“For
the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us
that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly,
righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the BLESSED HOPE and
glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself
for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself
His own special people, zealous for good works.”
So here’s what we know:
*Jesus has prepared a dwelling place for the saints of God, a place with
God so it will be filled with the glory of God. Awe… Wonder… Indescribable in
every sense… yes, all that and more! The human terms of a finite mind cannot
comprehend what God has prepared for His children!!!
* Jesus will come again to fetch us home to be with Him.
*To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The very
instant we die we, our soul and spirit, are transported into the presence of
our Lord.
* Those who “sleep in Jesus”, dead saints, will return with the Lord (i.e.,
soul and spirit) when He returns to gather upward the saints who are alive and
remain on earth.
* We won’t all
sleep, but we will all be changed.
* Our corruptible mortal bodies will
be transformed into incorruptible immortal ones -- instantly.
* The dead in Christ will rise first; the dead bodies of departed saints
will rise first to be reunited with their soul and spirit in the air.
* Then we who are
alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them (i.e., the dead in Christ) in the clouds to meet
the Lord in the air.
*And thus we shall always be with the
Lord.
*Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Endnote:
“In My
Father’s house are many mansions; if
it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I
am, there you may be also.”
“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a
building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ... Now
He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that
while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by
faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent
from the body and to be present with the Lord.”
“Behold,
I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed -- in
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will
sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For
this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”
“But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren,
concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no
hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring
with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the
Lord, that we who are alive and
remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are
asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will
rise first. Then we who are alive and
remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in
the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
“THEREFORE … BE STEADFAST, IMMOVABLE,
ALWAYS ABOUNDING IN THE WORK OF THE LORD,
KNOWING THAT YOUR LABOR IS NOT IN VAIN IN THE LORD …
COMFORT ONE ANOTHER WITH THESE WORDS”
(Titus 2:11-15; 2 Cor. 5:1-8; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Jn.
14:2-3; 1 Cor. 15:50-58)
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