The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and saved will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
—1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
Thoughts on today’s verse…
What do you have that is forever?
Most of what we have in this world breaks, breaks, or wears out quickly. But we have three things that last forever: God (Father, Son, Spirit), our Christian friends, and our praise of God. These are eternal. The glorious truth is that Jesus is going to return, the dead who died in Him will be resurrected to receive their eternal bodies, and those who are alive at His return will have their bodies transformed into their immortal bodies. The best part of all this is that we will be reunited with all the centuries of loyalists and all of us I will always be with the Lord. As the old hymn says, “One day it’s coming, oh glorious day.”
My prayer…
Lord, I look forward to the day of Your next great surprise, the return of Jesus in glory. I stand on tiptoe with the angels and look towards the clouds so that I can see my Lord and your Son returning in glory and receiving the welcome and honor they deserve. I praise you now for that day, even though I only see it by faith. Until I see you that day, please know that my heart’s desire is to serve you, even when my weakness gets in the way of showing up fully as I should, and my heart loses touch with the promise of Jesus’ return. I offer you my heartfelt thanks and praise in the name of Jesus. Amen.
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
