Jesus is coming again...

In a previous blog we spoke of redeeming our time; 

numbering our days to realise, even if we live until we are 80 years old, our time on earth is short. We only have one life to live for the Lord Jesus.

However, as Christians we shouldn't be looking to live for 80 or 90 years.

We should begin each day expecting that our Lord Jesus could come back for us. 

This should encourage us further to live for our Lord Jesus, as any day he could come back.

The Bible is full of references to Jesus' coming. 

His first coming has happened. It was when he came to this earth as a man and went to the cross to die for our sins.

His Second coming is yet to happen.

Jesus' second coming is split into two parts. 

The Lord Jesus will come to the earth again, in power, to set up His kingdom and reign.

However, before this the Bible speaks of the Lord Jesus coming back for his own people. He will come back again for those who love him; this event has been called the rapture. The word means "caught up"; we will be "caught up" into the air to be with Jesus.

There are three key passages in the Bible that describe this event...

John 14:1-3

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 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. 

1 Corinthians 15:51-53

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.

1 Thessalonians 4: 16-17

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. 

So to paraphrase what the Bible says (and you can compare the verses)

Jesus has gone to heaven. 

He has gone to prepare a place for you and I. 

Right now He is preparing a home for each of us, a home we will enjoy with Him, forever.

But Jesus is coming again, He is coming to take us to be with Him, to be where He is. 

Not all of us will die! 

Because Jesus is coming for us. He will descend from heaven (but not to earth at this point) and call us up to be with Him in the air. 

This will happen quicker than a blink- in the twinkling of an eye. 

All true believers who have died already will be raised first. They will be followed by all believers who remain on the earth at that moment(that is you as you read this)! 

We will be raised to be with Christ and our bodies will be changed.

We will put on new immortal bodies; suited for Heaven and Eternal life. 

We will be like Christ. 

And so we shall always be with the Lord Jesus.

Always and forever, with Him. 

Love,

Dave

Ps. Let us know if you have any questions about prophecy and future events. 

Follow me! The Lord's call. Part 1.

Follow me! The Lord’s call

“Follow Me!” Ten times in the gospels, we hear the Lord Jesus call someone individually, using these words. Ten times a call to follow Him, to go your way without Him. 

This article is the first in a series of three about this call of the Lord Jesus.

But before we look at one of the events, let’s look at the One calling people to follow Him. We’re not talking about an average person here, or even someone important in politics or society. 
We’re looking at the Creator of heaven and earth, the Son of God, who became Man, without ceasing to be God. 

Who is this man? 

He is God and Man in one Person (see John 1:1, 14; Philippians 2:6, 7). This Man was born here on earth, lived here for about 30 years before starting with His public ministry. He was a Man of flesh and blood, tempted in all things, sin apart (see Hebrews 4:15). 
God the Father could witness of this Man: “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22b). 
This Man, who fully did the will of the Father, called people to follow Him! 
He calls you and me, to follow Him! 

This time we’re going to look at the when the Lord Jesus called a tax collector, called Levi or Matthew. We find this historical event in the three synoptic* gospels; in Matthew 9, Mark 2 and Luke 5. In Matthew the tax gatherer is called “Matthew”, but in Mark and Luke he is called “Levi (the son of Alphaeus).” In Luke we find the most detailed report on this meeting between the Lord and this tax collector, so we will use the passage there to have a deeper look into Matthew’s call.

Matthew was a Jew, but somewhere in his life his priorities had shifted and he chose to serve the enemies of his own people! He had become a tax officer for the Romans, who were in charge of Israel in those days. Instead of serving the God of Israel, he was serving the Roman oppressor… 

These tax collectors were not loved by the Jews, because the served the enemy. But also – and even worse – they often charged more than was necessary and put the extra money in their own pockets (see also Luke 19:8). 

So in Matthew we see a picture of the natural man. Someone not serving God,but the prince of this world (Satan) and his own interests. A person only thinking about himself and not about others.

But one day Matthew’s life changed drastically. 
The Lord came looking for him. 

After all, He had come “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10b)! 
He speaks only two words to Matthew: 

“Follow Me!”.

The change in Matthew

If we look at the order of things in Luke 5:28, we find something remarkable there. We read there: “He left all, rose up and followed Him.” It would have made more sense to our limited human thinking to write something like ‘He rose, followed Him and left everything behind.’ And we find it like that in some Bible translations! 

After all, you only leave something behind if you walk away from it! But this order shows us something very beautiful.

Matthew first separated himself from his old life (“he left all”) and only after that he rose to follow the Lord. 

Two words… but what a wonderful result! Matthew answered to the Lord’s call. 
What about you? 

Have you answered to this call? Or are you still serving the prince of this world? 
Are you still serving your own interests?

But it doesn’t end there. Matthew’s actions in verse 28 show the results of his conversion.**
He invites the Lord Jesus and many others, among which are his former colleagues, into his house for a meal. No doubt he told his guests about his encounter with the Lord. In this meal we see a picture of the
fellowship the Lord Jesus wants to enjoy with us believers. 

Later the Lord Jesus said in John 14:23: “If anyone loves me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” We see a picture of this in Matthew’s story.


We too can enjoy this fellowship with our fellow believers. The disciples were there as well (compare verse 30 with Acts 2:42)!

Apart from this story we hardly read anything about Matthew in the New Testament. But he did write the gospel that bears his name. In this gospel we find the Lord Jesus especially described as the King, the true Son of David. That starts immediately in the first verse. 
It is pointed out eight times (1:1; 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:31, 21:9, 15) in this gospel that He is the Son of David! The tax collector who once served the Roman Empire became the author of the gospel of the true King of Israel! 

What a change! 
This was the result of Matthew’s response to the Lord’s call. 

May the Lord help you and me to be a witness for Him, just like Matthew, after responding to His call “Follow Me!”.

Love, 
Paul. 



* The Greek word ‘synoptikos’ means ‘seen together’. The synoptic gospels are Matthew, Mark and Luke. These three gospels in many cases contain the same stories and there is overlap here and there. The gospel of John however has an entirely different character and has been written decades later than the other three. Thegospel of John is not always easily understood without knowledge of the other three gospels.

** By the way, the word ‘conversion’ means ‘turning away from something towards something (or someone) else.’