16 Because the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a word of authority, with the voice of the chief angel, with the sound of a horn: and the dead in Christ will come to life first;
See, he comes with the clouds, and every eye will see him, and those by whom he was wounded; and all the tribes of the earth will be sorrowing because of him. Yes, so be it.
And then the sign of the Son of man will be seen in heaven: and then all the nations of the earth will have sorrow, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a great sound of a horn, and they will get his saints together from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus comes from heaven with the angels of his power in flames of fire,
See, I am giving you the revelation of a secret: we will not all come to the sleep of death, but we will all be changed. In a second, in the shutting of an eye, at the sound of the last horn: for at that sound the dead will come again, free for ever from the power of death, and we will be changed.
But when the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then will he be seated in his glory:
And it will be in that day that a great horn will be sounded; and those who were wandering in the land of Assyria, and those who had been sent away into the land of Egypt, will come; and they will give worship to the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
Now when Michael, one of the chief angels, was fighting against the Evil One for the body of Moses, fearing to make use of violent words against him, he only said, May the Lord be your judge.
And said, O men of Galilee, why are you looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come again, in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.
Jesus says to him, You say so: but I say to you, From now you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.
The rest of the dead did not come to life again till the thousand years were ended. This is the first coming back from the dead. Happy and holy is he who has a part in this first coming: over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will be ruling with him a thousand years.
And the Lord will be seen over them, and his arrow will go out like the thunder-flame: and the Lord God, sounding the war-horn, will go in the storm-winds of the South.
And a voice from heaven came to my ears, saying, Put in writing, There is a blessing on the dead who from now on come to their end in the Lord: yes, says the Spirit, that they may have rest from their troubles; for their works go with them.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and a great voice at my back, as of a horn, came to my ears,
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; and in that day the heavens will be rolled up with a great noise, and the substance of the earth will be changed by violent heat, and the world and everything in it will be burned up.
Who are you, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel you will become level: and he will let all see the headstone, with cries of Grace, grace, to it.
And the Lord is thundering before his forces; for very great is his army; for he is strong who gives effect to his word: for the day of the Lord is great and greatly to be feared, and who has strength against it?
He has put an end to death for ever; and the Lord God will take away all weeping; and he will put an end to the shame of his people in all the earth: for the Lord has said it. And in that day it will be said, See, this is our God; we have been waiting for him, and he will be our saviour: this is the Lord in whom is our hope; we will be glad and have delight in his salvation.
<To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of the sons of Korah.> O make a glad noise with your hands, all you peoples; letting your voices go up to God with joy.
And all the people were watching the thunderings and the flames and the sound of the horn and the mountain smoking; and when they saw it, they kept far off, shaking with fear.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 4
Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 4 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 4
In this chapter the apostle gives earnest exhortations to abound in holiness, with a caution against uncleanness, enforced with several arguments (v. 1-8). He then mentions the great duties of brotherly love, and quietness with industry in our callings (v. 9-12). And concludes with comforting those who mourned for their relations and friends that died in the Lord (v. 13-18).
1Th 4:1-8
Here we have,
1Th 4:9-12
In these words the apostle mentions the great duties,
1Th 4:13-18
In these words the apostle comforts the Thessalonians who mourned for the death of their relations and friends that died in the Lord. His design is to dissuade them from excessive grief, or inordinate sorrow, on that account. All grief for the death of friends is far from being unlawful; we may weep at least for ourselves if we do not weep for them, weep for own loss, though it may be their fain. Yet we must not be immoderate in our sorrows, because,