1 Thessalonians 4:14 Commentary and Bible Study

People often read this verse, and they say, ‘But the two halves of this verse do not match up. There is not a logical outcome. The one does not really fit the other.’ If you believe that Jesus died and rose again, how does that make it certain that when Jesus comes they will be all brought with him? The explanation is that the first half of the verse is a kind of shorthand, an abridged statement. You have to insert some extra words: ‘If we believe that Jesus Christ died and rose again so as to join us to himself, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.’ The idea is that if you believe that Christ died for sinners, and you have sincerely repented of your sin, and yielded your life to him, and asked him to save you; if you have come to him, and he has joined you to himself, and has covered you by his atoning death on Calvary, then your sins are atoned for and forgiven; they have gone. You died with him on Calvary’s cross, you have been joined to him in his death. When he died, he died for you. You have also been joined to him in his resurrection. When he rose from the dead, he rose for you. That rising from the dead and his offering up of perfect righteousness to God the Father was for you. So you rise in him – that is the idea of the verse. If you die and you are with him in Paradise, when he comes again you will be with him because you are joined with him. When he returns in a glorified body, you will be glorified and raised too. That is the logic and the sense of the verse.