“The Dead in Christ Shall Rise First”

1. Why does there need to be a resurrection for dead mankind if ever they are to live again anywhere, and how did God lay the basis for the needed resurrection?

WHAT hope would there be for the dead of mankind were it not for the promised resurrection? The resurrection of the dead is an absolute necessity since the human soul is not immortal. Hence, at the body’s death it could not enter into a fuller life on a higher plane in an invisible world. (Ezek. 18:4, 20; Isa. 53:12) For dead humankind to live again anywhere there needs to be a resurrection. That is why God has laid the basis for such a miracle to take place in his due time. When he raised his self-sacrificing Son from the dead on the third day, he opened the way for this worthy Son to ascend back to where he was before, to heaven. The Son took along with him the full redeeming value of his perfect human sacrifice. Never again will Jesus Christ die. He offered up one human sacrifice for mankind’s sins forever. So, when he comes the second time, it does not mean his facing death.​—Heb. 9:28; Rom. 6:9.

2. How does 1 Corinthians 15:22, 23 show that God observes order with respect to the resurrection?

² Jehovah God follows a certain order with regard to the resurrection of the dead. This is called to our attention by the apostle Paul, who himself saw the glory of the resurrected Jesus and talked with him. About 18 years after that, Paul wrote to the Christian congregation in Corinth, Greece, and raised this question: “Now if Christ is being preached that he has been raised up from the dead, how is it some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead?” (1 Cor. 15:12) Following upon this question, Paul went on to develop the inspired answer. As he goes along, he says: “Just as in Adam all are dying, so also in the Christ all will be made alive. But each one in his own rank: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who belong to the Christ during his presence [Greek: parousia].” (1 Cor. 15:22, 23) God alone was responsible for Jesus’ resurrection.

3. How did Jesus become “first” in the matter of resurrection?

³ Jesus Christ was resurrected on Nisan 16, 33 C.E., the day when the Jewish high priest offered up the firstfruits of the barley harvest. This fits in accurately with Jesus’ being the “firstfruits” in the resurrection of the human dead. (1 Cor. 15:20) This put Jesus Christ in the first “rank.” Just as in the Jewish barley harvest there were afterfruits to be reaped, so too there must be afterfruits in the resurrection of the dead. But since Jesus Christ ranks first, Paul called him “the firstborn from the dead, that he might become the one who is first in all things.”​—Col. 1:18.

4. The resurrecting of even the first ones of the human dead had to wait until what official event begins, and when did this begin?

⁴ By his sacrificial death Jesus Christ bought back or redeemed all the human family who are dying “in Adam.” Hence, they all “belong to the Christ.” However, the resurrecting of even the first ones of the human dead must wait till after the “presence,” or parousia, of Jesus Christ begins. This official presence begins with his second coming. According to the “sign” that Jesus foretold and also according to certain Bible time measurements, his invisible “presence,” or parousia, began in autumn of 1914 C.E.​—Matt. 24:3.a

5, 6. How does 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 show that God will observe order and “rank” in harvesting those who die “in Adam”?

⁵ Jehovah God will observe order and “rank” with regard to the resurrection of those who are dying “in Adam” and who are harvested as afterfruits of the resurrection. Especially to comfort first-century Christians who were bereaved of “those who have fallen asleep in death through Jesus,” the apostle Paul wrote:

⁶ “This is what we tell you by Jehovah’s word, that we the living [spirit-begotten Christians] who survive to the presence of the Lord shall in no way precede those [spirit-begotten Christians] who have fallen asleep in death; because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call [with a loud command, NIV],b with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet, and those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first. Afterward we the living who are surviving will, together with them, be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall always be with the Lord.”​—1 Thess. 4:13-17.

7. About which particular dead was Paul there speaking, and how does Revelation 14:12, 13 indicate a special time for them to be resurrected?

⁷ Here the apostle Paul is speaking, not of the dead of mankind in general, but of “those who have fallen asleep in death” through Christ, “those who are dead in union with Christ.” In the last book of the Bible the apostle John has something to say about when such dead Christians will be raised from their sleep in death. In Revelation 14:12, 13 John writes: “‘Here [in connection with the world organization for international peace and security] is where it means endurance for the holy ones, those who observe the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.’ And I heard a voice out of heaven say: ‘Write: Happy are the dead who die in union with the Lord from this time onward. Yes, says the spirit, let them rest from their labors, for the things they did go right with them.’” So, now, from when on is “from this time onward”?

