Summary of the Rapture Passage

In my Tidying Up post, I promised to summarize¹ Paul’s “rapture passage” (1 Thess 4:13–5:11) from my prophetic perspective (i.e., per inmillennialism²). I missed my self-imposed deadline but am now ready to fulfill the promise.

My previous posts have provided background information that anticipated this moment. The following synopsis of them (with links) will support my analysis of this passage:

1. Paul’s purpose for this passage was to comfort the Thessalonians regarding a question they were asking: Will our brothers and sisters who have died before the Lord has returned to end the Mosaic age be at a disadvantage in his subsequent parousia? (here)
2. The parousia of Christ is his presence with his churches during the messianic age, not a point-in-time event in our future (here and here).
3. Paul based his response on “the word of the Lord,” meaning his Olivet Discourse (here). 
4. God bringing those who sleep in Jesus (1 Thess 4:14) is the same as Jesus gathering together his elect during the messianic age (Matt 24:31) (here and here).
5. In his response to the Thessalonians’ concern, Paul emphasized events that would occur in his immediate future—some of his readers would be alive and remain to see them (here).
6. These events would end the Mosaic age and fully initiate the thousand-year reign of Christ, a prophetic description of the messianic age (here).
7. The two resurrections in John 5:24–29, 1 Corinthians 15:23, and Revelation 20:4–6 are identical. The first resurrection is that of Christ at the start of the messianic age. The second is the general (bodily) resurrection at its end (here).
8. The thousand-year reign of Christ in Revelation 20 is the present messianic age, which the apostles saw as a unit that includes the two resurrections (here).
9. Jesus and the apostles taught that the Old Testament saints were about to enter the kingdom of heaven; the saints from other nations would then join them during the messianic age (here).
10. Like the prophets before them, Jesus and the apostles used resurrection language to describe the transition from the Mosaic age to the messianic age (here, here, here, and here).
11. Jesus and the apostles said God would perform mighty acts in their generation (here), including the coming of the Lord, the establishment of the kingdom of God, the arrival of salvation, the execution of judgment, the appearance of glory, and the performance of a resurrection.³

With these points in mind, I will give my understanding of the “rapture passage” by inserting amplifications in bold brackets in the Holman Christian Standard Bible’s translation:

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. [We know he will bring them because Jesus promised to gather all his elect, including saints already dead, during the messianic age.] For we say this to you by a revelation from the Lord [in his Olivet Discourse]: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming [that is, those of us who live “into the Lord’s parousia” (i.e., his presence with his churches during the messianic age)] will certainly have no advantage over those who have fallen asleep. [The Lord promised that some of us would live to see him coming in his kingdom (Matt 16:27–28). Still, those who do not live that long will not be at a disadvantage in the coming messianic age.] For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God [just as he said in the Olivet Discourse. These will occur in this generation (Matt 24:34)!], and the dead in Christ will rise first. [As the Lord said, Abraham and the other Old Testament saints are about to enter the kingdom of heaven. Your dead Thessalonians brothers and sisters will enter with them.] Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord. [We will follow the dead saints into the messianic age just as the Lord said. Please understand my imagery. I am speaking like Isaiah, who said that, during the messianic age, we would “fly as a cloud, and as the doves to [our] windows” (Isa 60:8 KJV). I’m not speaking of physical flight here, but using this imagery to describe our entrance into the messianic age. Of course, at the end of the messianic age, all of us will rise with glorified bodies. But my purpose here is to assure you that your dead will be at no disadvantage in the meantime. They will enter the soon-coming messianic age to rule and reign with Christ and all his saints.] Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thess 4:13–18 HCSB)

This interpretation honors the unmistakable timestamp present in the text—some of Paul’s readers would live to see the events he describes. It also preserves the future resurrection and final judgment at the end of the messianic age.

1. In mathematics, the capital Greek Sigma (see graphic) often indicates a sum.
2. I document this perspective in Michael A. Rogers, Inmillennialism: Redefining the Last Days (Tullahoma, TN: McGahan Publishing House, 2020), 263. This book is available here in hardcopy and here as a PDF. A free summary PDF document of inmillennialism is here.
3. The “first resurrection” above included the ending of the Mosaic age and the full establishment of the kingdom of God. I hope to show this in future posts.