The Rapture of the Church - 1 Thes. 4

Shall we pray? Our Father, we come to Thee today in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We lift our hearts to Thee with gratitude. We know that those who are listening today come from a great variety of places, and yet we do thank Thee for the common salvation that we enjoy, and we bless Thee for Him who is our Saviour.

And we thank Thee again that ever He left Thy side and came into this world and went to that Calvary to suffer and die for our sins. We bless Thee for salvation, and we thank Thee for the joy of salvation, and we praise Thee for Thy word which gives us guidance for our Christian pathway. And, our Father, at this unusual time we come to seek help.

We know that many of Thy people are living in places where they are exposed to the danger of contracting the virus. We commend them to Thee, and we pray Thee, O God, that those preserve them, and we ask that any connected to them who may be sick at this time may know the good hand of our God upon them. We think of those who even today have been bereaved as a consequence of the virus.

We commend them to Thee, and ask Thee, O God, that they might prove Thee to be the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. We know that the Gospel has been preached today using these means that we are employing now, and we pray Thee, O God, that Thou wouldst use Thy word to reach young and old. And we ask that at this time of crisis there might be times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, people awakened to see their need and brought in repentance and in faith to the nail-scarred feet of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, Father, we seek help for our meeting today. We do pray Thee that we may sense Thy presence, and we ask that the word of God might have an impact upon all of our lives. We pray that there may be encouragement for all of Thy people.

We just long for this, our Father, that Thou wouldst draw near and lift our spirits and encourage our hearts, so we commend ourselves to Thee and offer our worship in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now, I'm delighted to have the opportunity to speak to you today.

I do appreciate the fact that Caleb asked me to participate, and we do trust that today's activities might be a blessing. It's good to know about the Spanish folks listening as well. I practice my Spanish, and I would say to you, buenas tardes.

Did I get it right, Joel? I hope so. Good. He's giving me the thumbs up, so we do welcome the Spanish folks, and we say it's so good to see you as well.

Now, I want to read to you from 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. We're going to think about this core passage that deals with the topic of the rapture, and we'll read the passage first of all. I'll have one or two introductory remarks, and then we'll go through the verses with you. 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 13.

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye saw or not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain until 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 dead 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. And as ever we look to the Lord to bless to do us what we believe to be the inspired word of God. Now it's just a little bit different tonight.

You've got a preacher all the way from Scotland, although last week's, one of last week's preachers was a Scotsman in disguise really. I think that David Vallance has as many Scottish genes in him as I would have, but it's a Scotsman with a Scottish accent tonight. And in the past weeks our dear brethren have taken us to the Psalms and we've been encouraged to think of the refuge that we've had as we've pondered the greatness of our God, the grace of our God, the goodness of our God.

We've thought about his character, we've thought about his care, and that has been a great encouragement to each one of us as we've dipped into the Psalms. But today we want to project our minds to the future and we're thinking of the fact that the Lord Jesus is coming again and that ought to buoy up our spirits in days of difficulty. Now I don't want to deal with the situation with the subject in some kind of dramatic way, in a sensational way.

We're going to come just to try to expound these verses that we read together, but at the same time I do trust that what we have to say might not only be an encouragement to the people of God who are listening, but perhaps be a challenge to some of you sitting there in your lounge who are still not saved. Some of us in our long lives have lived through events that heightened the expectation of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. For example we can think back to the Cuba crisis of 1962 when the world was brought to the very brink of nuclear disaster and Mr Khrushchev and President Kennedy in a sense were facing each other eyeball to eyeball and very happily for us I suppose Mr Khrushchev was the first to blink and war was averted.

But in these circumstances a friend of mine found salvation. He's William Houston, his name is. He became my brother-in-law eventually, but at that time he was a boy of 16 and he was working down a coal mine.

He'd attended a Sunday school just around the corner from his home as a boy and he learned about his need of the Saviour, but in his teenage years he became a little careless and worldly and had little interest in the things of God. But the crisis brought him to his senses and down there in the bowels of the earth as he pondered it all he was burdened with a sense of his guilt and when his shift ended he went round to the little hall where they were having a prayer meeting and told them of his burden and the man who turned out to be our father-in-law eventually he pointed him to Christ. So all I'm trying to get at is this, that circumstance, that difficult circumstance was used in the hand of God to bring some to know the Lord Jesus.

