Chapter 4

This begins a study of the problems of practical sanctification. The first two chapters were devoted primarily to doctrine. The third chapter had to do with the inspector’s report — Timothy brought back a report from his inspection of the situation at Thessalonica. Now we go on to some practical problems which existed among the Thessalonian believers.

By way of introduction we need to understand the three phases of sanctification and the meaning of the word. The word “sanctification” means to be set apart unto God. The word itself means separation and there are three different phases of separation. The first type of sanctification is generally known as positional. Positional sanctification takes place at the moment of salvation, it is something you never lose. Phase one of the divine plan is salvation. The moment you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ you enter into union with the Son of God, and this is positional sanctification. Jesus Christ is set apart unto God the Father as of the resurrection, ascension, and session. When Jesus Christ rose again from the dead He walked on the earth for forty days at the end of which time He ascended into the presence of the Father. When God the Father said to God the Son, “Sit thou at my right hand,” at that moment Jesus Christ, the first member of the human race to do so, was separated unto God the Father in a very special way. And when we personally receive Jesus Christ as our saviour we enter into union with Him and therefore we share everything that Christ has. Christ is set apart unto the Father; we share that set apartness which is known as positional sanctification. Then, one second after we believe in Christ we enter into God’s plan, phase two. This is the believer located in time. During that time we are also in fellowship with God in time as of the moment we receive Christ as saviour. Perhaps as soon as a few minutes afterward we get out of fellowship through sin and from that point on we spend our career as a believer on the earth in and then out, in and then out, depending upon our use of the doctrine of rebound. When we are in we are filled with the Holy Spirit; when we are out we are in status quo carnality. To be in fellowship means to be in practical or experiential sanctification, and when we are in fellowship with the Lord not only does the Holy Spirit control the life but practically we are set apart unto God. This is the positive side of separation. Then, of course, there is a third sanctification which we will enjoy in eternity and this is the possession of a resurrection body. This is described in 1 John 3:1,2 which tells us that we are going to have a body exactly like His body, the same thing is said in Philippians 3:21. Eternity reveals to us what is known as ultimate sanctification, ultimately we will be in resurrection bodies and living in His presence. The sanctification which will be described in 1 Thessalonians chapter four — “This is the will of God, even your sanctification” — has to do with the problem of practical sanctification or experiential sanctification.

The first two verses are devoted to the importance of knowing doctrine.

Verse 1 — “Furthermore then” which is literally, “Finally therefore”. In view of the fact that the inspector’s report has come through and things are very good on the whole, and in view of the fact that there are only three or four problems which can be very quickly ironed out, let us get on to a very important principle.

“we beseech you brethren” — the word “brethren” refers to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and this particular passage is addressed to those who have received the Son of God as saviour. “We beseech you” means to make a very special request. It is present linear aktionsart, “we keep on making this special request” and we even make it a little stronger by the word “exhort,” again present linear aktionsart, “we keep on exhorting.”

“by the Lord Jesus” is literally, “in the Lord Jesus.” “On the basis of the fact that you are in union with the person of Christ we keep on making this request of you, and as a matter of fact, we keep on exhorting you.”

“that” introduces a purpose clause; “as ye have received of us” — “received” is an aorist tense denoting the fact that Paul has personally taught them the Word of God and is referring back to his Bible classes before he left. The active voice means that they have personally listened to him teach the Word of God and therefore have taken in doctrine. The word “receive” in the Greek actually means to take someone to one’s side and to give them information which they can’t miss.

“of us” — the word “of” is actually a preposition in the Greek which gives immediate source. The immediate source of their doctrine was the Bible teaching of the apostle Paul while he was still in Thessalonica. In this particular phrase Paul is making it very clear that he has something to add to what he has already taught, or perhaps by the word “exhort” he means to show them the application of certain things which they have already learned. It is really a case of following up in some areas where really they are missing the boat.

