For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.
And the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, NKJV
There it is, in full detail, the event that will change everything. It is portrayed in types and shadows throughout the Old Testament. It is promised by Jesus throughout the course of His ministry. And now it is described by the Apostle Paul in one of his earliest epistles, in a passage meant to encourage the Christians in Thessalonica about the loss of one of their loved ones who had died after having believed in Christ. Paul spent three weeks in the Greek city of Thessalonica before being run out of town ahead of a riot, but his letters indicate he spent much of his time telling those believers about the imminent return of Jesus Christ. It was an event he fully expected in his lifetime!
The Lord Jesus Christ is currently seated at the right hand of God, waiting for the day when the Father says, "Son, go get your bride." And one of these days--Paul believed it was going to be soon 2000 years ago; I believe it's going to be soon as well--the word will be given. Like a Jewish bridegroom going to get his bride for their long-awaited wedding day, Jesus will arise from his seat of glory and begin the descent from wherever he is to where we are now. He's been sending messages through the Holy Spirit and through his spokesmen for these last two millennia, but the promise of his return is that for which we are watching and waiting. And just as the disciples saw him go, so shall we see him return in power and great glory!
As Jesus descends through the heavens toward the earth, he will begin to shout. It will be a commanding shout, assembly orders for all the saints of all the ages. It will be a stimulating cry, a rousing, resounding, triumphant summons to his own. I think there's enough Biblical evidence to suggest that he will utter two things--the name of everyone both dead and alive who ever believed on him for salvation, coupled with the phrase, "Come up here!" And because he is all powerful and able to do so much more than we can even imagine, he will be able to utter the name of every believer simultaneously! Perhaps, as in the Song of Solomon, he will say it twice, once for the dead and once for the living. But whether on the ground or in it, our ears will hear the Lord call our name with the greatest invitation ever: Arise, my beloved, and come away!
When Jesus begins to shout, one of the chief angels will begin to shout as well--The Bridegroom cometh! The Bridegroom cometh! Perhaps at that moment, the heavens will erupt in the thunderous voice of the multitudinous myriads of angels and saints in heaven as they join the call.
The trumpet call of God--coming either from one of God's holy angels or perhaps even from the very throne of God itself--will sound from one end of eternity to the other, that awakening blast of the last trump.
The earth will tremble and quake. The graves of all those who believed in Jesus Christ will burst open with new life as the saints receive their newly immortal and glorified bodies and rise to everlasting life.
And all of those believers who still live and breathe on planet earth, who have found true life through faith in Jesus Christ, who are living an active and blessed life dedicated to him, will suddenly be snatched from their earthly existence, changed in the blink of an eye into glorious incorruption.
Together all who have lived and died for Jesus Christ since his own resurrection from the dead will rise in singular jubilant union, caught up in clouds there to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the air as he descends.
And so we shall ever be with the Lord.
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