A little while ago, I produced a verse by verse series in Philippians. I really enjoyed that exercise and have been wondering if I should take on another book. Well it turns out that 1 Thessalonians is the victim of my machinations, and hopefully, the thoughts produced by this fantastic book will edify and encourage the reader.

As with Philippians I am going to limit each post to one verse, and hopefully produce a short, succinct read for my friends who follow.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 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.

There it is. The Thessalonians were concerned about their brothers in the faith not remaining, for those who have fallen asleep. Here we have the apostle speak to this concern. Remember Paul’s beginning remarks for this passage? How he was wanting to relieve the Thessalonians ignorance, and therefore their sadness, and grief?

1 Thessalonians 4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

Paul’s intent with this verse was to provide comfort for the fledgling church, to give truth to the believers so they may not grieve as others who have no hope. He provides his motive for providing this truth a little later on, in that they are to encourage each other, but for now, let’s consider what we can glean from Paul’s message.

He Himself

Paul gives us the best truth first. The One who entered our suffering troubled world, walked amongst us for over thirty years, revealed to us the glory of God amidst terrible persecution and was murdered by the very ones He came to save will come to us.

It is He who will be coming back for those who love Him. And He will not be silent.

The next three actions or descriptions speak of volume, noise or an announcement. The One who entered our world previously came silently, with only a few shepherds being informed. A message to a select few, a group of shepherds on a hill.

This time many more will hear of His coming!

My question for my reader is how many will hear? Will it only be the church, those who follow after Him, or will the entire population of the earth hear?

I will leave this question for my reader to respond to, but would hint that Paul gives us a clue later on. If you think you have an answer, please provide in the comment box below. I would love to see someone “steal my thunder” and suggest a reason why it is only believers who will hear, or the entire population of the earth.

For now, I will leave the three phrases that accompany the return of Christ for our next post. Hope to hear from you!

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