TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE

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. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 
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​Memorize this Verse: (Cover the verse text and using just the first letters of each word try to recite the entire passage.)
16. F T L H S D F H W A S W T V O T A A W T T O G A T D I C S R F

Notes on this verse:

“For the Lord Himself shall descend”: This fulfills the pledge of (John 14:1-3; Acts 1:11). Until then, He remains in heaven (1:10; Heb. 1:1-3).

“Archangel”: Very little is known about the organization or rank of angels (Col. 1:17). While only Michael is named as an archangel (Jude 9), there seems to be more than one in the archangelic ranks (Dan 10:13).

Perhaps it is Michael, the archangel, whose voice is heard as he is identified with Israel’s resurrection (in Dan. 12:1-3). At that moment (1 Cor. 15:52, “twinkling of an eye”), the dead rise first. They will not miss the Rapture, but be the first participants.

“Trump of God” (1 Cor. 15:52). This trumpet is not the judgment trumpets of (Rev. 8-11), but is illustrated by the trumpet of (Exodus 19:16-19), which called the people out of the camp to meet God. It will be a trumpet of deliverance (Zeph. 1:16; Zech. 9:14).

The trumpet that gathered the people, throughout the Bible was a silver trumpet. This trump that is blown will be silver, because it will redeem the people from this earth. Silver means redemption. The reason there is no silver in heaven is because we have already been redeemed.

This is the last chronological mention of silver in the Bible. The voice of the Lord and the trump are so enveloped in one, that it is hard to separate the one from the other. We can see in the following verse that many times the voice is spoken of as a trumpet.

Isaiah 58:1 “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”

This shout will wake the dead. This is the same shout that brought Lazarus from the grave. The dead in Christ just means that these will rise before the living in Christ who will be changed and rise. In Jude, Michael is spoken of as the archangel. My belief is that Michael is like a general under Jesus.

Whether the archangel is actually sounding or whether this is the voice of Jesus who is now King of kings and Lord of lords, I am not certain. It really does not matter. We know that this pure sound calls the Christians from the earth.

March 12

TODAY'S BIBLE READING

Old Testament
Numbers 28-30  —  8.0 minutes
Psalms 59  —  3.5 minutes

New Testament
Matthew 25:1-13  —  2.5 minutes
Romans 8:1-17  —  4.0 minutes

Total Average Read Time — 18.0 minutes