rose again, so also God will
bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. For this we
say to you in the Word of the Lord, that we, the living, who remain to
the coming of the Lord, are in no way to anticipate those who have
fallen asleep: for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with an
assembling shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of
God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we, the living who
remain, shall be caught up together with them in clouds, to meet the
Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore
comfort one another with these words" (1 Thess. iv:13-18,--corrected
translation). These words, so unique and precious, give the full
revelation about "the blessed hope." Some of the Thessalonian
believers had died and those who were left behind feared that their
departed ones had lost their share in the coming glorious meeting with
the Lord. On their account they sorrowed like those who have no hope.
And so the Lord gave to the Apostle this special revelation to quiet
their fears and to enlighten them as to the details of the coming of
the Lord for all His Saints, those who had fallen asleep, and those who
live when He fulfills His promise. The little church of Thessalonica
with these sorrowing Saints was made the recipient of this great and
comforting message which is for the whole body of Christ as well.

Let us examine it. "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through
Jesus." Here is first the blessed fact that "Jesus died." Of the
Saints it is said that they fell asleep; but never is it said that
Jesus slept, when He gave His life on the cross. He tasted death, the
death in all its unfathomable meaning as the judgment upon sin. For
the saints the physical death is but sleep.[1] And He who died rose
again; as certainly as He died and rose again, so surely shall all
believers rise. God will bring all those who have fallen asleep
through Jesus with Him, that is with the Lord when He comes in the day
of His glorious manifestation. It does not mean the receiving of them
by the Lord, nor does it mean that He brings their disembodied spirits
with Him to be united to their bodies from the graves, but it means
that those who have fallen asleep will God bring with His Son when He
comes with all His saints; they will all be in that glorified company.
When the Lord co