The Lord Will Descend

Day 284: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-18, 5:1-3

“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, 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 encourage one another with these words.” - ‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭4:16-18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Here we see echoes back to Daniel 7:13, 12:2. Stop reading this for a sec and check those verses out for a better understanding of Paul’s language.

I love what Leon Morris says about this passage: “There are many points on which we should like further information. But when Paul comes to that great fact that makes everything else unimportant, he stops. There is no need (and no more) to add to that.”

Six verses (13-17) do seem to be quite inadequate to describe the end of time as we know it and a grand reunion with those Christians who have died before us. Yet we have what we need here. We learn two important things from these verses: 1) We will be together. 2) We will be with Jesus.

On the flip side, in our reading today, Paul spends 4:1-11 talking about life until Jesus returns. The process of pleasing God is our prep for heaven. He tells us what to avoid, and he even gives us advice on how to work our professions. May we ready ourselves for Jesus’ return!

Elizabeth K. Mills (1805-1829) said it well in the hymn she penned:

O land of rest for thee I sigh!

When will the moment come

When I shall lay my armor by

And dwell in peace at home?

We’ll work till Jesus comes,

We’ll work till Jesus comes,

We’ll work till Jesus comes,

And we’ll be gathered home.