Friday, November 13, 2015
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
WHEN HE COMES DOWN, WE GO UP
Christ has beaten death once and for all and He is returning to take all who trust in him, living and dead, to be with him forever in the new heavens and new earth. Here are the four great truths the apostle lays out regarding the events that will unfold when Jesus returns on the Last Day.
RETURN.
The Lord Jesus Himself will personally, visibly return to this earth. He came to Bethany to call Lazarus back from the dead; He will return on the Last Day for the same purpose--to call His friends from their graves. But unlike those Jesus raised during His earthly ministry, this time the results will be eternal. Lazarus and the others died again. We will not.
RESURRECTION.
The faith-connection with Christ which the Spirit of God creates through the message about Jesus death and resurrection--this union makes Christ and His people inseparable. They die through Him. They sleep with Him. They arise with Him. They come with Him. They go with Him. "Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's."
RAPTURE.
At Christ's return, those who are raised and those who are still alive at the time will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. An English word for "caught up" is rapture. And the apostle here is clearly speaking of nothing other than Christ's visible return on the Last Day. We will be caught up into the sky to meet our returning Lord. Is that possible? Ask Peter. He'll be there. He never thought it possible to walk on the surface of the waves of Galilee. Jesus is the Lord of all, the wind as well as the waves.
REUNION.
We will be with the Lord forever. The fellowship which we now have with Jesus is an everlasting fellowship. The descending Lord and His ascending saints will be one forever. The separation of death is not permanent. For Christ's people the reunion will be.
Have you any fear regarding the the end of the world? Here is God's own four-part antidote. Apply it liberally to your heart.