Now we're passing through difficult days today. None of us know where this is all going to end. There's the problem of the disease, there are the economic implications connected with the disease and it could be that some of you young people who are not saved, it is making you think about your state of soul and maybe if you've been reared in a Christian family you've been thinking it's always an indication that the coming of the Lord is drawing nigh and I'm not ready.

Well let me encourage you my dear young friend on this fifth day of April 2020 to think soberly about getting right with God. When I speak about the second coming of the Lord Jesus that infers that he had a first coming and of course the great purpose for his first coming was that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and the most of us here in this in this chat are people who really are enjoying the fact that we are among the sinners whom Christ has saved but you're still not saved and if the Lord Jesus were to return you would be left, left to face a holocaust of the wrath of God in this world that the Bible calls the great tribulation and left ultimately to experience the eternal judgment of God and all the while you could have been saved and right with God and ready for heaven. So I'm encouraging you just when I got you at the start of the message before I lose your interest I'm encouraging you just to think of the importance of getting right with God.

You could get saved just where you sit right now. Well some of these crises have come and gone. We passed through the sixth day war and the Yom Kippur war and and these things heightened expectation.

Is the Lord coming? Is he coming soon? And even these present circumstances they make us wonder is this coming events casting their shadow before them? Is what we are experiencing right now the groundswell of a great storm that's about to break after the return of the Lord Jesus to the air and we don't look for signs. Now we've been taught in Scotland we don't look for signs. We don't dredge through the newspapers day by day looking for signs as to the imminent arrival of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We've been taught that like the Thessalonians we ought to be waiting for the sun. We're not looking for anything to indicate he's coming right now but we expect that he could come at any time. He promised if I go I will come again and receive you unto myself.

Now I am keeping in mind that this is called a refuge series. In our sinner need we fled to the Lord Jesus for refuge according to Hebrews chapter 6. But you will remember that connected with the refuge there is a hope and that hope is described as an anchor of the soul that's both sure and steadfast. Now in the context the hope is wider than the hope of the return of the Lord Jesus but at the same time I just want to lift the principle the prospect of future glory, the prospect of seeing Christ, the prospect of being with Christ should buoy up our spirits in this time of trouble for a weary world and we're all affected this time.

Well I know there have been epidemics that affected Africa and we saw images of it and our hearts were touched but it didn't really affect us in the western world but this affects everybody universally. So we're all involved and we're left wondering now is this an indication that he's come. We have taken refuge.

We have taken refuge in Christ and of course he is our refuge not only from eternal judgment but he is our refuge from what the Bible calls the wrath to come. He is Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath. So while in the past weeks we've looked to the past and thought about the character of God and how he has cared for his people in the past and we've sucked the sweetness of that and we've enjoyed it and it has encouraged us now we look to the future and I trust that as we think of the return of the Lord Jesus it will really be an encouragement to us during these very very difficult days.

So we're going to speak about the rapture and someone might say now well hold on a minute. A lot of Christians these days they don't accept the doctrine of the rapture and they're quick to tell us you shouldn't get excited about the rapture because the word isn't even found in the Bible. Now that is true.

The word is not found in the Bible but the truth of it is there in the Bible. There are lots that we use and they're not in the Bible but the truth of them are there. Every Christian believes in the doctrine of the Trinity that there is one God and that that one God subsists in three distinct persons.

God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and so we speak of the Trinity but the word is not in the Bible although the truth of it is there nevertheless. The word substitution isn't found in the Bible but the truth of it is there. Peter tells us that Christ also has once suffered for sins.

The just for the unjust. That's substitution. The just for the unjust that he might bring us to God.

So while the word substitution isn't there the truth of it is there nevertheless. Now similarly with this word rapture the word isn't in the Bible but the truth of it is there nevertheless and I read to you from 1 Thessalonians 4 and there is a verb used there caught up and embedded in that verb is the concept of rapture. The fact that people will be snatched away suddenly, dramatically by divine power and the word we use to describe that is the word they will be raptured.

So strictly speaking the word rapture has nothing to do with the Lord Jesus coming down but rather it has to do with the saints being caught up but I suppose that for convenience we tend to call the whole event the rapture and so I'm speaking to you tonight about the rapture. The rapture was promised by the Lord Jesus in John chapter 14. I've quoted it already.

If I go I will come again and receive you unto myself. So he promised that he would come again and then the rapture was pictured and there are two vivid pictures of the rapture. The first in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible and the other in the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible.

