“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. 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. 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.” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). “Behold, I tell you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed-in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-53).
Let’s analyze these Pauline scriptures and, perhaps, speculate a little.
At Jesus’s parousia (glorious second coming) there will be two loud sounds heard by all worldwide: the shout of an archangel and the last trumpet sounded by God Himself. At this sound all who are dead and belong to Christ will be resurrected and stand on the earth. If we are still alive at this point we may be shocked to be standing next to some familiar faces who had died but now live. If that is not astounding enough, we will look up and see our Lord Himself descending on the clouds in the sky. It’s then we will be changed-instantly. We will put on immortality. We will be given a body like those who were just resurrected and similar to our Lords glorious body. With this new body we will now be prepared for the next astounding event. We will rise together along with those from the grave to meet our coming Savior in the air!
We will then be with the Lord forever. Where He is going we’re going. We know from other scriptures such as Zechariah 14:4 that His destination is the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, where He will complete His destruction of the evil armies gathered there. We’re going there also. We are going to rule and reign with Him from the Capital of the world, Jerusalem.
These events will mark the culmination of this age and the tribulation while ushering in the 1000 year reign of Christ’s kingdom.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait! What a powerful and exciting time that will be! Are you prepared and ready?
Maranatha, Jim