It might oocur e.t e.ny period; e.nd, by renson the judgment; and it la futile to inquire of their proximity to the first advent the who this leader of the angels is. And the primitive Cl.irislians would be deeply im- trump of God; even as '.he trumpet sounded pressed with the possibility or even proba- at the giving of the Law from Sinai. Also bility of its ooourrence in their de.ye. the e.d vent of Christ to j udgment ia repre- Christiana were to b1> living alwe.ya in sented RB heralded by the sound of • ree.dineeH _for this great event, and thus it trumpet (Matt. xxiv. 31; 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52). became a me.tter of expectation. "Strictly "We are to recognize three particulars, fol- speaking, the expectation of the day of the lowing each other in rapid succession -the Lord wus not a belief, but e. necessity in commanding shout of the King himself, the the enrly Ohurch ; clinging as it did to the voice of the archangel summoning the other thought of Christ, it could not bear to be angels, and the trump of God which awakens separated from him ; it was bis absence, not the dee.d and collecta believers "' (Riggen- his presence, that the first believers found be.cb). And the dead in Christ 1he.ll rise it hard to realize" (Jowett). Hence Paul first. Some suppose that the reference here might not regard the advent as far removed is to the first resurrection; that the righteous, into the distant fut1l1'8, as wholly impossible " the dead in Christ," she.II rise before the to happen in his days, but as an occurrence wicked, " the dead not in Christ ; " and that which might at any time take place ; bnt he e. thousand years, or the millennium, will did not tee.oh anything definite or certain on intervene between the first and second the subject.• Shall not prevent; go before resurrections (Rev. :u:. 4, 5). But this is or anticipate, obtain the preference over, get an entirdy erroneous supposition. All that before, so the.t those that are asleep might is here asserted is that the dead in Christ be left behind and fail of the prize. Them shall rise before the living in Christ shall that are asleep; those who e.re dee.d, so that be changed; there is no contrast between they, the living, should be glorified before the dead in Christ and the dead not in them, or perhaps hinder their glorification. Christ, nor any allusion to the resurrection Ver. 16.-l!'or; assigning a ree.aon for the of the wicked. e.bove aHsertion, "because." The Lord himself; Ver. 17.-Then we which are alive and not merely the Lord as the ohief Person and remain; or, are ~ft; that is, the saints who Act.or on that day, in contra.et to hie saints, shall then be found alive on the earth. The but emphatio, "tl.ie Lord himself," the Lord apostle classes himself among the living, in hie own proper Person. Shall descend from because he was then alive. Shall be oaught heaven; where the crucified and risen Jesus up. The expre.eion describes the irresistible ia now enthroned. seated at the right hand power with which the saints ebaJ.l be caught of God. With a shout; a word denotiug a up, perhaps by the ministry of angels. To- commanding shout e.e tbat of a leader to his gether with them ; with the dead in Christ host when he lee.de them into the be.ttle, or who are raised. In the oloude. Our Lord is of the army when it rushes to the fight. deecribecl as coming to jndgment in the Some refer this shout to what follows-the clouds of heaven ,Matt. mv. 30: Rev. i. 7). voice of the archangel and the trump of According to the Old Testament represen- God ; but there are three particulars here tation, God is described as ma.king the mentioned. Others attribute it to Christ clouds bis chariot (Pe. civ. 3). To meet himself. With the voioe of the e.rche.ngel ; the Lord; in his descent from heaven to or rather, of an archangel. There is only earth. In the air. Not that be she.II fi.x bis one e.rohangel mentioned in Scripture (Jude throne in the air, but that he passes tbrough 9) ; the word denotes, not "chief angel," but the air in his descent to the earth. And ao "chief or ruler of the angels." Accordingly, shall we ever be with the Lord ; shall share some suppose that Christ himself is here a blessed eternity in the vision and partici- meant, as to bim alone, it is asserted, does pation of bis glory. The apostle dotes not this title belong; but the Lord and the here describe the solemnities of the judg- archangel are here evidently distinguished. ment; but stops at the meeting of Christ Others strangely imagine that thti Holy and his risen saints, because bis object was Ghost is here meant. Others fi.x on the to comfort the Theesaloniane under bereave- arohangel Michael (Jude 9). Christ is menL represented WI accompanied by angels t.o Ver. 18.-Wherefore oom!ort one another with these words; on the ground of that 1 See dissertation on "Paul's Views of Divine revele.tion whioh I have made un&.t the Advent" in the author's 'Introductiou you. to the Pun linA F.piRtlea,' pp. 94-106, 78 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [mr. IT, 1-18.
HOMILETIOS. Vel"B. S, 'r.-Ho71'.1ms the design of revelation. Holinesa le the end aimed at In all the dispensations of G..d. (1) God has chosen us before ~he foundation of the world that we shonld be holy (Eph. i. 4); (2) Chri~t gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquitr (Titus ii. 14); (3) the Holy Spirit is conferred to sanctify us ('l'itue iii. 6; 2 Thess. ii. 13); (4) the Word is the instrument of sanctification (John xvii. 17); and (6) God chastens us in order that we might be made partakers of hie holiness (Heh. xii. 10). In short, h,lliness is salvation-our restoration to the moral image of God. Ver. 9.-Brotherly love. 1. Its nature. It is a love to all believers tu believers as being the children of the same Father, the brethren of the same Saviour, the members of the same family, the sharers of the same grace, and the expectants of the same glorious immortality. To all men we are related by a common humanity, but to Christians we are still more closely related by a common Christianity. 2. Its manifes- tatiom. It will show itself in acts of kindness done to believers, in preferring their company to that of worldly men, and in conversing with them on religious subjects. 3. TM evidence arising from brotherly love. It is a proof that we are not of the world, that we love God and that we are Christ's friends and disciples.