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For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the
voice of the Archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ
will rise first. Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions. We are in day five of
our look at chapter four of 1 Thessalonians.

We left off yesterday, you might remember, talking about the resurrection of the
body, talking about this incredible event that's going to happen for those who
have died before Jesus returns and raptures the church. And the Bible teaches us
that this resurrected body that Jesus is going to give us, we get that body when
He returns. Do you see what's going to happen?

As we talked yesterday, we talked about the fact that our spirits go immediately
to be with the Lord, but then we talked also in 1 Corinthians 15 about the fact
that we're going to have a resurrected body, transformed and perfect. When do we
get that resurrected body? We get it when Jesus returns.

Get the picture. Jesus is in heaven with the spirits of all those who have been
made perfect, all of those who have died and gone to be with Him before He
returns. When He returns, He brings all of them, all of us, if you're one of
those people, at that time.

And the body that's been in the grave is transformed somehow immediately and
somehow, in some way I don't understand, our spirit and our resurrected body
meet in the air in this incredible moment where they're reunited. Now, I know
some people question this. They say, "Well, wait, doesn't the body become dust
after a few years?

" Well, God made man out of dust in the first place. He can certainly resurrect
a body out of dust, and that's exactly what He's going to do. The Bible teaches
that you and I are going to enjoy this resurrected body with Jesus Christ for
all of eternity.

That's what the Thessalonians were concerned about. They thought that the people
that had already died were not going to get raptured. They weren't going to get
a resurrected body.

They might be spirits in heaven at best. So Paul had to teach them, "No, no,
that's not how it happens. They'll go immediately to be with the Lord when the
Lord returns.

Before you get your new and resurrected body, your raptured body, they are going
to be resurrected out of the grave, their bodies are, and they will get a new
body. " And Paul says the dead in Christ will rise first. The word first is
important.

It's interesting. When it comes to the second coming, God is not nearly so
concerned about the timelines and the order of events as we are, or He would
have explained it to us in a way that everybody could immediately understand. So
when Jesus taught, He often mixed the order of how things would happen.

He talked about something happening then and then something way into the future.
And when you put these verses and first Thessalonians beside those in
Revelation, it'll cause you to scratch your head sometimes about the exact order
of things. It's not as important to God as it is to us because knowing what will
happen is more important than when or the order.

And yet in this case, it was important to know that those who had already died
would get a resurrected body first. Why? Because the people in Thessalonica were
concerned about their loved ones.

And so Paul says, "They get to go before you. " Now it almost makes you want to
die before the rapture, doesn't it? I know some people who said, "I don't want
to go through the rapture.

I want to get the whole experience. I want to have that spiritual thing in
heaven where I have a spiritual body of some kind And then I want to come back
with Jesus and then I want to see my body resurrected out of the grave. " The
truth of the matter is personally, I don't care how it happens.

I'm just glad that I'm going to be with the Lord for all eternity. That is the
resurrected body. The resurrected body is a glorious body.

It's not a ghoulish body. It's a resurrected body. It's a perfect body.

We're not talking about the night of the living dead here. We're talking about
the day of the living Lord. It is a body like the resurrected body of Jesus.

That's what we look forward to. So Paul, as he talks to the Thessalonians about
what's going to happen when Jesus returns, talks about the word return and the
word resurrection. But then he points to a third word, the word rapture.

We who are alive, Paul says, and rapture isn't his word, he uses the word we
will be caught up, verses 17 and 18. After that, we who are still alive and are
left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

Therefore, encourage each other with these words. The word rapture that you may
have heard, most of us have heard, comes from the Latin word used in 1
Thessalonians 4, 17, which in English is translated here, caught up. The Greek
word has the idea behind it of something that happens in a moment of time.

The rapture will occur in an indivisible instant of time. Now a lot of people
distinguish the rapture of Christ's Church from the visible return of Christ in
judgment for the world. Two different events, some think they're going to happen
simultaneously, some think they're going to happen separated by a period of
tribulation.

