The key to the meaning of the "rapture" passage is found in the opening verse (above).

Did Paul say anything here about escaping Antichrist or the great tribulation? Of course not. He was addressing living Christians who were concerned about their dead friends and relatives.

We are not to grieve like the heathen when a Christian dies. How in the world did we change this into a flight of believers to Heaven to avoid suffering? Isn't this crazy?

This sort of error arises when we ignore the general sense of a passage and seek to support some notion of our own, some private interpretation of the Scripture.

We believe Jesus died and rose again and so we believe God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. (I Thessalonians 4:14—NIV)

The emphasis is on those whom God will bring with Jesus when He comes. My personal opinion, based on the people present on the Mount of Transfiguration (a preview of the Kingdom of God) is that all of the saints from the righteous Abel to the last victorious believer to die in Christ will return with the Lord Jesus.

Now consider: if I am correct in this, the returning saints will compose a huge number of people. Their descent from the level of the clouds to pick up their bodies from the ground will be a massive event, a happening that will astonish the wicked, causing them to cry out in anguish.

Did you ever hear a preacher of the "rapture" point out that the emphasis of I Thessalonians, Chapter Four is on the vast army of saints who will return with the Lord Jesus Christ? Probably not, because the "rapture" as it is preached today is an unscriptural myth.

The passage is not emphasizing the escape of persecuted believers but the return of Jesus Christ with His army to install His Kingdom on the earth.

According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. (I Thessalonians 4:15—NIV)

Again, do you see that the stress is on the dead believers? The point is, we who are alive on the earth when the Lord returns will not enter the Kingdom of God in advance of them. This was the concern of the living Thessalonian believers—that their dead relatives and friends would not be able to enter the Kingdom of God, because they had died before the Kingdom came. It is evident that the Thessalonians believed the Lord would come while they still were living. It is my opinion that Paul in the beginning also believed that the Lord would come in his lifetime.

This is hard for us to grasp because we have been taught that the goal of being saved is to enter Heaven. The Thessalonians had not been taught this by the Apostle Paul. They had been taught, rather, that the goal of being saved is to not be destroyed when the Lord returns but to enter joyfully into His Kingdom. Thus our doctrine today leaves quite a lot to be desired. It is time for a reformation of Christian thinking, particularly our thinking concerning the coming of the Lord from Heaven to set up His Kingdom on the earth.

To be continued.