Whose departed souls and spirits will God bring from heaven at the coming of the Lord?
At the coming of the Lord, God will bring from heaven the departed souls and spirits of believers only—not unbelievers. These are the souls and spirits of those who have died in Christ, absent from the body and present with the Lord, and He brings them from heaven to the atmosphere for reunion with their resurrected bodies.
Les explains that I Thessalonians 4:14-17 draws a clear distinction: God will bring the departed souls and spirits of believers only, not of unbelievers. The soul and spirit, absent from the body, are present with the Lord. At the coming of the Lord, God brings those departed souls and spirits from heaven down to the atmosphere. The living who remain will not precede those who have died, because 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. Their bodies are brought out of the tomb and reunited with the soul and spirit God has brought from His presence into the atmosphere.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.