The first concerns Enoch in Genesis chapter 5. The Bible says that Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him and significantly he went to heaven without dying before the flood came, before the judgment of God came upon the world. He'd taken a man to heaven without dying at all. Now as you say in North America do the math.

We would say over here do the maths. We give it a kind of plural connotation but do the math. In Genesis chapter 5 you will discover that the first man to die of natural causes was Adam and before another man died Enoch had been taken to heaven without dying at all.

So right at the dawn of human history God was showing that it's possible for people to go to heaven without dying at all. It's a little picture of the rapture and then the second main picture of the rapture is in the book of Revelation. You would know that the bulk of the book of the Revelation has to do with the judgments that will be poured out in the world during the period but before we hear about these judgments John is invited in chapter 4 to enter an open door in heaven.

Come up hither and he enters that open door in heaven and he sees a throne that is set. Now just let me encourage you with that at the moment when everything seems to be in chaos in this world let's remember that God is still on the throne and his throne is set. It's not a throne that shifts.

His is not a regime that can change. His throne is set and so John is caught up through the open door of heaven and there he sees that throne that is set. So before the tribulation days dawn in the book of travel in Revelation a man has been taken to heaven and it's a little picture of the rapture of the church.

Now I personally believe in what we call a pre-tribulation rapture. It's not my subject today to expound that or to explain it or to try to argue for it but the two pictures that I've highlighted are consistent with the doctrine of a pre-tribulation rapture. Enoch was taken to heaven before the flood came.

John was called up through the open door of heaven before the tribulation days. Now I'm not saying that the pictures prove the point. All I'm saying is that the pictures are consistent with the point that the Lord Jesus will come before the tribulation days dawn.

So that was a kind of a long preamble. Let's come to the point now where we look at 1st Thessalonians chapter 4. I would not have you to be ignorant brethren. While we have the rapture promised in John 14 and pictured in these two instances we now have the rapture predicted in 1st Thessalonians chapter 4. I think the background is this.

When these people had got saved they were characterized by three things according to chapter 1. A work of faith, a labor of love, a perseverance motivated by a hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. But then persecution came. Fierce persecution and of course Paul was exiled from Thessalonica.

There was no way he could get back and in these circumstances he sent Timothy. And so Timothy returns from Thessalonica with a report in chapter 3 and he brings a report of their faith and their love. No mention now of the patience of hope that had characterized them in chapter 1 in the pristine days of their testimony.

I wonder what had happened. Well possibly because of the persecution some of the believers had been martyred and Paul had told them look there'll be a day of glory coming for you. The Lord's come.

But what has happened to those who've been martyred and others may have died of natural causes. What has become of them and to cater for that deficiency in their knowledge about future events, Paul by the Spirit pens this section that we have read in chapter 4. And so he commences it, I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them that are asleep. I think you'll discover that six times over in the New Testament Paul uses this term, I would not have you to be ignorant.

God doesn't want his people to be deficient in their knowledge in any way and we don't need to be. Because we've all got a whole Bible to read and everything that God wants us to know is found within the covers of this book that we call the Holy Bible. And so we don't need to be ignorant.

But he mentioned six things. Now two of them I'll just dispose of very quickly. In Romans chapter 1 and in 2nd Corinthians 1 he doesn't want them to be ignorant of his personal activities and movements and we just leave that.

But when you come to the likes of 1st Corinthians chapter 10 he's saying I don't want you to be ignorant of Bible history. I don't want you to be ignorant of the fact that our fathers were under the cloud and they all passed through the sea and he gives a whole catalogue of Israel's history and he says I want you to know about that. Because in it there are valuable lessons for your Christian lives.

There are colossal blunders that they made that you need to avoid. There are judgments that came upon them that you need to avoid. And so never think that Old Testament history is dry dreary disinteresting history.

Embedded within it there are valuable lessons for our spiritual lives today. So he's saying in 1st Corinthians 10 I don't want you to be ignorant about Bible history. But then in Romans chapter 11 he says I don't want you to be ignorant about Bible prophecy.

And he says I would not have you to be ignorant of this mystery lest you be wise in your own conceits that blindness in part has happened unto Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. So what he's saying there is this. Look it is true that presently the nation of Israel is experiencing a judicial blindness but it's a blindness in part.

