Yesterday, I wrote about comforting words and I used six phrases that we all love to hear and need to say. Last night when I went to bed, I wished I had used seven. I like that number and think that God does too...
Today, I want to remind us of the most comforting words we can hear and that we should be sharing.
I don't know if it is true with you, fellow believer, (I suspect it is) but for me, as I look around at all of the unrest in the world, even here in our beloved country, we see a crisis unfold that my generation has never witnessed. It saddens my heart that Israel's prime minister goes away not so happy with this administration but Cuba's dictator thinks we have done a wonderful thing with our new law. Think about it!
We have financial woes yet we keep spending , we have a morality decline and we are entertained by it, we debate on what kind of helpful drugs we should give to child molesters , and whether we should ordain homosexual people to the place of pastors,and spiritually, we have walked away from God and His principles, and somehow surmise that we will be the only country who has done so and not fallen because of it.
Now, I could paint the picture with even darker strokes of details but it isn't my intention today to depress you but to change our focus from horizontal to vertical, To be comforted by words of our Lord Who told us that He is coming again.
I know we are mocked by the world for believing that fact- we were mocked yesterday by the President because we believe spending more money than we take in will be disastrous. He said he looked around and "the sky isn't falling, actually, the birds are still chirping." And everyone laughed. I was reminded that Noah was probably laughed at but he kept pounding the nails, he kept believing the truth. And on a side note here, at my and Danny's house, we have always known that we can't spend more out than we are taking in. Simple mathematics that Landon could learn. Sooner or later, we would have to face the music if we chose to do so. (By the way, we have never had to face that calamity because Danny learned well from his Daddy who said "if you can't afford, you shouldn't have it.") Still wise counsel, right?
Let the world say what they will and they will. We, Bible believers are looking for, longing for, and loving the appearance of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Paul, in Titus2:13 says this "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ." Jesus, in John 14:3 told His disciples "and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." I read that His return is referenced over 300 times in just the N. T. The last promise in the Scriptures refer to it when Jesus says "Surely, I come quickly."
I, often, go to 1Thess. 4:13-18 when I am seeking to be used as a vessel to comfort others who are aching from the pain of losing a believing loved one. In fact, we are told to use these words of Paul to the Church of the Thessalonians to comfort one another.
I see in these verses, firstly, a return, vs 16 "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first." I love what someone said one time "I'm not looking for signs, I am listening for the shout!" I believe that there are no more signs that must happen before Christ's return. It could be today. Are you tuned in to hear?
In that same verse, I see a resurrection. "The dead in Christ shall rise first." The skeptic asks "Deborah, you don't really believe that, do you?" POSITUTELY (Landon's word for positively and absolutely, I like it , don't you?). Imagine this scene with me, dear Christian, if you will. A family, maybe mine or yours, has just walked into a cemetery, grief-stricken, and wondering how they will do this most difficult thing they have ever done.And as they sit there, about to lower their loved one in Christ into the ground......all of a sudden, we hear a shout and the sound of a trump of God and saints from graves all over that cemetery , including our loved one who didn't even make it in , begin to rise. I mean, God has stopped the sorrow and replaced it with shouting, He has replaced tears with triumph; He has the power to do that- He did it a few times as He walked this earth. Yes, He stopped the funeral procession! Again, the scoffers say that cannot be explained. No, but He didn't tell me to explain His power, His omnipotence, but to have faith in it. and we do! I can't explain how He knits together in a womb a baby who will have different DNA than any other person in the world and that's alot of people. I cannot explain how He raised His Son, Jesus Christ, from the grave but He did! HALLELUJAH . I cannot explain how He takes hell-bound, rebellious, sinners (like me) and changes their direction upward to obedience, righteousness, and ultimately Heaven but He does. If you can't believe those and countless more things, your perception of God is too small. My GOD can do everything but fail!! He's powerful , majestic, and loving!!
A return, a resurrection, and then in verse 17 , a rapture. "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." An interesting word in the Greek for "caught up", harpazo, the Latin word being rapto, from where we get rapture, is explained by Warren W. Wiersbe, who I love to read. Mr. Wiersbe said he heard a Greek scholar explain various meanings of this word. Let me share them. "To catch away speedily", "to claim for One's self", "to move to a new place", "to rescue from danger." How do you like those, dear brother and sister? I don't know how gravity will lose its hold on us but it will and we are going up. Imagine the 6:00 evening news trying to explain this and try, they will. May I? "Good evening, a simply unexplainable phenomenon has happened today as millions of people around the globe have been reported missing. No one has reported any sightings of UFO's but we , being the elite, well-educated, individuals that we are, we think , actually, it is a right wing, Christian, conspiracy and they are hiding away somewhere , getting a plan together and coming back to make our lives more miserable than before. Well , at any rate, good riddance; now we can get on with our agenda without the Bible thumpers." Maybe, I should not be light-hearted about it because it is a sobering thought, that their joy will be short-lived because can you imagine living here without the purifying effect that the Church and the Holy Spirit have? Does it prompt us to pray and witness to those who don't know Jesus?
A return, a resurrection, a rapture, and a reunion. "So shall we ever be with the Lord." Wherever He is, we will be too. I never really cared much about reunions here if they are "too big". I was born shy and to some extent , even now, am not comfortable in a crowd but that will be one reunion that I will be more than excited about, one with every believer in Christ of all ages, and one with the King of kings and Lord of lords as the honored One, never again to be mocked, disbelieved, and ridiculed but worshiped by His adorers ,a reunion that lasts forever and ever and ever. And we are exhorted in verse 18 , to reassure and comfort one another with these words. Hope I have done that today!
Looking up, Deborah
well said
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