The Dead Will Rise First — Part 4

A faithful friend has compounded my difficulties. I had admitted that Paul’s “rapture passage” (1 Thess 4:13–5:11) poses significant challenges for my prophetic view, which I call inmillennialism. Over two years ago, I wrote a series of blog posts explaining that Paul used protensive language in this passage: he put the bodily resurrection in close literary contact with events in his generation,¹ even though the messianic (kingdom) age would intervene. I had given an obvious example where Paul used this literary device in another letter: God will raise every man “in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Cor 15:23). Paul used a single word—“afterward”—to separate Christ’s resurrection in the “last days” of the Mosaic age from the resurrection of the saints at the end of the messianic age. If Christ rose in Paul’s generation, the saints will rise when the Lord defeats his last enemy—physical death (1 Cor 15:25).

I had said Paul did the same things in the “rapture passage.” He first listed things that would happen in his generation—the Lord’s coming (1 Thess 4:15; cp. Matt 24:30), the trumpet sounding (1 Thess 4:16; cp. Matt 24:31), etc.² Afterward, he mentioned the resurrection at the end of the messianic age: “the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess 4:16–17). This was my previous explanation of this important passage.

Now, my friend will not let me get by with this explanation. He insists Paul was writing about something that would occur in his generation. He is basing his challenge on Paul’s words regarding who would experience these things: “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up” (1 Thess 4:17). My friendly critic is chiding me just a bit: “Mike, you emphasize that, in Matthew 16:27–28, Jesus said he would return in his kingdom before some of his hearers died. You stress that the Lord said, ‘Some standing here … shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom’ (Matt 16:28). Paul was saying the same thing as Jesus: both the dead and the living would rise during the lifetime of some Thessalonians. So, why are you trying to say he had some other timing in mind?” 

The truth of his observation struck home. Over the past few weeks, I have reconsidered my previous explanation of the “rapture passage.” I now agree with my friend: Paul was not using protensive language here; he was speaking of a rising of the saints—dead and living—that would occur in his generation. In my next few blog posts, I want to explain how I concluded this and what I think Paul meant by his “resurrection” statements in 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17.

I will begin with two general observations. First, the explanation I will present here is not contradictory to my previous views, but it expands those views. Paul may have had the bodily resurrection in the back of his mind, but his statements encompass a broader view of the messianic (kingdom) age. His focus is on the beginning of the new age, not its end. 

Second, I am convinced that Paul did not expect (and, therefore, teach) that the bodily resurrection, final judgment, or end of the physical creation would occur in his immediate future. He knew (and taught) that the messianic age was next on God’s prophetic timetable. During the soon-coming messianic age, Christ would reign until he overcame all his enemies, the last enemy being physical death which he would overcome at the end of his kingdom-reign (cf. 1 Cor 15:20–28). We must interpret everything in Paul’s “rapture passage” (1 Thess 4:13–5:11) considering this truth.

So, how did I go about answering my friend’s insightful challenge? How did I arrive at a better understanding of what Paul meant by the dead “rising” and the living being “caught up” with them? In the next few posts, I want to provide a step-by-step explanation of my thought process. I will draw support from previous posts—including the last three “republished” posts about the first resurrection—and my book.³ Also, I will make some new observations and draw conclusions from them.

Revisiting “The Word of the Lord”

I confess: when my friend convinced me that my earlier view was unsatisfactory, I was at a loss; I could not explain what Paul meant by his “resurrection” language. What happened in his generation that would justify his words?

I have said, here and in my book, that the Olivet Discourse and 1 Corinthians 15 provide the basis for a robust prophetic model. As I reflected on my compounded difficulties, my mind returned to these two passages. Again, I am committed to the idea that 1 Corinthians 15 must govern our understanding of Paul’s “rapture passage”: he did not believe or teach that the bodily resurrection and final judgment would (or might) occur in his generation. But what about the other foundational passage (i.e., the Olivet Discourse)? Could it help us understand 1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11? 