There are still a few Jews getting saved and Paul had cited himself as an example of a Jew who got saved in the early verses there of Romans chapter 11. So it's a blindness in part. So he's saying the blindness isn't total nor is the blindness permanent.

It's a blindness in part until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. So there will come a time when that judicial blindness will be and while presently the nation of Israel has been sidelined God will again take up dealings with that nation. And Paul says I don't want you to be ignorant of Bible prophecy.

But then he says in 1st Corinthians chapter 12 concerning spiritual gifts I would not have you to be ignorant. And there he's saying I don't want you to be ignorant about church doctrine and church practice. And I suppose that you've heard it a multitude of times in 1st Corinthians chapter 12 we have the machinery, the gifts.

In 1st Corinthians chapter 14 we have the machinery in action, the activity of those who've been gifted in the assembly. But in chapter 13 you have the oil that enables to the machinery to run smoothly. You have love.

And so Paul is saying I don't want you to be ignorant of New Testament order and practice as far as your congregational activities are concerned. So he's saying I don't want you to be. But here he's saying I would not have you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleep.

What a delightful way to describe the dear saints who've passed on. Them that are asleep. Now the Bible is full of metaphors and it uses a metaphor in Philippians 1 and 2nd Corinthians 4 that has to do with the believer's death.

Paul calls it a departure. The time of my departure is at hand. I'm now ready to depart to be with Christ.

And people who know about lads they tell us that very likely that is a nautical term. And it's the idea of the ship unloosening the moorings and setting sail. And Paul say I'm just about to unloose the moorings and set sail on the great sea of eternity.

The time of my departure is at hand. Or maybe it's a military term. It's the word that would have been used when the soldiers struck camp and moved on.

It was called the departure. And that is perhaps in keeping with what Paul says in 2nd Timothy 4. I have fought the good fight. Now it was time to move on.

And so for the believer death is a departure. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 death is to be at home with the Lord. And that's a tremendous concept.

I travel a lot and Caleb mentioned that there are places in the world that we visit and everyone makes me very very welcome. I've no horror stories to tell. But I tell you although I just live in a humble dwelling there's no place like home.

When I was a boy there was a gentleman who came to retire in our town. And he was well he was kind of sophisticated in that he wore a black jacket and striped trousers and spots long after these things were out of vogue. And young people listening will hardly know what these things are.

But whenever any of the believers passed on in the prayer meeting he would give thanks to God that they had gone home. And as boys we always waited for it because he always said it. And what could be sweeter than home? Sweet home.

So it's a departure. It's to be at home. It's an earthly house of this tabernacle that is dissolved.

A flimsy tent that's taken down because our bodies are fragile and they are exposed to disease and deterioration and death. It's just a flimsy tent that one of these days could be taken down. But the metaphor here is different.

It's that of sleep. And the concept is there's always an awakening out of sleep. He's going to speak about resurrection here and he's going to mention that they're going to be raised.

Presently they've fallen asleep. Now just let me say this. The metaphor of sleep relates exclusively to the body, not to the soul.

There are some erroneous sects that teach what we would call soul sleep. That's what they, that's what we would say they teach, although they don't even believe in the soul, some of them. But what they say is this, somehow or another your existence is suspended whenever you die.

And we would say they talk about soul sleep. Well, the Bible never teaches soul sleep. The Lord Jesus said to a man who was about to die, he said, today you'll be with me in paradise.

When Stephen was dying, you will remember that he said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. When Paul anticipated his martyrdom, he said in Philippians 1, I'll be absent from the one, but present with the Lord. I'm going to depart to be with Christ, I should say.

That's the quotation from Philippians chapter one. I'll depart to be with Christ. So he didn't expect the suspension of his existence.

No, the very moment a believer dies, his soul, his spirit goes to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. The metaphor of sleep relates exclusively to the body. And the Lord Jesus did say, our friend Lazarus sleepeth.

I tell you, friends, not for a moment would he have said bluntly, Lazarus is dead, had it not been for the fact that these disciples were just a little bit dull and they didn't get it when he said, our friend Lazarus sleepeth. But there's always an awakening out of sleep. Now I saw some names flashing up as I was looking on as you were all gathering together and some of you are familiar to me and you've sat through my meetings and some of you have maybe even gone to sleep in some of my meetings.

Imagine going to sleep in the meeting. Well, it happens, but I'll tell you this, I've never once left a gospel hall and turned the key in the door and left anyone sleeping on the benches. Never once.

