1 Thessalonians 4:17 – Meeting in Heaven or in the Air?
Many interpret this as believers being taken away to heaven. However, a closer look at the language used, especially in the Greek, raises significant questions.
In our Bible, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 says:
‘the Lord himself will come down from the sky and give the command in the voice of the highest messenger [of God] and with God’s trumpet…
‘Then those who’ve died in the Anointed One will be the first to be resurrected.
‘And after that, the living (those of us who are still left at that time) will be snatched into the clouds (en nephelais) along with them for [a] meeting (apantēsin) with the Lord in the air (eis aera)…
‘And thereafter, we’ll always be with the Lord.’
The actual wording challenges many common interpretations:
-
Location Specificity: Why are believers described as being taken ‘into the clouds’ and meeting the Lord ‘in the air’? Both ‘clouds’ and ‘air’ typically refer to Earth’s atmosphere, not the celestial dwelling of God. In contrast, that is often referred to with the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos), which isn’t mentioned here.
-
The Nature of the ‘Meeting’: The Greek word translated ‘meeting’ is ἀπάντησις (apantēsis). This term was often used in a somewhat technical sense for the formal welcome extended by a delegation going out to meet a visiting dignitary or newly arrived official, and then escorting them back into their city. This implies that believers go out to meet the descending Lord to welcome Him back to Earth, not to depart with Him to heaven. He is arriving; they are His welcoming party.
-
Ambiguity of ‘Always with the Lord’: The passage concludes, ‘so we’ll always be with the Lord.’ But where will they always be with Him? In the air? In heaven? Or on Earth, following His return? The text doesn’t say. If they meet Him in the air to welcome His return to Earth, then ‘always with the Lord’ would naturally mean being with Him on Earth, but we don’t know.
The Aramaic texts say almost exactly the same thing, using words for being ‘in the clouds’, going ‘towards’ the Lord in the ‘air’.
The common translation choice of simply ‘meet’ for apantēsis, without explaining its cultural nuance of formally welcoming an arriving official, leaves readers in the dark. This omission, coupled with not mentioning that ‘air’ and ‘clouds’ are not the normal terms for heaven, can mislead readers into thinking that this is a ‘rapture to heaven’ scenario.
The language very likely points to an entirely different event: the welcoming of Christ at His return to Earth.