Tag: rapture second coming of Jesus

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Devotion January 19th

THURSDAY 19th

 

We come over the next two devotions to look at the final verses in Peter’s second epistle, 2 Peter 3:14-17, for this devotion we will read verses 14-16

 

‘Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.’

 

In his closing remarks, Peter says to the readers of his letter, and to us who read it today, because you are waiting for these future promises to be fulfilled, be diligent to be found by him, that is the Lord Jesus Christ when he comes again,

 without spot or blemish, and at peace.

 

Peter started this letter off by talking about ‘his (that is Jesus’) precious and very great promises’ (2 Peter 1:4) this would have inspired the recipients of the letter to have thought much about all the great promises that Jesus had made and what is entailed in them for every believer, and I trust that as we have gone through this epistle that we too have thought about these great promises which are or should be precious to each and every one of us, and at the same time they should have spurred us and encouraged us to make sure that we are living in expectancy for the second coming of Jesus, ensuring that we are not getting entangled in anything that would cause us to be caught off guard when Jesus comes again.

 

Peter talks of being found without spot and blemish, now, we know that we cannot and do not attain sinless perfection in this life, but what he is encouraging is that we seek to live as close to what it is humanly possible to be with the help of the Holy Spirit in Christlikeness, seeking at all times to not follow the desires of the flesh, but to live and walk according to the Spirit, we live by allowing the ongoing work of sanctification to take place in our lives.

 

He reminds them again as he did in the second chapter of this letter of those who would seek to distort the truth, let us make sure that we hold onto not only the precious and very great promises found within the word of God, but also onto the truthfulness of the word of God. Live in readiness, live according to the word of God, live just as if today might be the actual day when Jesus will come again. Live in such a way that when he does come, you will not be ashamed, but will be ready.

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Daily Devotion June 27th

SATURDAY 27th

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Does anyone remember this old song?

‘There’s going to be a meeting in the air,

in the sweet, sweet bye and bye,

I’m going to meet you, meet you over there,

in the home beyond the sky,

such singing there will be,

never heard by mortal ear,

‘twill be glorious I do declare,

for God’s own Son, will be the leading one,

in the meeting in the air!

I remember it vividly, being sang especially at the annual conventions we used to have in Hereford, because my late grandfather used to be the song leader, and I can see him waving his arms around with all the effort he could to get the song sung with full gusto. The song speaks of something future, it is a song that is seeking to portray something of what will happen after the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ when the redeemed of the Lord will be assembled in praise and worship around the throne. (Revelation 5) It is going to be amazing, but immediately prior to that meeting in the air something else is going to happen and to quote Scripture it will happen ‘in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye’. (1 Corinthians 15:52) (‘in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye’ NIV)

It is what we call the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the rapture of the living believers at the second coming of Jesus. Now, I am not going to use this devotion to go through all the varying views concerning the timing of the second coming, except to say that my personal view is that of pre-tribulation and pre-millennial.

Jesus is coming again, he promised he would and that is good enough for me, he also said that when he came again he would take the disciples to be where he was going to, which was to where his Father was. (John 14) This promise also stands for those of us who have subsequently come to faith. Paul tells us how Jesus is coming again and what will happen, or how he will take us to be with himself, it is either via resurrection from the grave or by being snatched, taken up. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 ‘For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.’

During the week, I was having a conversation with a man who I had never met before, I was out walking and videoing the birds and he had seen me with my camera and enquired what the bird was up in the top of the tree. After telling him, the conversation continued, and he recommended to me a place to go to for a walk with the camera. I said I would need to write it down as I didn’t really know the area and would forget and so I got my phone out and typed the place in. The conversation continued and a few minutes later, he said, ‘I don’t think you have heard me right, it must be our accents,’ and proceeded to tell me the name of the place again. ‘Ah,’ I said, and repeated it and so the place name was changed. However a few minutes later he said ‘I still don’t think you have heard me correctly,’ and again sought to tell me the name of the place and yes he was right I had heard it wrong so a third attempt was made and I finally had the correct name. Initially I heard him say with his ‘very difficult’ to understand northern accent (difficult to me!) something like ‘Cler Bank’ He had actually said Clay Bank, I heard Claire Bank, then Clear Bank before finally getting to Clay Bank.

When it comes to what Paul has to say in 1 Thessalonians 4 concerning the second coming, we cannot mishear it, we do not need Paul to repeat it two or three times, the information is very clear and precise. Let us break it up:

The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel

At the same time there will be the sound of the trumpet of God

The dead in Christ will rise first

We who are alive, who are left will be caught up into the clouds

Together (the dead that have just been raised and the alive who have been caught up) will meet the Lord in the air

And so we will always be – that is with the Lord

That’s cler, ah no, that’s Claire, oh no, that’s clay, silly me, that is clear!

