CHAPTER 4
Finally,
brothers,
we ask
and
encourage
you
in
the Lord
Jesus
to live
in a way
that is pleasing
to God,
as
you have received
from
us.
This is how
you already live,
so
you should do so
all the more.
and no one
should ever exploit
or
take advantage of
his
brother
in
this
regard,
because
the Lord
will avenge
all
such acts,
as
we have already told
you
and
solemnly warned you.
Anyone,
then,
who rejects this command
does not
reject
man
but
God,
the very One who
gives
you
His
Holy
Spirit.
Now
about
brotherly love,
you do
not
need anyone
to write
to you,
because
you
yourselves
have been
taught by God
to love
one another.
And
indeed,
you are showing
this love
to
all
the
brothers
throughout
Macedonia.
But
we urge
you,
brothers,
to excel
more and more
and
to aspire
to live quietly,
to attend to
your own
matters,
and
to work with
your
own
hands,
as
we instructed
you.
Brothers,
we do not want
you
to be uninformed
about
those who
sleep in death ,
so that
you will not grieve
like
the
rest,
who
are
without
hope.
For
since
we believe
that
Jesus
died
and
rose again,
we also believe that
God
will bring
with
Jesus
those who
have fallen asleep
in
Him.
By
the word
of the Lord,
we declare
to you
that
we
who are
alive
and remain
until
the
coming
of the
Lord
will by no means precede
those who
have fallen asleep.
For
the
Lord
Himself
will descend
from
heaven
with
a loud command,
with
the voice
of an archangel,
and
with
the trumpet
of God,
and
the
dead
in
Christ
will be the first to rise.
After that,
we
who are
alive
and remain
will be caught up
together
with
them
in
the clouds
to
meet
the
Lord
in
the air.
And
so
we will
always be
with
the Lord.