25 October 2015

1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15 give us a glorious view of the rapture of the Church and the hope of eternal life which all Christians have. They are the Bible passages which gives us great comfort when our saved loved ones have been taken home to glory by the Lord Jesus. We know for certain that we will be reunited with them in the future in the last days.

How do we know this? I Thessalonians 4:13-18 reminds us that when Jesus comes again, those Christians who have passed earlier will rise again first, and then those of us who are alive will be brought up to be together with them even as we meet our Lord in the air to be with Him always. This is possible because of the fact that our Lord Jesus has provided a precedent by His death on the cross and His resurrection, which has saved all of us who believe by faith in this wonderful act of grace. By His act of obedience, grace might “reign in righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 5:21). In the meanwhile, we with watchful patience and sober perseverance loudly proclaim: MARANA THA – COME LORD JESUS!!

1 Corinthians 15:51-58 provides more insight into how our resurrection will happen. At the last trumpet, when Jesus comes, all of us will be changed instantaneously, with new resurrected bodies that will be imperishable. Jesus will restore our bodies to their original intended perfection, transforming our mortality into immortality. This happens because all our sins have been forgiven and the sting of death is defeated. Death loses its grip on us because we have gained eternal victory through God’s gracious gift of our Lord Jesus for us.

All this gives us hope for the future, but equally importantly, it also gives us strength in the present. Because we have the assurance of our salvation and eternal life in Christ, this should make us “steadfast” and “immovable” in our work for the Lord. Since the victory has already been won, we do not have to worry excessively about the outcome of our labour, or why we should be doing it. This is because every bit of service we do in love for the Lord Jesus and each other is part of the Kingdom work of reconciliation and restoration which was inaugurated when Jesus died and was raised again. As such, our efforts will never be in vain as we know our Lord Jesus will come again Himself to complete the work and make it perfect. Once again let’s us proclaim: MARANA THA – COME LORD JESUS!