For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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 Idead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Let it be noted that in this age when so many are denying the miraculous in God's Word and God's activities in the world the glorification of the church by the coming of Christ at the end of the age is to be brought about by three of the most stupendous miracles of all time. First: The Coming of Christ brings the miracle of "The dead in Christ shall rise first" (1 Thess. 4:14). The Thessalonians evidently knew that when the Lord should come again they themselves, if alive, should never see death, but, as we shall presently note, would be caught up into heaven to be forever with the Lord. But they were troubled about their dead. Seemingly they feared lest, when they themselves were caught up, the bodies of their dead should be left behind: lest they themselves should precede the dead. So Paul writes to comfort and assure them upon this point, saying (v. 15): "We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede (R. V.) them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven......and the dead in Christ shall rise first." The very first event at the coming of the Lord will be the resurrection of the dead in Christ. It will even precede momentarily the change and rapture of the living. Of God's great trio of miracles it will be the first to come to pass. Words of jubilant triumph over death are these: "The dead in Christ shall rise!" These bodies. in which we have lived and loved, suffered and served; these bodies in which sin has marred the image of God once stamped upon them; these bodies which were the tabernacles in which our loved ones moved about among us; these bodies which have gone down at the last into the darkness, gloom and corruption of the greedy tomb; these bodies over which death, the fruit of sin, has wrought its last appalling, and seemingly final triumph-these bodies shall rise! Not by all the doubts of skepticism; not by all the jeers of materialism; not by all the disappointed powers of hell itself can they be holden. "This corruptible shall put on incorruption." The darkness of passing years has enshrouded them; earth's chill and clammy arms have embraced them; the vulture worms of decay have preyed upon their youth and beauty; the consuming elements have done their worst to devour and annihilate them—but they shall rise! "When Christ who is our life shall appear them shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” Here is a power house hidden away in the heart of a great city. Myriads of steel fibres insulated from the earth bind it to multitudes of electric lights. When the stream of life is turned on at the hidden power house, when the power, as it were, appears, then do all the lights which are bound to it by these threads of steel appear also with it in glory. Instantly that the power begins its journey over these steel highways do the lights all over the city appear in glory. They flash forth from hidden alley-ways; they twinkle like stars upon the pin nacles of lofty buildings; they race in fantastic course around the curious electric signs; they blaze in blinding splendor from the great arc lights at the street corners; they illumine the darkness and gloom of underground tunnels and gloomy subways; they fill the very heavens with blinding bands of splendor as the searchlight seeks to rival the glory of the midday sun. Instantly that the power appears, then wherever the lights are hidden they appear in radiant glory with it. So shall it be with the resurrection of the dead in Christ. Instantly that Christ appears then wherever the bodies of His saints are hidden they shall also appear in glory. Glory shall flash forth in the dark chambers of the earth's secret mines and caves; it shall radiate from the watery deeps of the sea: it shall burst from the rent clods of the tomb: it shall light up the gloomy recesses of solemn forests: it shall break forth from the gray sands of lonely deserts: it shall tip the mountain tops with unimagined splendor: it shall flood the little village churchyards with light ne'er seen on sea nor land. When the Head appears each member of the body shall appear in glory too: when the Vine appears each branch shall share the splendor: when the temple of God is suddenly fashioned each living stone in its walls shall be resplendent with the self-same glory. * The Coming of Christ will bring the miracle of INSTANT CHANGE. "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" (1 Cor. 15:51). For the end of the age for the church brings something else besides resurrection. Not all believers shall be resurrected. Because resurrection pre-supposes death. And not all believers shall die. That seems a startling statement. But it is a very plain one in the Word of God: "We shall not all sleep." There will be one generation of believers who will never see death. It is that age-end generation which is alive at the coming of the Lord. "We shall not all sleep!" Wondrous words are these! What if it should fall to our blessed lot to be of those who "are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord." What if we should be the one deathless generation since the beginning when "by one man sin entered into the world and death through sin." To be numbered among the 'deathless ones-what a victory! No tender hand would need to wipe the death damp from our pallid brow: no sable-garbed train of friends. would wend their solemn way to the little village cemetery behind our mortal remains: no funeral service would ever be recited at a grave's brink for us: no voice would cut deep into saddened hearts with those heart-piercing words "earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust": no stricken loved ones would go back to loneliness |