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This past week I mentioned the great day! With that day approaching, Christ Followers should be comforted by what the Lord says.  The Word explains, “ (13) But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as indeed the rest of mankind do, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. (15) For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. (17) Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words” (I Thessalonians 4:13-18) Many times the great Day is referred to in English as the rapture.  You will not find the word rapture in the Bible, but you do find in the previous verse (17) “caught up” which in the Greek is harpaz’o and means to seize or catch away. In verse (15) we see it is by the very words of our Lord!

Looking at verse (13) “those who are asleep” refers to believers who have passed away.  They will rise first to meet the Lord and then those believers who remain will then follow.  I Corinthians 15:51-54 explains that not everybody will be a sleep (dead), but praise God, “all will be changed”.  Again in Philippians 3 the Word explains we “eagerly wait for the Savior” and that we will be transformed into a glorious body.  No more sickness or disease for Christ Followers, but oh to be changed like Jesus!

Another sweet message in John 14 as Jesus says, “I will come again and receive you to Myself.” Hang on Christ Followers, be encouraged that it is just a little while longer and we will be with our Savior! This promise should beckon us as we see in I Thessalonians 4, that those who are lost have “no hope”.  As we look toward the great Day, let us continue to share the hope which we experience every day.  Remember how glorious it is to know Jesus.  We still have much work to do.

Yvette Perrin is a columnist for The Charlotte Gazette. She can be reached at theword2yvette@gmail.com.