Devotions

He came once, He will come again!

I told our Church family one Sunday about my granddaughter Navy telling me what Christmas is all about.  She said Jesus didn’t come just to be a baby, but to die on the cross for our sins.  And then I asked her, what happened after that three days later.  And she said – well three days later Jesus led an insurrection.  Pretty sure she had been hearing too much news and meant resurrection.  But there is some truth in what she said. Jesus came to a cradle – but he had an eye on the cross – and he had an eye on a crown.  And we are a Church who believes that Jesus is coming back in power and glory.  And the heart breaking part is there are people who have attended Church for years and years who will be surprised and saddened by the return of Jesus.  People who won’t be ready because they either never expected it, or they got so caught up in their temporary existence here on earth that they gave no time or thought for eternity. People who possessed enough faith to get them to Church on Sunday morning but not much more.  Well I hope you have the kind of faith that causes you to look to the clouds with anticipation and preparation for the second coming of Jesus.  Because we are celebrating all month the first coming of Jesus, his birth – and what a celebration it is.  But it’s also proof that if He says He’s coming, then He’s coming.

• Matthew 26:4 – In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.

There will be an unmistakable sequence of events.  Jesus descends – the dead in Christ rise first….Christians caught up to be with the Lord in the air.  There will be unmistakable sights when Jesus comes – Jesus Christ himself with the saints who have gone before – I will call them the crowd in the cloud – there will be unmistakable sounds when Jesus comes – the shout of the Lord, the voice of the archangel – the trumpet call of God.  And your view of that final outcome depends upon your faith.  There were people who were not looking and were not ready for Jesus to come the first time.  Are you looking and are you ready for Him to come the Second time.  He came once, He will come again.