The Second Advent of Jesus Christ

The Coming of the Lord
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Background
Paul, Silas and Timothy head out on the second missionary journey. They are prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching in certain regions, so in the night the Lord gives a vision of a man in Macedonia calling out for help. So Paul concludes that they are to preach in Macedonia.

They set out and arrive in Philippi, and Lydia is converted with her whole household.

The crew does some good ministry by relieving a young girl of a demonic power to tell the future, and they are cast in prison as Roman citizens with no trial.

As they are worshipping in prison, the Lord shakes the prison and they are released but they do not leave. The jailer is about to commit suicide when Paul and Silas let the man know that no one has escaped.

The jailer take them out and asks what he needs to do to be saved, they tell him, he believes and his whole house and they are baptized. The next morning the magistrates escort them out of the city. On the way out they visit Lydia and the newly planted church at Philippi, and they are off.

Then they enter Thessalonica. Here Paul preaches for 3 Sabbaths. Some believe, but the Jews are jealous and stir up a riot. The new church planted there rushes Paul and Silas off to Berea.

Paul then goes to Athens, and from there he goes to Corinth from where he pens the letter to the first letter to the Thessalonians.

The Jews there had tried to impugn Paul’s character by trying to pass him off as a charlatan common in the day (wandering preachers of philosophy etc. that seek to make money off of people).

Paul wrote do defend him work among them and to encourage his friends there to stand fast in the face of such persecution.

Some of the people needed instruction on behavior typical for a Hellenized Roman city, but a large chunk is devoted to dealing with the Lord’s Second Advent.

Some were waiting for the Lord by not working and depending on others to take care of them.

Some were trying to figure out exactly when he was coming.

Some were even beginning to hold their leaders in a state of low opinion because of their zeal on the issue, and Paul reminds them to hold their leaders in high regard.

But one issue is dealt with in order to bring encouragement to some.

These precious new believers were expecting the Lord. Jesus would come and take them all to be with himself. But some of them had died, and that raised a problem for the survivors.

Did it mean that deceased would miss their share in the events of that great day?

Did their questions or the deaths of their family and friends discredit the Lord’s coming in any way?

Paul wrote to set their minds at rest and give them some true teaching on the Lord’s Second Advent and to instruct them to encourage each other with this truth.

How does Paul encourage them?

1. Death is not the end, but part of the continuation of eternal life v. 13
“Asleep”
Items worthy of note:
1.1 The word used here is usually used in the perfect tense, but here Paul uses the
the present tense to show their current state, not their permanent state.
- These dear people are not forever departed, but are in the current state of
being with Christ apart from them.
1.2 Our word cemetery is derived from the word that Paul used here.
- This is a place where people are in their temporary state.
1.3 The use of “asleep” rather than death is intentional by Paul to communicate a
beautiful truth:
“For Christians death is no longer the adversary whom no person can resist, that
tyrant who brings all worthwhile existence to a horribly final end. Death has been
overcome by the risen Lord, and that has transformed the whole situation for those
who are in him.” – Leon Morris
1.3.1 Death no longer holds mastery over us
2.3.2 Death is not our end; it is gateway to more Jesus
3.3.3 We do not fear death, but we can risk all for the sake of knowing more of
Jesus

1 Corinthians 15:54b-55 “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
Philippians 1:21-23 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain… I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.”

2. Our hope rests on Christ’s death and resurrection v. 14a
Our hope is not the result of speculation or some philosophical deduction.

Our hope is rooted in the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Two truths to note:
2.1 Jesus died, he did not sleep
“Paul speaks of Christ not as sleeping, but as dying. In the NT there are two distinct strands of teaching about death. On the one hand it is the most natural of all things and is an inevitable part of the conditions of our earthly existence. On the other hand it is completely unnatural, a horror, the result of sin (Wages of Sin by Leon Morris). Christ in his death bore the wages of sin. He endured the worst that death can possible be. Thereby he transformed the whole position of those who are in him. It is because there was not mitigation of the horror of death for him that there is no horror in death for his people. For them it is but sleep.” – Leon Morris
2.2 Jesus rose from the dead
- Jesus resurrection demonstrates that death is conquered
“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost” (1 Corinthians 15:17-18).

- Jesus resurrection is the demonstration of the divine nature of the gospel

- Jesus resurrection is the guarantee of the Christian hope

3. Jesus comes to raise the sleeping saints and take his living saints to be with him forever v. 14b-15, 16, 17
Paul does not mention the resurrection of those in Christ; the assumption is that this is taken for granted because Paul had already given some instruction this point.

What worried the Thessalonians was not whether their friends and family would rise, but if they would get to share in the great events of the great and glorious day.

We all get to participate in that glorious day!

Note:
- This is from the Lord’s direct teaching (John 21:25 tells us that not everything Jesus
said was written by the gospel writers)
- It is a foregone conclusion that those asleep are coming with the Lord when he
comes.
- The dead in Christ are not missed, but they rise first
- Those alive are caught up with Jesus and the coming saints
- We will be reunited with our family and friend
“caught up together”
- We will be united with Christ forever
“So we will always be with the Lord”
- This happens on Satan’s turf displaying Jesus’ dominance and victory
“meet him in the air”
- Satan is called the Prince of the power of the air in Ephesians 2
- This happens with a sudden catching away or “rapture”
- Note the rapture is happing simultaneously with the Second Advent

4. The Lord himself is coming v. 16
- It will be audible and visible
- Cry of command
- Voice of an archangel
- Sound of the trumpet of God