“how ye ought to walk” — the word “walking” has to do with the doctrine of phase two of the divine plan, the believer’s walk in time. He is talking about phase two because he is mentioning the word “walk.” The matter of salvation has already been settled. The walk of the believer is that time, starting with his salvation and terminating with his departure from this earth in one of two ways. He can depart by physical death and/or the Rapture, whichever takes place first. The word “to walk” here is a present active infinitive, it expresses purpose. It is the purpose of the believer to represent the Lord Jesus Christ in time. Christ is absent from the earth, He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and it is the purpose of every believer to represent every believer on earth. Walking has to do with our purpose on earth. Our overall purpose for remaining on this earth is to represent Christ. Everything we do is a part of our Christian service. That is what it means by “walk.” Walking is fulfilling the function of service, whatever it happens to be. The infinitive here denotes purpose in life. We are here for a purpose, it is no accident that the Lord Jesus keeps us on this earth.

The word “walk”

Galatians 5:16 — “Walk in the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit was given to every believer. Walking in the Spirit is the filling of the Spirit, and as you are filled with the Spirit you are fulfilling the purpose for which you were left here.

2 Corinthians 5:7 — “Walk by faith and not by sight.” Faith refers to the faith-rest technique.

Ephesians 5:2 — “Walk in love.” This is not sentimental, gushy love, it is the filling of the Spirit, divine love, love for everyone, love for the unlovely.

Colossians 4:5 — “Walk in wisdom.” Wisdom is the application of doctrine to experience.

1 John 1:7 — “Walk in the light.” Walk in the concept of the Word of God. The Word is light. Not only is Christ the Light of the world (salvation) but the Bible is light. Walk in the light of divine viewpoint.

Ephesians 4:1 — “Walk worthy of the vocation.” Every believer has a vocation, he is personally in full-time Christian service, he represents the Lord Jesus Christ on earth. God has a purpose for the believer’s life.

“and to please God” — “to please” is a present active infinitive denoting a continual or habitual purpose. The active voice means we do it. It is possible for the believer in this life to please God.

Six ways to describe pleasing God

By asking for the right things — 1 Kings 3:9,10

By living a separated life [unto the Lord] — 2 Timothy 2:4.

By doing His will — Hebrews 13:20,21

By walking in fellowship with Him — Hebrews 11:5 cf Genesis 5:24.

By praising God — Psalm 69:30,31

By use of the faith-rest technique — Hebrews 11:6

“so ye would abound more and more” — “ye would abound” is present tense, it means to overflow. It is possible for the believer to overflow. This is the overflow of blessing from your life to someone else. Blessing can overflow from your life to others when you are pleasing God, not when you please men. This is in the subjunctive mood in the Greek, the mood of potential. It is only potential, it depends on utilisation of what God has provided. The principle at the end of this verse: Abounding or overflowing is based upon knowledge and utilisation of the divine operating assets of phase two.

Verse 2 — “For you know.” Paul had taught them some things and they did know some doctrine. Therefore the three problems which are coming up are really more an application of doctrine than a need for knowledge of doctrine. “Ye know” means they already know. It is the perfect tense for knowledge in the frontal lobe, they already know these things and their real problem is not in the realm of knowledge but in the application of that knowledge to the situation. They have enough information to be able to complete and fulfil the principle of practical sanctification but they have failed to apply what they know to the situation.

“what commandments” — the sum total of doctrine which Paul has taught them, which is enough to get them cranked up in the realm of practical sanctification.

“we gave you by the Lord Jesus” — the word to give is aorist tense, in the point of time when Paul was in Thessalonica. He gave them all the information. “By the Lord Jesus” is literally, “through the Lord Jesus” and it means the Lord permitted Paul to come to Thessalonica and minister so they could have this information; so now they could apply and could straighten out a few of their problems.

The first of their problems is in the realm of sexual relationship — verses 3-5.

Verse 3 — “For this is the will of God.” This is present linear aktionsart, the absolute state of being verb — this keeps on being the will of God. It is God’s will that we live in the area of practical sanctification. There are some problems in sex life, social life and business life which make living in fellowship rather difficult. At least, there are some problems which are incompatible with living in fellowship and the Thessalonians had now bumped into these three areas of practical problems.

“your sanctification” — sanctification is synonymous with the will of God. Sanctification is in apposition to the phrase “will of God,” the two are synonymous terms.

