1Thessalonians 4 verse 17
Who are the left behind?
This today, my brother, my sister,
Is what is on my mind.
Context is absolutely critical
To answer the above
And to debunk any misconception,
We must do so in love.
For a long time, I used to think
These had to be the lost,
However, after reading more carefully,
That notion I have tossed.
One word caused my change
And it is a simple pronoun,
In verses 14 to 18 of Thessalonians 4
Five times it is found.
You are absolutely correct
If you noted the pronoun ‘we’
But for those that are still in doubt
Go to chapter 4 and see.
Paul was addressing an issue
Regarding the Thessalonians
Who were clearly not into fact checking
Like the studious Bereans.
Turn to the Acts chapter 17
Where this is strikingly made
That we may also search the Scriptures
And to do such without fail.
We need not be ignorant
Like the unread Thessalonians
But follow the example that was set
By the enquiring Bereans.
“For if ‘we’ believe…”
The apostle’s words not mine,
Meant he was including himself
At that particular time.
He was among the “alive”
Meaning them that remained,
In other words, those left behind
Would mean the same.
Which brings me to the point
Of the Left Behind series,
They need to do some fact checking
To clear up their mysteries.
If Paul was in the Left Behind
Then this cannot be bad
And believers alive at this present time
Should therefore be glad.
Five times he uses the word we
Meaning the folk back then,
To put it two thousand years after
Must pose a problem.
The apostle Paul anticipated
The coming of the Lord
Just like Jesus himself prophesied
In his Olivet word.
So too the Thessalonians
But they had a concern,
Regarding them that had fallen asleep
There was much to learn.
Perhaps for us too
As this surely puzzled me,
However, it is a little clearer now
As new insights I see.
Many believe that this coming
Is yet to happen still
But the apostle seems to be saying
It is already fulfilled.
That the already asleep
Will God bring with him
Not to the earth as many believe
Or as in the Left Behind film.
But that where Christ is
Those asleep will be also,
A reference to John chapter 14:
A familiar text we know.
Let not your heart be trouble:
You believe in God,
Believe also in me.
In my Father’s house are many mansions:
If it were not so I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and receive you unto myself;
That where I am, there you may be also.
The dead in Christ
Meaning those that fell asleep;
This was in the apostle’s future
Not now as we speak.
The alive in Christ
At the coming of the Lord
Are resurrected afterwards
According to the Word.
Caught up in the air:
A spiritual taking away,
The Parousia as it is also known
As happened in Paul’s day.
Herein is the hope:
To be forever with the Lord
The dead first then the left behind
According to his Word.
1Corinthians 15:44
It is sown a natural body;
It is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body,
And there is a spiritual body.
This is substantiated
In another of Paul’s letters,
In the book of Philippians chapter 1
He addresses this matter.
Philippians 1:23
For I am in a strait betwixt two,
Having a desire to depart,
And to be with Christ;
Which is far better:
Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh
Is more needful for you.
I struggle to accept
There is no coming to come,
That the very first century believers
Saw the return of God’s Son.
That Paul’s reference to we
Meant his present generation
Even as Jesus had made this point
In his Olivet submission.
I struggle to accept it
Based on my orientation
Having been exposed to an eschatology
Based on futurism.
This is, that most prophecies
Are yet to be fulfilled
And futurists are anticipating
Christ’s return still.
Those alive and remaining
Are also the left behind,
One day, these too will depart
At their appointed time.
Stewart Russell © December 23, 2024
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