Everybody always wakens up for the closing hymn. There's always an awakening out of sleep. And that is the idea here.

Yes, the saints have passed on, but they're just asleep and their bodies are asleep pending the day of resurrection. I think you've got the concept of bodies sleeping in Daniel chapter 12 when it speaks about they that are in the dust of the earth. They're sleeping and they're going to awake.

Now I know that some of you dear brethren will see that as an illustration of the resurgence of Israel, but I personally see it as resurrection and they're sleeping in the dust of the earth. And you see, that's where the body is. And so the metaphor of sleep relates exclusively to the body and not to the soul.

So he says, I would not have you to be ignorant concerning them that are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope, that ye sorrow not. He's not naive. He's not suggesting that people can experience bereavement without sorrowing.

Of course, bereavement brings sorrow. I think that the Lord Jesus himself knew that. Jesus wept, says John chapter 11.

His friend Lazarus had fallen asleep and so Jesus wept. He knew sorrow. Paul knew sorrow personally.

He speaks about de reparforditis in Philippians chapter 2, a man who'd been commissioned by the assembly at Philippi to carry a gift to the apostle at Rome and en route, as he passed through bandit country and inhospitable territory, he fell sick. And it was a sickness that was nigh unto death. He was at the very portals of death.

But eventually, this skeletal figure turned up at Rome, pale, weak, and Paul welcomed. But it troubled Paul just to think that the man had been so sick and Paul said, I had sorrow. But God had mercy on me.

If the man had died, it would have been sorrow upon sorrow. So Paul realised that death does bring sorrow. That is inevitable.

But the point of this is, we don't sorrow like them, which have no hope. Now, who are those who have no hope? Well, the godly of the Old Testament had hope. Way even before the days of the law, a man called Job said, I know that my redeemer liveth and shall stand on the earth at the last day.

And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh, I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself and not as a stranger. In other words, the hope of resurrection was burning brightly in his heart. And he was an ancient patriarch.

You come to the age of law. And did they have hope? Well, Martha was one who lived near the end of the age of law. And she said to the Lord Jesus, I know that my brother shall rise again at the last day.

There was a hope in the heart of the godly of these ancient times. But he's speaking here about people who have no hope. And I take it that he is referring to the pagans all around.

They had no hope. In fact, when Paul is describing the Gentile world in Ephesians chapter two, among other things, he says having no hope. Now I know that very likely in the strictest interpretation, that means they had no hope of a coming Messiah.

But at the same time, you could write it over, no hope. And they had no hope because they didn't believe in resurrection. That's clear from Acts chapter 17.

Whenever Paul preached about Jesus and the resurrection, they called him a babbler. Whenever he raised the topic again at Mars Hill and told them about a day in which God would judge the world by that man whom he ordained, whereof he'd given assurance in that he'd raised him from the dead. Whenever he mentioned the resurrection of death, there was a chorus of ridicule.

Some mocked, the Bible says. You see, they may in some vague way have believed about immortality, but the concept of resurrection just was not in their hearts and minds. And so there's no hope.

And Paul says, I don't want you to sorrow even as others which have no hope. And then he goes on to show that our hope is based on a historical fact, something that we believe. We believe that Jesus died and rose again.

And the fact that Jesus died and rose again is the guarantee of the resurrection of those who are his people. Now it is interesting that it says Jesus died. It does not say Jesus fell asleep.

There's no language, metaphorical or otherwise, that used to soften the enormity of what he experienced. Jesus died. He experienced death in all its horrors.

Jesus died and rose again. And Paul says we believe that. That conversion of faith took it in, we believe.

Now I don't know whether I'm allowed to do this or not, but I'm going to set a little competition for the younger people who are listening. We believe, these two words. Now here it's we believe that Jesus died and rose again.

Try to find these two words in John chapter 4. Okay, John chapter 4, we believe. And again in Acts chapter 15, we believe. And if any of the gospel preachers can get these two and put them together with this, you've got a tidy little three-point gospel message.

We believe what we believe. But young people, if you can search John 4 and Acts 15 and find these other two and write them down and show your father, I'm sure he'll give you a couple of dollars. If you're able to do it, I'm sure he'll give you a couple of dollars.

Now should it be that there's a family of 10 and you'll find them, father send the bill to me. Okay, but there's a little competition for the young people. We believe, John 4, Acts chapter 15, but here it is.