8. Why would “from that time onward” mean during the presence of the Lord in spirit, and does their dying then terminate their deeds?

⁸ In the light of what the apostle Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17, it must be during the “presence,” or parousia, of Jesus Christ, not before it begins, but after. Even during his being invisibly present in spirit there will be spirit-begotten Christians on earth who will “die in union with the Lord.” These especially are to be “happy” in dying during his “presence.” Their death in the flesh does not terminate their ‘deeds,’ for any length of time. Why not? Because “the things they did go right with them,” or, literally, according to the Greek text, ‘follow with them.’

9. Why, then, are the “holy ones” who die at that time “happy,” according to Revelation 14:13?

⁹ This requires a transfer of operations, from works in the flesh on earth, to works in the spirit in the heavenly realm. As regards those “who die in union with the Lord,” the apostle Paul says: “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised up in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised up in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised up in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised up a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual one.” (1 Cor. 15:42-44) So these “happy” resurrected ones follow up their earthly “labors” with works in spirit bodies in the spirit realm. They do not have to sleep in death waiting for Christ’s presence.

WITH WHAT THE LORD DESCENDS FROM HEAVEN

10. With what will the Lord Jesus Christ descend from heaven at the time for resurrecting his spirit-begotten disciples?

¹⁰ The apostle Paul tells us what accompanies the Lord’s spiritual descent from heaven, saying: “We the living who survive to the presence [parousia] of the Lord shall in no way precede [in the experiencing of a spiritual resurrection] those who have fallen asleep in death; because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet, and those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first.”​—1 Thess. 4:15, 16.

11. Who hear the “commanding call” of the Lord Jesus Christ on his descent from heaven and obey?

¹¹ Who hears the “commanding call” with which the Lord Jesus Christ comes down from his heavenly position at God’s right hand? Evidently the spirit-begotten Christians who, till then, have died “in union with the Lord.” We know that no living humans on earth have directly heard his voice since his spiritual descent, that is, since his invisible “presence,” or parousia, began in early autumn of 1914. But the “dead in Christ” (Authorized Version) heard him and obeyed him.

12. (a) When does the “last day” of which Jesus spoke in John 6:53, 54 begin, and how do those disciples enter into “everlasting life”? (b) From what other so-called “last day” does this differ?

¹² Those thus resurrected by Jesus Christ belong to the disciples concerning whom he said: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. He that feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has everlasting life [from the time of being raised from the dead], and I shall resurrect him at the last day.” (John 6:53, 54) On that “last day” there is power in his “commanding call” to raise from the sleep of death his disciples who have shared in this special privilege with respect to his flesh and blood. For such privileged disciples the “last day” begins when they enter into the “everlasting life” in heaven by being resurrected in a “spiritual body” like that of Christ. Since this “last day” applies to the resurrection of the faithful spirit-begotten Christians with a heavenly hope, it differs from the “last day” that Martha of Bethany had in mind, for she then had no idea at all of a spiritual resurrection to heaven.

13. (a) Whose voice is it that the “dead in Christ” hear, and who is the “archangel”? (b) What Scriptural proof do we have for this?

¹³ The glorified Lord Jesus Christ descends also “with an archangel’s voice.” This is his own voice. He is the “archangel.” In his parable of the sheep and the goats Jesus referred to himself in this archangelic capacity by saying: “When the Son of man arrives in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him.” (Matt. 25:31, 32) In his prehuman state in heaven his name was Michael. There is no question of doubt that he is the one meant in the pre-Christian prophecy of Daniel 12:1, 2: “During that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who is standing in behalf of the sons of your [Daniel’s] people. And there will certainly occur a time of distress such as has not been made to occur since there came to be a nation until that time. And during that time your people will escape, every one who is found written down in the book. And there will be many of those asleep in the ground of dust who will wake up, these to indefinitely lasting life and those to reproaches and to indefinitely lasting abhorrence.”

14. Revelation 12:7 gives the archangel’s name as being what, and how does Jude 9 refer to a previous contest of this one?

