LIFELINK DEVOTIONAL

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

As a teenager I developed a love for Bible prophecy. I remember taking an interest in the return of Jesus Christ. I even remember thinking about the ideal place to be when Jesus returns. For me, the best location to be taking up into the presence of Jesus would be in a cemetery, where I could witness the resurrection of those who have died in Christ and join them as we all go to meet the Lord.

You may not have ever thought about that, but you must take some time to think about this…

There will be a resurrection of all who have ever been saved.

One of the greatest hopes we have as disciples of Jesus Christ is that someday, whether we are alive or our body is in a temporary resting place, we will rise to see Jesus. Here’s how that event is described by the Apostle Paul.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 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.

Someday, maybe today, we who are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ will meet Him face to face. We will see Jesus. We will be forever in the presence of Jesus. Our bodies will be transformed from perishable to imperishable. We will be rescued from corruption and made incorruptible. We will be eternally free from sin, death, pain, tears, and sorrow, and we will be filled with inexpressible joy as we enter the glorious presence of God.

I don’t know about you, but when I keep that imminent hope in my mind, it puts everything else going on in the world in it’s proper perspective. Nothing in this world can change what Jesus has promised.

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”  John 14:3

Pastor John