1st Thessalonians 4:16 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.
[The Faith I Live By pp 46] And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. John 17:5. Christ was one with the Father before the foundation of the world was laid. This is the light shining in a dark place, making it resplendent with divine, original glory. His divine life could not be reckoned by human computation. The existence of Christ before His incarnation is not measured by figures.
[The Faith I Live By pp 47] The divinity of Christ is the believer’s assurance of eternal life. All the communion between heaven and the fallen race has been through Christ. It was the Son of God that gave to our first parents the promise of redemption. It was He who revealed Himself to the patriarchs. Adam ... understood the gospel.... Jesus was the light of His people—the light of the world—before He came to earth in the form of humanity.
The first gleam of light that pierced the gloom in which sin had wrapped the world, came from Christ. And from Him has come every ray of heaven’s brightness that has fallen upon the inhabitants of the earth. In the plan of redemption, Christ is the Alpha and the Omega—the First and the Last. We therefore end with a passage of Scripture that will buoy the Christian’s hope, for it is a promise of raw Divine power that will be manifested through Christ, to all believers from their graves.
1st Thessalonians 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so, shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.
May The Lord add His blessing to the study of His word. God bless!