A woman may look forward to
having a new baby but at the very same time she does not relish the idea of
enduring the labor pains required to bring that same person into the
world. This analogy certainly extends to
the Return of Christ. Many people say they are eager for the Lord to come and
seem all too eager to hasten the day.
They don’t like their circumstances or the way the World is going and
they look forward to the utopia that God will create. They really want Heaven on earth, but what it
will really take to make such a place on earth will prove difficult. Many people think there will be no tears or
pain in Heaven at all and they look forward to this. This is not exactly what the Bible says. Scripture tells us that at Christ’s return, all
the tribes of the earth will actually mourn because of him. God will wipe away every tear
eventually, but to do that there will first have to be a few tears shed. Only after the old order of things passes
away will there be no more tears or pain.
We are also actually told in Scripture not to desire to see the day of the
Lord.
“Woe to you who desire
the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness and not light.” Amos 5:18
Why are we not to desire it? Because it is a day of clouds, blackness,
darkness, and gloom for people (Joel 2:1-2); a day of wrath, distress, anguish,
and doom. The cry on that day will be
very bitter (Zeph 1:14-15). This will be
such a terrible pill to swallow because people fail to prepare properly when
meeting their maker. People carry many misconceptions when it comes
to what their encounter with a Holy God will be like. People think God is altogether like
them. They wish to see his coming and
are really unconscious of all the sinful baggage they bring along with them. They flatter themselves and think that though
they do evil they remain good in the sight of the Lord and that He delights in
them (Mal 2:17). They imagine themselves teleported immediately
into bliss without any bumps along the way.
They imagine the new birth to be a smooth process free of any and all
labor pains. The Bible suggests these
people are in for a rude awakening and says woe to them (Isa 5:18-19).
Christ may have died for the sins
of the world, but He never intended his propitiation to be license for further
immorality. Remember God saves us from
our sins not just in spite of them. Forgiveness
is only granted to those who repent of their sins. God will forgive you of anything you have
previously done, but He will not tolerate your persistence in sin. In Scripture, the promise of destruction is
only reserved for those stubbornly refuse to repent.
Who will really be able to endure
the day of his coming? Who will be able
to stand when He appears? For Christ
will be a refiner’s fire to his people.
He will baptize them with fire; purging them of their sin just as Gold
or silver is purified (Mal 3:2-3). The God
of justice is not a respecter of persons.
Everyone will be salted with fire (Mrk 9:49). All hands will go limp, every man’s heart
will melt, and be afraid. They will be
amazed at one another; their faces will be like flames (Isa 12:6-8). Christ will winnow out everything that is
hollow and empty and burn it with unquenchable fire (Matt 3:12). Everyone’s work will be made clear for what
it is for the day will reveal it by fire.
If your work is burned, you will suffer loss (I Cor 3:13). This is what you should expect when you meet
your maker. God is light and in him is
no darkness at all. You cannot drag
your sins to Heaven with you. Nothing
impure or defiled can ever enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Which do you
prefer? Repent of your sins now and
receive his favor or have a fire lit under your rear in a very literal sense of
the word at his return? This is why
everyone who hopes in his coming purifies himself just as He is pure.
For
those who have repented, there will also be another type of mourning- one of
regret. Who can say they have been pure
and not sinned? Everyone Christ died for
will feel this. The realization that He
suffered for our personal sin will really hit home for us when we look upon him
who was pierced (Zech 12:10). When we
realize how much it cost him, a love for him and a personal loathing for our
own sin will grow within us. We will
grieve and that grief will be a cathartic experience for us all. Not all tears will be bad. Some
will do us all a lot of good; they will make us better people. If you look forward to Christ’s return, be
eager to also repent of your sins that you may be prepared to meet him on the
day of his visitation.
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