've fallen asleep in Christ. Verse 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, Even so, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. So keeping with the metaphor of a sleep, he opens with the gospel that Jesus died and rose. OK, the gospel is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the God man. And if we believe the gospel. OK, and we do. OK, it's a first class condition. He's assuming that they do believe. OK, first class condition assumes the reality of the situation. And the first class condition, you can translate this way in verse 14, since since we believe that Jesus died and rose, so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. Now, there's a lot here, so let's just think through a few of the things that are here. Observe that those who have fallen asleep in Jesus are going to be brought back with him. Yes, they're going to be brought back with him now, if that's true, where are they now? They must be with him. They must be with Jesus. I mean, they can't come back with Jesus if they aren't with Jesus. So where are the souls of those whose bodies sleep on the earth? They are with Jesus. The one in whom they believed to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So for those believers who have died, yes, a separation has occurred. Their bodies are asleep here in the earth. Their spirits are alive and well with Jesus in heaven. So again, no soul sleep, only the body sleeps. Now, we can add another observation, and that is this. This passage only teaches us how to grieve for believers. It does not tell us one thing about how to grieve for unbelievers. It does by implication, but it doesn't directly. Now, knowing what we know about resurrection from the Old Testament and the New Testament, that all men are resurrected, some unto life and the rest unto eternal damnation. I mean, what could we conclude? Well, we can conclude that there are two kinds of grieving that are proper. It really depends on the person and their situation. OK, Paul doesn't tell us, though, how to grieve for an unbeliever. But we do know that dead unbelievers are not going to come back with Jesus. OK, they'll be resurrected and they'll be cast in the lake of fire. So how would you grieve for somebody like that? Well, I would grieve much more intensely. OK, surely we should grieve more for an unbeliever than a believer. So two observations from verse 14, one believers who have died in Christ are already with Christ. Otherwise, they couldn't come back with him. And number two, there is a difference between how we grieve for believers versus unbelievers. OK, it's just incipient to the passage. Verse 15. For this, we say to you by the word of the Lord. Now, we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. Now, there's even more here we can say this is very thick for this. verse fifteen, for this we say to you by the word of the Lord. So first we want to ask the question, well, where did the Lord teach this? Paul says the word of the Lord. He got it from the word of the Lord. So if that's the case, that at some point the Lord spoke this and yet, you know, you can search the gospels and you can read it all and you won't find it anywhere. You won't find anything like it. OK. About what exactly follows here, but if you turn to first Corinthians fifteen, I think you'll find the answer. First Corinthians is the next set of epistles that Paul is going to write. So he wrote first and second Thessalonians in about 51 AD. Then he wrote first and second Corinthians about 57, 58 AD. OK, so these are separated by about six years, but keep the order in mind. First and second Thessalonians, then first and second Corinthians. OK, Paul taught and he's dealing with the same ideology in both books. OK, so keep in mind the order. Paul taught this truth to both churches at Thessalonica and Corinth, and here he is six years later writing to the Corinthians. What's the subject of 1 Corinthians 15? You should have a pericope heading, right, that says what it's about. It's the most extensive chapter in the whole Bible on resurrection. If there's one chapter to remember on resurrection, it's the one you're looking at right now, 1 Corinthians 15. The question, is the resurrection a new doctrine? In other words, is the New Testament where the resurrection is first taught in scripture? All right, hold your place here. We just turn there now. Just turn back to Job chapter 19. Job comes just before the Psalms. So turn in Job, about the middle of your Bible. Turn to Psalms and then go to the left. Job 19. If you get to Kings and things like that, you've gone too far to the left. Come back to the right. Job 19, Job lived after the flood and before Abraham more than 2000 years before Christ. So we're going back here a long way. And look what Job says in chapter 19, verse 25. As for me, I know that my redeemer lives and that the last he will take his stand on the earth, even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God. He doesn't say from my spirit I will see God, he says from my what? My flesh. Okay, that's bodily resurrection. Job says I'm going to see God with my own eyeballs in my flesh. Now turn over to Isaiah. About 13 centuries later. Okay, Isaiah lived in the 8th century before Christ. So go to the right. You have the big prophets coming after the Psalms. Isaiah 26. 