“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  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. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” - 1 Thessalonians 4: 16-18

Our Savior and Lord is coming again - a second and final time.  This should be encouraging to the church - an event that we should be looking forward to with great expectation!  What a great homecoming that day will be, to be with old and new testament saints, to be with loved ones who died in Christ, and to be with all of the redeemed!   We will see Jesus face-to-face and be forever with God and one another.  Scripture  goes on to explain that all things will be made new; there sill be no more sorrow, no more pain, and no more death. (cf. Revelation 21:4)

The second coming is not going to be some kind of secret entrance from the Lord either.  Scripture tells us that every one will see Him (cf. Rev. 1:7) and it will happen in a twinkling of an eye (cf. 1 Cor. 15:52).  No one knows when that day is coming (cf. Matt.24:36), but we are instructed to be ready (cf. Matt. 24:44).  As part of being ready, we are called to be the people God has called us to be and we should be diligent about our Father’s work, being ambassadors and witnesses to a lost world.

Although it will be a great day for the church, it will be an equally terrible day for the unredeemed.  There will be no second chances.  All opportunities to accept God’s free gift of salvation will be over and “anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” (cf. Rev. 20:15)

May the church of God be found busy - “seeking and saving the lost” at Jesus’ second advent!

In His Service,

Pastor Rodney