1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
The Lord Jesus will return for his people
13 Our Christian friends, we want you to understand properly about your friends who have died. People who do not hope for any life after death are sad when their friends die. But you should not be upset like those people. 14 We believe that Jesus died and he rose again after death. So we also believe that people who have died as Christians will live again. When God brings Jesus back, he will also bring back with him the Christians who have died.
4:13The Christians at Thessalonica were confused about Christ's return. They were sad about their Christian friends who had died already. They did not know what would happen to those people.
15 We are telling you the message that the Lord has given to us. This is what will happen when the Lord returns. Those of us who are still alive will not go to meet the Lord first. We will not go before those people who have already died. 16 On that day, the Lord himself will come down from heaven. He will shout with authority. People will hear the voice of the leader of God's angels. They will hear the sound of God's trumpet. Then those people who have died as Christians will become alive again. They will be the first people to rise up. 17 After that, those of us who are still alive will join together with them. God will suddenly take us up into the clouds. In that way, we will all meet the Lord in the sky. So we will all be with the Lord for ever.
18 Because this message is true, tell it to each other. Help one another to be strong, not sad.
