Comfort

Jesus is coming! It is a repeated theme in Scripture. We believers ought to be excited. Many times we are. Sometimes (perhaps oddly), not so much.

Paul talks in his first epistle to the church in Thessalonica of the end (1 Thess 4:13-18). He tells that those who have died will rise again just as Christ did. He assures us that "the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout" (1 Thess 4:16), and that we will all be "caught up together" to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess 4:17). He concludes, "Therefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thess 4:18)

What sublime comfort! The dead will rise. We will all meet Him in the air. It sounds glorious. But did you know it doesn't all sound glorious? Peter says that in the day of the Lord "the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!" (2 Peter 3:12) There is a reckoning coming in which the dead, great and small, will stand judgment before God's throne (Rev 20:12). "And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." (Rev 20:15) Sounds a bit drastic. And yet in all this John says, "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." (Rev 22:20)

It is my suspicion that all of it is glorious and should be of great comfort to all believers. I think that any hesitation we might have is linked to our love for the world rather than our love for Christ. We can be a bit shocked by the cry of those who gave their lives for Christ in heaven: "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" (Rev 6:10) I mean, isn't that a little ... bloodthirsty?

No. It is a longing for consummation, a love of God's justice, a deep desire for a culmination and completion in the presence of the King. It is a recognition that God is always right and an alignment of passions for His glory. An adjustment I suspect we all need to make.

Comfort, then, comes to those who are His to learn that He wins and we get to share in that. Good news!