Up to this point in our study of Paul’s eschatology as understood in both his epistles to the Thessalonians, we have discovered that Paul had been speaking about events occurring and to occur in the first century AD, but does he change what he had been doing and offer something new in 1Thessalonians chapter 4? Well, if he does, no evidence is presented to support such an idea. For all intents and purposes, Paul is speaking of the coming of the Lord, which he understands would occur in the expected lifetimes of believers living in the first century AD.
We are, presently, considering Paul’s statement: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1Thessalonians 4:16; emphasis mine). Is this event the same event that he mentions in 1Corinthians 15:52…
“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (emphasis mine)
Moreover, is this trumpet, i.e. the one called the last trump, the same trumpet that was blown in Revelation 11:15, the seventh and last trumpet blown by the angel of God in the Apocalypse:
And the seventh angel sounded. And there were great voices in Heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ. And He will reign forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders sitting before God on their thrones, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, We thank You, O Lord God Almighty, who are, and who was, and who is coming, because You took Your great power and reigned. And the nations were full of wrath, and Your wrath came, and the time of the judging of the dead, and to give the reward to Your servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to the ones fearing Your name, to the small and to the great, and to destroy those destroying the earth (Revelation 11:15-18).
Are these three mentions of trumpets the same trumpet, or are two different from one or are all three different from one another? Some folks take the position that the Apocalypse tells the story of the entire so-called church age, and they conclude that the seventh trumpet is audible and would be heard throughout the globe. However, if this is true, did anyone hear the first six? If the first six are metaphors, why would the seventh be audible. Where’s the evidence showing the seventh is a literal trumpet blast?
On the other hand, some try to differentiate between the trumpets. One or two are for 70 AD and the remaining are blown far into the future, 2000 years or more after the New Covenant text was written. Some conclude all three (1Thessalonians 4; 1Corinthians 15 and Revelation 11) are for the distant future, and, depending upon one’s dispensational point of view, will blow before the Great Tribulation or during the middle of the Great Tribulation. So, it seems the word of God depends upon one’s point of view of the so-called end times, and many will go to great lengths to twist the God’s own words to fit the claims of doctrines of men.
Look at the texts quoted above. At the sound of the trumpet, “the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1Thessalonians 4:16), “the dead shall be raised incorruptible” (1Corinthians 15:52), and it is “the time of the judging of the dead” (Revelation 11:18). Is there more than one resurrection of the dead? When does he resurrection occur? The dead are raised when “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God…” (1Thessalonians 4:16). When does the text say the Lord would come? “We shall not all sleep…” (1Corinthians 15:51), “we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord…” (1Thessalonians 4:15). It seems to me that the text concludes that at least some of Paul’s original readers would be alive when the Lord would come, upon which time the dead would be raised at the sound of the last trump! Is there another way to read the text? Does this not agree with what Jesus told his disciples and a great crowd of other folks in Jerusalem?
For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He shall reward each one according to his works. Truly I say to you, There are some standing here who shall not taste of death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom (Matthew 16:27-28; emphasis mine).
Doesn’t Jesus claim some of the folks standing in his presence would be alive at his coming? He isn’t speaking of folks yet unborn. That would be silly—if Jesus would return at all, certainly some would be living at that time. So, why mention it at all, if all he meant was he wouldn’t return to an uninhabited earth? Therefore, if the statement is to be taken seriously, he had to have been speaking of folks standing in his presence during the first century AD.
Notice what the text says in the Apocalypse, as it pertains to the seventh and last trumpet: “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he will begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He has declared to His servants the prophets” (Revelation 10:7). In other words, when the last trump is blown and the dead are raised at the coming of Christ, and “we (i.e. Paul’s original audience) who are alive an remain until the coming of the Lord” witness the event, all things would be fulfilled, the mystery of God would be finished, there wouldn’t be anything else remaining to be fulfilled!
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