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. 1 Thessalonians 4:16
VIPs seem to enjoy big entries. We have all seen them. A brass band breaks into ‘Hail to the Chief’ when the US president arrives on site. An audience stands and applauds when a special guest bursts onto centre stage. Officers and soldiers alike snap to attention and into a salute when the top general steps out of his jeep to inspect the troops. Some spectacular entries of great and famous people occur, and we are impressed by the impact. But no entry that has ever occurred in all of human history will be as spectacular as the one in which the Lord Jesus comes to the air to take home His saints. And only the saints will witness it!
As the trumpet sounds to announce the Rapture, no lesser person than the King of kings and Lord of lords will make His entrance in the air. No ceremony on earth has ever had such an august person to hail. The Lord Himself makes His appearance with a great shout. This is the One Who holds all of time and eternity, and all of creation, in His hands. This will be a marked difference from how He appeared in His humiliation on earth. When do we hear of a previous great shout from Him? On the cross, as He cried, ‘It is finished!’ Although seen by men as a defeat, that shout from Calvary was the announcement of the victory that brings us into the innumerable throng who will hear His great shout of arrival to take us to Heaven. For the most of us, this will be the first time we hear His voice. It will be a shout of glad welcome, a shout of rejoicing that He is raising us to be in His presence forever. Oh how eagerly our ears should be tuned to hear that glorious shout!
Two other sounds will herald the Rapture: the voice of the archangel and the trump of God. We can only speculate as to the reason for these sounds. Although it is the Lord Himself Who will come and receive us unto Himself, it is highly likely that hosts of angels will accompany Him. I believe the angels will serve as a guard against the attacks of the devil. Although the Rapture will occur with just as much surprise for Satan as it will for us, it will not be a welcome event for the wicked one. His days of attacking the Lord’s people and of accusing us will be ended forever. If he could, he would surely oppose our departure. But the angelic host will envelope us to keep us safe. The trump of God is the great marshalling sound for the Lord’s people, even as trumpets sounded the advance for the Israelites as they swept to victory into the promised land in the book of Joshua. Inaudible to the rest of the world, the trumpet will call every saint from every grave and from every corner of the world. We will all hear it, and respond, and depart.
Details of the great event that we call the Rapture are only fodder for our imaginations today. But shortly, they will all burst into reality, and that reality will far exceed anything our imaginations can produce. Even so, come Lord Jesus! – Jim MacIntosh