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16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. --- 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NASB Knowing exactly when the dead will be raised, in relation to the other events at the Second Coming, is not as important as knowing why Paul wrote these words: to challenge believers to comfort and encourage one another This passage can be a great comfort when any believer dies. The same love that should unite believers in this life (4:9) will unite believers when Christ returns and reigns for eternity. --- Life Application Study Bible notes “Caught up” - After the dead come forth, their spirits, already with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23), are now being joined to resurrected new bodies, the living Christians will be raptured, literally snatched away. This passage, along with John 14:1-3 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-51, forms the biblical basis for “the Rapture'' of the church, The time of the Rapture cannot be conclusively determined from this passage alone, However when other texts such as Revelation 3:10 and John 14:3 are consulted and compared to the texts about Christ’s coming in judgment (Matthew 13:34-50; 24:29-44; Revelation 19:11-21) at the end of a 7-year tribulation, it has to be noted that there is a clear difference between the character of the “Rapture” in that there is no mention of any judgment, while the other texts feature judgment. So then, it is best to understand that the Rapture occurs at a time different from the coming of Christ in judgment. Thus, the Rapture has been described as pretribulational (before the wrath of God unfolded in the judgments of Revelation 6-19). This event includes complete transformation (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; Philippians 3:20-21) and union with the Lord Jesus Christ that never ends. --- MacArthur Study Bible notes