1 Thessalonians 1:10 – The Roused Son

10 …and to be waiting for His Son out of the heavens, Whom He rouses from among the dead, Jesus, our Rescuer out of the coming indignation.

The God to whom the Thessalonians had turned, Paul had just called “the living and true God.” That He is the living God is also evident from what immediately follows: He roused His Son from among the dead. God is the One who roused; His Son is the One who was roused. God Himself does not need to be roused: He is the Living One. But His Son was dead, and only God could make Him alive.

Paul does not merely write that God roused His Son “from death,” but “from among the dead.” Jesus was among the dead, but God caused Him to rise from among them. All the other dead remained behind, but He was roused as Firstfruit from among the dead.

And it is precisely this roused Son whom the Thessalonians are waiting for out of the heavens. Later in the same letter, that takes on special significance. When the Lord descends from heaven, “the dead in Christ shall be rising first” (4:16). The One who Himself was roused from among the dead comes from heaven, and at His command the dead in Christ will also rise. The Firstfruit will not remain alone.

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