The coming of the Lord and the resurrection of believers

4:13 Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope. 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep as Christians. 4:15 For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not go ahead of those who have fallen asleep. 4:16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 4:17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be suddenly caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. 4:18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. 5:1 Now on the topic of times and seasons, brothers and sisters, you have no need for anything to be written to you. 5:2 For you know quite well that the day of the Lord will come in the same way as a thief in the night. 5:3 Now when they are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape. 5:4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the darkness for the day to overtake you like a thief would. 5:5 For you all are sons of the light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness. 5:6 So then we must not sleep as the rest, but must stay alert and sober. 5:7 For those who sleep, sleep at night and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 5:8 But since we are of the day, we must stay sober by putting on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet our hope for salvation. 5:9 For God did not destine us for wrath but for gaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 5:10 He died for us so that whether we are alert or asleep we will come to life together with him. 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, just as you are in fact doing.

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible®, copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

Believers who have died will not miss the Lord’s coming. Because Jesus died and rose again, the dead in Christ will rise first, and then living believers will be gathered together with them to meet the Lord. Therefore the church should encourage one another with this hope and live alert, sober lives as people who belong to the light, not like the world that is unprepared for coming judgment.

Website-Ready Commentary Main Point: Believers who have died will not miss the Lord’s coming. Because Jesus died and rose again, the dead in Christ will rise first, and then living believers will be gathered together with them to meet the Lord. Therefore the church should encourage one another with this hope and live alert, sober lives as people who belong to the light, not like the world that is unprepared for coming judgment. Commentary: Paul tells the Thessalonian church that he does not want them to be uninformed about fellow believers who have died. He is not forbidding grief altogether. Rather, he wants their grief to be different from the grief of those who have no hope. Christian sorrow is real, but it is not hopeless. That hope rests on Jesus himself. Paul reasons from the shared Christian confession that Jesus died and rose again. Because this is true, those who have fallen asleep through Jesus will also share in his resurrection victory. Their future does not rest on a vague belief in life after death, but on the death and resurrection of Christ. Paul says this teaching comes “by the word of the Lord.” His main point is that believers who are alive when the Lord comes will have no advantage over believers who have died. The living will not go ahead of the dead. Paul then gives the sequence. The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. The dead in Christ will rise first. Then living believers will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. This will be a real and public encounter with the returning Lord. Paul’s main emphasis is not to provide a full itinerary, but to assure believers that all of them will be together and will always be with the Lord. So Paul closes this section by saying, “Therefore encourage one another with these words.” This truth is meant to be spoken within the church, especially in times of grief. In 5:1 Paul turns to a related subject. The focus shifts from the place of deceased believers in Christ’s coming to the timing and suddenness of the day of the Lord, and to the way believers should live in light of it. The Thessalonians already know that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When people are saying, “Peace and security,” sudden destruction will come upon them. This describes the false confidence of a world that feels safe while ignoring God’s coming judgment. Paul compares it to labor pains coming upon a pregnant woman. When the appointed moment arrives, it will be unavoidable, and they will not escape. Paul then draws a sharp contrast between the world and the church. The unprepared are “they,” but believers are “you.” Believers are not in darkness so that day should overtake them like a thief. They are sons of light and sons of day. They belong to the realm of light, and they must live in a way that matches that identity. For that reason, believers must not “sleep” as others do, but stay awake and sober. Here “sleep” no longer means death, as it did earlier in 4:13–15. Now it refers to spiritual dullness and moral carelessness. Paul is calling the living to vigilance. Because believers belong to the day, they must be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of the hope of salvation. These virtues are not mere decorations. They are spiritual armor for a people waiting for the Lord. Paul grounds this exhortation in God’s saving purpose. God has not appointed believers for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. This assurance does not remove the warning of judgment in the passage. It shows that those who belong to Christ are appointed for salvation through him. That hope is again grounded in Christ’s death: “He died for us.” The result is that whether we are alive or dead at his coming, we will live together with him. Death does not exclude any believer from sharing in Christ’s return and life. Paul ends with another command for church life: encourage one another and build one another up. This teaching is not given for speculation or date-setting, but to strengthen hope, obedience, and mutual care in the church. Key Truths: - Christians may grieve, but not as those who have no hope. - The hope of believers is grounded in Jesus’ death and resurrection. - Dead believers do not miss the Lord’s coming; they rise first. - Living believers do not go ahead of deceased believers. - All believers will be gathered together to meet the Lord and be with him forever. - The day of the Lord brings sudden and inescapable judgment on the unprepared world. - Believers are children of light and must live in wakefulness and sobriety. - Faith, love, and hope function as spiritual armor. - God has appointed believers for salvation through Jesus Christ, not for wrath. - These truths are given for mutual encouragement and edification in the church.

• Christians may grieve, but not as those who have no hope. - The hope of believers is grounded in Jesus’ death and resurrection. - Dead believers do not miss the Lord’s coming
• they rise first. - Living believers do not go ahead of deceased believers. - All believers will be gathered together to meet the Lord and be with him forever. - The day of the Lord brings sudden and inescapable judgment on the unprepared world. - Believers are children of light and must live in wakefulness and sobriety. - Faith, love, and hope function as spiritual armor. - God has appointed believers for salvation through Jesus Christ, not for wrath. - These truths are given for mutual encouragement and edification in the church.

• Do not treat every use of 'sleep' in this passage as meaning the same thing. - Do not turn the passage into a complete end-times chart
• Paul gives a real sequence, but not an exhaustive timetable. - Do not mute the warning of judgment
• comfort for believers stands alongside wrath for the unprepared. - Do not use assurance as an excuse for spiritual carelessness. - Do not miss the church-wide purpose of the passage by reducing it to private reflection only.

Paul presents the Lord's coming as the decisive arrival of the risen Lord that gathers the whole church, including believers who have died. The passage is structured by paired images: sleep can mean death in 4:13-15 or moral dullness in 5:6-7; meeting the Lord evokes a public welcome; 'peace and security' voices the world's false calm before judgment. Read that way, the passage resists three distortions at once: hopeless grief, end-times chart obsession, and complacent living.

- Comfort grieving believers with the specific promise that the dead in Christ rise first and all believers will be gathered to the Lord together. - Use these truths in congregational speech: encourage and build one another up. - Do not let claims of peace and security make you spiritually complacent. - Live as people of the day: awake, sober, and self-controlled. - Put on faith, love, and hope as active spiritual armor while waiting for Christ. - Let assurance of salvation through Christ lead to steadfast obedience and mutual care.

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