We believe that Jesus died and rose again. All right, says Paul. If your faith has embraced that particular fact, here's something else that you'll be able to take in.

If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep through Jesus will God bring with them. Now just let me comment on that first of all, sleep through Jesus. It's the preposition dieth through.

It's the idea of through the instrumentality of Jesus. Sometimes we speak about he was taken in an accident. My beloved, there's no such thing as an accident as far as God is concerned.

Sometimes we say it was an untimely death. There's no such thing as an untimely death as far as God is concerned. The book of Job tells us that he has appointed our bounds that we cannot pass and it's just as if the Lord looks down and sees a dear one in the fever of life and just as a mother would take her babe into her arms and lull the child to sleep, so they are put to sleep through the instrumentality of Jesus and so he's saying those who sleep through Jesus will God bring with him.

Now if this was a Bible reading, this is where the needle would really get stuck because there would be two major opinions about the interpretation of this verse. Maybe three even. Some would say when it says then that sleep through Jesus will God bring with him, it means he's bringing the souls back to be reunited with resurrected bodies.

I don't think that's the interpretation because notice the language them who sleep through Jesus. We have seen that the letter of sleep does not relate to the soul. The second idea is it's thinking now about the revelation of the Lord Jesus when he comes in power and great glory and them also who sleep through Jesus will God bring with him when he comes in power and great glory.

Now I personally don't think that's the interpretation here although I must say that is a Bible truth. We are going to be linked with the Lord Jesus in his manifested glory. What a day that will be when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory and all this that we're passing through at this present time.

It will be history and we'll be entering into a world where disease is at a minimum and where peace prevails and where prosperity is the order of the day. Even the desert shall blossom as a rose, as an autumn crocus. What a day that will be when he introduces his millennial kingdom and we'll be linked with him in his glory.

Yes the Bible tells us that he'll be manifested in glory and he'll be glorified in his saints and admired in all them that believe. So that is a Bible truth. We will be manifested with him in glory but I rather think that the interpretation here is this.

Jesus died and rose again even so and it's these two words that kind of clinch it for me. Even so just as Jesus died and was brought from the grave so those who have fallen asleep through Jesus they too will be brought from the grave. It's the teaching of 1 Corinthians 15.

Christ the first fruits afterward they which are Christ that is coming. So I'm sure you'll agree with me that even although you might not just subscribe to the interpretation I'm giving here, again I'm expounding a Bible truth that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the guarantee of the resurrection of his people. He's the first fruits afterward they which are Christ's that is coming.

And this is Paul, let me explain all this to you how it's all going to work out. Let me give you the mechanics of what will take place at the rapture and so he says this we say unto you by the word of the Lord. Why does Paul stress here that this is by the word of the Lord? Well this is novel.

What he's about to tell us is completely new. You won't get a whisper of it in the Old Testament scriptures and in that long discourse of the Lord Jesus about prophetic events that we call the Olivet Discourse, no there's not a hint of it there. So this is something new and Paul is stressing look this is not a figment of my imagination.

I've got this from the Lord, I'm saying this to you by the word of the Lord. Just as surely as he received the revelation about the supper, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, I've received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you. And just as surely as he received details about the truth of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15, so surely directly from the Lord he received details of what would take place at the rapture of the church.

So he's saying 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, in old English words, shall not precede them which are asleep. So what he's saying is this, you are concerned about the believers who've died. I'm trying to enlighten you about what has become of them and what will become of them and I just want to assure you that they've lost nothing as a result of dying before the rapture.

We will not precede them. There is no particular advantage in being still alive at the point of time at which the Lord Jesus comes. There is no disadvantage in having been taken home to heaven prior to the rapture.

We shall not precede them which are asleep. And then he tells us how it's all going to work out. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout.

Very precious that beloved, isn't it? The Lord himself, we sometimes rejoice in the words of 1 Peter 2, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree. He did it personally. He did it alone.

The time for types had gone. Who his own self bear our sins. It's a similar thought in Hebrews chapter 1. Himself purged our sins and sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

So he did it personally and he did it alone when he went to the cross. We sometimes sing it alone, alone. He bore it all alone.

He gave himself to save his own. He suffered, bled and died alone, alone. And so we look back to Calvary and we see it was himself who did it.

