A Noise to Wake the Dead
Introduction: Grief with a Backbone
Our modern world does not know what to do with death. We are a culture that has mastered the art of distraction, but we have no answer for the grave. When death comes, as it always does, we are left with two equally bankrupt options. The first is a hollow materialism, which sees death as the absolute end, a biological full stop, and so its grief is the raw grief of permanent loss, a grief of utter despair. The second option is a syrupy sentimentality, which offers flimsy platitudes about stars in the sky or angels getting their wings. This is a grief medicated with Hallmark cards, a grief that has no substance, no bones.
The Apostle Paul confronts this same human dilemma in the church at Thessalonica. These were young believers, and some of their number had already died. The question that troubled them was a practical and deeply pastoral one: "What about them? Did they miss out? Jesus has not returned yet, and our brothers and sisters are in the ground. Is their hope diminished?" They were grieving, and their grief was threatening to slide into the hopeless despair of their pagan neighbors.
Paul does not respond by telling them not to grieve. Grief is the natural response to the unnatural horror of death. Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus. Instead, Paul gives their grief a backbone. He gives them a concrete, historical, and theological reason for a different kind of grief, a grief shot through with glorious hope. He is not offering them a flimsy sentiment; he is giving them a divine promise, a "word of the Lord." This passage is not, first and foremost, a schematic for end-times charts. It is a potent medicine for a grieving heart. It is the Christian answer to the tombstone.
The Text
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 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. 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. 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. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
(1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 LSB)
Informed Grief (vv. 13-14)
Paul begins by addressing the root of their fear, which was ignorance.
"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope." (1 Thess. 4:13)
Notice the beautiful Christian euphemism for death: "asleep." This is not a denial of the biological reality of death. Death is an enemy, the last enemy to be destroyed. But for the believer, its sting has been removed. It is like sleep because it is temporary. It is like sleep because there will be a definite and glorious awakening. The body is laid to rest, awaiting the great morning.
The contrast is stark: there is Christian grief, and then there is the grief of "the rest who have no hope." Pagan grief is the grief of eternal separation. Christian grief is the grief of temporary separation. We grieve the loss, the pain, the absence. But underneath that grief is a bedrock of solid hope. And what is that hope founded upon? Paul anchors it immediately in the central fact of history.
"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus." (1 Thess. 4:14)
This is the engine of all Christian hope. The logic is airtight. It is an "if/then" proposition. IF you believe the first part, you MUST believe the second. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not a standalone miracle for Him alone. It is the firstfruits. He is the prototype. His resurrection guarantees ours. If the head of the body has passed through death and out the other side, then the rest of the body will certainly follow. The victory He won was not just for Himself; it was for all those who are "in Jesus."
And look at the promise. God will "bring with Him" those who have died. Their souls are with Christ now, in glory. But the promise here is more than that. When Christ returns, He brings them with Him to be reunited with their glorified bodies. They are not forgotten. They are not in some lesser state. They are with the Lord, and they will be part of His triumphant return.
No Disadvantage for the Dead (vv. 15-16)
Paul now addresses their specific fear: that the living have some advantage over the dead. He gives them a direct revelation to settle the matter.
"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." (1 Thess. 4:15)
This is not Paul's best guess. This is a direct message from headquarters. The living will not cut in line. There is a divine order to the proceedings, and God, in His kindness, ensures that those who have endured the trial of death will be the first to receive the reward of resurrection. There is no first class and second class in the final assembly. All the saints, from Abel to the last believer to die before the return, are part of one body.
And how will this happen? It will not be a quiet, secret, invisible affair. It will be the loudest event in human history.
"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." (1 Thess. 4:16)
This is a public, cosmic, and royal event. The Lord Himself, not a delegate, will descend. And He comes with a glorious ruckus. First, a "shout." This is the command of a general, a word of power that accomplishes what it says. It is the same voice that cried "Lazarus, come forth!" and a dead man walked out of his tomb. This shout will be directed at all the graveyards of the world. Second, the "voice of the archangel." This is the great herald announcing the arrival of the King. Third, the "trumpet of God." In the Old Testament, the trumpet called the assembly together, it signaled the advance in battle, and it announced the coronation of a king. This is all of those things. It is the call to assemble, the declaration of final victory over death, and the announcement that King Jesus is here to take His throne.
And what is the first effect of this glorious noise? "The dead in Christ will rise first." This is the great promise. Not just their souls, but their bodies. The very bodies that were wracked with sickness, that grew old, that were buried in the ground or lost at sea, will be raised, glorified, and made like His glorious body. This is the ultimate reversal of the curse of sin and death.
The Grand Reunion (v. 17)
Only after the dead have been raised do the living get their turn.
"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." (1 Thess. 4:17)
The living are transformed in a moment, and then "caught up." The Greek word is harpazo, from which we get the Latin raptus, or "rapture." It means to be seized, snatched away. It is a powerful, irresistible act of God. But where are we going, and why? We are caught up "together with them", the newly resurrected saints, to "meet the Lord in the air."
This word "meet" is crucial. The Greek is apantesis. In the ancient world, this was a technical term for a specific civic custom. When a king or visiting dignitary was approaching a city, a delegation of the city's leaders would go out from the city to meet him on the road. They would greet him, form an honor guard, and then escort him back into the city for his official welcome. They did not go out to meet him in order to leave the city behind. They went out to welcome him in.
This is what the church is doing. We are not being evacuated from a worthless planet. We are the official welcoming party for the returning King of all creation. We rise to meet Him in the air as He descends, only to escort Him back to the earth, which He is returning to claim, to judge, and to rule. This is not an escape; it is a coronation procession. And the result? "And so we shall always be with the Lord." This is the final state. The great longing of every Christian heart is fulfilled. We will be with our Savior, in our glorified bodies, in a renewed creation, forever.
The Only True Comfort (v. 18)
Paul concludes with the practical application that motivated the entire discussion.
"Therefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thess. 4:18)
The comfort is not a vague hope or a sentimental feeling. The comfort is in "these words." The comfort is in the solid, revealed, objective truth of what God is going to do. What is this comfort? It is the comfort of knowing that our believing loved ones who have died are safe with Jesus. It is the comfort of knowing that we will see them again. It is the comfort of knowing that their bodies, and ours, will be resurrected and made glorious. It is the comfort of knowing that death does not get the last word; Jesus does. It is the comfort of knowing that history is not a meaningless cycle but is heading toward a great and glorious climax: the public return of the King.
So when we stand at the graveside of a brother or sister in Christ, we grieve. But we do not grieve like those who are throwing dirt on a box of meaningless atoms. We are planting a seed. We are entrusting a body to the ground in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life. We comfort one another with the promise that one day, a great shout and the blast of a trumpet will roll across that very cemetery, and the ground will give up its dead. And on that day, we will be reunited, not in some wispy, ethereal heaven, but here, in a renewed world, with our King. That is a hope with a backbone. That is a comfort that can stand up to the grave.