¹⁶For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

Eschatologically oriented minds jump at verses like this, and rightly so. We should want to know accurately what the future holds. Paul pens this to a rather young church with relatively new believers who are eager to grow in their knowledge of the Lord’s return. He also writes to comfort those who have lost loved ones to death. At this point in the history of the Christian movement, the expectation was probably still strong that Jesus was going to set up His kingdom here on earth when He returned. If that were the case, the Thessalonian believers were justified in their concern that their deceased loved ones would miss out on the kingdom. However, Paul sets the record straight about how things will happen. Here Paul describes that Christ’s return will be partial, that is, He will come back “in the clouds,” “in the air.” He will not initially come back to the physical earth, to “terra firma.”

We do know from other Scripture that the Messiah will eventually return physically and stand on the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4). And indeed, Jesus spent some time there after His “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem, the week before Israel rejected Him as its king. After His death and resurrection, the promise was given that He would return (Acts 1:11). The book of the Revelation tells us that He will occupy a throne in a new heaven and new earth with a New Jerusalem. These are the culmination of the end times, and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, will be the light of this new world. And believers will “reign forever and ever” (Rev. 6) with the Lord.

But Paul here addresses a different return of the Lord, what many call the rapture of the saints. Charles Ryrie points out that the word “rapture” is not found in the original Greek, but comes from the Latin translation (“rapturo”) of the Greek word used here for “caught up” in verse 17. The original word, “harpazo,” is used of Philip being caught up from near Gaza and transported by the Spirit to Caesarea (Acts 8:39). Paul also used that word for his experience recorded in 2 Corinthians 12:2–4. The apostle speaks here of believers being “caught up” to the Lord in the sky. How this will happen and what it will look or feel like stretches our imagination beyond the usual boundaries. But that Paul is speaking of a physical event is clear. This is what was spoken of when the promise of His return was given to the disciples just before Pentecost.

Lord, the promise of Christ’s return is amazing. I can hardly wait!