Sermon Central
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Jesus Is Coming Back
Contributed by Johnny Small on Jun 23, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: We have won the victory through Jesus Christ, but why aren’t we living that way?
So much of the time I see Christians walking around with their heads hanging down saying “woe is me, woe is me, the sky is falling”. Where is our joy? Where is our peace? Jesus hung on that cross and took on our sins and rose from the grave on the third day, He declared victory over death, hell and the grave. We have the promise of eternal life with a living God. He is a just, holy and righteous God, who loves us. A God who sent His only begotten Son to suffer for us. This same Son of God, Jesus Christ, promised to come back for us.
1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
4 You know the way to the place where I am going."
5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
(NIV)
If you know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, you have a place reserved in Heaven. I think about what it will be like in heaven. There will be no pain, no suffering, and no sorrows. It will be a place of beauty with streets of gold and walls of precious gems. None of this compares with being with Jesus Christ and praising and worshipping Him in person for eternity. Our minds cannot come close to imagining what Heaven will be like, but rest assured that it will be perfect.
The Bible has many passages promising the return of Christ for His Church. The one I like best is in:
5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."
6 So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"
7 He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.
11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."
(NIV)
It must have been an amazing sight to watch Jesus ascend into the clouds and I envy the Disciples for being allowed to witness such a great event. That ascension will not compare to the sight of Christ coming back for His Church. This is explained in:
1Thes 4:16-18
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.
(NIV)
You hear that verse mostly at funerals, but we are told to encourage each other with these words. It is an encouragement to know, whether I physically die before Christ’s return or whether I am still alive when He returns, I will be with the Lord forever. You will be too; if you know Christ has your Savior. As Christians we have nothing to fear, not even death.
When we lose spouses, family members or close friends, we are saddened and we mourn. This is all right and acceptable. Remember in John chapter 11, when Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, died? Jesus also mourned. The shortest verse in the Bible says:
35 Jesus wept.
(NIV)
Jesus wept because He had compassion for Mary, Martha and all the Jews that were weeping for Lazarus. Jesus cares about our pain and sorrows. Just as Jesus physically raised Lazarus from the grave, all those who have died believing in Christ as their Savior will also be raised from the dead. This is where our work for the Lord begins. We must continue the great commission. We must be witnessing first to our families and then to all those that we meet.