“that” introduces a purpose clause; “ye should abstain from fornication.” The word “abstain” is present tense which means linear aktionsart. Middle voice: the subject is benefited by the action of the verb. The infinitive denotes purpose. Then the word, of course, means overt adultery or illicit sexual life. This was a problem is Thessalonica as it was in most of the Greek cities where they had heathen temples and where the system of heathen salvation was getting drunk as many times as possible and indulging in as much sex as possible. This has overflown into the problem of the Thessalonian believers for this reason. Many of them had been converted right out of the heathen temples and they had been in the practice of these things for a long time. All of a sudden they find that the pattern has to be broken and they find it a little difficult. Therefore, they ask, how do we handle it?

Verse 4 — “That” introduces, again, a purpose clause and it should be connected with the “that” of verse 3. When you have two purpose clauses in sequence the second one is an amplification of the first. So they are connected. Here is a command that isn’t impossible and we are going to be told in one phrase how this command can be executed.

“every one of you” — literally, “each one of you”; “should know how to possess his vessel” — so the command is obeyed by possessing you vessel. Now all you have to do is figure out what a vessel is. A vessel is not a vessel because it says “his vessel” and it says everyone has one. The Greek says “each” — each believer and not every believer has a wife, so it does not refer to a wife. Obviously a vessel is not a literal vessel because a vessel is a pot and every believer doesn’t have a pot which comes down from the first century. 2 Corinthians 4:7; Acts 9:15; 2 Timothy 2:20,21 — the vessel is a container, the body contains the believer. What is a vessel? A vessel is a container. Your body is a container and your body contains your soul, your spirit, the Holy Spirit, etc.

“should know” — Whatever your problems may be in life the first step in solution is the phrase “should know.” Knowledge of doctrine is the first step in solving any problem of practical sanctification. The perfect tense: should know in the past with the result that you keep on applying what you know to experience. The perfect tense means something that happens in the past with continuous results. In the past you know the doctrine, now you apply it. Active voice: you must apply these things yourself. The infinitive expresses purpose, it is God’s purpose in phase two for the believer to know and apply doctrine. And the word means knowledge in the frontal lobe. Not knowledge you are in the process of learning but knowledge you have there already. When the chips are down it is the knowledge you have already that resolves your problems in the field of practical sanctification.

“how to possess” — this is the present tense which means you should know how to handle your body now, and tomorrow, and the next day, and on and on and on. Middle voice: the subject is benefited by the action of the verb. The infinitive indicates purpose. The verb “to know” is a perfect active infinitive. The verb form “possess” is a change from perfect to present, from active voice to middle, but still an infinitive because the infinitive in both cases denotes the purpose. But there must be a past and a present to solving your problems. The past is you must know something — perfect tense, something that happens in the past but the results keep on going. You must know things in the past to apply them now to your experience. But when it comes to the word “possess” it is in present linear aktionsart. There is a change of voice: active voice. You must know in the past; possess: middle voice, you are benefited by possessing your vessel. Now all you have to know is: What on earth does it means to possess your vessel? It means to be controlled by the Holy Spirit on the inside. You do not possess your vessel when the old sin nature plays up. Obviously, when the old sin nature controls things you are not possessing your vessel, you are not solving anything. The Holy Spirit must control the vessel. So possessing the vessel is the filling of the Spirit. This means that every believer must know how to be filled with the Spirit to solve this problem or, as a matter of fact, any other. The filling of the Spirit provides the divine power to meet these problems.

“in sanctification and honour” — both sanctification and honour are dative cases in the Greek, dative of advantage. It is to our advantage to be in fellowship [sanctification], and when we are we honour the Lord. “Honour” is the result of being in fellowship, the result of being filled with the Spirit, and “honour” is, again, dative of advantage because it is Christ who is honoured.

Verse 5 — mental adultery. Mental adultery is introduced by the Lord Jesus Christ on the sermon on the mount — Matthew 5:27,28. The Christian way of life starts with the mental attitude. The Christian way of life is what you are on the inside. Proverbs says you are what you think, and if you think it you have sinned.

“Not in lust of concupiscence” — lust is a mental activity, a desire in the mind. Concupiscence refers to sexual lust — “not in the desire of sexual lust.”

