... And The Dead In CHRIST Will Rise First."

There are sublime and magnificent scenes 

of unparalleled grandeur before us!

(Albert Barnes)

"For the LORD HIMSELF will come down
from Heaven, with a loud command, with
the voice of the archangel and with
the trumpet call of GOD--
and the dead in CHRIST will rise first.
After that, we who are still alive and are
left will be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the LORD in the air.
And so we will be with the LORD forever!"
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

There are sublime and magnificent scenes 

of unparalleled grandeur before us! 

Great events are brought together here, any one 

of which is more grand than all the pomp of this world:

  the glory of the descending Judge of all mankind;

  the attending retinue of angels;

  the loud shout of the descending host;

  the blast of the archangel's trumpet;

  the bursting open of graves;

  the coming forth of the millions there entombed;

  the rapid, sudden, glorious change on the millions of living men;

  the consternation of the wicked;

  the ascent of the innumerable host through the air;

  and the solemn process of the judgment there!

Has anything ever occurred so 

magnificent as these events?

How strange it is that the thoughts of men are 

turned away from these bright and glorious realities--

to the trifles, the vain show, the shadow, the glitter, 

the empty pageantry of this poor world!

"Therefore encourage each other with 
these words!" 1 Thessalonians 4:18 

  
~  ~  ~  ~

The above excerpt was taken from William Nicholson's uplifting short article,
 "Second Coming Comfort".