Be Still And Know

1 Thessalonians 4.15 and 18 NLT 'We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died... So encourage each other with these words.' The Thessalonian church lived with the expectation that Jesus might return at any moment. This inevitably triggered lots of questions. It did so then, and has done so ever since. The particular issue that Paul addresses in this chapter is what would happen to those who had already died. He makes it clear that they will rise from their graves, whilst those who are still alive when Jesus returns will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then, he claimed, “we will be with the Lord for ever”. He doesn’t go into any more detail than that. The important point to recognise is that Paul saw his words as a word of encouragement. In truth, they didn’t need to know exactly what the programme of events for that day would look like, and neither do we. What we do need to know is that God