Then 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. 1 Thessalonians 4:17
Paul makes an interesting use of the pronoun ‘we’ in our text, as he describes the Rapture of the saints of God. Paul has been dead for almost two thousand years. And yet, as he tells of the dead Christians first rising to meet Christ in the air, he says ‘we which are alive and remain’ and not ‘they which are alive and remain’. Paul obviously believed at this point that he would still be living when the Lord comes to take us to Heaven. Maybe he was speaking of you and me, not himself.
Paul very much had the Rapture in mind as he penned 1 Thessalonians, the very first epistle that he wrote. At that time, he was active and involved in his missionary labours. By the time he wrote his final epistle, 2 Timothy, some 17 years later, he was suffering cold and loneliness in a dismal Roman prison cell, expecting his call to execution at any moment. And he made no mention of the Rapture. Circumstances had affected his perspective on this great next event in God’s program for this world and for His people.
Circumstances have affected our perspective on the Rapture too. Fifty years ago, the Rapture was a frequent sermon topic, was eagerly discussed among Christians, and was expected to occur within the next few months or years. Not so now. Few sermons include a mention of the Rapture these days. And it rarely comes up as a topic of conversation among Christians. Reformists who deny the Rapture are making inroads among us with their false doctrine. So do we still believe that we will be among the we which are alive and remain? -Jim MacIntosh
Here is the link to the video of this message: https://youtu.be/B4b9MZ1per8