“even as the Gentiles which know not God” — the Gentiles were especially active in this area. This refers to Gentiles who have not accepted Christ, who are in operation heathenism which was built to a great extent around sex.

Verses 6-10, social life.

Verse 6 — “That” introduces another purpose clause; “no man” is literally, “no one”; “go beyond and defraud his brother.” “Go beyond” is a present active infinitive meaning habitual, and it means to overstep, to wrong someone, to give someone pain or sorrow. One of the great dangers in the Christian life is to give pain and sorrow to others.

“defraud” means to take advantage of a believer because he is a believer or to cheat him.

“because the Lord is the avenger of all” — just leave it in the Lord’s hands and the Lord will do a marvellous job of discipline; “as we also have forewarned you and testified” — apparently there had been a lot of that going on in Thessalonica and they need to take up the slack on it. Paul had warned them ahead of time.

Verse 7 — “God hath not called us to uncleanness” — social relationship. Uncleanness is defined as going beyond and defrauding; “but unto holiness.” Holiness is just sanctification again, and it is practical sanctification. God has called us to stay in fellowship. When the believer is in fellowship it is called holiness or practical sanctification, if he is out it is called in this passage uncleanness. We haven’t been called to live out of fellowship, we have been called to live in fellowship.

Verse 8 — “He therefore that despiseth” — he despises in the sense of setting at nought or rejecting God’s provision; “despises not man, but God” — in other words, he is fighting God in the matter; “who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit” — once again, practical sanctification is defined, the Holy Spirit is given to us. The Holy Spirit controls us when we are in fellowship.

Verse 9 — as a result of having the Holy Spirit our social relationships in a positive manner should look like this: “as touching brotherly love” — this is not simply overt signs of affection. Brotherly love is what you think. It is the mental attitude of the believer that gives others the benefit of the doubt. Remember, this is divine love and the Holy Spirit produces divine love, a mental attitude on the inside of the believer that makes him very relaxed and keeps him from minding everyone else’s business.

“ye need not that I write unto you” — dative of advantage. It is to Paul’s advantage as well as to theirs that he doesn’t have to go over that ground again.

“for ye yourselves are taught of God” — the teaching is through the Word of God. This is not a verb, it is an adjective. Consequently, where you have an adjective where you expect a verb you just underline it.

“to love one another” — “to love” is present active infinitive. The infinitive is purpose.

Verse 10 — “but we beseech you brethren.” He is talking to believers; “that ye increase more and more” — i.e. increase in your love. The increase is in the mental attitude.

Verses 11-12, business. There are two kinds of business, business which is construed as being industry, making a living; and then business in the sense of minding other people’s business or the doctrine of the long proboscis.

Verse 11 — “That ye study to be quiet.” There are three infinitives which follow the purpose clause. “Study to be quiet” means that you make it a point of honour to be quiet. To be quiet means to be peaceable, to mind your own business.

“and to work with your own hands” — to do your own business, referring to industry. “Have the habit of attending to your own affairs and conducting your own business.” Why is this written? Because many of the Thessalonian believers have quit their business. That think the Rapture is about to occur, it could occur at any time, so they have quit business and are killing time. And that is the whole problem. Your business, whatever it may be, is the Lord’s service and you conduct the Lord’s service until the Lord comes. The imminency of the Rapture which is a bona fide doctrine can have erroneous conclusions, and the first erroneous conclusion is to sell the business, quit work, because the Lord may come tomorrow. Believers should continue in business for this is a part of their ministry unto the Lord.

“as we commanded you” — Paul has previously taught them this.

Verse 12 — when you are on the job, one more purpose clause — “That ye may walk honestly.” Your job is a part of your service but your job must be characterised by honesty. Believers in their testimony before the Lord ought to be so faithful and so good at their job that the Lord Jesus Christ is honoured.

“toward them that are without” — unbelievers. Many a Christian ruins his testimony by dishonesty in whatever phase of business he happens to be in.

“that ye may have lack of nothing” — if you do your job as unto the Lord. Lack of nothing means material needs, the Lord will take care of your needs.

Verse 13 — an unwarranted sorrow. “But I would not have you ignorant, Brethren, concerning them which are asleep.”

