What Happens Next?

The rapture of the church does two things:

It ends the day of grace we live in now. Today we call out a people for Christ’s name who bring “many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10). God is doing this marvelous work right now.

It begins the Day of the Lord. When the church leaves the earth, the great tribulation will get under way. The rapture closes one day and opens another.

But Christians need not be upset by this. We won’t be here. The church doesn’t belong to this tragic season coming in the future; we belong to the dispensation of grace we live in today. We still need to be awake and alert in view of Christ’s coming. Our job is to get the Word out to whomever will turn to Christ. Do it today!, we need to say.

What exactly is the “Day of the Lord?”

What 1 Thessalonians 5 describes as “the Day of the Lord” was well known in the Old Testament. It begins with the great tribulation and goes through the millennial reign of Christ on the earth. (See Isaiah 12-13 and Joel 1:15, 2:2.) God hasn’t appointed us to the day of wrath, the great tribulation. This will be a time of judgement, which Christ already bore for us on the cross.

The Lord Jesus doesn’t come for the church like a thief in the night. No, the church waits for the Lord to come with joy and expectation. We are looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior. We can’t wait for Jesus, our blessed hope, to appear any time.

You don’t look for or wait for a thief—and certainly not with joy. The Lord Jesus comes like a thief to the world after the church has been raptured. In that sober, ominous day of the Lord, He will come suddenly to the earth to judge the earth. More about that in Paul’s next letter to the Thessalonians.

Family Talk

Paul wraps up his letter with a sort of family talk with instructions for Christians to follow as we keep looking for Jesus Christ’s return. These are practical instructions, designed to impact us on the sidewalks of life—at home, in the office, in the schoolroom, wherever we are called to walk. Here they are from 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28:

• Encourage each other in the faith.
• Work as a team; share the Word of God with each other.
• Respect those who teach the Word of God; appreciate them for guiding you in your faith.
• Respect those with authority.
• Warn those who are out of step. It’s dangerous to do your own thing rather than what God is doing.
• Some people need you to say, I’m for you and I am praying for you.
• Others can’t keep up because they’re spiritual babies. Help them. Carry them along.
• Be attentive to people’s individual needs. Don’t snap at each other.
• Do good to those who do evil to you.
• If you belong to God, you shouldn’t have a sour face. Ask God to put joy in your heart, and He will.
• Be prayerful all the time.
• Give thanks in every situation.
• Listen to God’s Spirit. Don’t quench what He’s doing in you.
• Don’t be indifferent to the Word of God.
• Don’t be taken in and misled. Investigate anything to which you give your support.
• If you have any question about whether something is right or wrong, then it’s wrong for you.
• Grow in maturity in these areas; don’t be stuck as babies in Christ.
• Pray for those who teach you the Bible.
• Greet each other warmly, with love.

Paul finishes this first epistle with the reminder of what sustains and keeps us. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen” (v. 28).

And we pray for you, too, that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ may be with you today.