“And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
When will that happen? It will happen when Jesus comes for his people and takes them to his Father’s house in heaven. We may take his word for it. He promised, “I will come again.” At the time he departed from the earth an angel said to his disciples, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back” (Acts 1:11). The Bible is full of references to his second coming.
What will happen? At the time of his appearing there will be two outcomes, one for those whose faith is in him, and one for those who reject and deny him. In his first letter to the Thessalonians, the apostle Paul wrote that those who die as believers in Christ will be resurrected to be caught up to be with the Lord. They are said to be the “dead in Christ.” They will be raised from the dead. Believers who are alive when he returns will be transformed and caught up with those who have been resurrected, and “together” they will be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
Paul says believers will “meet the Lord in the air.” Frankly, that is hard to imagine. But it is a thrilling prospect. At his ascension, Jesus was taken up into the clouds (Acts 1:9-11). The Old Testament patriarch Enoch was “taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away” (Hebrews 11:5). Something like that happened to the prophet Elijah: “Suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind” (2 Kings 2:11). Paul himself had an experience which he found hard to describe. He was caught up to heaven, where he saw and heard things that were amazing (2 Corinthians 12:2-4).
Fanciful? Unbelievable? Wishful thinking? I think not. The Bible is full of supernatural occurrences. If we deny the supernatural, we deny the power of God and the word of God. God’s word says the coming of Jesus to take his people to be with him will be a supernatural event that is as certain as his first coming to earth. If we believe his word, we will expect his coming.
We deny this at our peril. The same scriptures that promise salvation for those who have faith in Jesus also predict another outcome for those who reject him. When the Lord returns it will result in “sudden destruction” for those who are in spiritual darkness (1 Thessalonians 5:3). “The day of the Lord” will be a future time when God will intervene with judgment for those who reject him. This will be as unexpected as “a thief in the night.” There will be no escape.
If your faith is in Jesus, the Bible says you “are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief” (1 Thessalonians 5:4). “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10).
Come, Lord Jesus.
Pastor Randy Faulkner