¹⁴ Also, Revelation 12:7 shows angels to be subordinate to Michael, saying: “War broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels [not resurrected spirit-begotten Christians] battled.” Furthermore, Jude 9 speaks of him as an archangel, saying: “Michael the archangel had a difference with the Devil and was disputing about Moses’ body.” The Devil did not get the body.

15. How did Satan the Devil fare in the war with the archangel Michael, and can he prevent the resurrection of Christ’s disciples and their ascent in heaven to be with Jesus Christ?

¹⁵ All along in the age-old contest Satan the Devil has lost. In the war in heaven he was defeated and he and his demon angels were hurled down to the neighborhood of our earth, whereas the archangel Michael, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ, and his angels remained victorious in the heavens. Since the victorious Jesus Christ uses the “archangel’s voice” when he commands those who died in union with the Christ to come forth, his “commanding call” has more authority and stronger effect. Furthermore, the defeated Satan the Devil will not have power enough to prevent the spiritual resurrection of those dead in union with Christ and will not be able to prevent their entrance into the spirit realm nor their ascent in heaven to be with the victorious Jesus Christ.

16. For what purpose does “God’s trumpet” sound at the time of the Lord’s descent from heaven, and who will be first to respond to it?

¹⁶ Another thing that accompanies Christ’s descent from heaven is the sound of “God’s trumpet.” (1 Thess. 4:16) The trumpet in this case is not a war signal for assembling troops that they might fight and put the enemy to death. Rather, the blast of “God’s trumpet” is a peaceful one for assembling Jehovah’s people, as when the two silver trumpets were blown in Moses’ day to assemble the 12 tribes of Israel. (Num. 10:1-10) Elsewhere, in 1 Corinthians 15:52, the apostle Paul connects such a rousing assembly “trumpet” with the resurrection of the Christian dead, when he says: “During the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised up incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” Who are the first to respond to that “last trumpet,” when it, as “God’s trumpet,” sounds forth for the gathering of the dead back to life? In answer, 1 Thessalonians 4:16 says: “And those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first.”

17. Why is the resurrection of those “dead in union with Christ” not visible to human eyes?

¹⁷ However, the resurrection of those “dead in union with Christ” is not visible to humans on earth. Why not? Because they are blessed with a spiritual resurrection, each one being “raised up a spiritual body.” (1 Cor. 15:44) Because human eyes are not strong enough to see spirit bodies, the resurrection of the “dead in Christ” is unseen to humans. That is why, since the start of Christ’s “presence,” or parousia, from 1914 onward, mankind has not seen him nor been aware of the resurrection of his disciples.

18, 19. (a) By what Paul said at 1 Thessalonians 4:17, did he mean that those Christians would not die before being “caught away”? (b) In what sense, then, are they “caught away,” and in what bodies do they ascend to meet the Lord in happiness?

¹⁸ The apostle Paul speaks of himself as if surviving on earth until that happy event for spirit-begotten Christians, when he says: “Afterward we the living who are surviving will, together with them, be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall always be with the Lord.”​—1 Thess. 4:17.

¹⁹ The apostle Paul did not here mean that the spirit-begotten Christians like himself would not die but would be “caught away,” human body and all, into the skies amid literal clouds. Paul died. Spirit-begotten Christians today surviving during Christ’s “presence,” or parousia, must likewise die. Like seeds planted in the ground, they must each be “sown a physical body” by dying a human death. (1 Cor. 15:44) How, then, are they “caught away in clouds” together with those “dead in union with Christ” who were resurrected first? In this way: When they are sown as physical bodies, they do not enter into a death sleep. They instantaneously experience a spiritual resurrection, leaving their human bodies behind on earth and being raised up each a “spiritual body.” It is as spiritual bodies that they ascend to meet their heavenly Lord. For these reasons they especially may be counted as “happy,” according to Revelation 14:13.

20. In what kind of “clouds” is it that the living, surviving Christians are “caught away,” and to indicate what about their ascent?

²⁰ However, what would their being caught away “in clouds” mean? Of course, clouds float on high in the skies and denote elevation. They also conceal from us on earth what is in them or above them. Spiritual bodies do not need our literal clouds to make them invisible to us. So what is meant in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 are symbolic clouds, which, as it were, hide from earthly view the catching away of the resurrected Christians to meet their highly elevated Lord. Let us recall how, on the 40th day from his resurrection, Jesus Christ ascended back to heaven and, during his ascent, “a cloud caught him up from [the watching disciples’] vision.”​—Acts 1:9.