“I would not” means “I do not wish.” Paul is expressing a wish or desire on his part. And the great wish or desire with regard to the brethren who, of course, are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ is that they would not be ignorant. We have a negative plus a present active infinitive. The negative indicates the negative purpose, the infinitive amplifies the purpose, the present tense means an habitual negative purpose. It was Paul’s objective in life to see that no believer remained in ignorance. The ignorance which is expressed at this particular point is the ignorance with regard to the future. It is a problem in phase three. What about those who have departed from this life? Here was one of the great problems among the Thessalonian believers, they were all mixed up about the future of those believers who had previously gone on to be with the Lord.

“them which are asleep” is a present middle participle. The present tense means that from time to time believers died. This can also be construed as a dramatic present in that it is quite a dramatic moment for those who are left behind and, as a matter of fact, it is a very dramatic moment for the person who departs from this life because to be absent from the body is to be face to face with the Lord. Life has several dramatic moments. The most dramatic of all is the moment we personally receive Jesus Christ as saviour. Probably the next most dramatic is that moment when we depart from this life because death is the means of entering into the presence of the Lord. Revelation 21:4 declares that for the believer who departs from this life there is no more sorrow. The sorrow is with those who remain behind and it is that sorrow which is mentioned at this particular point. “Them which are asleep” is a middle voice which means the subject is benefited by the action of the verb. The believer is benefited by departing from this life, for to be absent from the body is to be face to face with the Lord. The verb itself here means sleep in the sense of physical death of the believer. This word sleep is never used for physical death of the unbeliever, only the believer. Why? Because the body of the believer sleeps, the soul and the spirit are awake in the presence of the Lord. When the soul of the unbeliever leaves the body it enters into torments, into suffering. The reason that the word “sleep” is used here for the body of the believer who has died is anticipation of the resurrection. Resurrection of the believer is simply the soul and the spirit rejoining the body where it checked out and the body wakes up, and at that particular point it takes on a resurrection body, a body like that of the Son of God. “Them which are asleep,” then, referred to believers who had died in Thessalonica, and some of the people were all upset. They were afraid that loved ones who had already died and had gone to be with the Lord were going to miss the Rapture.

Soul sleep: There are a number of passages which tell us that soul sleep is a heresy — Matthew 27:52 says “the bodies which slept,” not the souls. The soul is never said to sleep; 12 Corinthians 5:8 — “absent from the body, face to face with the Lord,” the soul is awake in the presence of the Lord; Luke 16:19-31, when the soul of Lazarus departs from his body it is very much awake in Abraham’s bosom; Luke 20:38 adds five words over Matthew 22:32, and they tell us that there is no such things as soul sleep; 2 Corinthians 12:1-4 where Paul actually died physically the first time — once he was beheaded by the Romans and once he was stoned to death by the Jews; Philippians 1:23, the body of Paul anticipated as being in the grave, the soul of Paul very much awake in the presence of the Lord; Ephesians 4:9; 1 Peter 3:18-22, the soul of the Lord Jesus is very much awake after His physical death.

“Them which are asleep” refers to any loved ones who have preceded you into the presence of the Lord. Their body is in status quo sleep, their soul and spirit is in the presence of the Lord.

“that” introduces a purpose clause, and here is the purpose for this particular passage on the Rapture of the Church: “ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.”

Notice that Paul does not say, “Don’t sorrow.” You have a perfectly legitimate right to sorrow about those who have departed. However, that sorrow should never be that heathen sorrow, that desperate type of sorrow of those who have no hope. We should never sorrow as those who have no hope. We definitely have a right to sorrow when loved ones depart to be with the Lord, but we have no right to carry on as though this is the end of the line, and to get into panic palace. There is no place for that and the Word of God does not authorise it. If you have even a smidgen of doctrine about phase three you will never take such an attitude about a loved one. Romans 8:1 — those believers who have departed from this life can never be judged in the sense of eternal condemnation. Furthermore, death means for the believer to be face to face with the Lord. Who is afraid to be with the Lord?

