Let it be distinctly noticed that these dead in Christ are not said to be raised incorruptible and immortal, but only caught up with the living Christians in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air—­not literally, but in the same sense that the living saw the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, so should they see his saints and holy angels raised from the slumber of infamy, and, together with the Christians who remained alive at that day, be exalted with him in the air. [See Matt. xxiv:30, 31—­Mark xiii:26, 27—­Luke xxi:27, 28, and Rev. i:7.] In these passages he is represented as “coming in the clouds with his angels,” who “gathered, with a great sound of the trumpet, his elect,” and raised them to honor in his kingdom.  And let me add—­this is all the change Christ has ever said should take place in the living at the sound of the Trumpet.  I have no doubt that the Apostle had his eye upon the above words of our Lord when he said, “we shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”  It will here be plainly seen in what sense those who had died in the cause of Christ were first raised.  They are represented as coming with him at the destruction of the temple, and after that event the whole “body” was exalted together.  The “vile body” of Christians on earth (vile indeed in the eyes of their enemies) was then “fashioned like unto his glorious body” of saints and angels in heaven who had died in his cause.

That we have given a correct exposition of 1 Thess. iv:15, 16, 17, is evident from Paul’s words 2 Tim. iv:7, 8—­“I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge shall give me at that day,” &c.  The phrase “that day” means not the day of Paul’s death, but the day Christ should appear in the clouds of heaven at the end of the Jewish age.  His crown was merited for having “fought the good fight and kept the faith.”  The crown means that exalted honor he should then receive for having “turned many to righteousness.”  And not only himself, but all, “who love the appearing of Christ,” should shine as the brightness of the firmament and as the stars forever and ever in his gospel kingdom among men.  We this day look upon the martyrs and apostles as the lights of the Christian world and as occupying, on the sacred page, stations far more exalted than any ever conferred upon the greatest men of the universe.  They are “made priests and kings to God” for dying in his cause, and thus establishing the truth of Christianity.