Hi Jerry , and is 1 Thess 4:13 the SAME as your Heb verse , IMMINENT ?
Dan, the Greek word which means "imminent" is found in the following verse:
"You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near" (James 5:8).
The Greek word translated "is near" at James 5:8 is
eggizo and in this verse that word means
"to be imminent" (
A Greek English Lexicon, Liddell & Scott [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940], 467).
In an article found on the "Pre-Trib Research Center" web site Dr. Renald E. Showers writes:
"In light of James' statements C. Leslie Mitton wrote, 'James clearly believed, as others of his time did, that the coming of Christ was imminent.' On the basis of James' statements we can conclude that Christ's coming was imminent in New Testament times and continues to be so today, and that this fact should make a difference in the way Christians live" [emphasis added] (Showers, The Imminent Coming of Christ).
Again, only those in the Body of Christ will be caught up at that imminent appearance of the Lord Jesus when believers will put on new, glorious bodies like the Lord Jesus' body. And here John speaks of that very thing:
"Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 Jn.3:2).
Those words of John speak of the "appearance" of the Lord Jesus and at that time he says that "we shall be like Him." That is the same "appearance" which Paul refers to here:
"When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory" (Col.3:4).
Those in the Body of Christ will "appear with Him in glory" because they will put on a new, glorious body just like the Lord's glorious body:
"For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our lowly body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself" (Phil.3:20-21).
In the following passage from another Hebrew epistle Peter is speaking of the exact same thing:
"The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed...And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away" (1 Pet.5:1,4).