And then we'll have to think of Luke chapter 24 and there are two there walking the road to Emmaus and their hearts are heavy and their footsteps are leaden and their heads are low and Jesus himself drew near and went with them. Himself drew near. Now maybe that's where you are as you're trying to take refuge from this pandemic.

You're isolated and we're all feeling the isolation. It could be that some of you still have liberty to get out and about but we are in her majesty's prison more or less here in this village where we are. We're confined to the house and it's most unusual, isn't it? Alone.

But Jesus himself can draw near and go with us. In your anxieties, as you think about the possibilities should you contract the disease, as you think of the economic impact it may make upon your life, Jesus himself draws near and he goes with you. That should be a blessed encouragement for us.

Hebrews chapter 13 tells us, as far as our financial affairs are concerned, we really can be content with such things as we have. Why? He has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Therefore we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper.

So we take refuge in Christ as he draws near and goes with us. So we look to the past and we see at Calvary that himself bore our sins. We think of the present and our circumstances and Jesus himself draws near and goes with us.

But here he points us to the future and it's the Lord himself who will descend. It has often been pointed out that when it comes to gathering the elect of Israel, in a day subsequent to this, he'll send his angels to the four winds to gather them in. My brother, my sister, he is not going to delegate the task of rapturing us to any angel.

It's the Lord himself who'll descend from and he will descend. I tell you this, if he's going to make any movement, it'll have to be a downward movement because he can't go any higher than he already is. Watch him in Ephesians chapter one and there's a body lying inert and cold in an eastern tomb and suddenly the mighty power of God comes into play.

The mighty power of God which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places, far above, not just above, but far above all principalities and powers. And we're told in Philippians 2, not that God has exalted him, but that God has highly exalted him. And we're told in Isaiah chapter 52, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.

And so we love to sing, Jesus takes the highest station, oh what joy the sight affords. So he can't go any higher than he already is, but one day he'll descend, he'll step from the throne. Do you remember that occasion when he said to his disciples about Lazarus, our friend Lazarus sleeping, but I go that I may awaken him out of sleep.

It's just as if there's coming a day when he'll rise from the throne and say to his father, I go that I might awaken them out of sleep. So he'll descend from heaven with a shout. Now I think this is the voice of the Son of God that the Lord spoke about in John chapter 5. You remember he spoke twice about the voice of the Son of God there.

He said the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear his voice. Now that is the spiritually dead. The previous verse, the famous John 5 24 speaks about those who stand in need of eternal life.

It's a spiritual life that they need and they've passed from death to life in a spiritual sense. So he's saying the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live. But then you go down a verse or two in John chapter 5 and he says the hour is coming, a change of language this time, not the hour is coming and now is, but the hour is coming.

The hour is coming when they that are in the grave, change of language again, not the dead, but they that are in the grave shall hear his voice. In other words, he's making it clear that at this point in his discourse, he's speaking of the physically dead and the hour is coming when they that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall come forth. Now that's it here.

This is the voice of the Son of God. He's coming with a shout and they that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall come forth. So he's coming with a shout and with the voice of the Archangel.

And those who know about the construction of the Greek language, they tell us that possibly this is the voice of the Lord Jesus, but in Archangelic form. He's coming with Archangelic voice. It is interesting that whenever you read of the Archangel, and I think there's only one of his name is Michael.

Whenever you read of him, he's always involved in conflict in the spirit realm, in the book of Daniel, in the book of Revelation chapter 12, war in heaven of Michael versus the dragon there in Revelation chapter 12. And in Jude, he's disputing with the devil, interestingly, about a body, the body of Moses. And it seems to me that the Lord Jesus is going to marshal resurrected saints in the devil's domain, the air.

And it's as if he's coming with Archangelic voice just to stamp his authority on the whole situation to demonstrate that he is supreme. So he's coming with the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God. Now, brethren, please don't link this with the memorial of the blowing of trumpets or Leviticus chapter 23.

In Leviticus chapter 23, within the framework of the seven feasts of Jehovah, the memorial of the blowing of trumpets rather has to do with the regathering of Israel when he'll send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet and they will be regathered. And please don't link it with the trumpet judgments of the book of Revelation. You know, the trumpet judgments of the book of Revelation will take place long after this.

But the trump of God and 1 Corinthians 15 says the trumpet shall sound. This is the trump of God. And it's the last trump, according to 1 Corinthians 15.

