1Thess 4:16

“Well, then, what difference is there between heathens and Christians, if the same prison awaits them all when dead? How, indeed, shall the soul mount up to heaven, where Christ is already sitting at the Father's right hand, when as yet the archangel's trumpet has not been heard by the command of God, -when as yet those whom the coming of the Lord is to find on the earth, have not been caught up into the air to meet Him at His coming, in company with the dead in Christ, who shall be the first to arise? To no one is heaven opened; the earth is still safe for him, I would not say it is shut against him.”

“Under the arms of prayer guard we the standard of our General; await we in prayer the angel's trump. The angels, likewise, all pray; every creature prays; cattle and wild beasts pray and bend their knees; and when they issue from their layers and lairs, they look up heavenward with no idle mouth, making their breath vibrate after their own manner.”

“For at that time the trumpet shall sound, and awake those that sleep from the lowest parts of the earth, righteous and sinners alike. And every kindred, and tongue, and nation, and tribe shall be raised in the twinkling of an eye; and they shall stand upon the face of the earth, waiting for the coming of the righteous and terrible Judge, in fear and trembling unutterable. For the river of fire shall come forth in fury like an angry sea, and shall burn up mountains and hills, and shall make the sea vanish, and shall dissolve the atmosphere with its heat like wax. The stars of heaven shall fall, the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood. The heaven shall be rolled together like a scroll: the whole earth shall be burnt up by reason of the deeds done in it, which men did corruptly, in fornications, in adulteries, and in lies and uncleanness, and in idolatries, and in murders, and in battles. For there shall be the new heaven and the new earth.”

“We think that those who have been perfected and who no longer commit sin are alive in Christ. The dead in Christ are those who are favorably disposed to the Christian faith and who prefer to live a good life but who have not, in fact, actually succeeded, but still sin, either in ignorance of the accurate true word of justice or in weakness, because their decisions are overcome by the flesh, which lusts against the spirit. And it is in conformity with these matters that Paul, conscious of himself, says, because he has already succeeded, "We who are alive." But those whom we spoke of as dead have special need of the resurrection, since not even those who are alive can be taken up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air before the dead in Christ first rise. This is why it has been written, "The dead in Christ shall rise first, then we who are alive," etc.”

“"Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him "is the voice which shall be heard from heaven, and the trumpet, when the saints, all their bodies being raised, shall be caught up, and shall go on the clouds to meet the Lord. says, that after the cry all the virgins arose, that is, that the dead shall be raised after the voice which comes from heaven, as also Paul intimates,”

“I believe the words of the wise, that every fair and God-beloved soul, when, set free from the bonds of the body, it departs hence, at once enjoys a sense and perception of the blessings which await it. This happens to the extent that whatever darkened that soul has been purged away, or laid aside—this is the only way I can express it—such that it feels a marvelous pleasure and exultation and goes rejoicing to meet its Lord. This soul has escaped, as it were, the grievous poison of life here and has shaken off the fetters which bound it and held down the wings of the mind. And so the soul enters upon the bliss laid up for it, a bliss of which it has even now some conception.… Why, then, be faint-hearted in my hopes? Why behave like a mere creature of the day? I await the voice of the archangel, the last trumpet, the transformation of the heavens, the transfiguration of the earth, the liberation of the elements, the renovation of the universe. Then shall I see Caesarius for myself, no longer in exile, no longer laid upon a bier, no longer the object of mourning and pity, but brilliant, glorious, heavenly, such as in my dreams I have often beheld you, dearest and most loving of brothers, pictured thus by my desire, if not by the truth itself.”

“Shall we, then, think of festival days in terms of eating and drinking? On the contrary, let no one call us to account in respect to eating, "For we know that the law is spiritual.""Let no one, therefore, call you to account for what you eat or drink in regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath. These are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ." So let us seek the body of Christ which is the voice of the Father from heaven, the last trumpet, as it were, showed to you on that occasion when the Jews said that it thundered for him. Let us seek, I repeat, the body of Christ which the last trumpet will reveal to us, "For the Lord himself with cry of command, with voice of archangel, and with trumpet of God will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise up first."”

