The Rapture of the Church: The Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 5:1-11 Lesson # 5

The apostle Paul describes the rapture or resurrection of the church in detail in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, which is one of the major themes in First Thessalonians since Paul addresses this prophetic subject extensively in this pericope.

In this passage, Paul reassures the Christian community in Thessalonica that the dead in Christ would be raised immediately before they are given resurrection bodies when the Lord Jesus Christ returns for His bride, the church at the rapture or resurrection of the church (cf. 1 Thess. 4:14-18).

1 Thessalonians 4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of {the} archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words. (NASB95)

“Will be caught up” is the verb harpazō, which refers to the Lord Jesus Christ taking His church forcefully and suddenly out of the world by means of His divine omnipotence.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, the apostle Paul lists seven events which will take place in connection with the rapture or resurrection of the church.

The first is that the Lord Jesus Christ will descend from heaven (verse 16).

The second is that when Jesus descends from heaven there will be a shout or cry of command (cf. NET) with the voice of the archangel.

This is the shout of resurrection.

Remember, Jesus called out with a loud voice when he resuscitated Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-45).

The third event is that the dead in Christ will rise first from the dead and receive their resurrection bodies (verse 16).

The fourth event is that the believers still alive when the Lord comes back from heaven will rise immediately after the dead in Christ and receive their resurrection bodies (verse 17).

The fifth event is that both groups will be caught together with Jesus Christ in the clouds or the earth’s atmosphere (verse 17).

The sixth event will be living believers on the earth meeting the dead in Christ along with Jesus Christ Himself (verse 17).

The seventh and final event will be that every church age believer will remain united to Jesus Christ and each other for the rest of eternity (verse 17).

In verse 18, Paul commands the Thessalonian Christian community to encourage one another with this knowledge of the rapture.

The apostle Paul again addresses the subject of the rapture with the Thessalonian Christian community in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11.

He does this again to reassure them like he did in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

1 Thessalonians 5:1 Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; 5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; 6 so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. 7 For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing. (ESV)

Notice in verse 2, Paul asserts that the Thessalonians were fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

In verse 3, the non-believers will be thinking they are safe and secure but the day of the Lord will take them by surprise and they will not escape the day of the Lord.

Then, in verse 4, he reassures them that they are not in the darkness about the day of the Lord and they will not be taken by surprise it.

The day of the Lord refers to the seventieth week of Daniel and in particular the last three and a half years of this seven-year period which Jesus describes in Matthew 24:21 as the “great tribulation.”

This period is described by the apostle John in Revelation 6-18.

During this time, God will exercise His wrath against the inhabitants of planet earth for their rejection of Him and His Son.

Then, in 1 Thessalonians 5:9, Paul asserts that the Thessalonians were not destined to experience God’s wrath during the day of the Lord.

In contrast to the non-believer, they are destined for salvation, which refers to the completion of their salvation when they receive a resurrection body.

Therefore, this passage teaches that the rapture will take place before the events of the seventieth week of Daniel.

John Walvoord writes “Paul stated that the day of the Lord will not overtake the Thessalonians as a thief. Why does an event coming as a thief come unexpectedly upon the world but with proper expectation for believers? Paul explained this in verses 4 and 5: ‘But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.’ Here is a crucial point in Paul’s explanation: the thief is going to come in the night, but the believers are declared not to belong to the night or the darkness. The implication is quite clear that believers are in a different time reference; that is, they belong to the day that precedes the darkness. On this basis Paul gave an exhortation. If the Thessalonians are of the day, they are not to be asleep or drugged; rather, they are to be sober or self-controlled, ‘putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet’ (v. 8). Paul concluded in verse 9, ‘For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ In this passage, the believer in Christ is assured that his appointment is not to this time of wrath. In attempting to explain this, the pretribulationist has the obvious advantage: if the church is raptured before this time of trouble, then all that is said in this passage becomes very clear; that is, the period of wrath will not overtake the church as a thief because the church will not be there. If the use of the argument from silence is valid, it would seem here that Paul’s silence on the matter of whether the church must endure this period is again another indication that the church will not even enter the period. When we take the total picture of this passage into consideration, the reason for Paul’s introducing it becomes clearer. Although the events of the day of the Lord do not begin immediately after the Rapture, the time period as such—following the symbolism of a day beginning at midnight—could easily be understood to begin with the Rapture itself. The opening hours of the day of the Lord do not contain great events. Gradually the major events of the day of the Lord unfold, climaxing in the terrible judgments with which the Great Tribulation is brought to conclusion. Taken as a whole, the pretribulation point of view gives sense and meaning to 1 Thessalonians 5 and explains why this is introduced after the Rapture. In effect, Paul was saying that the time of the Rapture cannot be determined any more than the time of the beginning of the day of the Lord; but this is of no concern to believers because our appointment is not the wrath of the day of the Lord but rather the salvation that is ours in Christ. Confirmation is given to this approach to 1 Thessalonians 5 in a study of 2 Thessalonians 2, where the day of the Lord is again introduced, this time in a context in which the Thessalonians misunderstood and needed correction.”[1]

[1] Walvoord, John F.. The Rapture Question (pp. 220-221). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.