What A Day of Rejoicing That Will Be! - January 8

Read 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, 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 encourage one another with these words.

Reflect

When you read today’s passage, what thoughts or feelings are evoked?

“When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus, we’ll sing and shout the victory!” These lines were penned by Eliza Edmunds Hewitt and Emily D. Wilson in 1898. For 125 years, believers have joined voices in praise and worship and have encouraged each other with these words.

The words “we all” stand out to me in that hymn. Who is the “we” referring to? Well, it’s not just the saints of the last 125 years and it’s not just believers in Christ who will be alive when He returns. The words “we all” mean all of the saints who looked forward to Christ and all of the saints who look back on Christ—all of us are going to get to see Jesus. And on that day, we are all going to sing and shout the victory.

In today’s passage of Scripture, Paul gave the most detailed description we have in Scripture of what will take place on our Resurrection day. First, he wrote that Jesus Himself will descend from heaven. He won’t send angelic servants to come retrieve us. Jesus Himself will come for us and we will hear Him give a mighty shout.

In John 5:25, Jesus also described this moment: “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” Those who died believing in Christ will hear His command to rise, and will rise first.

Now remember, the souls of those who have died are already present with the Lord. But at this moment, their souls will be reunited with their glorified bodies. They will not live forever with the Lord as disembodied spirits. Their bodies will be resurrected and joined up with their souls.

Then, believers who are alive at Jesus’ second return will be taken up to meet Him on the clouds. But all of us, saints from both the past and present, we will all be together with the Lord forever.

The world is a hard place to live in, full of sin and suffering. Jesus Himself told us that in this world, we would have trouble but that we can take heart because He has overcome this world (John 16:33). That’s the encouragement we are supposed to offer each other. When this world gets a believer down, another brother and sister in Christ should come along and lift them up with reminders of everything we have to look forward to. We have this hope, “...we will always be with the Lord!” What a day of rejoicing that will be!

Respond

Lord, sometimes the troubles of this world really get me down. But the image that You have given us of Your returning encourages my soul on the really hard days. Thank You for that hope! Show me who needs to be told about that hope for the first time or who needs to be reminded of that hope today so that I can encourage them with Your Words. Amen.

Reveal

Do you know a discouraged believer? Encourage them with these words of hope today!