“For truly death was no necessary part of the divine operation, since for those who were placed in paradise a continual succession of all good things streamed forth. Because of transgression, however, human life, condemned to lengthened labor, began to be wretched with intolerable groaning. Thus, it was fitting that an end should be set to the evils and that death should restore what life had lost. For immortality, unless grace breathed upon it, would be rather a burden than an advantage. And if one consider accurately, it is not the death of our being but of evil, for being continues, but it is evil that perishes.… So we shall either pay the penalty of our sins or attain to the reward of our good deeds. For the same being will rise again, now more honorably for having paid the tax of death. And then "the dead who are in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive will follow," it is said, "and together with them be caught up in the clouds into the air to meet the Lord, and so we shall always be with the Lord."”

“"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 that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." But wherefore with the trumpet? For we see this on Mount Sinai too, and Angels there also. But what means the voice of the Archangel? As he said in the parable of the Virgins, Arise! "The Bridegroom cometh." (From Matt. xxv. 6) Either it means this, or that as in the case of a king, so also shall it then be, Angels ministering at the Resurrection. For He says, let the dead rise, and the work is done, the Angels not having power to do this, but His word. As if upon a king's commanding and saying it, those who were shut up should go forth, and the servants should lead them out, yet they do this not from their own power, but from that Voice. This also Christ says in another place: "He shall send forth his Angels with a great trumpet, and they shall gather together his Elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." (Matt. xxiv. 31) And everywhere you see the Angels running to and fro. The Archangel therefore I think is he, who is set over those who are sent forth, and who shouts thus: "Make all men ready, for the Judge is at hand." And what is "at the last trumpet"? Here he implies that there are many trumpets, and that at the last the Judge descends. If He is about to descend, on what account shall we be caught up? For the sake of honor. For when a king drives into a city, those who are in honor go out to meet him; but the condemned await the judge within. And upon the coming of an affectionate father, his children indeed, and those who are worthy to be his children, are taken out in a chariot, that they may see and kiss him; but those of the domestics who have offended remain within. We are carried upon the chariot of our Father. For He received Him up in the clouds, and "we shall be caught up in the clouds." (Acts i. 9) Seest thou how great is the honor? and as He descends, we go forth to meet Him, and, what is more blessed than all, so we shall be with Him. But as to the saying, that they are gathered together; they arise indeed everywhere, but are gathered together by the Angels. The former therefore is the work of the power of God commanding the earth to give up its deposit, and there is no one who ministers in it, as He then called Lazarus, "Lazarus, come forth" (John xi. 43); but the gathering is the work of ministers. But if Angels gather them together, and run to and fro, how are they caught up here? They are caught up after the descent, after that they are gathered together.”

“Then at the sound of the trumpet the earth and its peoples shall tremble, but you shall rejoice. The world shall howl at the Lord who comes to judge it, and the tribes of the earth shall smite the breast. Once mighty kings shall tremble in their nakedness. Venus shall be exposed, and her son, too. Jupiter with his fiery bolts will be brought to trial. Plato, with his disciples, will be but a fool. Aristotle's arguments shall be of no avail. You may seem a poor man and country-bred, but then you shall exult and laugh, and say, Behold my crucified Lord, behold my judge.”

“You ask how that which is written in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians should be understood: For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them who 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 who 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. However, it must be said what seems to others, namely to Theodore, Apollinarius, and Diodorus, who follow one opinion: of whom Diodorus wrote this. "Paul the Apostle calls them remaining and living; not that it is intended to be understood that he and others will be found in the body at the time of the resurrection, but he said of what is, the just; of whom I am also counted. For they themselves will run to meet Christ, and not sinners. But by the figure of speech, we accept living saints, who have not died because of sin but all whom Christ finds coming in the body. And what follows: We should not refer 'we shall not precede those who have fallen asleep' to the sinners at all. For sinners will not be caught up with the just to meet Christ, but those whom death dissolves." But why do I seek such things, and make false accusations against the Apostles' words, when he himself clearly writes: who will remain at the coming of the Lord? And who the remaining ones are, we learn from the words of the Savior: As in the days of Noah they led wives and husbands, and they married; and suddenly the flood came, and took them all away: so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man (Matt. 24; and Luke 17). With these words it is approved, that at the end of the world many will be alive and still found in their bodies. Following this: At the command and voice of the Archangel, the dead shall rise first. And once again the Savior speaks of this in the Gospel: But at midnight there was a cry, 'Look, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' (Matt. 25:6); for he will certainly catch those who are living in their bodies when two are in one bed: one will be taken and the other will be left behind: and two women grinding together, one will be taken and the other will be left behind (Luke 17). From these words it is shown that at midnight, when all is calm, the end of the world will come.”

