We go about our busy lives day after day. The weeks, months, and years seem to run together. We get in a rhythm of life and each day seems to carry on just like the days before it. In all of the routine, it is easy for us to forget that one day, everything we know will change. Every illusion we may have that life will always go on as usual will be shattered.
There is a Great Day coming! It will be a day like no other. On that day, the Lord Jesus will return from heaven in the clouds, and everything will change. Are you ready for that day to come? What will that day be like? Let’s look at some of the things that will happen when Jesus returns.
On that day, “… the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16 NASB95) Those who were faithful to Jesus (the dead in Christ) will be resurrected first. What a day that will be! Can you imagine the sound? Can you imagine the sight of the dead being raised from their tombs?
On that day, what will happen to the faithful who are still alive? “Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:17 NASB95)
On that day, when the trumpet sounds, the faithful (whether living or dead at that time) will all be changed. “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-53 NASB95) On that day we will all receive a new body that is imperishable and fitted for eternity. In the blink of an eye, when the trumpet sounds, God will give us all our new body.
On that day, all of the dead will be raised to a resurrection of life or a resurrection of judgment. Jesus said, “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28-29 NASB95)
Are you looking forward to these things? Are you planning for that day? Are you living your life with the end in mind? Yes, I am thankful in many ways for the rhythm and routine of life, but let’s not get lulled into thinking that life will always go on just as it is now. There is a great day coming! Are you ready to meet the Lord?
—Scott Colvin
Posted by Scott Colvin 
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