“Christ will appear a second time, not to bear
sin, but to bring salvation to those
who are waiting for him.”
(Hebrews 9:28)
Thoughts… The Bible is full of promises—hundreds, perhaps thousands of them—that God has made to his children. Not all of them have been fulfilled, but none of them have been broken. Nor will they ever be. Every promise in God’s book will come true!
Prominent in the Word of God is the promise of Christ’s coming—a first coming and a second coming.
The Old Testament foretold the birth of the Messiah. For hundreds of years, the Jewish people yearned for the promise of Messiah to be fulfilled. And then, as Paul wrote in Galatians 4:4-5, “when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.”
God fulfilled his promise. Jesus came and bore in his body our sins so that we could be adopted as God’s children.
Prominent also in the Word of God is the promise of Christ’s second coming. As Jesus was ascending into heaven 40 days after his death and resurrection, the angels declared to the disciples looking on, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
God will fulfill this promise as well. Jesus will come again, not to bear sin in his body-he’s already done that—but to bring completion to our salvation as he ushers us into his eternal kingdom.
As surely as God broke into our world the first time through the birth of his Son, the sound of the archangel’s trumpet will pierce earth’s atmosphere announcing the appearance of our Risen Lord and Savior once again, and we who believe will be ushered fully and finally into his eternal, literal, physical, forever rule. It is going to happen—no doubt about it!
The only question is when. Just as God had a perfect time for Christ’s first coming, so he has a perfect time for his second coming.
And that could be today!
Are you ready? Are your bags packed? Are you ready to go home—to your real home in glory?
Let me suggest that you try something today: Live today like this will be the day that Jesus will return. Let’s say by midnight today, he will come again. Try it—as best you can—and see what happens. See how your life is different today—how you think, interact, decide, work, spend money…
You know what? We really should be living like that everyday, so give it a shot.
And maybe the next time I see you, we will be in heaven. You just never know!
Prayer… Maranatha—even so, come Lord Jesus!
One More Thing… “He whose head is in heaven need not fear to put his feet into the grave.” — Matthew Henry
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