19. OK, Isaiah ministers to an apostate nation. So if you're a believer and you have to live in the midst of an apostate nation, what do you need to hear every once in a while? Well, that there's some hope. So Isaiah injects hope in verse 19, Isaiah 26, 19. You're dead will live. Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust awake and shout for joy. Look, if their bodies are going to awake, what must they be doing in the dust? Just sleeping. See, this is the beginning of the metaphor that Paul picks up in First Thessalonians. It started with Isaiah. It's not new with Paul in the New Testament. Paul got it from Isaiah in the Old Testament. For your due is as the due of the heaven and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits. And the idea there in the Hebrew is that the body is just really a shade when the spirit is absent. I mean, when somebody dies and you can go and you can look at their body, if they have an open casket viewing, but the person isn't there. I mean, the body is just a shade. of the person. So did Isaiah teach the resurrection of the body, the body? Absolutely. No question. Okay. Last turned to Daniel. Keep going to the right. Okay. A few books over Daniel chapter 12, verse two. What did Daniel teach? Okay. He lives about 200 years after Isaiah. So he lives in the sixth century before Christ. Okay. He's read Isaiah. He's read Job. He's an Orthodox believer. He serves in the government, two great kingdoms, Babylon and Medo-Persia. In Daniel 12 too, he gets this revelation. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake. Now observe again, what's the metaphor? Sleep. OK, Daniel says the body is asleep because he got that from who? He got that from Isaiah. OK, sleep in the dust of the ground and they will awake. these everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. Did Daniel believe in bodily resurrection of all men, believer and unbeliever? Of course he did. It was well known in the Old Testament times. So coming back to first Corinthians 15 verse 50 was the resurrection of mystery and the Old Testament. I mean, or was it well known? It was well known. So, this comes, 1 Corinthians 1550, comes in the middle of the most exhaustive chapter on the resurrection and he says, Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. But behold, I tell you a mystery. Now, they already knew about resurrection, right? That was well known. So, what are you going to tell us, Paul? What's the mystery? Well, it's something that's never been revealed before. It's something that's totally new revelation. So Paul says, behold, and that means pay attention. I'm about to tell you something that is not taught in the Old Testament. I mean, you can search the Old Testament night and day. You will not find this truth. I'm about to tell you it was a mystery before it was revealed to me. And now I'm going to tell you. So is this mystery the resurrection from the dead? No, that was already known from the Old Testament. That's not a mystery. Job taught it. Isaiah taught it. Daniel taught it. Jesus taught it. Paul taught it. Resurrection was well known. But what was not known was what he's about to tell us. OK, what was it? That we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. And that's not just for the nursery, although it may be true for the nursery. That means not everyone is going to die before they are resurrected. That means there's going to be one generation of believers who are alive on the earth who are not going to die, but they will be changed. And nobody ever knew this truth before God revealed it to Paul, and so The truth is the mystery. Truth. One generation of believers will be just walking along doing whatever they're doing in their daily life and their mortal bodies. And then suddenly their mortal bodies are going to be changed into immortal resurrection bodies. These believers won't have to die. That's the new thing that Paul brought to the table. And that is something that is new in the New Testament. OK, we say a lot about things that are not new in the New Testament. This is new. And that's why Paul calls it a mystery. OK, there are some 16 mysteries. In the New Testament, this is one of them, and it is one generation of believers won't die. They will simply instantaneously be resurrected. So now go back to First Thessalonians 415 and see if we can't understand more. Paul said, we got this by the word of the Lord. So where did Paul get it? Did he go to digging through the gospel, maybe Matthew's gospel, which might have been around by then and get it out of Matthew? No. Did he get it with a