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CAUGHT UP TO MEET THE LORD
MONDAY, JANUARY 27
Matthew 24:40-46

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

 

It will be worth it all

when we see Jesus.

 

CAUGHT UP TO MEET THE LORD
 
Like the expectant bride awaiting her bridegroom’s arrival, the believing Church looks for the Lord coming from heaven. With what longing and yearning does the Bride await her heavenly Husband! Has He not promised, “And if l go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3)?
 
To some of weaker faith, the idea of being “…caught up…” (1 Thess 4:17) may sound incredible. Indeed, how can it be? But, be not faithless! The process is no different from our Lord’s resurrection and ascension. Thomas doubted the eye-witness testimony of the ten. The Lord, at His next appearing to the disciples, therefore chided the doubting Thomas, “Be not faithless, but believing” (John 20:27). We talk reality, not science fiction. Facts, not imagination.
 
Besides our Lord’s resurrection and ascension, we have other examples in Scripture for our instruction and assurance. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, “walked with God: and… God took him” (Gen 5:24). Before his transformation and rapture, Enoch was also given a preview of the Second Coming, recorded by Jude: “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all…” (Jude 14). God also “caught up” Elijah “by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11).
 
The “catching up” is sometimes called the rapture. It will be a selective gathering, not indiscriminate or haphazard. It will certainly not be ecumenical or all-inclusive. The Lord knows who are His. So, of two in the field, one shall be taken, and the other left. There will be a sorting out and separating of the nearest and dearest of human ties: school-mates, work-mates, life-mates – there will be a separation. It will happen when Jesus comes.
 
THOUGHT: Am I His?

PRAYER: Father, save me and make me wholly Thine.

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