Verse 14 — the first answer to this sorrow problem. It is introduced by a first class condition — if and it is true. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,” and we do believe this. The emphasis here is on “we believe,” not on the fact that Christ died and rose again. The word “believe” is a transitive verb. The two facets of believe: #1 — salvation. Believe is the key to salvation because believe is a system of perception common to all normal members of the human race and the only system of perception which is non-meritorious. The secret to believing is in the object of faith and in salvation the object of faith is the Lord Jesus Christ, the subject is any member of the human race who believes in Christ who is the saviour. This transitive verb has no merit in itself, the merit is in the person who died for your sins — Acts 16:31; #2 — doctrine about Christ, doctrine which has to do with the work of Christ. There are two facets here brought out in what we believer here, “if we believe that Christ died and rose” — death and resurrection. All of this doctrine, and the point is that we believe in doctrine here. “If” is a first class condition, which means that if we believe in this doctrine, and we do. Remember, in the modus operandi of the faith-rest technique there are several types of object. First of all, the promises of God. In phase two it is the seven thousand promises of God which sustain us daily as we walk through this life. We take these promises, we claim them, we believe them, we are free from worry and anxiety, and we have the peace, the power and the inner happiness that belongs to us. We also believe doctrine and when doctrine becomes the object of our faith in phase two, then we have a wonderful stabilised, powerful, dynamic life representing the Lord Jesus Christ as an ambassador.

Paul recognises that they believe a doctrine — “if we believe that Jesus died [and we do].” The word “died” is an aorist tense which refers to the cross where He took our place, where He suffered on our account. The words “rose again” is another aorist tense and it refers to the resurrection. Between the two words is a Greek word which links them together — kai, “and.” You cannot separate the death of Christ from the resurrection because it is the resurrection of Christ that gives efficacy to His death. It is the resurrection of Christ that proves that the death of Christ is unique.

“even so them also which sleep in Jesus” — who sleeps in Christ? Those who are born again, those who have believed in Christ, who have lived their life and are now in the presence of the Lord. The word “in” is not “in” at all. It means simply, “them which sleep through Jesus.” In other words, through Jesus Christ the body is in the grave waiting for that moment when the Lord Jesus will call, the resurrection body will be there, and out of the grave will come that glorious future incorruptible body.

“will God bring with him” — the Thessalonian believers were afraid that their loved ones who had died were going to miss the Rapture.

Verse 15 — the second answer to unwarranted sorrow. Doctrine is the second answer as well as the first. In the first it is the application of doctrine, believing doctrine; now it is simply knowing it. “We say” is present linear aktionsart, “we keep on saying” this “unto you” — dative of advantage; “by the word of the Lord” is literally, “in the sphere of the word of the Lord.”

“that” — introducing a result clause; “we which are alive” — referring to believers, and this could mean us right now, the reason being that the Rapture could take place tonight, tomorrow, or at any moment. We could go at any time without seeing death.

“and remain” — the word “remain” means to survive. That is an apropos word for salvation. No matter how much you are blessed it is still just sheer survival, which isn’t exactly a complimentary word for this world. As long as we live here there is a sense in which we are surviving because this is the devil’s world. Why do we survive? This is in the present tense. In other words, God says with this present tense that we are not going to leave until He wants us to leave and all hell cannot push you out of this world. That is the present tense. The passive voice: the subject receives the action of the verb. The subject is the believer surviving on this earth. The action of the verb: we remain alive and survive, and we receive it from God. Don’t ever kid yourself. You can take all the precautions in the world but you are still not going to make it if God wants you to go, and if God wants you to stay there isn’t anyone who is going to push you out.

“to the coming of the Lord” — this is talking about the Rapture, the Church going out. We meet the Lord in the air, He doesn’t come to the earth. Then, seven years later, Christ returns with the Church. The word “coming” is used for both events and the trouble is that there are all kinds of sensationalists, heretics, apostates, Bible teachers so-called, who are trying to put the even in a bundle together. When you have the phrase “coming of the Lord” it could be referring to the Rapture, which is the coming of the Lord to the air, or it could be the coming of the Lord, second advent, which is the coming of the Lord back to the Mount of Olives. There is no Greek word which helps us. There are two Greek words for coming and both words are used for the second advent and both words are used for the Rapture. So no one is going to solve this by means of the etymology of the Greek language. Only the context can indicate. When the context says, meet Him in the air, that is Rapture; when the context says coming back to the earth, that is second advent. Both of them are comings of the Lord.