person in a personal interview with Luke? No, he got it straight from the Lord Jesus himself in verse 15. It was a mystery until it was personally revealed to Paul by the Lord. Now, did he get it on the Damascus Road? Maybe. I don't know. Did he get it in the Syrian desert when he was there for three years being taught personally by the Lord? I don't know. Maybe. But all I do know for sure is that he got it before this was written, which is between Acts 14 and Acts 15. OK. Then he explained, I'm sorry, not acts 14, 15, excuse me. That's when Galatians was written. It's written after this during the second journey. So he's at Corinth. So on down and, um, acts 18. Then he explains what he got, what revelation for this, we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain into the coming of the Lord will not proceed. Those who have fallen asleep. See, I just told you there's going to be a group, right? This is the new truth. They're not going to have to die. They're just going to be instantaneously changed. OK, those who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, however, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. Now, Paul just did something most theologians would probably shudder at. OK, until you maybe walk, walk through it slowly. Maybe if you walk through slowly, they wouldn't have too much of a problem with it. But what did he just do? Well, he just split the resurrection of believers in two. He separated them in time. He said there's an order to the resurrection of believers who have fallen asleep in Jesus. I mean, what else could he mean when he says at the end of the verse will not proceed? I mean, that means if you have you have two groups of believers in Jesus. OK, those who are the dead in Christ. OK, let's call the dead in Christ. We'll call all them Group A, Group A. And then you have those who are alive in Christ. We'll call them Group B. Which group is going to be resurrected first, according to verse 15? Group A, the dead in Christ or Group B, those who are alive. Group A, OK. Group B are not going to proceed. Group A. OK, those who died in Christ. So there is an order. There is a sequence, one before the other, not at the exact same time. I don't think it's a big gap of time, because down in verse 17, what does he say? He says, we're all going to meet the Lord in the air. Group A and Group B. But there is a gap of time between the resurrection of those who fall asleep. Group A and those who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord. Group B. So now look at what he's done for the Thessalonians, thinking back to the original question that they had. They didn't even know if the dead in Christ were going to be resurrected. They were grieving as the pagans because they thought they lost them forever. Now, how does Paul answer their question? Not only will they be resurrected, but they'll be resurrected before those of you who are left alive on the earth. So that is a tremendous comfort. And let's make another key observation in verse 15. OK, this observation will relate to the timing of this event. We'll call the rapture, because that's what it is. OK, you can argue rapture or rapture is in the Bible. But if you're reading the Latin Bible, it would be in your Bible in verse 17, because here's the Latin text for everyone that has to see it. First Thessalonians 417 for a thousand years, everybody who could read Latin, really, they could only read it for four or five hundred years and it became a scholastic language in the church and nobody could read it. And they had to tell you what the Bible meant. And they didn't really tell you what it meant. They told you what was going to keep them in power and keep you paying money. But anyway, here's the Latin text for everyone that has to see that rapture is in the Bible. And I don't know Latin, so if you do, excuse me. Okay, you see that rapier mur? Okay, that word that I have underlined there is the Latin word from rapio. Okay, that eventually people used to refer to as the rapture. Because Jerome came along and he translated the Greek text Harper got some of the from the Greek word for a puzzle. He translated that into Latin is rapier. So the word is there. OK. You've seen it for yourself. Now it's a legitimate word. It means to catch away to snatch away. OK. So I'm going to use the word rapture whether you like it or not. All right. Now there's an observation of verse 15 that has implications for the timing of the rapture. So let's read it again. For this we say to you. By the word of the Lord. That we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. OK, so the question is. Who? Will not precede those who have fallen asleep. We we who are alive and remain right? Well, does Paul include himself in the statement? Yeah. He doesn't just and he doesn't just mean, well, you know, that that generation that is living at that time will proceed. OK, if he wanted to say that, he would have said those