I
love 1st Thessalonians 4:14. What an awesome Bible verse! Satan has
succeeded in changing our Bible versions in most churches today. The Devil
has also succeeded in changing our moral standards of clothing in most Bible
colleges and churches, which were once considered the most conservative
Christian institutions in the United States. It is sad to see everything
turning from good to bad in America. Likewise, Satan has crept a false plan
of salvation into many of our Independent co-called “Fundamental” Baptist
churches, adopting
a Roman Catholic
understanding of repentance instead of what the Bible teaches. They are
only fundamental in name, but not in their stand, lifestyle or
convictions.
I love 1st Thessalonians 4:14 because it tells us the plain and simple plan of salvation, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” Amen! If we believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and resurrected from the grave three days later, we are saved. This is what the Bible teaches. This is a very different plan of salvation than the unbiblical requirement for a person to cease from sinful bad habits, forsake the world, make a commitment, and become a follower of Jesus Christ to be saved. Whether doing good works or stopping bad works, both are still dead works (Hebrews 6:1). Works have no part in salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9). To teach that a person must commit to turning away from sin to be saved is to teach that we are saved by partial faith in Christ plus human effort, which is heresy.
The Bible defines the “Gospel” for us in 1st Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” This is the good news, which is what the word gospel means. We are saved by believing the good news that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God Who came into the world to die in our place on the cross. Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith.
Who will Jesus bring with Him at the Rapture? 1st Thessalonians 4:14, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” This Scripture also refutes the false teaching of Soul Sleep that is foolishly taught by Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses. The Bible says that God is going to bring with Him the saints, who were saved by believing that Jesus died and rose again from the dead.
The dead in Christ will be raised first (1st Thessalonians 4:16-17), a reunion of our new, changed, resurrected, glorified, physical body, fashioned like unto the Lord's perfect new body (Philippians 3:21). Then the saints who are alive and remain on earth shall be “CAUGHT UP,” in the twinkling of an eye, to meet the Lord in the air (1st Corinthians 15:52; 1st Thessalonians 4:17). All the saints shall be CAUGHT UP to be with the Lord in the clouds. Every saint will receive a glorified new body, incorruptible. What a day that will be!!! This Biblical doctrine is often called “THE RAPTURE,” which although it is not a word found in the Bible, the teaching certainly agrees with the Scriptures.
Here is the full passage of Scripture...
1st Thessalonians 4:13-18, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
1st Thessalonians 4:17 plainly teaches that we will be “CAUGHT UP” to be with the Lord in the air when He returns. Clearly, this is a very different event than the Revelation (Second Coming) of Jesus Christ to the earth, when He will be seen by all humanity. The Revelation comes 7-years AFTER the Rapture. The Rapture Compared To The Revelation | Do Babies Go At The Rapture? (Dr. Max D. Younce). The Bible teaches a pretribulation Rapture, that is, the saints are caught up before the 7-year tribulation period.
Let us be vigilant and always ready to contend for the Christian faith (Jude 1:3), by exposing any false plan of salvation that adds to the simple truth that we are saved by believing the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ died for our sins on the cross. He was buried. Three days later He bodily rose from the dead for our justification. If you acknowledge that you are a guilty sinner in God's eyes and believe that Christ died for your sins, and that He raised up from the dead, then you are saved immediately, irrevocably and eternally secure in the promise of God to save them that believe (John 3:16; Romans 1:16; Titus 1:2).
