1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
What is written? (ESV)
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
What does it say?
Jesus will descend from heaven with a command, an archangel's voice, and God's trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first; then those still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Him in the air and remain with Him always.
What is its immediate context?
Paul is giving instruction about the second coming of Jesus. Apparently, there were some there were confused about brethren who had “fallen asleep” or died (vs 13). They were brethren because they died “in Jesus” (vs 14). He confirms that all believers – dead and alive – will meet Him and in the preceding verse, “For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not go ahead of those who have fallen asleep” (vs 15).
How 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 is applied across Bible answers
Will Jesus return…to earth?
Regarding the second coming of Jesus, Paul explicitly states a meeting "in the air."
Will there be a physical bodily resurrection?
At the "trumpet of God" (or, "last trumpet"1), the dead that are "in Christ" will rise first (has to mean the physically dead since the spiritually dead are not "in Christ"). Then, those Christians who are living will be taken up with the physically (bodily) resurrected to meet the Lord in the air.