who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not proceed. Those who fall asleep is enough. But Paul didn't say that. He says we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not proceed. Those who have fallen asleep. So by saying it that way. Does Paul think that he may be alive and remain? until the coming of the Lord. Treat us. Now. What does that mean for the timing of the rapture? It basically means it can come at any moment. Paul didn't say. It would come in his lifetime. OK, nor does he imply that it would. He simply indicates that it could come in his lifetime. Now, if that's the case. then does anyone know when it will come other than God. No. Now that's a very important observation, because it's pointing to what we call the doctrine of imminency. That the rapture is imminent, meaning it can come at any moment. Now it could have come in Paul's lifetime. It could have come in Anselm's lifetime, it could have come in Calvin's lifetime, it could have come in Wesley's lifetime, it could have come in our lifetime. It hasn't yet, but it could from a human standpoint. Of course, God knows when it will come, but from a human standpoint, it could come at any moment. So what does that mean for if you want to put the rapture on some kind of a timeline? Well, it means that wherever you place the rapture on a timeline, it has to be protected from anything that destroys immanency. That's basically what it means. You say, well, you're setting me up to look at the rapture a certain way. No, not really. Paul is OK. Paul said this. Not me. Paul thought it could come in his lifetime. So Paul thought it could come in his lifetime and it didn't. Then don't we think that it shouldn't we think it could come in ours? And I find it very hard to believe that Paul thought that he would go through the wrath of the day of the Lord before he could be raptured, because look at first Thessalonians, five, nine. The context is what in verse two versus five to. The context is the day of the Lord, then what does he say in verse nine, for God has not destined us for wrath. That's the wrath of the day of the Lord of that period of time, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, we're not destined to go into the wrath of the day of the Lord. We're going to be raptured away before the wrath of the day of the Lord. Salvation there refers to the resurrection third phase, and so this is actually where the conflict over the timing of the rapture occurs right here. See, a lot of people believe what I just told you. They see clearly, yeah, the rapture must occur before the wrath of the day of the Lord. Pre-trip people see this. Mid-trip people see this. Pre-wrath people see this. They all see this. They all agree with this. You say, so what's the problem then? Why do we still have pre-trib, mid-trib and post-trib pre-wrath views? I mean, why can't we all agree on the timing of this event? Answer. Because they all say the wrath of the day of the Lord begins at a different time. So once we change the time, well, that changes where the rapture goes. So here's a diagram of the pre-tribulational rapture view. And those of you who've been with me know I don't hold any of these views exactly. So if we go into this more detail, I'll show you next week why my view is the best view. OK. Well, I think it I think it helps with some areas to clarify some things. Pre-Trib people say that the wrath, God's wrath, in the day of the Lord begins at the beginning of the tribulation when the Antichrist signs the covenant. OK, so they say it lasts the whole seven years. And they say, we've got to be removed before that. So that means, you know, pre-tribulational, right? That makes sense. Then the mid-trip people watch. I'm going to switch the slide. You're going to watch everything just slide over to the middle. OK, so God's wrath and the day of the Lord are just going to be lumped in the second three and a half years. But they recognize the same thing I just taught you, that the wrath of God and the day of the Lord, we're not going to go through that. We're going to be raptured before it. But look where they put it. At the midpoint. when the Antichrist commits the abomination, the desolation. So we have to go through, they would say, the first part of Daniel's 70th week. So the Antichrist will sign the covenant, we'll still be around, we'll go through all of his wrath. OK, that's what the mid-trib people are saying. And then you watch again, we're going to go to the pre-wrath view, and these people are going to move it even further over, about three quarters of the way through. So now we're going to get God's wrath on the Day of the Lord into this very short time period, right at the end of the Tribulation, OK? And they say, God's wrath in the day of the Lord is not begin until about five and a half years or so through the tribulation and so will have to go through the first. Five or five and a half years and then will be raptured before God's wrath in the day of the