In a Moment, In the Twinkling of an Eye
A question that often arises in regard to the coming of Jesus is what exactly does 1 Thessalonians 4:14 mean?
It is commonly believed among many churches today that when Jesus comes back in the Rapture, He is going to catch away believers and resurrect the dead and take them to heaven.
After a seven-year reign of the Antichrist, Jesus is then going to return a second time with the saints to set up His earthly Kingdom.
This common belief that Jesus is coming back the first time for the saints and then seven years later, after the Great Tribulation and the reign of the Antichrist, He is going to come back again with the saints to set up His Kingdom, is NOT what the Bible says.
Almost all churches believe and teach this today. This is the traditional view, but is this really what the Scriptures mean?
First of all, the Apostle Paul was writing to the Church in Thessalonica about the advent of the Return of Jesus. In 1 Thessalonians 4:14, we read that those believers who had died, God was going to bring with Him.
Where were these believers when He came? They were in Hades, the holding place for the dead or gravedom. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18 that the gates of Hell or Hades or the graveyard, would not prevail against His Church. In other words, the gates to the cemeteries would not keep the Church of Jesus Christ locked in on Resurrection Day.
Jesus came to restore what Adam and Eve lost when they disobeyed in the Garden of Eden; they lost spiritual life. They did not die physically that day, but spiritually.
This is why Jesus said in Revelation 1:18, “I am He that liveth and was dead, and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”
Jesus said in John 5:28-29, “…. all that are in the graves shall hear His voice and shall come forth….”
The Jews knew that on the Last Day of the Last Days all who had died would be resurrected. This fact is evident in the conversation that Jesus had with Martha at the death of her brother Lazarus. John 11:23-24
Jesus explained to Martha that He was the resurrection and the life. He said, “…he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” John 11:25-26
It is clear that Jesus is talking about a spiritual resurrection. These physical bodies will one day return to dust from whence they came. Genesis 3:19
Genesis 3:19 "in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return".
The Day of Resurrection was on the last day of the last days of God’s Covenant with the Nation of Israel that He made with them at Mt. Sinai.
The Last Day of the Last Days was in the year AD 70 of the first century. It was on this Last Day that an Old Covenant ended, and a New Covenant began.
In this Last Day time frame, there was:
a Resurrection,
the Kingdom of God was consummated,
there was the marriage of the Lamb,
and the White Throne Judgment was set up and
In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, the dead were raised and those who were alive were changed.
The “we” in these verses was “them” who were alive in the first century, not us today. 1 Corinthians 15:51-54, 2 Corinthians 5:1
All born-again Christians went to be with the Lord in the air. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 The word “air” used here is not the “air” that we breath or the atmosphere.
The word “air” is translated from the Greek word “aer” which means dimension. Heaven is not a geographical location, but a spiritual dimension.
The Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven or Heaven itself is all around us. It was on Resurrection Day that Hell or Sheol, grave or pit was emptied out and abolished forever. Revelation 20:14
In 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17, the “we” in these verses was “them” in the first century that were to be caught away. It is not “us” today.
Today, it is at death that we, born-again Christians, inherit Eternal Life. 2 Corinthians 5:1
It is at death, the people who are not born-again, those who are not covenant-connected will go right to God’s judgment. Hebrews 9:27
We read in Deuteronomy 33:2, at the giving of the First Covenant at Mt. Sinai, of God coming with ten thousand of His saints or angels.
This happened at the giving of the Old Covenant.
We read in Jude 14 that the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints. This was said in the first century at the beginning of the New Covenant.
This is how God signified the coming of both Covenants.
When Jesus returned in AD 70, He consummated the Kingdom of God and married His Bride, the Church, the New Jerusalem. Hebrews 12:22, Revelation 21:2
Then began the New Everlasting Covenant with a New Heaven and a New Earth in the world. Revelation 21:1-4
It was on the Last Day of the Old Covenant that the Day Eternal began. God set up His Tabernacle, His Sanctuary, in the midst of the Church which is His spiritual body. Ezekiel 37:26-28, 1 Corinthians 6:19
The Promise of eternal life was received when Jesus consummated His Kingdom. 1 John 2:25, Galatians 3:29
All this was accomplished in one single event, that event being the Return of Jesus in AD 70.
Conclusion
The Bible never speaks of a seven-year delay or of a “first” second coming followed by a “second” second coming of Jesus to destroy the “Antichrist” and to set up His new physical Kingdom on Earth.
The resurrection of those who had fallen asleep in Christ and the change that happened to those born-again believers who were still alive all took place in a single event.
This event happened as the Scripture describes it in 1 Corinthians 15:51-54: “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”. The dead were raised incorruptible, and the living were changed.
This same single event is also described by Paul again in 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17. It all happened at one single event which took place “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”.
