Last week’s article discussed 2 Peter 3:10 and how the earth is not going to be “burned up” or destroyed, but rather “found.” The world will only be destroyed insomuch as it is purified from sin and corruption, much like the flood In Gen 6–10. In this way it is a “new (or renewed) heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet 3:13). We are not bound for some ethereal existence in another realm but will live in God’s kingdom that he established on this earth in Acts 2. But what about what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:17? It says, “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” (NASB). Doesn’t this suggest that Jesus will take us out of this world to dwell with him up in that heavenly place that he prepared for us (John 14:3)?

A part of the difficulty is that Paul simply stops his narration of the second coming short of the whole story. He neither says that Christ will take us further up to heaven nor that Christ will come back down. Nevertheless, there is a clue in our passage as to which of the two aforementioned alternatives Paul has in mind. This clue lies in the word “meet” (Gr. apantēsis). When we read “meet,” we automatically assume that we are meeting up with the Lord in the clouds in order for him to take us
further upward to Heaven. However, this Greek word is a technical term “for a civic custom of antiquity whereby a public welcome was accorded by a city to important visitors” (TDNT). To give a further explanation, people in the ancient world, even up to medieval times, would go out of the city to greet the king and welcome him into the city with fanfare. Paul is using that same imagery here to talk about us meeting our King in the air in order to welcome him back. Therefore, this passage does not teach that Jesus will take us to Heaven, but rather implies that we will escort Christ to the earth where he established his kingdom.