21. Does the Lord’s descent from heaven end in his direct, personal contact with our earth, and when does the “last day” on which he raises his spirit-begotten disciples end?

²¹ What does all of this prove? This: The descending Lord Jesus Christ does not come down to direct contact with our earth. Clouds, in which the resurrected Christians are pictured as meeting their heavenly Lord, hover high above earth’s surface. Moreover, it is “in the air” that the resurrected Christians meet their Lord, not down here on the ground, neither at Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives nor at any other spot on our earth. Moreover, the “last day” in which this catching away occurs is not an earthly 24-hour day. It is a period of time that is completed first when the last one of those spirit-begotten Christians who take part in “the first resurrection” is raised to heavenly life. (Rev. 20:4, 6; John 6:54) Fulfillment of Bible prophecy indicates that we are already living in that particular “last day.”

Living Now in That “Last Day” of Resurrection

1. For decades beforehand, it was thought that the glorification of the remnant of surviving Christians would occur at what time, but was what was foretold at 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17 fulfilled from then on?

SINCE the “dead in Christ” are raised up in spiritual bodies invisible to human eyes on that “last day,” we humans must walk by faith, not by sight, as to its actually taking place now. We recall that for some decades quite a few thought that the glorification of all surviving members of the Christian congregation would occur at the end of the Gentile Times around October 1, 1914. (Luke 21:24) However, nothing like what is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17 took place at that date. Rather, war broke out in heaven, and the losers, Satan and his demons, experienced a rapid descent earthward. (Rev. 12:7-13) Interestingly, quite a number of spirit-begotten Christians who were alive and active on earth in 1914 are still with us in the flesh. Apparently something was wrong about the timing of the “last day” for the glorification of the spirit-begotten congregation.

2, 3. The glorification is due to occur during what period, and so what question arises concerning the fulfillment of 1 Corinthians 15:50-57?

² Nonetheless, the invisible “presence,” or parousia, of the glorified Jesus Christ began at the end of the Gentile Times in 1914. So from then on it is the time period when what is foretold at 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17 should take place respecting the surviving spirit-begotten Christians, to correspond with the “last day.”​—John 6:54.

³ Reasonably when does fulfillment start for 1 Corinthians 15:50-57? “Flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Look! I tell you a sacred secret: We shall not all fall asleep in death [when the corruptible human body dies], but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, during the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised up incorruptible, and we [Christians like Paul] shall be changed. For this which is corruptible must put on incorruption, and this which is mortal must put on immortality. But when this which is corruptible puts on incorruption and this which is mortal puts on immortality, then the saying will take place that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up forever.’ ‘Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?’ The sting producing death is sin, but the power for sin is the [Mosaic] Law. But thanks to God, for he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”

4. When did Jesus die, and how had Daniel 9:24-27 indicated this?

⁴ Toward a Scriptural calculation of the time, we can compare events that run parallel or that correspond in their nature. So we ask, When was Jesus Christ himself resurrected to become “Christ the firstfruits”? This was on Sunday, Nisan 16, of the year 33 C.E. Two days earlier, on Passover, Nisan 14, he had been hung on a stake till dead. That day of Christ’s sacrifice was a time marked off in the schedule of events drawn up by Jehovah God and recorded in Daniel 9:24-27. It marked the middle of that last week of a series of “seventy weeks,” weeks of years, not of days. Daniel’s prophecy foretold that during this last or 70th week of years “Messiah will be cut off, with nothing for himself.” But at what time during this last week of years, which began in autumn of the year 29 C.E.? Daniel 9:27 answers: “At the half of the week he will cause sacrifice and gift offering to cease.” Hence, animal sacrifices were valueless after Jesus died.

5. How is the beginning of the 70th “week” of years calculated, how was it marked, and what period did it begin for Jerusalem and the Jewish system?