“"The hour cometh," saith He. Doubtless thou, imbued with a faith of the resurrection of the flesh, didst look for the hour of the end of the world, which, that thou shouldst not look for here, He added, "and now is." Therefore He saith not this, "The hour cometh," of that last hour, when "at the command and the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet Christ in the air: and so shall we be ever with the Lord." That hour will come, but is not now. But consider what this hour is: "The hour cometh, and now is." What happens in that hour? What, but a resurrection of the dead? And what kind of resurrection? Such that they who rise live for ever. This will be also in the last hour.”

“Then after long seasons, Christ our God shall come to judge the world in awful glory, beyond words to tell. For fear of him the powers of heaven shall be shaken, and all the angel hosts shall stand beside him in dread. Then at the voice of the archangel, and at the trump of God, shall the dead arise and stand before his awful throne. Now the resurrection is the reuniting of soul and body. So that very body, which decays and perishes, shall arise incorruptible. And concerning this, take care not to be overwhelmed by unbelief, for it is not impossible for him, who at the beginning formed the body out of earth, when according to its maker's judgment it had returned to earth whence it was taken, to raise the same again.”

“You, he says, do not doubt what I am saying: the Lord Himself will command this. How will He command? With the voice of the Archangel, who rules over the other angels and cries out: prepare all, for the Judge is at hand. There will be many trumpets, but the Judge will descend at the sound of the last one. Just as the Father on Mount Sinai had both trumpets and angels ministering to Him, so too the Son will have these, as King. Or: the command of God will cause the earth to return the bodies, changed into incorruption; and the voice of the Archangel, with the co-ministry of angels, will bring it about that those scattered everywhere will be gathered into one. The "dead in Christ," that is, the faithful. Since they must be caught up on the clouds, they will also rise first. The rest will rise last, since they have neither to be caught up nor to meet Him.”