And I'm watching my clock now and I'm moving very, very quickly. But just remember the last trump to these people meant the last trump connected with the Roman camp. And the last trump was the trump that signaled that it was time to strike camp and move on.

So when the Lord Jesus comes with the trump of God, the last trump, it will be an indication it's time for us to uproot ourselves from planet earth and to march to another claim. He's coming with the trump of God. So then the dead in Christ shall rise first, not first in this context, before the ungodly shall rise.

Although chronologically, the dead in Christ will rise before the ungodly are raised. But the point here is the dead in Christ will be raised before the living saints are raptured. The dead in Christ.

Now, I wonder if I could just speak to the young people. If you're not saved, it's important to be in Christ. It's a kind of technical term to describe those who've been saved.

They are in Christ and in Christ, there's no condemnation. They'll never be punished for their sins and in Christ Jesus, they are a new creature. Their lives have been revolutionized by the power of the Lord Jesus.

Tell me, are you in Christ? When it comes to this, it is crucial to be in Christ. There's a day coming when you're going to die and you'll either die in faith or you'll die in your sins. And you'll either be among the dead in Christ or you will die without mercy, as the Bible puts it.

So important to be in Christ in lifetime so that when it comes to dying, you're among the dead in Christ. So I urge you again, think well about the matter of your soul salvation and even today, settle that great issue with the Lord. So the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up and as I indicated earlier, there's our concept of rapture, caught up together with them.

That is, the saints will be raised and then momentarily, every believer of every generation there and then together, snatched away together, caught up together with them. Now there's an advance on that in chapter 5. In chapter 5, we're told that God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us, that whether we watch or sleep, we should live together with him. At the rapture, we'll be caught up together, but subsequently, we'll live together and live together with him.

And so we'll be caught up together with them in the clouds. I think these are literal clouds. We've been hearing about all the different places that have been mentioned and places that you represent and maybe you're thinking there'll be a cloud from Saskatchewan and maybe a cloud from Ontario and a cloud from the Maritimes.

No, I don't think it's clouds in that sense. I think these are literal clouds. So just remember that when you sing, the cloudless morn is nearing, when thou, O Lord, will come.

There's not really going to be literally a cloudless morn because we're going to be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, in the very place where Satan has dominion. He's the prince of the power of the air. It's as if God shows his absolute disdain at the attempts of Satan to keep his people, first of all, in the grave and then to keep them from eternal blessing.

He'll marshal his people in the domain of the evil one. We'll be caught up together with them in the air to meet the Lord. We've never seen him, but we'll meet the Lord.

And I suppose that it's illustrated in Isaac meeting Rebekah and she leaps from the camel. Mr Darby's translation, she leaps from the camel. Now when the Lord Jesus comes, in a sense, we'll leap from the camel to meet our heavenly Isaac.

We'll be so delighted to see him. Who is this who comes to meet me on the desert way? As the morning star foretelling God's unclouded day, he it is who came to win me on the cross of shame in his glory. Will I know him evermore the same? So we'll be forever with the Lord.

Where he is, we will be associated with him in his glory. No wonder the apostle says, comfort one another with these words. He's looking around the assembly to see if there's anyone whom he can name Barnabas, the son of exhortation, the son of comfort, the son of consolation.

And he's saying, look, use these words to comfort one another. My dear brethren, as you pass through these very, very difficult circumstances today, lift up your heads. It won't be for long.

The Lord Jesus is coming again. We'll meet the Lord. Comfort one another with these words.

May the Lord then bless this word to us and shall we pray. Our Father, we come to thee again in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank thee for all who've tuned in today to listen to thy word.

And our prayer would be that as we've pondered the coming again of the Lord Jesus, it might be an encouragement to us. We're so thankful again that ever he came the first time and we bless thee, our Father, that he came to save sinners. And we thank thee that he came not just to seek, but to save.

And we thank thee that we're among those whom he has saved. Our Father, if any have been listening, who are still in their sins, very tenderly we commend them to thee. We do pray thee that family units might be united in Christ.

We know our God that the Lord Jesus promised, surely I come quickly and our response would be Amen. Even so come Lord Jesus. But maybe there's just a tinge of reluctance because we know that some whom we love will be left behind.

Have mercy upon them and save them by thy grace. We do beseech of thee. So Father, bless the ongoing work.

We think of the conference next weekend and we do pray thee that all who participate might be helped from heaven. We commend the work to thee then. And that's my blessing in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.