⁵ Since Jesus sacrificed his perfect human life “at the half of the week,” or on Nisan 14, 33 C.E., that “week” began three and a half lunar years earlier on Tishri 15, 29 C.E. Well, then, what event marked the start of that 70th “week” of years? Jesus proved to be the Messiah, which means “Anointed One.” It was at the time when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptizer. Right afterward, Jesus was “anointed” with the holy spirit to become the Messianic King over Jehovah’s people. Jesus was then 30 years old. (Luke 3:21-23; 4:1-21) This event really marked the start of the “time of the end” for Jerusalem and the Jewish system of sacrifices. Less than 41 years later, or in the summer of 70 C.E., Jerusalem and its temple were reduced to desolation. As Daniel 9:26 foretold: “The city and the holy place the people of a leader [General Titus] that is coming [in 70 C.E.] will bring to their ruin. And the end of it will be by the flood [of Roman legionnaires]. And until the end there will be war.”

6, 7. What followed right after the end of the Gentile Times in 1914, and what announcement then made in heaven came true as regards our earth and its dead?

⁶ Parallelwise, when the Gentile Times expired in autumn of 1914, the “time of the end” began for this system of things. (Dan. 12:4) Immediately following upon that expiration of those Gentile Times the anointed Jesus in the heavens was installed as King, the permanent Heir of his ancient forefather, King David of Jerusalem. There and then the announcement that followed the blowing of the seventh trumpet became true. As regards this we read, in Revelation 11:15-18:

⁷ “And the seventh angel blew his trumpet. And loud voices occurred in heaven, saying: ‘The kingdom of the world did become the kingdom of our Lord [the Sovereign Lord Jehovah] and of his Christ, and he [the Sovereign Lord Jehovah] will rule as king forever and ever.’ . . . ‘We thank you, Jehovah God, the Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and begun ruling as king. But the nations became wrathful, and your own wrath came, and the appointed time for the dead to be judged, and to give their reward to your slaves the prophets and to the holy ones and to those fearing your name, the small and the great, and to bring to ruin those ruining the earth.’”

8. (a) Against whom then did the nations become wrathful and why, and to what extent? (b) How did this parallel what happened to the anointed Jesus “at the half of the week”?

⁸ During World War I of 1914-1918 C.E., “the nations became wrathful,” and they vented their wrath on the dedicated people of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. Why? Because these were preaching the end of the Gentile Times in 1914 and the full establishment of Christ’s kingdom in the heavens. This wrath of nations came to a head in the spring of 1918, markedly in the United States of America. This was three and a half years from the end of the Gentile Times and the installation of the anointed Jesus as a heavenly King. What happened to the Kingdom proclaimers on earth in 1918 runs quite parallel with what happened to Jesus at Jerusalem “at the half of the week.” In his case a resurrection of the dead became necessary. Correspondingly, in 1918 the proclaimers of his kingdom were dealt what the persecutors thought was a “death blow,” so that the Kingdom proclamation needed a revival, a resurrection.

9. (a) Why would the reviving or figurative resurrection of the persecuted Kingdom proclaimers to renewed activity not be a true parallel of Jesus’ resurrection Nisan 16, 33 C.E.? (b) Their being ‘caught away to meet the Lord’ could not precede whose spiritual resurrection?

⁹ The resurrection of Jesus on Nisan 16, 33 C.E., was of a spiritual kind, into the heavenly realm, but it was from an earthly tomb. In the case of the Kingdom proclaimers yet in the flesh, their revival was to an earthly activity, to renewed preaching of “this good news of the kingdom” in all the inhabited earth “for a witness to all the nations.” (Matt. 24:14) Not yet were those spirit-begotten Christians to be glorified in heaven, to “be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” Their experiencing this was not scheduled to “precede” the resurrection of Christians who had “fallen asleep in death through Jesus” down till 1918. Rather, as 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 points out, “those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first.” Fittingly, their resurrection first would precede the reviving or resuscitating of the Kingdom proclaimers to their further work in the flesh on earth during this “time of the end.” This reviving occurred in spring of 1919.

10. Whose resurrection, and this at what time, would be the true parallel of Jesus’ resurrection on Nisan 16, 33 C.E.?

¹⁰ The spiritual resurrection of the “dead in Christ” in the spring of 1918, three and a half years from the enthronement of Christ at the end of the Gentile Times in autumn of 1914, would parallel Jesus’ own resurrection on Nisan 16, 33 C.E., “at the half of the week.” (Dan. 9:27) Thus they did “rise first.” Their doing so did “precede” the resurrecting of those surviving to Christ’s “presence,” or parousia, and to the killing of Kingdom preaching.

