One of the great privileges of the glorious church of the Lord is that in his inscrutable wisdom and divine plan, God revealed future events in an extraordinary way, this is known in the systematic theology as eschatologythat is, the study of future events.
It is precisely about future events that the Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians a very important phrase in the chronology of the end times and it is the statement that we are going to study in this article in a clear and simple way, so continue reading.
The Bible declares in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 that the dead in Christ will rise first which means that believers in Christ who die before the rapture of the Church will be the first to be raised by Christ and rewarded according to their works Revelation 22:12.
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What does the Bible say about the resurrection of the dead?
The Bible says that when the Lord descends from heaven at the sound of the trumpet of God, “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 those of us who are alive, those of us who are left, will 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.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
Believers who have already died will participate in the return of Christ, It was the Apostle Paul, writing to the believers in Thessalonica, who explained that the dead will rise first. The Thessalonian believers looked forward to the return of Christ, understanding that this would be the great climax of redemptive history.
Death does not reign over those who are in Christ
The Thessalonian Christians were concerned that some faithful believer might miss this event. In fact, his concern was especially for Christians who might die before the day of Jesus’ return.
They worried that death would prevent believers from meeting the Lord. In other words, they feared that deceased Christians would miss out on Christ’s return.
It was in view of this context that Paul wrote an exhortation on the situation of the dead in Christ in the face of the reality of the coming of the Lord. In this sense, he explained that there was no reason for believers to be disturbed or sad about Christians who are already asleep in the Lord.
In fact, at this point Paul used the figure of sleep as a very common metaphor to refer to the death of the body (1 Thessalonians 4:13).
Therefore, instead of sadness, Paul taught that believers should have hope. This is because the resurrection of Christ is the foundation of the certainty that death will not be able to destroy the eternal blessing of the believer at the side of the Lord.
In other words, Just as Christ died and rose again, believers who have already died will also rise and participate in the time of Christ’s return (1 Thessalonians 4:14). This is why Christians should comfort each other with this truth (1 Thessalonians 4:18).
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The dead in Christ will rise first
So, in light of this truth, Paul correctly stated the principle that the dead will rise first. First of all, he said that the word of the Lord guarantees that those who are alive at the time of Christ’s return will not precede those who are asleep at all, that is, they will not go ahead.
With this, perhaps the apostle was correcting some erroneous teaching that the believers who are alive at Christ’s return would be more blessed than those who are already dead.
But Paul affirms that this type of distinction will not exist, because both believers who are alive and believers who are already dead will all participate together in the return of Christ and in the fullness of everlasting blessing.
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Those who are alive will be taken up to heaven
The apostle further stated that after the resurrection of the dead in Christ, immediately after the living Christians will also be taken along with themso that all together can enjoy the presence of the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
In this part it is important to understand a theological classification relative to the Lord’s Church. Considering the Biblical doctrine on the Church, theology addresses the totality of the people of God from two perspectives: the triumphant Church and the militant Church.
The triumphant Church is made up of the faithful who have already completed their career on this earth and are now victorious with the Lord. The militant Church is made up of the faithful who are still alive on this earth, fighting the good fight of faith. They are not two Churches, but one Church seen from two perspectives.
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The dead will rise first through faith in Christ
So when the biblical text says that the dead in Christ will rise first, this includes all believers of all ages. Even believers who lived before the ministry of Christ, even in the Old Testament period, are also included in this promise that the dead in Christ will rise first.
If the believers who lived after the New Testament time died believing in the Christ who has already come, the believers who lived before the New Testament time died believing in the Christ who was to come.
That is why the promise that the dead will rise first, or rather, the dead in Christ will rise first, is a promise that testifies that no redeemed will be left out of the long-awaited day of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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