The first distinction between the two is the difference between the word “private” and the word “public.” The Rapture of the Church is private, it is for those who are in the club, it is for the body of Christ, for those who have personally received Christ as saviour — Acts 1:11. Revelation 1:7 adds something about the second advent, it is the concept of “public” — “every eye shall see him.” But the Rapture of the Church is a private affair, it is for believers only.

The second distinction: believers meet the Lord in the air, but Jesus stands on the Mount of Olives, He comes to the earth at the second advent — Zechariah 14:1-4.

The third distinction: After the Rapture takes place the Church goes on to heaven — John 14, but the Church at the second advent comes back — 1 Thessalonians 3:13.

After the Rapture takes place the life of every believer is evaluated — the judgement seat of Christ, a judgement of works. After the second advent we have a judgement, the judgement to separate the believers and the unbelievers, the baptism of fire. At the Rapture the Holy Spirit is removed from the earth, but at the second advent Satan is removed from the earth — a restraint removed; religion removed. At the Rapture of the Church there is a change of the believer’s body, at the second advent of Christ it is the earth that is changed — the desert will blossom like a rose, the lion and the lamb shall lie down side by side, etc. As far as the Rapture is concerned the covenants to Israel remain unfulfilled, there is nothing special for the Jew. But at the second advent the four unconditional covenants are fulfilled at that particular point. As far as the Rapture is concerned the believer is caught away, but at the second advent the unbeliever is caught away — Matthew 24:47ff. The last verse in our chapter, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words,” gives us the key word for the Rapture. It is “comfort.” But as far as the second advent is concerned it is terror — Revelation 6. The Rapture was never revealed in the Old Testament, it was a mystery, but the second advent is clearly revealed in the Old Testament.

There are many distinctions between the Rapture and the second advent, but the point is that the word “second coming” is a phrase with which we have to be very careful because sometimes it is referring to the Church leaving this world, sometimes it is referring to Christ coming back to this world. The context will always clearly indicate which is which.

“shall not prevent them which are asleep” — in other words, living believers are not going to keep dead believers from getting in on the Rapture. Dead believers will be there just as much as living believers. This is the thing that bothered the Thessalonian believers.

Verses 16-17, the personnel of the Rapture.

Verse 16 — “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout.” There is going to be a great cry in heaven. It is the shouting of the angels as they form up on this one.

“with the voice of the archangel” — the commanding officer of the angels; “with the trump of God” — this is a military trumpet, it is assembling the angels for this particular occasion.

“and the dead in Christ shall rise first” — those believers who have received Christ as saviour, who have departed from this life through physical death, whose soul and spirit are in the presence of the Lord; and they are going to rise first.

Verse 17 — living believers are included. “Then we which are alive”, present active participle, we kept right on surviving until the end; “and remain” — the word for survive.

“shall be caught up with them” — a glorious reunion. Future tense, passive voice; This reminds us of something. In the passive voice the subject receives the action of the verb, and it means simply that we are going to be caught up, God is going to provide the equipment needed for us to become perfect in the realm of aerodynamics.

‘to meet them in the air” — the words “to meet” looks like a verb but it is a noun, the reason being that it is emphasised. We are going to meet our loved ones again, we are going to be with them again and with the Lord for all eternity. We will meet them in the air. This is the Rapture, not the second advent.

“and so shall we [believers] ever be with the Lord.”

Verse 18 — the attitude. “Wherefore” — in other words, stop all of this whining, this unnecessary no hope sorrow; “comfort” — the imperative mood, this is an order — “one another.” If you know doctrine, phase three, you have the basis of comforting anyone who is bereaved and in sorrow. Fire in the Word, it is the Word of God that makes the difference, not human viewpoint phraseology. Comfort is found in what the scripture says.

“another” — another of the same kind, meaning believers; “with these words” — the doctrines, the words of scripture. Knowledge of doctrine, phase three, is the source of comfort for those who remain in phase two.