Thoughts?
I want to be an overcomer, I want to have faith, I want to be known by Him ... I work on these goals ... I pray for others and witness to folks so they will have a chance to
find saving faith in Jesus, meanwhile, the time is drawing nigh ... May I stay on His straight narrow path till He calls me, one way or the other & whether it’s one hour or fifty years from now.
I pray all others do the same. I love the parable of the five wise handmaidens and the five foolish handmaidens. Helps me remember what’s important.
Thanks for the ping, sis.
The Scripture that you cited, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 is referring to those who have died (”are alseep”) who believed in Christ. Paul is saying that when Jesus comes in the clouds to receive His own to Himself (called the “rapture”) He will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus—those believers who have died.
16 He will descend from heven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first—in other words, all those believers in Christ who have died before this will be raised first, ahead of the believers who are alive here on earth.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the LORD.
In other words, both believers in Christ who have died and believers in Christ who are still alive when He comes will be caught up together to be with Him forever, but those who have died in Him will be first. This is when we all get our new glorified bodies; this is the redemption of all our bodies.
Still the most plausible explanation . . .
to me
is . . . rising to meet Jesus in the air . . .
then Marriage Supper of the Lamb
then 7 years later returning to earth at Armageddon followed by Millenial reign.
Peter tells us that the earth will be destroyed by fire. And then there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Some take this to be mean a nuclear blast of some kind heard round of the world.
If the dead are raptured first, how long before the *Church* is raptured?Thoughts
If someone thinks the dead saints have been raised, it should be easily testable. Check the graves. There should be empty graves.