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.

Our last post spoke of the Lord Himself coming to retrieve His people, of the noise that will be accompanied this event. Let’s take a moment to consider.

cry of command

In the old KJV, which I used for decades, the term is translated shout, and as such, I understood it as a generic loud voice, possibly of an announcement, but was somewhat generic. The term in the New Testament is κέλευσμα, κελεύσματος, and is only used once in the New Testament.

There is a Proverb, translated into the Greek (the Septuagint) that uses this term and it is somewhat enlightening.

Proverbs 30:27 The locusts have no king, and yet march orderly at one command.

The term speaks of a command or an order. Strong’s dictionary, along with Thayer’s Greek Lexicon both speak of this term as a stimulating cry, an order that rouses up animals to move, or even a signal given to the rowers of a ship or of soldier to obey.

It is not simply a shout as I understood previously, but a noise that communicates the need for an arousal from sleep, or a command to be obeyed, as if in a war, or battle. It is more specific than I first imagined.

voice of an archangel

There is one question I have for this phrase. Is Paul emphasizing the one who is making the announcement, the archangel, or the voice of the announcement? Does he want us to understand that Jesus is using the voice, as if from an archangel, or that some unidentified archangel is making this announcement?

There are fine believers that are in both camps, but I tend to think the voice is coming from an archangel, much like in the nativity, when an angel of the Lord announced to the shepherds, (quietly albeit) to the of the coming of the Messiah.

Luke 2:9 – 11 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Yes there is a difference, in that this is the archangel’s’ voice, and the announcement of his first coming was an angle of the Lord. Yet if I understand the coming of the Lord for His church, it is as the King is returning from a victorious battle to His people. It was common for a herald to come before the Great King, announcing his victory.

And a victory it is for those who are asleep!

sound of the trumpet of God

Remember, this verse is specifically speaking of the resurrection of those who are asleep already. It is kind of a silly thought that the trumpet will be needed to wake those in the graves! That is a ludicrous thought. Just ignore it!

As for the trumpet of God, a passage in Exodus 19:16-17 may provide some light in understanding the intent of Paul’s reference to the Trumpet of God.

Exodus 19:16-17 On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.

Notice that upon the loud trumpet blast, the first act of Moses was to bring the people of God to meet God. Now please remember that this was a terrible, frightening day for the Israelites, with thunders, lightening’s and a thick cloud on the mountain. Not a natural storm to say the least!

To gather together may have been the last thing on the Israelites minds. But gather they did, and they met God!

We will meet God, the Almighty One, the One who is over all, who answers to no-one and He will judge the living and the dead!

Acts 10:42 ….he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.
2 Timothy 4:1 …Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:
1 Peter 4:5 … him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

He will wake us, rouse us from any slumber we are in, announce His victories, and we will finally meet our Savior and Judge.

It will be a day like no other! May we be found in Him, ready for His return!

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.