Which Day Concerns Us?
Dearly beloved of God, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for the Church, whose members make up the body of Christ, is our “hope of glory.” We know what will occur because we have “the word of the Lord” concerning it. We are to comfort one another with these words.
I Thessalonians 4:15-18, and I Corinthians 15:51-57 reveal the Lord Jesus Christ’s coming for the Church.
The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for the Church is called “the day of redemption” in Ephesians 4:30. It is called, “our gathering together unto him,” in II Thessalonians 2:1. It is called, “the day of Christ,” in Philippians 1:10, and 2:16. It is called, “the day of our Lord Jesus Christ,” in I Corinthians 1:8. I Corinthians 5:5 calls it, “the day of the Lord Jesus [Christ], as does II Corinthians 1:14.
Our hope in Christ is to partake of the glory of God, to acquire the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ as joint heirs with him; of salvation, of redemption, eternal life, new bodies like Christ’s glorious body, fulness of joy, rest, and much, much more.
Romans 8:16-25, and verses 29 and 30, refer to our hope, and the redemption of our body as part of our inheritance. We will be conformed to the image of His Son.
Philippians 3:20 and 21 reveals that the Lord Jesus Christ will transform our bodies to be like his glorious body when he comes to redeem us.
The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a summoning shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who remain alive will be snatched up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we always be with the Lord.
The Lord does not come to the earth at this time. The Church, both the dead in Christ and the living ones, will be snatched up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and we will be with him from that time forward.
The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for the Church is unlike anything revealed in Old Testament prophecy.
“The Day of the Lord,” was prophesied of in Isaiah 2:12 and 13:6,9; Ezekiel 13:5 and 30:3; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11, 31, and 3:14; Amos 5:18, 20; Obadiah 1:15; Zephaniah 1:7, 14; Zechariah 14:1; Malachi 4:5. It is spoken of in Acts 2:20; I Thessalonians 5:2; II Thessalonians 2:2; II Peter 3:10; and Revelation 1:10.
The Lord Jesus Christ will come to the earth in the Day of the Lord. God has given His Son the authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man. The Father has committed all judgment unto the Son. The Lord will come to the earth in the Day of the Lord to judge and make war. He will come as King of kings and Lord of lords. He will reign until he has put all enemies under his feet.
Those who are in the graves will hear his voice, and will come forth, some to life and some to destruction. Jesus Christ is Lord, both of the living and of the dead. He has the power to carry out the resurrections and to carry out all judgment. He will separate the just from the unjust.
After he performs all judgment and the resurrections, then comes the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
Thank God we live in the administration of the grace of God, and the mystery, and we will not go through the Day of the Lord. Thank God that Christ is the head of the Church, which is his body, and we are members in particular. Thank God we have the victory over sin and death. Thank God He will send His Son to gather us up to meet him in the air. Thank God that we have a hope of glory.
We will never come into condemnation; we have been delivered from the wrath to come in the Day of the Lord.
Thank God that He called us to His kingdom and glory. It will take the Father the ages to come to display the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Rejoice, and thank God for the grace of God that brings salvation. Live with the peace of God in your heart, dearly beloved. All of the promises of God in Christ are yea, and in him Amen unto the glory of God. As He has spoken, so it shall be. Rejoice; he is coming!