7. When will the sleep of death end for those who believed in Christ? 1 Thessalonians 4:16.
NOTE: ‘The Bible teaches that the dead sleep until the resurrection. Blessed rest for the weary righteous! Time, be it long or short, is but a moment to them. They sleep; they are awakened by the trump of God to a glorious immortality. “For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. ... So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15:52-54.’ From Here to Forever, page 337.
8. Does the Bible teach that the dead in Christ will be in heaven before Christ returns? 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17.
NOTE: ‘The story which the Word of God tells about immortality is this: Man, being mortal, has it not; God has it; Christ has brought it to light through the gospel; man is
to seek for it of God, through Christ, and will obtain it at the resurrection of the dead; for then it is that this mortal puts on immortality; then it is that death is swallowed up in victory. This comes “at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,” and the living shall be changed. [1 Corinthians 15:52-54.] But when is it that the last trump sounds? It is when the Lord Jesus comes in His glory. “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17.’ A. T. Jones: Bible Echo & Signs of the Times, November 15, 1892.