What will God do with those who have died in Christ when Jesus returns?
When Jesus returns, God will bring with Him those who have died in Christ, the believers who are asleep. They are members of the body of Christ, and the living believers who remain will not precede or go ahead of them at His coming.
Les explains from 1 Thessalonians 4:14 that believers should not be ignorant or sorrow as others who have no hope. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so those who sleep, or have died in Christ, God will bring with Him. Those who are asleep have been members of the body of Christ ever since Paul first went to the Gentiles. Les also notes that the passage uses Jesus and God interchangeably: the God coming with the saints is Jesus, and Jesus is the God coming with the saints. Paul further says that the living who remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede or go ahead of those who are asleep.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.