It is amazing how often a passage is misunderstood and misused, and yet equally amazing how simple that same passage really is. Such is the case with 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. These verses are often used to teach that Jesus will return and the church will be “caught up” (or “raptured”) to Him, and then either 1,000 years later or 1,007 years later, the unrighteous will be raised from the dead. Is that what this passage (or any Bible passage) is teaching? The simple answer is, “No.”
To use 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 to teach the manmade doctrine of premillennialism and the manmade concept of the rapture is to teach something that these verses do not teach or even vaguely imply. In fact, one can read these verses over and over in multiple translations and never even find the resurrection of the unrighteous being discussed.
Paul is writing to Christians—to “brethren” (4:13). He is writing to allay their concerns about brethren “who have fallen asleep” (4:13). The only time that the unrighteous even appear in the text is at the end of verse 13, where they are described as those “who have no hope.” Paul wanted these Christians to understand the hope that they can confidently have for fellow Christians who have “fallen asleep in Jesus” (4:14). Though their fellow Christians had died, they were not without hope.
Paul writes in these verses about two groups. He writes about what will happen to one group “first” and “then” to the other group. But, the two groups are NOT the righteous and the unrighteous. Again, the unrighteous do not appear in this text. The two groups to which Paul addresses his inspired attention are (1) the dead in Christ and (2) the living in Christ.
Paul speaks about that second group as those “who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord.” He speaks about the first group as those “who sleep in Jesus…who are asleep…the dead in Christ” (4:14, 15, 16). The living in Christ “will by no means precede” the dead in Christ (4:15). In fact, when the Lord returns, “the dead in Christ will rise first” (4:16). Paul does NOT say that the second to be raised will be the unrighteous, as they are not under discussion at all. Instead, Paul says that after the dead in Christ are raised, the still living who are in Christ “shall be caught up together with” the dead in Christ “in the air” (4:17). What a glorious, exciting and yet simple way to explain it.
Jesus clearly taught that “those who have done good” and “those who have done evil” would be raised in the same “hour” (John 5:28-29), and not 1,000 years apart. When we let the Bible explain things in simple terms, how much we learn!