Leslie M. John
The dead in Christ shall rise first
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 4:16-17)
'The dead in Christ shall rise first and the living saints shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air'. This blessed hope is given to us that we will be with the Lord for ever. The resurrection of the dead with the glorified bodies will be 'in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed' before the commencement of Daniel's Seventieth week, that is 'great tribulation’.
”But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming” 1 Corinthians 15:23. There are several reasons to believe that the 'rapture' precedes the 'great tribulation' and that believers in Christ will not see or be part of the 'great tribulation'. Jesus Christ's second coming will be personal and visible. The Lord will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the 'trump of God'.
The Church (Ekklesia) is the precious possession of Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, it is His love for the Church, and the faithfulness that He has toward His bride that He keeps His bride away from the earthly 'great tribulation', which is primarily for the earthly people and for those, who have rejected Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Those, who have accepted Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord, by confessing their sins to Him are the treasured possession of Him, and He protects them from the 'great tribulation, which is meant for the children of Israel, who have rejected as their Messiah. Two fold purposes of Lord Jesus Christ coming to this earth, is to restore the children of Israel their earthly kingdom, which God had promised to their fathers, and also for the heathen to see God's judgment on those, who sinned and rejected Him as their Savior. The Church always remains with Him with heavenly blessings showered on them by God and are away from the earthly things. That is the reason why when Lord Jesus Christ descends from heaven in the clouds with a shout, with the voice of archangel, those saints, who are dead in Christ shall rise first and those, who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet Him in the air, and thereafter we will be with Him for ever.
“It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body”. (1 Corinthians 15:44)
“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed”. (1 Corinthians 15:52)";