Lord. So they all they all agree with first testifying on yeah will be removed before. The wrath of the day of the Lord see that they all agree with that it's just a difference. Of where you think God's wrath in the day of the Lord begins to. We're just moving around, but we're always going to keep the rapture before that thing. I'm just going to bounce it back and forth a few times. So you, you, you get the idea. Okay. I think that helps. So the decisive issue comes not down to whether you believe in Iraq and rapture or not. Everybody believes that. Okay. What it comes down to is when does the wrath in the day of the Lord begin? If you can settle that, then you got to be rational before that. And we'll have our answer, right? Easy enough. And my whole point with this imminency statement by Paul in verse fifteen that we who remain alive. OK. And later in verse seventeen again he includes himself and we is that the rapture can't be imminent if any part of Daniel's seventieth week the tribulation period has to occur before the rapture can happen. If some part or any part of the tribulation has to occur before the rapture. OK then what. We're not waiting expectantly and patiently for Christ to come for us. We're waiting for the events of Daniel 70 is weak to begin. Once they begin, then we can put a date on when the rapture should happen. OK, and then we can start waiting expectantly for Christ. Then. You see that. If anything in that period, beginning with when the Antichrist signs, the covenant has to happen before the rapture can happen, then what do we we're not waiting for Christ. We're not looking for him. Who we looking for. And I cry. OK. And that destroys eminency. OK. So and that doesn't gel too well with what Paul said in First Thessalonians 1 10. So let's look at 1 10 and see how this really closes the door a whole lot on some of these views. This verse is very hard to gel with a mid pre wrath or posture view of the rapture. Verse 10. and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, that is, Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. Now, what were the Thessalonians doing that we should be doing? I mean, Paul is commending him here. In verse 10, they were waiting for him to come from heaven and to rescue us away from the wrath to come. Now, Paul didn't say, now wait. You have to wait until the tribulation begins, the 70th week of Daniel begins, then you need to start waiting expectantly for Christ to come. No, they were already waiting for him. And we should be doing the same thing today. OK, now that verb to wait there in verse 10. Is Anna Minow, A.N.A. M.E.N.O. Anna Minow. And it doesn't just mean wait. OK, it means to wait expectantly for something like someone's coming over to your house and you know they're coming over to your house, but you just don't know exactly when. But what you expect them. Right. Now, what do you do in that scenario? I mean, what I do every time if I walk by the window, I'm looking out, you know, If I walk around, just walking around the house, I'm kind of listening, you know, I'm just on alert, you know, that they may be driving up. Now, that's the kind of waiting this is talking about. But think, if you knew that five other things were going to happen before this person came over, are you going to be looking out the window? I mean, are you going to be listening for him? No. So if I'm a mid-trib rapture person. I'm not going to be waiting expectantly for Christ, because I know that three and one half years of tribulation have to come before Christ can come. So I'm not looking for Christ. I'm looking for Antichrist. I'm getting prepared to live under his rule. Or if I'm pre-wrath, and I believe it's even later, OK, again, I'm not waiting expectantly for Christ, because I know about five and a half years of tribulation have to pass before Christ is going to come to get me. So I'm going to be looking for Antichrist. I'm going to be preparing to live under his rule. And, of course, if I'm a post-Trib, and I don't have one, but that would slam it all the way over to the right, OK, then I'm certainly not expectantly waiting for Christ. The whole seven years of tribulation has to come before Christ is going to come get me. I'm going to prepare to live through that tribulation. So why look expectantly for Christ if in these other views he can't come until after a whole bunch of these events occur? I mean, look for these events. OK, and then once they begin, you can start looking for him. So do you see my point? I'm trying to point out that Paul could not have included himself in the statements of First Thessalonians 415 and First Thessalonians 417, we who are alive and remain, unless he held to eminency of this event, that the rapture could come at any moment. And so the moment you start putting the church in the event of Daniel seventieth week. What most people call the tribulation. You just wiped out imminently. Okay. So first does one ten four fifteen and four