Rapture, Saints, and Entering the Kingdom
Question: How will the saints in the body of Christ enter the kingdom if 1 Thessalonians 4:17 says, "and so shall we ever be with the Lord"?
This answer argues from the text, not from tradition. If the passage will not carry a doctrine, the doctrine is set aside.
The question raises both definitional and chronological issues. It cites 1 Thessalonians 4:17:
"We which are alive shall be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
The question then asks how the saints in the body of Christ will enter the kingdom if this is our destiny. To address this, we need to clarify who the “we” and the “saints” are, and how the kingdom relates to the body of Christ.
subsection*Who Are the “Saints” in This Context?
In my understanding, the term “saints” in Scripture refers specifically to believers within the time of the kingdom offer to Israel—those Jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah during that period when the kingdom was being legitimately offered to the nation.
Thus, I do not consider myself a “saint” in that technical, biblical sense, even though I am in the body of Christ. Nor would I consider you a “saint” in that sense if you are a believer today in the present dispensation. The Thessalonian believers addressed by Paul were living in a period in which the kingdom offer was still active, and they were Jewish believers; therefore, they were saints in that sense.
Not everyone agrees with that definition, but it is the framework I have argued and defended.
subsection*The “We” in 1 Thessalonians 4:17
In 1 Thessalonians 4:17, the “we which are alive” refers, in the most immediate and literal sense, to the Thessalonian believers, who were both saints (as just defined) and part of the body of Christ. They were alive in a time when the national kingdom offer to Israel was still on the table, and they had also received Paul’s teaching about individual salvation by grace through faith apart from works.
Over time, of course, those Thessalonian believers died. The “we who are alive and remain” does not apply to them now historically. But the principle of the rapture event applies to all living believers in the body of Christ at the time when it occurs. The dead in Christ rise first; then those alive at that moment are caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
Access note: public and archive access are still being finalized. Use the passages, test the reasoning, and question the assumptions.
The phrase “and so shall we ever be with the Lord” describes the ongoing result: from that moment forward, those caught up will always be with Him. The adverb “so” refers to the manner in which we are joined to Him—by being caught up to meet Him in the air.
subsection*How Saints Enter the Kingdom
There are passages that speak of the Lord returning with “thousands of his saints” at His coming in judgment and kingdom glory. Those saints, in my view, are the believing remnant of Israel and associated kingdom saints who return with Him at the second coming and enter into the messianic kingdom. This line of teaching goes back at least to the time of Enoch and is echoed in various Old Testament and later passages.
Let us consider a concrete scenario. Imagine a Jewish believer in Thessalonica around A.D. 50, a man we might call Tobiah. He believes Jesus is the Messiah and that the messianic age is coming. He hears Paul preach and learns that God is now offering, alongside the national kingdom offer, an individual salvation by grace through faith apart from works in a new dispensation.
Tobiah receives both truths:
He is a saint in the kingdom sense: a believing Jew under the kingdom offer. He is also in the body of Christ, having received the individual gospel of grace Paul proclaimed.
He lives to an old age and dies after the kingdom offer has effectively ended with the destruction and dispersion of the nation. His body is buried. The preacher at his funeral might say that this is temporary and that he will rise again.
When the rapture occurs, Tobiah, as part of the body of Christ, is among “the dead in Christ” who rise first. He is then joined together with all living believers who are caught up to meet the Lord in the air. From that point, he is forever with the Lord.
Later, after the time of Jacob’s trouble, when Israel as a nation says, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,” the Lord returns to establish His kingdom. Those saints who are associated with the kingdom, including men like Tobiah, return with Him. He participates as one of those to whom the earthly, messianic promises apply. In that way, he enters and inherits the kingdom.
In short:
As a member of the body of Christ, he is raptured and forever with the Lord. As a saint in the sense of a believing Jew under the kingdom offer, he returns with the Lord to enter the earthly kingdom.
subsection*What About Believers Today?
If, instead, the question is assuming that “saints” refers to believers like you and me in the present age who are not part of that earlier kingdom offer, the answer shifts.
Believers today, in my view, do not “inherit” or “enter” the kingdom in the same way Israel does. The kingdom is promised to Israel. It is a Jewish kingdom on earth under the reign of the Messiah on the throne of David. Those who are alive on earth at the second coming and are part of the believing remnant of Israel will enter it as its rightful subjects and heirs.
Members of the body of Christ will, according to 1 Thessalonians 4:17 , ever be with the Lord. We will be present when He reigns, but the kingdom itself is not ours as a national inheritance. It belongs to Israel.
I would therefore say of Gentile believers in the body of Christ:
We will be with Christ during His kingdom reign. We will have some role in that era, perhaps as servants or ministers of the Lord, though Scripture does not spell this out in detail. We do not inherit the kingdom as a national promise; that remains distinctively Israel’s.
subsection*Rapture and Kingdom: Distinct but Related
To summarize the relationships:
The rapture concerns the body of Christ being caught up to meet the Lord and thereafter forever being with Him. The kingdom concerns Israel’s national promises being fulfilled in an earthly reign of Messiah. Early Jewish believers under the kingdom offer who also received Paul’s message can, in my view, occupy both categories: they are saints of the kingdom and members of the body. Present-day believers in the body of Christ are not saints in that technical sense and do not inherit the kingdom as Israel does, but will nevertheless be with the Lord during His kingdom reign.
Thus, the statement “so shall we ever be with the Lord” does not preclude saints associated with Israel from entering the kingdom, nor does it require that Gentile believers inherit the kingdom in the same way Israel does. It simply affirms the permanent, unbroken fellowship the raptured body of Christ will enjoy with the Lord from that moment onward.