Caught Up Together

Narrator: Chris Genthree
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“For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-1715For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:15‑17))
The Lord Jesus arises from His throne, He descends from heaven, He gives the word Himself, the voice of the archangel passes it on, and the trumpet gives a well-known sound.
The imagery is military. As well-trained troops know the orders of their commander by the sound of the trumpet, so will the army of the Lord answer instantly to His call. All the dead in Christ shall rise, and all the living shall be changed; and they shall enter into the cloud, and be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall they ever be with the Lord. This is the first resurrection, the rapture of the saints. Before a seal of judgment is broken, a trumpet is blown, or a vial poured out, the saints are all gone—gone to glory, gone to be with the Lord forever! What a thought! What an event! Not a particle of the redeemed dust of God’s children left in the grave; and not a believer left on the face of the whole earth! All caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and to be conducted by Him to the Father’s house of many mansions.
But who can think, who can speak, of the happy reunions on that morning of cloudless joy? Doubtless the Person of the Lord will fix every eye and ravish every heart; still there will be the distinct recognition of those who, though long parted from us here, have never lost their place in our hearts. And as all will perfectly bear the image of the Lord, we can never lose sight of Him. Though everyone will have his own identity and his own special joy, yet all will be like the Lord, and the joy of each will be the common joy of all. But chiefest of all our joys that morning, and from which all other joy shall flow, will be to see His face, and behold His glory; or, as John says, and sums up all blessedness in two expressions: “We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:22Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2))
(Selected from the writings of Andrew Miller)