Are the people who are not saved left here on earth when the event in I Thessalonians 4:17 occurs? Will they be burned up according to II Peter 3?<\/p>\n
Can you help with this? Thank you.<\/p>\n\t
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words<\/em>” (I Thessalonians 4:13-18).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
To understand a passage, we must first understand why it was written. There were Christians in Thessalonica who worried that brethren who died would not make it to heaven since they would not be alive when Christ returned. There was a very strong Greek belief that once a person dies, he cannot return to life. This is why the Greek philosophers scoffed when Paul mentioned the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 17:32). It appears the Thessalonians accepted that Jesus arose, but they didn’t realize that it meant they would rise as well. Therefore, in this context, Paul\u00a0focuses on what happens to\u00a0Christians<\/strong> after they die. What happens to the wicked is not under discussion.<\/p>\n
It is an easy mistake to assume that if the wicked are not mentioned, they must not rise; however, we have to avoid assumptions. Our assumptions are not inspired and can easily be wrong. Jesus stated, “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment”<\/em> (John 5:28-29). There is a single moment (“an hour”) when\u00a0all<\/strong> will rise — both the good and the evil. The good will continue on to life, and the wicked will face punishment. “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats … These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life<\/em>” (Matthew 25:31-32, 46). God doesn’t discuss multiple resurrections. At Jesus’ coming, there will be a single resurrection, and, in the Judgment, the good and the bad will be separated for different destinies. “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear<\/em>” (Matthew 13:40-43).<\/p>\n
“For we must all<\/strong> appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad<\/strong><\/em>” (II Corinthians 5:10).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Are the people who are not saved left here on earth when the event in I Thessalonians 4:17 occurs? Will they be burned up according to II Peter 3? Can you help with this? Thank you. Answer: “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[344,343,664],"class_list":["post-94795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-premillennialism","tag-rapture","tag-resurrection"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1988,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-bible-speak-of-souls-sleeping\/","url_meta":{"origin":94795,"position":0},"title":"Does the Bible speak of souls sleeping?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 14, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do the Scriptures ever speak of souls sleeping anywhere? Answer: A common idiom for death is sleep. \"But man dies and is laid away; indeed he breathes his last and where is he? As water disappears from the sea, and a river becomes parched and dries up, so man\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8936,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-death-like\/","url_meta":{"origin":94795,"position":1},"title":"What is death like?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 7, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi! I would like to know is when you die, is it like you are still living, but the only thing is that you can't do anything like you did when you were alive? How does it feel when you die? Would you see things below, such as other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7430,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-all-prophecies-be-seen-as-fulfilled-in-the-past-preterism\/","url_meta":{"origin":94795,"position":2},"title":"Should all prophecies be seen as fulfilled in the past (preterism)?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I appreciate your view, whatever it may be. I am not a \"full preterist\" at this point in time. I presume that you must have some interaction with others in your circle who do hold to the preterist view. At least we can say, that in this particular instance\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45966,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-the-righteous-leave-this-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":94795,"position":3},"title":"Do the righteous leave this world?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I had a study with someone and this was his explanation of these Scriptures. In I Thessalonians 4:13-17, Verse 13: Paul doesn't want us to be ignorant concerning where are the dead. That's the subject. Verse 14: God will bring those that have died back with him. Verse 15:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16036,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-hebrews-927-state-what-it-does-and-yet-elijah-and-enoch-did-not-experience-physical-death\/","url_meta":{"origin":94795,"position":4},"title":"Why does Hebrews 9:27 state what it does and yet Elijah and Enoch did not experience physical death?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why does\u00a0Hebrews 9:27 state what it does and yet Elijah and Enoch did not\u00a0experience physical death? Answer: \"And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment\" (Hebrews 9:27). The writer of Hebrews is stating a general principle. Because of Adam's sin, man is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11901,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-everyone-who-was-baptized-have-eternal-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":94795,"position":5},"title":"Does everyone who was baptized have eternal life?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, From the topic of \"The Thousand-Year Reign\", you stated that baptism is the first resurrection. John also states that second death will not have an effect on those who take part in the first resurrection. Then does that mean all who were baptized will have eternal life? But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94795\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}