And The Dead In Christ Will Rise

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. 

I Thessalonians 4:16 

An attendant circumstance to the Return of Christ is the resurrection of the dead. As the logical follow-on from our discussion from yesterday, we want to concentrate upon the last line of the verse, ‘and the dead in Christ will rise first.’ The Apostle Paul, writing in First Corinthians, spends an entire chapter expounding the truth of the resurrection of the dead. He first goes to great lengths to prove that Christ Himself rose from the dead. He spends the chapter explaining and proclaiming the resurrection of the dead. Beginning in the fifty-first verse he explains in great detail how this resurrection looks, ‘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. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Here is the clear description of the saints’ expectation. For this reason we do not fear death. As one old divine put it, there is the death of death in the Death of Christ. Because Christ has Himself risen from the dead He guarantees the resurrection of all who are dead in him at His Return. This emboldens every child of God who is able, by faith, to grasp the truth of it. This makes the death bed a life bridge, and the arrival of Death as the advent of a Royal Escort. For us, death is but a brief rest for the body until the new one arrives. This is why, at the graveside we ‘sorrow not as others who have no hope.’ One of the soul thrilling results of the Return of Christ is that ‘the dead in Christ will rise first.’ 

Our Glorious Savior, and Our Living Lord, 
we rejoice that You have risen from the dead. 
We praise You, that because You are the Lord of Life, 
we shall be raised by You, at Your coming. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning