What does 1 Thessalonians 4:18 Mean?

Verse Meaning

The hope of being reunited with saints who have died and, what is more important, with Christ, gives believers a hope that we can and should use to comfort one another when loved ones die. [source][source]

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"Paul"s central point ^[1] is that Christians who have died are in no way behind those who are alive at the Lord"s coming, since the dead will actually rise first; then, we will all go together to meet the Lord in the air." ^[2] [source]

Note that it is not the Lord"s return by itself that Paul offered as encouragement here (cf. Titus 2:13) but the reunion of dead and living saints and their shared glory in His presence. [source][source]

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Both pretribulationists and posttribulationists agree that the revelation Paul just gave is a comfort to believers. The hope of translation before death that Paul revealed is greater than the hope of resurrection after death that the Thessalonians had held. Will this translation occur before the Tribulation or after it? Pretribulationists say it will occur before. Consequently we have a very comforting hope. Not only may our translation precede our death, but it will also precede the Tribulation. Furthermore it may take place at any moment. Posttribulationists say our hope consists only in the possibility of our being translated before we die. We may have to go through the Tribulation. Therefore the Rapture is not imminent in their view. [source][source]

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"The hope of a rapture occurring after a literal great tribulation would be small comfort to those in this situation ^[3]." ^[4] [source]

". . . although the church has gone through periods of great persecution in the past and undoubtedly may go through greater and even more intense persecutions before Christ returns, nevertheless, the view of a posttribulational rapture is impossible for the simple reason that it makes meaningless the very argument that Paul was presenting in the Thessalonian letters. Paul was arguing for the imminence of Christ"s return. This is to be the major source of comfort for suffering believers. If Christ will not come until after the great tribulation (that Isaiah , a special period of unusual and intense suffering still in the future), then the return of the Lord is not imminent and tribulation rather than deliverance is what we must anticipate." ^[5] [source]

I prefer the pretribulational explanation of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 for the following reasons. The passage pictures the Rapture as an imminent event, but it is not if the Tribulation must come first. Second, Christians are not destined to experience the outpouring of God"s wrath ( 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10), which the Tribulation will be. Third, the prospect of an imminent Rapture is a much greater comfort than the prospect of a posttribulation Rapture, and Paul revealed this information to provide comfort. Fourth, there is no mention of the Tribulation in the passage, but that would be appropriate and reasonable if it will precede the Rapture. The pretribulation view existed in the church long before John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) popularized it. ^[6] [source]

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A comparison of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 with John 14:1-3 shows that they refer to the same event. [source][source]

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John 14:1-3 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18trouble John 14:1sorrow 1 Thessalonians 4:13believe John 14:1believe 1 Thessalonians 4:14God, me John 14:1Jesus, God 1 Thessalonians 4:14told you John 14:2say to you 1 Thessalonians 4:15come again John 14:3coming of the Lord 1 Thessalonians 4:15receive you John 14:3caught up 1 Thessalonians 4:17to myself John 14:3to meet the Lord 1 Thessalonians 4:17be where I am John 14:3ever be with the Lord 1 Thessalonians 4:17[source]

A similar comparison of1Thessalonians4and Revelation 19 , which describes the second coming of Christ, reveals that these two chapters must describe different events. ^[7] [source]

1 Thessalonians 4 Revelation 19Only the righteous are in the picture.Only the wicked.The dead are raised to life.The living go to death.The saints ascend to meet the Lord.Saints descend with the Lord.They are the guests at the marriage supper of the Lamb.They constitute the supper of the great God.They are forever with the Lord.The leaders and all their followers are cast into the lake of fire. [source][source]

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Context Summary

It is suggested that God Himself is the teacher of love. Others may teach the lower classes in the school of grace, but the highest is reserved for the Supreme Teacher. Note that recurring more and more, 1 Thessalonians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:10. The distribution of goods in the early Church may have led to abuses, which the injunctions here given were intended to rectify. It is well to bring up every child to know one means of livelihood, and children are much more likely to grow up into noble and useful people, if they are encouraged to work for their living. Do something in the world!

These disciples anticipated the speedy return of the Lord and feared lest those who had died would be worse off than they: The Apostle bade them dismiss such fears, because they who remained alive until the coming of the Lord would have no precedence over others who had died. Paul assures them that they who had fallen asleep were with Jesus, and that they would accompany Him when He came again; To those who needed to be raised, Jesus would be "the Resurrection"; to those who were living, He would be "the Life." They that believed in Him, though they had died, yet would they live; and they who lived till He came would never die. [source]

Chapter Summary: 1 Thessalonians 4

¹  He exhorts them to go forward in all manner of godliness;
⁶  to live holily and justly;
⁹  to love one another;
¹¹  and quietly to follow their own business;
¹³  and last of all, to sorrow moderately for the dead
¹⁷  followed by a brief description of the resurrection, and second coming of Christ to judgment