seventeen do not fit with a mid-term a pre-rath or a post-trip position. You say, well, you're pretty much locking me into a position on the timing of the rapture. You're saying it's gotta be something like a pre-tribulational rapture, before the seals, before the trumpets, before the bowls of revelation. And I say, yes, you're absolutely correct. That's good biblical logic you're using. Not only good logic, you're using good exegesis. But let's go on and develop Paul's answer to the Thessalonians, because their question was not, when is the rapture going to happen? Their question was, what about believers who die before Christ comes to rapture us? Will they miss out on the resurrection? If they will, see, that's very depressing, right? And that's why they were grieving so intensely. Paul says, not only will they not miss out on the resurrection, they will actually precede those who are alive and remain on earth when he comes. And so now in verse 16, he's going to explain the order. Okay, verse 16 gives an order to the events that will occur. Now, when Paul went around and taught this afterwards, everywhere he went, he taught this and you better pay attention to it because it's going to, it's going to clear some more air. OK, all the flack that gets thrown at the pre tribulation or rapture idea. Verse 16, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven. OK, this is the first action. What is it? OK, there are three actions that are going to be taken here. The first action is the Lord Jesus Christ will descend from heaven. OK, that that tells you again where dead believers are right now because they're going to come with him. So they're in heaven face to face with the Lord. They're going to descend with him. Christ is going to descend from heaven with them with a shout, it says. So that's the first action. This is the sequence, the linear sequence of action. I mean, it's got to start with Christ. So action one, Christ descends from heaven with a shout. OK, the word shout is a word from military command. OK, Christ gives a military command. OK, action two. See, because the angels are basically, you know, a set of army people that really understand hierarchy and rank and order. And that's who he's talking to. So who comes next? Well, one of the top military angels, the voice of the archangel, who's the archangel arch means biggest. Okay. The highest. He's the top dog. He's a fighting angel. Okay. We see him over in Daniel chapter 10. He goes to combat with demons that manipulate earthly political rulers. Okay. He's at war in the airspace over geopolitical entities. So Christ takes action. One, he gives the command. Then Michael, the archangel, takes action, too. OK, he utters his voice and this sets off action three, the last action, which is the trumpet of God. That's why it's called the last trump over in First Corinthians 15. Right, it's called the last trump. It's not called the last trump because you're supposed to read into that the seventh trumpet in the Book of Revelation or something. OK, Paul called it the last trump in First Corinthians 15 because it's the last of these three steps that set off this great event. That's why I mean, Paul didn't know about the seventh trumpet. you know, that any trumpet. He wrote 50 years before that was written. He didn't know anything about that seven trumpets. He didn't know all that stuff. Okay. He's talking about the last in a sequence here. That's what the word means. It means the last in a sequence, the last trumpet. That is the last thing in this three step action of action that results in this great event being triggered. So, uh, that's all it means. Okay. It means you've got the first thing Christ command. The second thing, the voice of the archangel, the third thing, the trumpet boom, boom, boom, like that. What happens then the end of verse 16, the dead in Christ will rise first. So they're descending with Christ. And as they're descending action, one happens. Christ gives the command action to happens. Michael, the archangel says this thing, which is probably to the angel of the trumpet. The angel blows the trumpet of God at that moment, the dead in Christ raised. Okay. So that's the bodies of those who are descending. They'll be raised. They'll be given new bodies. So now their bodies that have been sleeping all this time. And the earth will be awakened and rejoined to their souls. Then what will happen? Verse 17. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up. Okay, so that's the believers walking around here on earth. Okay, we can't see the Lord descending. And we can't hear his command. Okay, we can't see or hear Michael the archangel do his thing. And we can't hear the trumpet of God. Okay, only the dead in Christ who are already with Christ descending are going to hear and see all that. And when they do, they're going to be resurrected. We're still here, alive on Earth, bumping around doing our business. And suddenly, verse 17 happens. We who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them. And there's our word for rapture, harpazo, caught up. OK, it's just a sudden jerking motion off of the earth. Don't worry, though, you won't get hurt. But the point is, is that you'll be ripped off the earth. OK, body and all. OK, your body doesn't fall down dead and your spirit goes up and there'll be a bunch of dead bodies around. No. body and spirit, your whole person is going to be ripped off the earth. So don't ask me what happens to your clothes. Okay. All I know is, is that you get clothed with a new body. That's what I do know. Your old moral body is going to be changed into a new immortal body instantaneously out of the same material. Okay. It'll somehow be transformed into a new biology, chemistry, and physics. So this is the mystery that Paul taught in first Corinthians 15 one. See, this is something that had never been revealed before. And when we are caught up, he says, verse 17, we will be caught up together with them in the clouds. Again, Paul's thinking I could be here for that. So who are we going to be caught up to? Well, all believers who died in Christ. We're going to have we're all going to have this reunion right there. With all believers in Christ, so. Is this answering the Thessalonians original question? It's a great answer. I mean, now you can see why Paul says don't grieve like the pagans who have no hope. The believers who die before Christ comes are not going to miss out on the resurrection. In fact, at Christ's command, when he descends, Michael will alert the trumpeter. And you say some people say, well, why does Michael have to be involved? Well, he doesn't have to be. But, you know, isn't it fantastic that God involves us in certain things that he's accomplishing? He involves you in things. He doesn't have to do that. Does he have to involve me or you in giving the gospel to someone else so they can come to Christ? No, I didn't have to do that. But you know what? Isn't it nice that he does? We get to be involved in some neat things. So Michael will blow the trumpet of God. And if you know about the trumpet in scripture, that's great. If you don't, it's a signal to assemble. And then what do you see in verse 17? You see a great assembly in the clouds. Right. But in this order, OK, the dead in Christ are resurrected first. Then we who are alive and remain are ripped off the planet instantaneously changed from mortal to immortal. And finally, we're all going to go to a meeting in the clouds with the Lord. So this would be the atmospheric heavens just above the earth. And I don't know what this meeting is all about, but you know, the Lord has scheduled a meeting for all the church saints. And we're going to get some orders here. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to give us a speech. He has something to say. And then it says, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Now, it doesn't say where we're going to be with him. It just says we're always going to be with him. OK, we'd have to go to other passages like John 14 1 through 3 to find out where he's going to take us, OK, where he's going. So we'll know where we're going. Since we're always going to be with him, we're going to go with him. So that's why, like in this diagram here, I always have above the rapture, you always have an arrow going down, but then another one going back up. Right. And that's because they'll come down, descend, Michael, the trumpet, all that kind of stuff. And we'll go up, we'll meet him in the air. And then where are we going to go back up? That's why I draw the arrow like that, because the passage is like John 14, one through three. So we'll go meet in the atmospheric heavens and then return to heaven. I don't care how smart you are. I don't care how many PhDs you have. You cannot show me from First Thessalonians, chapter four, 13 through 18. Anything other than Christ coming down to the atmospheric heavens with the dead in Christ and catching up those who remain alive on the earth. for this meeting in the air. OK, you cannot show that he comes down to the earth here. They ever touches his foot on planet Earth. OK, that's all you can show where he goes after this meeting in the air. You have to go to other passages like John 14 to find out. So we'll go back to heaven with him. And then we have other passages like the last verse in First Thessalonians 2, 19 and 20, which tell us we'll go to the judgment seat of Christ. And then the last verse of chapter three that we will go and be presented before the father. OK. So we shall always be with the Lord. Now. Does that comfort? What's his goal? I mean, it's to comfort them. They've lost a number of believers. I mean, they could have had members and their own families that had come to Christ and then clubbed and been clubbed and beaten to death. And they're not even sure they'll be resurrected. You know, Paul says, oh, yes, they will. They'll even be resurrected before you who