+I. The heart seeks it.+
+II. The Bible declares it.+
+III. The redemption of Christ secures it.+--_A. F. Forrest._
The author discusses this event as the second coming of
Christ. The Transcriber finds the second coming described
in Rev. xix. 11-21. This passage describes "the rapture of
the church" which precedes the seven years of Tribulation
described in Revelation chapters iv.--xviii. The second
coming is a time of judgment; the rapture gathers the
church prior to Daniel's Seventieth Week, a time of great
trial for the people and nation of Israel. The rapture is
as a thief in the night; at the second coming, every eye
shall see Him.
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 15-18.
_The Second Advent of Christ._
Among the words of consolation in the valedictory discourse of Christ
to His disciples was the promise, after His departure, He would come
again and receive them unto Himself. Time has sped noiselessly along;
events of vast magnitude have rapidly succeeded each other, and left
their lessons for the ages to ponder; nations have passed through the
throes of suffering and revolution; generation after generation has
gone down to the grave; for nearly nineteen hundred years the Church
has been strained with profound, intense, and anxious expectancy: but
still the promise remains unfulfilled. Will He come? Are the hopes of
the Church doomed to be for ever unsatisfied? Must the bodies of the
pious dead be for ever shut down in the sepulchres of land and sea?
Will the wrongs of the universe never be redressed? If questions like
these flit for a moment across the mind, it is not that the Church
has lost confidence in the promise. Faith in the second advent of
Christ is more widely spread and more firmly held to-day than ever.
Long waiting has sharpened the longing, brightened the hope, and
clarified the vision. In these words, the apostle assures the
Thessalonians of the second coming of Christ, furnishes some
important particulars of the event, and points out the bearing of the
glorious doctrine in consoling the sorrow of the bereaved.
+I. That the second advent of Christ is the subject of Divine
revelation.+--"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord"
(ver. 15). In a subject of such vast moment the apostle was anxious
to show that he had the highest and most incontrovertible authority
for the statements he uttered. He had a special revelation from
heaven and spoke under the direct and immediate inspiration of the
Divine Spirit. The second advent of Christ is emphatically taught in
the Holy Scriptures (cf. Matt. xxiv. 3, xxv. 31; Mark viii. 3; John
xiv. 3; Acts i. 2, iii. 19, 20; Rom. viii. 17; 1 Cor. i. 8; 2 Tim.
iv. 1; Tit. ii. 13; 1 Pet. i. 5; 2 Pet. iii. 12; Jude 14).
+II. That the second advent of Christ will be distinguished by signal
tokens of terrible majesty.+--1. _There will be the triumphant shout
of the Divine Redeemer._ "For the Lord Himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout" (ver. 16). Just before Jesus expired on the
cross He cried with a loud voice, and though there was the ring of
victory in that cry, it sounded more like a conscious relief from
unutterable suffering. But the shout of Jesus on his second coming
will be like the loud, clear, joyous battle-shout of a great
Conqueror. That shout will break the silence of the ages, will
startle the universe into attention, will raise the dead, and summon
all people into the presence of the victorious Messiah. Formerly He
did "not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the
street" (Isa. xlii. 2). But now is the revelation of His power. "Our
God shall come, and shall not keep silence" (Ps. l. 3, 4).
2. _There will be the voice of the archangel_ (ver. 16).--The angelic
hosts are arranged in an hierarchy of various ranks and orders. The
archangel is the chief of the heavenly multitude. In response to the
majestic shout of the descending Lord, the archangel lifts up his
voice, like the loud cry of the herald announcing the glorious
advent, and the sound is caught up and prolonged by the vast hosts of
celestial attendants.
3. _There will be the trumpet-blast._--"With the trump of God," with
trumpet sounded by the command of God--such a trumpet, perhaps, as is
used in the service of God in heaven. Besides the shout of Jesus and
the voice of the archangel, the sound of the trumpet will also be
heard in the host. It is called in 1 Cor. xv. 52 "the last trumpet";
and in Matt. xxiv. 31 we read, "He shall send His angels with great
sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect." Among
the Hebrews, Greeks, and ancient Latins it was the custom to summon
the people with the trumpet. In this way God is said to gather His
people together (Isa. xxvii. 13; Jer. iv. 5, vi. 1). The whole
passage is designed to show that the second advent of King Messiah
will be attended by the most imposing evidences of pomp and regal
splendour.
+III. That the second advent of Christ will be followed by important
consequences to the people of God, living and dead.+--1. _The pious
dead shall be raised._ "When we which are alive, and remain unto the
coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. And the
dead in Christ shall rise first" (vers. 15, 16). The living at that
day--who, it would seem, would be spared the necessity of dying and
seeing corruption--shall, nevertheless, have no advantage over the
dead. Before any change takes place in the living to fit them for the
new condition of things, the dead in Christ shall rise first, and be
clothed with immortality and incorruptible splendour. Whatever
disadvantages may be the lot of some of God's people over others,
they are ever recompensed by some special privilege or prerogative.
The best state for us is that in which God places us. And yet every
man thinks another's condition happier than his own. Rare indeed is
the man who thinks his own state and condition in every respect best
for him.
2. _The living and the raised shall unite in a simultaneous greeting
of their descending Lord._--"Then we which are alive and remain shall
be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air" (ver. 17). The living, after passing through the wondrous change
from mortal to immortal, shall not anticipate for a single moment the
newly raised bodies of the pious dead, but together with them, in one
reunited, loving, inseparable company, shall be caught away in
chariots of clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and greet Him in the
descent. He comes to fulfil His promise (John xiv. 3).
3. _All believers in Christ shall be assured of eternal felicity with
Him._--"And so shall we ever be with the Lord" (ver. 17). For ever
with the Lord in familiar companionship--in rapturous communion, in
impending glory, in ever-enchanting revelations. With Him, not
occasionally, or for an age, or a millennium, but uninterruptedly for
ever, without the possibility of separation. How great the contrast
with the brightest experiences of this changeful life! There are
three things which eminently distinguish the heavenly life of the
soul--perfection, perpetuity, immutability.
+IV. That the contemplation of the second advent of Christ is
calculated to minister consolation to the sorrowing.+--"Therefore
comfort one another with these words" (ver. 18). A community in
suffering creates a community in sympathy. "If a thorn be in the
foot, the back bows, the eye is busy to pry into the hurt, the hands
do their best to pluck out the cause of anguish; even so we are
members one of another. To him that is afflicted, pity should be
showed from his friend" (Job vi. 14). The best consolation is that
which is drawn from the revelations of God's Word. There are no
comforts like Scripture comforts. The bereaved were sorrowing for
their loved ones who had been smitten down by death and were full of
anxiety and uncertainty about the future. Shall they meet again, or
are they parted for ever? The teaching of inspiration on the second
coming of Christ assures them that their departed relatives shall be
rescued from the power of death, that they shall meet again, meet in
glory, meet to part no more, to be for ever with each other and with
the Lord.
+Lessons.+--1. _The Church is justified in looking for the second
advent of Christ._ 2. _The second advent of Christ will bring an
everlasting recompense for the suffering and sorrow of the present
life._ 3. _The record that reveals the second advent of Christ should
be fondly prized and constantly pondered._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._