Coming Back With Him (2)

Advent Glimpses of our Future

When the believer dies he or she goes into the very presence of the Lord.  For, “To be absent from the body is to be present with our Lord Jesus” (2 Corinthians 5:8).  “Where He is is where we will be” (John 14:3).  When He comes down to this earth He is going to bring us with Him.  “God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thessalonians 3:13).  “We will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:51).  In the Greek the change will occur in an “atom of time”, in physics that is 1/1000 of a second.  In that compressed millisecond He will come “for” us and we will come “with” Him.  The dead in Christ will rise to be united with the living saints to “meet”, (i.e. escort). the Lord in the air, returning with Him.  The Head and His body will descend together, Christ and His glorious church.

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet (i.e. escort) the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 ESV)

“Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” Ephesians 5:25-27 (NASB)