I said in a previous post (here) that Jesus’ Olivet Discourse is the “word of the Lord” (1 Thess 4:15) to which Paul is referring in his “rapture passage.” My primary reason for this assertion was that the subject matter in these two passages is almost identical. For convenience, I will again list some key identities:

1. Both passages speak of Christ’s parousia: 
   1. “So shall be also the presence (Gk. parousia) of the Son of Man” (Matt 24:27 YLT)
   2. “For this to you we say in the word of the Lord, that we who are living—who do remain over to the presence (Gk. parousia) of the Lord” (1 Thess 4:15 YLT)
2. Both passages speak of Christ’s coming:
   1. “The Son of Man coming (Gk. erchomai) ” (Matt 24:30)
   2. “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven” (1 Thess 4:16)
3. Both passages mention Christ coming in the clouds:
   1. “They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matt 24:30)
   2. “We … shall be caught up together with them in the clouds” (1 Thess 4:17)
4. Both passages describe the ministry of angels linked to the coming of Christ:
   1. “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him” (Matt 25:31)
   2. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel” (1 Thess 4:16; cp. 2 Thess 1:7)
5. Both passages mention the sound of a trumpet:
   1. “He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet” (Matt 24:31)
   2. “For the Lord Himself will descend … with the trumpet of God” (1 Thess 4:16)
6. Both passages mention Christ’s gathering of believers:
   1. “They will gather together (Gk. episunagō) His elect from the four winds” (Matt 24:31)
   2. “We … shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess 4:17). [Cp. “the coming (Gk. parousia) of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together (Gk. episunagogē) to Him” (2 Thess 2:1)]

As I pondered this list in view of my friend’s challenge, two key facts dawned on me. First, in both passages, the messianic-age gathering of believers into the kingdom of God follows the coming of Christ. Second, in both passages, the coming and gathering occur in Jesus’ generation. Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place” (Matt 24:34). Paul expressed the same time orientation: “We say this to you by a revelation from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly have no advantage over those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thess 4:15 HCSB).

I could see that the events and the timing are the same in both passages! What if Paul, in his “rapture passage,” was continuing to follow the “word of the Lord” in the Olivet Discourse? What if his “dead rising” and “living caught up together” were picturesque ways of describing the Lord’s “gathering together” of his elect (cp. 1 Thess 4:16–17; Matt 24:31)? 

I had glimpsed this possibility before and had said (here) that the “gathering” statements in Matthew 24:31, 1 Thessalonians 4:14, and 2 Thessalonians 2:1 are identical. Why had I not applied this insight to the “rising” and “catching up” of the “rapture passage?”

My puzzlement regarding my lack of insight increased when I considered Mark’s version of Jesus’ “gathering statement”:

Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven. (Mark 13:26–27)

Jesus was using vivid language to express the extent of this gathering: “The point of Matthew’s (like Mark’s) statement is the comprehensiveness or universality of the gathering of the saints.”⁴ We should not press such language too far toward a rigid literalism. Still, the structure of this assertion grabbed my attention: here was a gathering of the elect from earth and heaven. Could it be that Jesus was emphasizing universality by referring to some of his saints as those living on earth and others as those dead and in heaven? If so, was he saying his angels would bring together those that had died before the coming of the Son of Man and those who lived to see it?

 A flood of thoughts ensued. Jesus had not directly mentioned the bodily resurrection in the Olivet Discourse. Now, thanks to my friend’s challenge, here I was thinking the same thing about the “rapture passage” (1 Thess 4:13–5:11). Paul did not have the resurrection of the body in the forefront of his mind, either! Why had I not allowed these passages to lead me where they desired to go?

Conclusion

I am now willing to (at least tentatively) embrace the following statement: when Paul referred to those who were dead in Christ rising and those that were alive being “caught up together with them in the clouds” (1 Thess 4:16–17) at the Lord’s coming, he meant the same thing as Jesus when he said his angels would “gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven” (Mark 13:27).

Neither Jesus nor Paul were thinking, in the first instance, of the bodily resurrection. Both were thinking of something that would happen in their generation, in the “last days” of the Mosaic age.

But this view raises significant questions. Do Paul’s verbs—“will rise” and “be caught up”—support this interpretation in a natural and unforced manner? Did the Old Testament prophets say anything about this raising of the dead and this catching up of the living at the start of the messianic age? etc. 

I will (D. V.) address questions like these in my next few posts.

1. The series begins here. I explained the protensive view in the third post here.
2. For a full list see the second post in my previous series here.
3. Michael A. Rogers, Inmillennialism: Redefining the Last Days (Tullahoma, TN: McGahan Publishing House, 2020). It is available in hardcopy here and a PDF version of the book is available here. For a summary, see the free PDF here.
4. Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 14–28, WBC, ed. Bruce M. Metzger (Dallas: Word, 1998), 714 (emphasis added).