11. What corresponding time period comes into play in connection with God’s prophetic witnesses of Revelation, chapter 11, and does their ascent to heaven picture a fulfillment of 1 Thessalonians 4:17?

¹¹ A similar time period comes into play in connection with God’s prophetic witnesses pictured in Revelation, chapter 11. According to Revelation 11:3-7, they were killed after prophesying for 1,260 days, or 3 1/2 years. But they have a resurrection: “After the three and a half days spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon those beholding them. And they heard a loud voice out of heaven say to them: ‘Come on up here.’ And they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies beheld them.” (Rev. 11:11, 12) This prophetically pictured the reviving of the remnant of spirit-begotten Christians in Kingdom service in the spring of 1919. Their ascending to worldwide prominence was not the fulfillment of 1 Thessalonians 4:17. In this connection, we recall that the 120 disciples of Jesus Christ were not revived to public activity in Jerusalem until 51 days after the impalement and burial of their Lord, Jesus Christ.

12. How was such a reviving of the spiritual remnant also foretold in the vision set out in Ezekiel 37:1-14?

¹² Such a reviving of the surviving remnant was also foretold in Ezekiel 37:1-14. There Jehovah gave the prophet Ezekiel a vision of a valley full of dry Israelite bones. The bones were then reconstructed into living Israelites who were ready to leave their exile in pagan Babylon. Telling how the vision would be fulfilled, Jehovah said: “Here I am opening your burial places, and I will bring you up out of your burial places, O my people [exiled in Babylon], and bring you in upon the soil of Israel. And you will have to know that I am Jehovah when I open your burial places and when I bring you up out of your burial places, O my people.”​—Ezek. 37:12, 13.

13. How was this vision of the valley of dry bones fulfilled in modern times, and how did this correspond with what happened to Jesus’ disciples after what occurred “at the half of the week”?

¹³ In modern fulfillment of that vision the remnant of spiritual Israelites were revived in the spring of 1919 and were liberated from Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion, and from abject subjection to her political, judicial and military paramours who did her bidding during World War I. Likely, with a prophetic bearing upon the modern timing of events, the reviving of Jesus’ personal disciples and their liberation from the oppressive Jewish system of things did not take place until after his death and burial and his resurrection from the dead on the third day, Nisan 16, 33 C.E. This was shortly after the “half of the week” when Jesus was sacrificed as a ransom for all mankind.

14. To what class mentioned at 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 do these revived, reactivated witnesses of modern times belong, and how is what Jesus called “the last day” a “happy” one for them?

¹⁴ In modern times, the revived, reactivated remnant of spiritual Israelites who took up the witness work again in the spring of 1919 were those whom the apostle Paul spoke of as “we the living who survive to the presence of the Lord.” (1 Thess. 4:15) They expect, after finishing the final Kingdom witness world wide, to die “in union with the Lord” and during his presence. Their death is during that “last day” during which, as Jesus said, he would raise up from the dead those disciples who are privileged to feed on his flesh and drink his blood. This signifies for them their being “caught away” to meet him, their Lord, “in the air.” This instantaneous resurrection of theirs to heavenly life is unseen to humans left behind on earth as if it were obscured by “clouds.” “Happy,” indeed, they are because they “die in union with the Lord from this time onward” during the “presence of the Lord,” not needing to sleep in death in expectation of his second coming.​—Rev. 14:13; John 6:53, 54; 1 Cor. 15:52, 53.

15. What recent colaborers will be on hand when the surviving remnant make their departure at the close of the “last day,” and what kind of parting may this prove to be?

¹⁵ Many Christian companions, a “great crowd” of them, are left behind. During this “time of the end” and during the invisible “presence of the Lord” they have become colaborers with the remnant of spiritual Israelites in the final Kingdom witness to all the nations. This “great crowd” expects to survive the “great tribulation” in which this worldly system of things perishes. (Rev. 7:9, 14) Thus they will be on hand when the happy time arrives for the last ones of the remnant of spiritual Israelites to “be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” (1 Thess. 4:17) How loving it would be for the “great crowd” living in that last day of resurrection to bid farewell to the surviving remnant as these finish their earthly course at the close of the “last day”! (John 6:53, 54) This may be no easy parting, but it could be accompanied by a heartfelt interchange of affection between those departing and those left behind on a paradise earth. No more will the “great crowd” see them.