For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
The shout and the archangel's voice serve one purpose: to describe the majesty and solemnity of Christ's appearing as Judge. The archangel will herald the summons to both living and dead. As for the trumpet, I add nothing to what I said on First Corinthians. Paul aims only to give us a foretaste of that venerable tribunal, and we must be content with that foretaste now.
AI summary
Do not sorrow immoderately for those who die in the Lord, as if you had no hope of eternal life, that is to grieve like the heathen, who imagine everything taken from the world perishes. We Christians have sure hope of resurrection; this alone is enough to balance all our griefs. Yet weep we may, for our own loss if nothing else, so long as we remember the dead sleep in Jesus and shall wake to glory.
AI summary
Commenting on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Christ descends in person, not by proxy or angel, in His human nature, visible to all. The shout is like an army's war cry with its general leading the charge, the king of kings attending to His final triumph over sin, death, and Satan. The three sounds together announce the majesty and authority of His coming as Judge.
AI summary