1 Thessalonians 4:17

1 Thessalonians 4:17. Then. Immediately after the dead in Christ have risen.

Shall be caught up together with them in the clouds. This Ascension of the Church to her Lord presupposes the ‘change' spoken of by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:52. The bodily ascent will be a token of the new conditions into which the body has passed, and will serve to identify the glorified body of the believer with that of Christ. But, as Luther remarks, this passage is of a symbolical kind, and we most not press each expression to its exact literal significance. The general idea of a gathering to the Lord is conveyed, but a literal representation of all the details here mentioned would fail to furnish us with an accurate picture of what will actually take place. ‘Such an attempt is like painting a picture of the scenes in the Apocalypse, which, the moment they are brought together, are seen to have a prophetic and symbolical meaning, not an artistic unity' (Jowett).

Ever with the Lord. It is this which fills the Christian's future and makes heaven for him. The restoration to lost friends is much, but is enhanced by the introduction to Christ and everlasting residence with Him, Whatever may be the physical relations and conditions by means of which these words shall be accomplished, they beget the hope that we shall be sensible that the influence of Christ pervades all we have to do with, and especially our own soul.