They are both part of what happens when Jesus Christ comes again. There will be
this moment when those of us who are alive, when Jesus comes again, will
immediately see these bodies of ours resurrected. You don't die and then they're
resurrected, they're transformed immediately.

The Bible says that when that happens, you and I are caught up with those
believers who have already died into the clouds. So there's an upward look to
this. There is an upside to every one of our lives as believers.

The four words we've looked at these last two days, first there's return, then
there's resurrection, then there's rapture, and then the fourth word there is
reunion. And so Paul says, "We will meet the Lord in the air. " It's a reunion.

Some reunions are not all they're cracked up to be. Have you ever been to a high
school reunion? You go to a high school reunion and you look around at the
people and you think, "Oh man, I hope I don't look as bad as they look this many
years later.

" You look at the beautiful cheerleader and, well, she doesn't look like she
used to look. You look at the sleek wide receiver on the football team and he's
just wide now. You look at this reunion and you think, "It's not much.

" Well, that's not the kind of reunion that Paul is talking about here. Can you
imagine this reunion? People's bodies being reunited with their spirits for all
eternity.

Many members see each other for the first time in years as they rise to meet
with Jesus Christ, seeing people from your past and rejoicing in the fact that
we're spending eternity together with him. Now, some, as you're on your way up
to Jesus, you might look over and think, "How did they get in? " And then
they'll be looking at you thinking the same thing.

It's all part of this incredible reunion, united with people from your church
that you've known that maybe now are all over the world, all over the nation,
and more importantly than anything, Jesus Christ right there at the center of
this reunion. This tops everything. This experience that we're talking about
tops everything.

I can say with confidence that the most exciting experience in your life has not
happened yet. I don't care what you've done in your life. You may have skied
down the Himalayas.

You may have skydived off of El Capitan. This is not skydiving. This is diving
upwards.

It's the opposite. It's more exciting. This is the most exciting experience you
can imagine, and it is in your future as a believer.

No matter what you're going through right now, and you might be going through
some dark days right now, you have something to look forward to as a believer in
Jesus Christ. Nothing can take that away from you. Nothing can steal this hope
from you.

And Paul says this is the hope that you need to live the life of Christ in
everyday life in this world, to live the life that is an excellent life. That is
why verse 18 says, "Therefore, encourage each other with these words. " I know
when we talk about the second coming, the question many of us have is, when will
this happen?

Well, that's in chapter 5. That's next week. It doesn't say much about it, but
what it does say is extremely significant.

So just set that question to the side for just a moment, and let me read for you
again in 1st Thessalonians 4 18, "Therefore, encourage each other with these
words. " Encourage. If the truth of the second coming doesn't encourage you, you
are not hearing it right, or someone isn't teaching it right, because it is the
message of hope.

So let's take a moment together right now to pray and ask God's encouragement
into our hearts. Jesus, thank you for your word. This chapter that we've studied
together this week that starts with a call to sexual purity and a challenge to
do well on the job ends with encouragement about the second coming.

And Jesus, we recognize in your presence that they go together. Hope inspires
purity. Hope inspires endurance, even in a difficult job.

And so Jesus, I pray right now that you would fill my life with your hope. Just
say that to Jesus. Jesus, fill my life with your hope.

No matter what is happening, I am looking forward to this eternity. Instead of
checking out in my mind on the life that I'm living right now, I pray that this
hope would inspire me to live life in such a way that people see in me, Jesus,
who you are. Even as I go through difficulties, I can have hope.

Even as I go through times of confusion, I can have hope. Even when it seems
that everybody is against me, I can have hope, because Jesus Christ, these are
truths that will not change. And so I recognize my hope that is in you, and I
pray that I would draw strength from that hope today.

I ask it, Jesus, in your name. Amen. Make sure to join us this next week as we
finish our look together at the book of First Thessalonians, looking together at
First Thessalonians, chapter five.