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. 18Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Imaginative thinking has been offered through the ages as Christians have grappled with the details about the end times. This desire to satisfy curious minds and the anticipation of our hearts has a long history, extending back to the original apostles: “So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’” (Acts 1:6). Paul, toward the end of his life, was still “testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus” (Acts 28:23) and “preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered” (Acts 28:31).
He speaks at great length in the next chapter of this letter to the Thessalonians and also in his second letter to them. Peter writes about the end times in his two epistles, as does John, of course, in the book of the Revelation. So naturally Christians find great interest in the subject of what the future holds.
Many have set dates based on convoluted calculations as they try to fit the various prophetical statements in diverse parts of Scripture, including Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah. In fact, much of Scripture touches on the end times. But we know from how the prophecies about the coming of the Messiah played out in the details of the life of Jesus Christ, that we should tread carefully with statements of certitude about the details.
But speculation does excite the heart, and this is not always a bad thing, even if we can’t be certain about everything. After all, whether the description of the spiritual realm for believers is pictured as an elaborate Bedouin tent (like the OT Tabernacle, see Hebrews 8:5), or a mansion with many rooms (John 14:2), or a city made with streets of transparent, pure gold and pearls as the city gates (Rev. 21:21), we can be assured that heaven (or the kingdom on earth) will be far greater than even these word pictures. God intends to excite our souls with the best possible thing we can picture in our minds.
So how the rapture will all take place is a wonderful mystery, which the Lord has kept somewhat cryptic for our imaginations to enjoy to the full. At this juncture in his letter, Paul invites us all to meditate on these things and to “comfort one another with these words.”
Lord, although I don’t fully understand everything about the end times, I am comforted to know that my loved ones and I will be joined with You forever.
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