“Then when he says, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven, he shows the order and manner of the resurrection. First, he discusses the cause of the resurrection; secondly, he presents its order and manner (4:16); thirdly, he ends with a consideration of their mutual consolation (4:18). He proves his first point by saying, the Lord himself. It should be noted here, as was already mentioned before, that the cause of the general resurrection is Christ's resurrection. But if you should say: since it has already occurred (that is the resurrection of Christ), why does not its effect follow? I would reply to this by saying that it is the cause of our resurrection according to the activity of the divine power. God, however, acts according to the order of His wisdom. Therefore, our resurrection will occur when the order of divine wisdom shall determine it. In order to prove that Christ is the cause of the resurrection, he shows that all the dead shall rise in the presence of Christ. Three causes cooperate in the accomplishment of the general resurrection: the principal cause is the divine power; the second cause is instrumental, that is, the power of the humanity of Christ. The third cause might be termed a ministering cause in that the power of the angels will have some effect in the resurrection. For Augustine shows that the things that occur now by virtue of corporeal creatures actually occur through God, by their mediation. In the resurrection, some things shall be done through the angels, such as the collection of the dust. But the restoration of the bodies and the soul's reunion with the body will be accomplished immediately through Christ. Paul then presents these three causes. First, he sets forth the glorious humanity of Christ when he says, the Lord himself. "Jesus... will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11). With a cry of command. In the first coming, he came as obedient. "He became obedient unto death" (Phil. 2:8). And that happened because it was the coming of humility; but this one will be the coming of glory. "Coming with power and great glory" (Lk. 21:27). Secondly, he presents the power of the angels when he says, with the archangel's call, not that anything is done by his voice, but rather by his ministry. He says, archangel's for all angels minister to the Church under one archangel. Or perhaps, with the archangel's call, that is, Christ's, Who is Prince of the angels. "Wonderful Counselor" (Is. 9:6). And the resurrection shall be through Christ's voice, corporeal or spiritual. "They shall hear the voice of the Son of God" (Jn. 5:28); in other words, the dead shall rise and come to judgment, and they shall obey the bodily voice. Thirdly, he considers the divine power when he says, with the sound of the trumpet of God. This is the divine power which is referred to as the voice of the archangel insofar as it will act through the ministry of the archangel. It is called the trumpet of God since the resurrection does come about by divine power. It is called a trumpet because of its resonance, which is derived from God who raises the dead. In addition, the trumpet, which had many uses in the Old Testament, brings people together for war: "And creation will fight alongside him" (Wis. 5:20). The trumpet was also used for celebrations, as it will be employed in the heavenly Jerusalem. In addition, the trumpet was used for deploying the armies; in this way holy men assisted in the movement of troops. And so if it is a sound that you can hear, it is called a trumpet; but if it is not a sound, then it is the divine power of Christ present and manifest to the whole world. Then when Paul says, and the dead in Christ will rise first, he mentions the order that the resurrection will follow. In doing so he makes three points. First, he treats the resurrection of the dead; secondly, he considers the meeting of the living with Christ (4:17); finally, he refers to the happiness of the saints with Christ (4:17b). Because of these words some people believed that the last people alive would never die, as Jerome mentions in his letter. For Paul has said, then we who are alive... shall be caught up together. It might seem that there would be no other reason for distinguishing the living from the dead. But on the contrary: "We shall all indeed rise" (1 Cor. 15:51). "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Cor. 15:22). "So death spread to all men" (Rom. 5:12). And so I say that some shall be alive at the time when Christ shall come for judgment, but in that moment they shall die and immediately afterwards they will rise. Because of the minimal time involved they are regarded as living. But then another problem presents itself because it is said: and the dead in Christ will rise first and then we who are alive. So it seems that the dead will rise before the living will meet Christ, and that the living will die when they meet Him. So it appears that some will rise ahead of these others, and that there will not be a resurrection of everyone at the same time. This is contrary, however, to what is found in 1 Cor. (15:22): "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet." I wish to point out that there are two opinions on this matter. For some say that the resurrection will not take place at the same time for everybody, but that first the dead will come with Christ, and during the time that Christ is coming the living will be taken up into the clouds and they will die and rise while they are being taken up. So that what is said to happen in a moment may be understood as occurring in a brief amount of time. And if you insist that it will happen in an instant, then it should not be applied to the total resurrection of all, but rather to the resurrection of individuals, for every individual will rise in an instant. But there are others, who maintain that everyone will rise at the same time and in an instant. They feel that where Paul says will rise first, he denotes the order of dignity, not the order of time. This does seem difficult to maintain for many still alive will suffer in the persecution of the Antichrist and be more distinguished than those who had died before. And so it seems necessary to answer the question in a different way, saying that all will die and all will rise at the same time. For the Apostle does not say that the dead will rise first and then the living, but that the dead will rise before the living will meet Christ. Therefore he is not speaking about the resurrection in terms of the order in which they shall rise, but of the order in which they will be taken up to meet Christ. For when the Lord does come, first those who are found alive will die and then, immediately together with those who had died before, they will rise up and be taken up into the clouds to meet Christ, as Paul clearly says.”

“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and afterwards shall be the voice of a trumpet by the archangel; and in that interval shall be the revival of those that were asleep. And then shall the Lord come, and all His saints with Him, with a great concussion above the clouds, with the angels of His power, in the throne of His kingdom, to condemn the devil, the deceiver of the world, and to render to every one according to his deeds. "Then shall the wicked go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous shall go into life eternal," to inherit those things "which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, such things as God hath prepared for them that love Him;" and they shall rejoice in the kingdom of God, which is in Christ Jesus.”