2019-06-14
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, I asked the question: What will it be like to appear in glory with Christ? The Holy Spirit has prompted me that He wants me to write more about this question, as we learn from even more Scriptures. The question itself arises from COL 3: 3-4, “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Your real life is Christ and when He appears, then you too will appear with Him and share His glory.” In the course of this discussion, I continue to provide supporting Scriptures for the book of Colossians. Let’s begin by looking at 1 THESS 4: 13-18, [Paul speaking], “Our friends, we want you to know the truth about those who have died, so that you will not be sad, as are those who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will take back with Jesus those who have died believing in Him. What we are teaching you now is the Lord’s teaching; we who are alive as the day the Lord comes will not go ahead of those who have died. There will be a shout of command, the archangel’s voice, the sound of God’s trumpet (shofar), and the Lord Himself will come down from heaven. Those who have died believing in Christ will rise to life first; then we who are living at that time will be gathered up along with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so, we will always be with the Lord. So then, encourage one another with these words.”
Only the Father has the power to bring about such events as are described here. There are no lies in His word, no fairy stories, no foolish advice from Him in this book. A series of novels called Left Behind was written by Tim Lehay to entertain and to inform people, but while the narrative is true, the details given are fiction. In His habit of doing this, the Father writes only what we need to know to grow in our faith in His Son. As mentioned previously, not even Christ knows the day when these events will happen [MT 24: 36]. However, we can bank on the fact that they will happen! I’ve had a few people ask, “if we are cremated after we die, will we still have this “meeting in the air” with Christ? I believe that God’s power is so great that He can not only know who believes in Christ but also to make it possible that cremated believers will also have this meeting. It is what I have learned to call, the rapture, and all believers will experience it, cremated or not. I see the rapture as the first step in our glorification.
There are some passages in the Bible that help us to better understand this discussion. PS 24: 1, “The world and all that is in it belong to the Lord; the earth and all who live on it are His.” IS 45: 23- 24, [God speaking], “My promise is true, and it will not be changed. I solemnly promise by all that I am: Everyone will come and kneel before Me and vow to be loyal to Me. They will say that only through Me are victory and strength to be found; but all who hate me will suffer disgrace.” Then, I reread these intriguing words from God through His prophet, Isaiah, in IS 45: 25, “I, the Lord, will rescue all the descendants of Jacob, and they will give Me praise.” Could this be a clue to the fate of the Jews? I would like to think so. After all, we Jews were God’s chosen people at first, even before believing Gentiles were welcomed into His family. Taken in context, the following words from IS 49: 16 and 18 are probably prophesying the end of the first diaspora, the God-allowed punishment for Jewish disobedience to Him. However, the emotion God expresses here is eternal. “Jerusalem, I can never forget you! I have written your name on the palms of My hands…Look around and see what is happening! Your people are assembling – they are coming home! As surely as I am the living God, you will be proud of your people, as proud as a bride is of her jewels.”
As I have written before, the main task God commanded Christ to do is redemption. In the context of the scroll and the Lamb (Christ), REV 5: 9-10 sheds further light on this discussion. (9) “They sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to break open its seals. For you were killed and by your sacrificial death, you brought for God people from every tribe, language, nation, and race. (10) You have made them a kingdom of priests to serve our God, and they shall rule the earth.’” Each of these verses has supporting Scriptures, which I hope you will read. For (9), they are PS 33: 3, PS 98: 1, IS 42: 10, and DN 7: 13-14. For (10), they are EX 19: 6 and REV 1: 6. Even with having written all that I have so far, there is still more the Holy Spirit is giving me to share with you about what God tells us in His word about appearing with Him and sharing His glory.
PRAYER: O Lord, we approach Your throne with freedom and confidence, knowing You are listening to our prayer today. We cannot be cavalier or harshly critical of what You tell us in Your word about what we can expect and hope for in the future. The more we study Your words through the Bible’s authors, the more reasons we can find to believe You keep all Your promises, and that You will protect Your faithful believers from the evils around us. You never lie or say things to promote evil; that is because You are a perfect God with no evil in You. We know that when we serve You and believe in Your Son, we never waste time, nor do we purposely convey evil and disobedience. Instead, we urge ourselves to examine our faith, our heart-attitude and make any changes necessary to improve them-to bring us closer to faithful obedience to You. You are our Father, Who we can’t see, but Who makes decisions in our best eternal interests. Learning to strengthen our faith in Christ and to present ourselves to You in mature faith takes us on a long journey of efforts to live close to You. We take the advice You give us and try to make ourselves ever more acceptable in our thoughts and lifestyle to You. These things we say in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: In response to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I will continue writing what He gives me about how we will “appear in glory with Christ” when the time comes that the Father deems right. God’s will shall be done in the end. His power is greatest, greater than that of the evil one. In the meanwhile, let’s obey this command, from 1 PET 5: 7, “Leave all your worries with Him, because He cares for you.” If you wonder what God wants you to do with your life, then send Him some “knee-mail” (prayers), asking Him to guide you to what His will is. Sometimes He will take you on a series of difficult experiences used to teach you what He wants you to know first. Then, you can look at your God-given talent -skill sets to be used for His purposes. With that information and armed with humble faith in Him, you will be able to see opportunities He provides to do those things. He did that with me, and I know if you are genuine in asking Him for this help, He will give it to you. Humbly and openly with Him, ask if you are ready to serve Him this way. He will let you learn first what you need to know about yourself and your priorities, then provide those opportunities for which you search to do His will. I have found that behaving as if you are serving Him in whatever your careers might be is a good way to go about this discovered task. Learn what He tells us, then act upon it. Don’t focus on the reward; instead, take joy in the process of earning it. Our God is so very wise! Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2019. All Rights Reserved.
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