1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 : Inspirational Bible Verses

¹⁶For 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:

¹⁷Then 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.

¹⁸Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Read the words of these famous Bible verses when you are fearful of the "afterlife". These encouraging verses will give you hope when you have heard the terminal prognosis from your doctor.

My Dad's Favorite Bible Verses

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 may have been the passage I heard my father recited the most. Even up to his death he held on to the promises in this comforting passage of scripture.

Let's take a look at some of what my dad saw in this text.

God [the LORD] will return again

Our Lord, Jesus will not send an angel to take us to heaven. He will come, Himself. And it will be glorious. The coming will be audible, visible, and majestic!

Do you see that in the context? Take a look again. Notice the phrase, "with a shout, with the voice of the archangel..."

This doesn't sound like a secret rapture to me. Does it?

We can also see in verse 16 that there will be at least two resurrections (see also Revelation 20:5 & 6) at the end of the world. The "dead in Christ shall rise first."

Who are the dead in Christ? The saints - those who have been faithful to God and have died. With the blessed hope, I consider my father among this group.

“Then we which are alive and remain”

I heard my dad repeat these words even on his 'death bed'. He treasured this promise. He believed that whether he lived or died, in The End his destiny would be the same - with the Lord.

Where are the dead?

It flies in the face of the theory that when we die we [immediately] go to heaven. The Bible doesn't teach that. Even in Acts 2:34, we read, "For David did not ascend to heaven..."

Here this encouraging passage of scripture says, the Lord will come and wake the dead from their sleep, (including David, Abraham, Adam, and my dad), who are still now in their graves.

Together with the righteous living, we will all "meet the Lord in the air." Hey, I could understand that from I was in the third grade! It's quite clear, isn't it?

"And so shall we ever be with the Lord." Can you imagine that? Does that sound like glory? Sure does!

Can you imagine "no more sickness", "no more pain", no death, taxes, or hurt of any sort? Oh no, we can't fully imagine that with a brain functioning (according to scientists) at one-eighth it's potential (capacity)!

But we can experience it on that day! So friend, let's just "comfort one another with these words." That's heaven's hope for you and me.

God bless.