What will happen, which we reminded ourselves earlier will happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye and will be incredible. Imagine it, the dead being raised. I’m one of those who likes to walk around graveyards reading the tomb stones, and am amazed at the amount of effort that has gone into some of the massive slabs of stone or concrete covering them, and in a jiffy, at the shout and trumpet blast the bodies of those who have died in Christ are going to break through whatever has been placed upon the tomb, and as they ascend through the soil, concrete or stone, we the living believers are going to join with them and ascend into the presence of Jesus. Surely this is something worth getting excited about! And, in that instant an incredible transformation is going to take place. It is this transformation which was intended to be my subject today but I have gone the way I have and so we will have to continue tomorrow.

Let us get excited about the amazing future we have in Christ, a future that will last throughout the countless ages of eternity. There is going to be a meeting in the air, will I see you there?

You have heard of little Moses in the bulrush,

You have heard of fearless David and his sling,

You have heard the story told of dreaming Joseph,

And of Jonah and the whale you often sing.

There are many, many others through the Bible.

I should like to meet them all, I do declare!

By and by the Lord will surely let us meet them

At the meeting in the air.

There is going to be a meeting in the air,

In the sweet, sweet by and by,

I am going to meet you, meet you over there

In that home beyond the sky.

Such singing you will hear, never heard by mortal ear,

‘Twill be glorious, I do declare!

And God’s own Son will be the leading one

At the meeting in the air.

Many things will there be missing, in that meeting,

For the mourner’s bench will have no place at all,

There will never be a sermon preached to sinners,

For the sinner had refused to heed the call.

There will be no mourning over wayward loved ones,

There will be no lonely nights of pleading prayer,

All our burdens and our anguish will be lifted

At the meeting in the air.

There the doubters will be missing altogether,

All the sceptic will be absent on that day,

There will be no grumblers present to disturb us,

And the Achans will be busy far away.

There the saints will have His seal upon their foreheads,

Dressed in raiment none but ransomed ones can wear,

All who have the wedding garments will be present

At the meeting in the air.

CCLI788682

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Daily Devotion June 12th

FRIDAY 12th

The rapture of Enoch – Genesis 4:24 ‘And he was not, for God took him.’

Enoch is the first of only two individuals in Scripture who did not taste death, the other being Elijah where 2 Kings 2 records for us that he was taken up into heaven in a chariot of Fire.

Enoch’s story is a small but beautiful picture of the rapture of the Church of Jesus Christ that is you, me, and all other living believers at his return. The key to Enoch’s rapture was that he walked with God and that he pleased God, and when we enter into the new-born experience, into the life transforming relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ we are called to ‘walk with him’, to ‘walk by faith’ and as a result God is PLEASED with us -not because of anything that we have done, but because of what Christ has done for us. As believers, when God looks at us, he sees us as justified, he sees us as clothed in robes of righteousness, he sees the evidence of the work of redemption, he sees Jesus, therefore he is pleased!

And as Enoch was raptured or taken up so when Jesus comes again all who are alive at the time, and to be found in Christ will be raptured to meet the Lord in the air. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 ‘For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.’

Warren Wiersbe* says of Enoch being taken ‘Enoch had been walking with God for so many years that his transfer to heaven was not even an Interruption.’

Thus, it shall be for us who believe.

The prophecy of Enoch – although there is no account recorded in Genesis, Jude later records in his short epistle that Enoch of old prophesied. Jude 1:14-15 ‘It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.’

He was, not only a picture of the rapture but he also prophesied concerning the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The saying or prophecy of Enoch comes from one of the books of the Apocrypha, the book of Enoch. Although the Apocryphal books are not accepted as Scripture, it does not mean that Enoch never said this statement. Within each apocryphal book there is that which is accepted as truth but not accepted as part of the canon of Scripture. For Jude to quote what he has, does not endorse the apocryphal book of Enoch, but does endorse the truthfulness of what is recorded, this must be, for the record of Scripture itself is true! Sources suggest that although Enoch himself never wrote the book, tradition that had been handed down, was recalled, and has recorded what he said. And what he said is affirmed elsewhere in Scripture, Christ will come again.

But to conclude with Enoch, by faith Enoch walked with God, Enoch pleased God, and God took him.

May we ensure that we are walking in a way that is pleasing God in readiness for the arrival of the King of Glory, who will come again to take up to be with himself those who are to be found to be waiting in Christ.

*Preaching the Word Series

When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more

And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair

When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore

And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there

When the roll, is called up yon-der

When the roll, is called up yon-der

When the roll, is called up yon-der

When the roll is called up yonder I’ll be there

On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise

And the glory of His resurrection share

When His chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies

And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there

Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till setting sun

Let us talk of all His wondrous love and care

Then when all of life is over, and our work on earth is done

And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there