{"id":3796,"date":"2012-08-20T03:30:07","date_gmt":"2012-08-20T10:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=3796"},"modified":"2012-08-19T21:46:03","modified_gmt":"2012-08-20T04:46:03","slug":"1-thessalonians-417-glorious-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/1-thessalonians-417-glorious-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"1 Thessalonians 4:17 – Glorious Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Then we who are alive <\/strong><\/span>and<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>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.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Living Christians will join the “dead in Christ” at the rapture.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

“Then<\/span>” is from the Greek word epeita<\/em><\/span>, meaning “afterwards” or “next.”<\/p>\n

The words “who are alive and remain<\/span>” are translated from the same Greek words as in verse fifteen. They literally mean “the remaining, living ones.”<\/p>\n

“Shall be caught up<\/span>” is the translation of the Greek verb harpadz\u014d<\/em><\/span>. This verb means “to seize by force” or “to snatch away.” In the Latin translation of the Bible it is translated as a form of rapare<\/em><\/span>, from which we get the English word rapture.<\/p>\n

The words “together with<\/span>” are from two Greek words. They are hama<\/em><\/span>, meaning “at the same time” and sun<\/em><\/span>, meaning “with.”<\/p>\n

Nephel\u0113<\/em> <\/span>is the word translated “clouds<\/span>.” This is the diminutive form of nephos<\/em><\/span>, meaning “clouds.” Thus, nephel\u0113<\/em> <\/span>literally means “little clouds” or “cloudiness.” The Greek text does not contain the definite article (the), so a more accurate translation would be “in clouds,” not “in the<\/em> clouds.”<\/p>\n

“Meet<\/span>” is from apant\u0113sis<\/em><\/span>, a form of apanta\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to meet, coming from different directions.” The form of apant\u0113sis<\/em> <\/span>used here literally means “a meeting.”<\/p>\n

“In the air<\/span>” is from eis aera<\/em><\/span>, meaning “into air” or “into the atmosphere.”<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the previous verse we learned that those “who sleep in Jesus,” Christians who have died physically, will be raised from the dead first. Now we learn that right afterwards, Christians who have not yet died will be snatched away from the earth. These two groups of Christians will be joined together in clouds. This could be a description of the weather conditions at the time (cloudiness) or, more likely, it means that there will be clouds of people being raised up off the earth for a meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

This glorious meeting will take place “in the air” or “in the earth’s atmosphere.” This is a significant statement because it indicates that our Lord will not come to the surface of the earth, just into the atmosphere. In other words, this is not “the second coming of the Lord,” which occurs on the “Day of the Lord.” According to the prophet Zechariah, on the day of the Lord, the Messiah will come to the surface of the earth and stand on the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:1-4<\/span><\/strong>). Keep in mind, the day of Christ (the rapture) is a time of celebration and joy, whereas the Day of the Lord is a day of judgment and woe.<\/p>\n

From the moment of the rapture, for the rest of eternity, we will be with our Lord. Also, note again that Paul says “we who are alive.<\/span>” Paul expected to be alive for the rapture.<\/p>\n

Application<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

When we hear the trumpet call at the time of the rapture, we will be filled with joy and we will be changed. Rejoice my friends, for the time of celebration is very near.<\/p>\n

In God's service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Copyright © 2012 Will Krause. All rights reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. Truth to Learn Living Christians will join the “dead in Christ” at the rapture. Behind the Words “Then” is from the Greek […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[2781,1975,2780,2774,318,2773,2776,2775,2779,2778,2777,2772,723,2480],"class_list":["post-3796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aera","tag-air","tag-apantesis","tag-caught-up","tag-clouds","tag-epeita","tag-hama","tag-harpadzo","tag-meet","tag-nephele","tag-sun","tag-then","tag-together","tag-with"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-Ze","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3796"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3799,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3796\/revisions\/3799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}