From apostolic times until now, the Church has been waiting for the return of the Lord Jesus according to His words in John 14:2,3 - "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” and, furthermore, as the message of the angel who spoke to the disciples after His ascension: "This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven." (Acts 1:11). We have already seen that the Thessalonian believers were waiting for the Son of God from the heavens (1 Thessalonians 1:10) and in the space marked for this study the apostle describes in detail the way of the coming of the Lord to lead His Church to heaven.
Could it be that these will lose the coming of the Lord, staying in their graves until the day of final judgement, as some were thinking? Until today there are some Christians who expect only a great universal Day of Judgement, the end of the world, when believers and unbelievers, righteous and unrighteous, saved and lost will be judged at the Great Throne of God to receive their sentence of salvation or of perdition. But we see in this and other passages of the Bible that it will not be like this.
Christians who have died are sleeping, according to this passage. This does not mean that they are unconscious, but rather that they are resting from labours, struggles and sorrows of this world and are not aware of things that are happening on earth. They are with Christ (see Luke 23:43, 2 Corinthians 5:8, Philippians 1:12) - in peace, already eternally saved through their faith and "will never come into condemnation" (John 5:24; Romans 8:1). The bodies of dead believers are for now in graves, but the people themselves (soul and spirit) are in Paradise, "free from all sorrow and pain" and waiting, with believers still on earth, the coming of the Lord described in this passage. When He comes, they will come with Him.
Here is the living hope of all believers who have not died. It is the fulfillment of Acts 1:11 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-52. As seen in our passage, the details are as follows:
a) a shout, as an (given by Christ?), the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God;
b) Descent of the Lord;
c) Transformation of living believers (1 Corinthians 15:52);
d) Rapture of all, to the encounter with the Lord in the air, to be always with Him.
Note A : This disclosure is for the comfort of believers, especially with respect to those who have died. The details are different from what we have in Matthew 24:29-31 and Revelation 19:11-16. There is nothing about when this coming will happen, or about the signs in heaven or on earth, to alert the church in preparation. Rather, Paul includes himself among the living who would be caught up (v.17 - "we"), though later on he comes to understand that he would pass through death (2 Timothy 4:6-7).
Note B: The Great Tribulation, or Abomination of Desolation, prophesied in Daniel 9:27, 11:31, 12:11, and mentioned by the Lord in Matthew 24:15 as preceding His coming to judge the nations is not mentioned here in Thessalonians, nor the kingdom of the Antichrist. There are other points of difference between the two descriptions of the Coming of the Lord, which make us understand that there are two events or two steps apart from each other by the seven years of the reign of the Antichrist ("Man of Sin" - the first "Beast" of Revelation).
We understand, then, that the Coming of the Lord described in Matthew 24 and Revelation 19 is not for the Church but with the Church, already complete and "adorned as a bride" to accompany Him in His descent to judge the nations and institute the Millennium (Revelation 19:7-8). Between Christians there are differences in interpretation of these things; actually the passage of our study was not written for debate but for the comfort of believers.
"The times and seasons" with respect to the Day of the Lord (5:2) form the main subject of the great prophecies of the Old Testament - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, Daniel and others - as well as some discourses of the Lord Jesus. The Day of the Lord is a period of time, not a single day - and seems to consist in the last seven years of the prophecy of the Seventy Weeks (Daniel 9:24-27).
It will be a "day" (period) of suffering - wars, plagues, earthquakes - that is, "destruction" (v.3) - especially against the nation of Israel and the Kingdom of the Antichrist. During this period, the Church, completed and raptured, will be with the Lord in heaven, getting ready to come with Him, "in power and great glory" at the end of the "Seventy Weeks" to reign with Him during the Millennium and eternally.
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep 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 by no means precede those who are asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
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.
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 13 to 18
1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.
2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.
3 For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.
1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verses 1 to 3