are left here alive. And I may be one of you. And then we'll be caught up with them in the air, we'll all be reunited with them at this great meeting. So don't grieve, he says, as those who have no hope, because the Lord has a terrific plan for his bride, his church. Now, Paul has basically answered the question. OK, let's close with some observations. Observation one. You know, there's a lot of people that run around, say it doesn't really matter what you believe, it just matters how you live. Excuse me. But Paul's whole point is that it's what you believe about the resurrection that determines how you grieve. It totally matters what you believe, and it's not just what you believe, it's what the Lord has revealed. OK, it's true. I mean, you can believe whatever you want to believe. That doesn't make it true. That doesn't even make it true for you. What is is reality is. And if your belief conforms to that, that's good, because that means it's going to conform to reality. OK, truth is what matters. You want to believe the truth, don't you? Jesus said the truth will set you free. That means lies will enslave you. OK, that's my translation. Observation two, if a believer dies. You should comfort them with these words, verse 18, if the only imperative in the passage comfort one another with these words. That's why I say if a pastor doesn't preach this at a believer's funeral, he should be fired. I would not give him a second chance. You can say, well, that's not gracious. I'm sorry. This is a command from the Lord, and if he will not preach, And he will not comfort a family with these words of truth. He should be fired. That is out of line. It's not just for pastors, though, of course, this is a command for all believers. What words, in other words, are you going to comfort people with when they lose a loved one who's a believer? Well, it better be these. OK, that's the command doctrinal words about the rapture. That's what you're to tell them. Observation three. The sad thing is, you can't comfort everybody with these words when they lose a loved one. You say, why not? Well, answer, because not all people are believers. Not all people believe, verse 14, that Jesus died and rose again. And since not all people believe that, then not all people are going to be raised on the day of the rapture and be reunited with their loved ones. It's just not a comfort when an unbeliever dies. It's grief. Nothing but eternal torment for that person. I mean, maybe they were a friend, maybe their spouse, your co-worker, someone you loved, someone you spent time with, someone you laughed with, someone you cried with. The day they died, if they died in unbelief, it's not a celebration. I'm sorry, it's not. OK, they are not in a better place. That's why the last observation I make, observation four, and that is the urgency of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you're not doing something every day to prepare, to be ready to give an answer to someone who needs Christ. I don't know why you're hanging around here. OK, what else are you here for? How can people come to Christ if they don't hear the gospel of Christ? I mean, the death and the resurrection of the God man, Jesus Christ, is the central and most important truth in the whole universe. If somebody doesn't come to believe that, that's a bad, bad thing. Not just bad, it's the worst thing. That's why the Bible, I'm convinced, doesn't tell us a whole lot about hell. It doesn't just go on and on and on about it. You know why? Because we could we couldn't handle it in these frail bodies. We cannot handle reading about that. It gives us just enough to know, you know, I can't really look at that very long. I can't really think about that, and hopefully that turns you to making sure you proclaim the gospel to people. So evangelism and most of it outside the church, by the way, training, teaching primarily is what happens inside the church. Evangelism is primarily what happens outside the church. There's the difference between preaching and teaching. And the New Testament makes pretty clear that most of the preaching is to go on outside the church and the teaching is to go in on inside the church to train those who are inside the church to go out and preach. OK, both are true, but I'm just giving you the emphasis. So Paul has answered their question. Paul has comforted them. And next week, we'll probably will press on and look at more of the different views on the timing of the rapture. But I'll have to see if it's totally relevant to what we're doing here. But there are a number of objections to a pre-tribulation or pre-Day of the Lord rapture, and I call it pre-Day of the Lord. And if you have any questions about it, of course, you just put them in a little box back there and I'll be glad to deal with those. All right. But I think we have a great answer to a dilemma about those who have died in Christ. We have a wonderful, comforting answer. Let's close with a word of prayer.