Saturday, December 1, 2012
1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
THE BELIEVER WILL NOT REMAIN ON THE EARTH FOREVER
There was worry in Thessalonica that those who already died were going to miss out on heaven. That would indeed be a worry if we thought that we had to be alive at Jesus' coming in order to see Him. We would want to hang onto life even more than we do already.
Our Savior makes it clear that we will not be left behind on this earth because it will be destroyed in the fires of judgment. He's coming back to rescue us. "Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, And thus we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:17). We will be taken out of this valley of tears to be with Jesus forever. The timing of the Last Day will be a surprise because nobody knows when that will be, but as far as how things will occur on Judgment Day there will be no surprises. We know how we will be judged. It is based on whether we are in Christ or not. We know that everybody will be judged. We know already what our eternal fate will be. If we are dead, we'll be awakened. If we're alive we'll be glorified and join those who have arisen to be with the Lord.
The Lord has taken care of every contingency. He will gather together all the elect no matter where you are or who you are. It's not like you would be in the basement and not hear the doorbell ring. Jesus will find you. A new trend is to be cremated and send your ashes up into space to be scattered. No big deal. Jesus will find you. For the unbeliever that thought is one of abject terror as He faces the prospect of standing before the Judgment throne of God. For the believer it is a thought of great hope and joy.
