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Have you ever imagined what it will be like when Jesus comes back?
Can you imagine that this could really be real?
Maybe you don't believe in God.
But imagine for a moment that it really was like that.
Would you be happy or would you rather have a queasy feeling?

Jesus' return: anticipation and fear?

As a child and teenager, I was afraid of this thought. I knew that I was in front of a god,
who knows everything about my life. That's why I suppressed such thoughts.
The time around the return of Jesus is often portrayed as very gloomy and depressing. Everything is in
Turmoil. Even heaven and earth are shaken. The whole world, our whole life as we have known it up to now, collapses like a house of cards. Then there is the sight of the King of the Universe coming with all his angels to take his children home. Jesus is so radiantly pure that no sinner can stand before him. What hope does a weak, helpless person have?

For many years, my weaknesses and bad habits wore me down. My sinful state robbed me of any hope of being saved. As a child, I knew above all the stern God who keeps meticulous records of the smallest offenses and will punish them. I knew that Jesus could forgive my guilt, but I also knew that you could only get to heaven without blemish. Looking at my life with my weak will and constant failures took away any hope that I would ever reach that sinless state.

But I didn't realize that I was believing Satan's lies. He had managed to completely distort my image of God. But through many years of patient work, God began to reveal Himself to me as He really is. Bit by bit, I began to see something of the infinite depth of God's love. Especially in the last two years, through studying the Bible with others, I have gained a much deeper insight into God's deep longing for us erring sinners. I have found a God who not only WOULD give everything to save the lost. He HAS already GIVEN everything, even his own position, his life, to save me.

What kind of God comes to pick us up?

It is a God who has compassion for my weakness.

„How should I give you up, Ephraim, ⟨how⟩ should I hand you over, Israel? How could I give you up like Adma, make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, all my compassion is stirred.“
(Hosea 11:8)

Although God's people repeatedly turned away from him, God could not give up on them. His people trampled on him, rejected him and separated themselves from him. But God simply could not give up on them. Why not? Because he loved them! He saw the weak will and helplessness of these people. He saw the misery they maneuvered themselves into again and again and how much their rebellion harmed them. For thousands of years now, he has painfully observed how people, the objects of his deepest affection, destroy themselves through their own decisions. The consequences are suffering and death. The fact that his beloved creatures are ruining themselves in this way arouses God's deepest compassion. He desires nothing more than to free them from their self-imposed fate. His heart cries out and longs for every single human being. It tears his heart apart when people turn away from him. Although they do, he never gives up on them and always tries to draw them back to him.

In Hebrews 4:15 stands:

„For we do not have a high priest who cannot have compassion on our weaknesses, but who in all things has been tempted in the same way as we are, yet without sin.“

A high priest is like a lawyer. He defends the accused. The high priest mediates between God and man and tries to bring man back to God. Jesus became our high priest through his sacrifice. He lived as a man and went through everything we have to go through. He knows our pain, our temptations, our fears. He can empathize with what we go through like no other being in the entire universe. This makes his compassion for us even more intense. He suffers with us in the truest sense of the word.

Rescue at any price

A God who has such deep compassion for our weaknesses will do everything in his power to save us, whatever the cost! He has done just that. He has prepared everything for us - at the incomprehensible cost of his own life - so that he can draw us back to himself.

Jesus came into this world and lived as a normal human being in order to familiarize himself with our everyday worries and problems. He died the most terrible and despised death to pay the price for our guilt. After three days he rose again from the dead so that we too can rise again after we have died. He returned to the Father and took up the position of High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary to present our requests to God and to cleanse us from our sins. Through his tireless ministry, we can enter into a living connection with God and receive a new, liberated life. Soon this ministry will be over and Jesus will come again to take his children home.

Can you imagine how much Jesus is longing for this day when we can finally be united with him? It is not for nothing that the Bible compares Jesus' return to a wedding. Just as a bridegroom can hardly wait to take his bride home, Jesus wants nothing more than to end this dark world and be with us forever.

God is holy and pure. He abhors evil. Every form of violence, every lie and every harsh word causes him immeasurable torment. It is the complete opposite of his sincere, gentle and pure nature. He also sees much more than we do how sin in all its facets makes people unhappy and destroys them. He sees how Satan's lies always entangle people deeply in misfortune and blindly fall into one trap after another. He sees the absolute helplessness of people who are driven to their doom by Satan and his helpers. Yet each of them is his personal masterpiece. He has put a part of himself with infinite potential into each of these people. He knows what he could make of this person, what happiness he could give them. Instead, all too often he has to watch them drift further and further away from him because they believe he is a harsh and mean God. How much must all this hurt him?

But how much greater is the joy when a person recognizes who God really is. How the heart of God must rejoice when a person begins to take an interest in him. Do you think that such a God would punish someone and treat them severely if they make mistakes in their weakness? Wouldn't he do much more to make it as easy as possible for this weak being to trust him and find his way to him?

The great and terrible day of the Lord

That is exactly what God has done! Before he comes again, he wants every person to experience exactly what he is really like so that everyone can make a good decision. When every person has had the opportunity to decide for or against God, this world will come to an end. Then Jesus will come again in the clouds of heaven with all his angels to take us home. What a day that will be!

The Bible describes that this day will be great and terrible (see e.g. Malachi 3:23). It will be accompanied by major natural phenomena such as earthquakes, a solar eclipse and a blood moon (Acts 2:20). Revelation 6:12-17 describes very drastically how the whole world will be shaken up. The sky will roll up like a scroll. Every mountain and every island will be moved from its place. The people who didn't want to know anything about God will try to hide in crevices out of fear of him.

Jesus will come down to earth in the clouds of heaven with great power and glory to gather his children (Luke 21:27). In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 we read: „For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven at the voice of the archangel and at the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.So encourage one another with these words!“

The coming of the King of the Universe

When Jesus returns, all the dead who have believed in him will rise again. What a moment that will be! We will receive back the people that death has taken from us. And not in a sick, weak body, but clothed in immortality! What a joy that will be! Together we will be lifted into the air to meet Jesus.

We will finally be able to see the one who gave everything for us. We will look into the gentle, loving eyes that have guided us throughout our lives. Surely Jesus' eyes will shine with joy when we finally see him face to face. We will see his warm smile. So often we have heard his quiet, gentle voice speaking to our hearts in prayer and Bible study. Now we will hear this melodious voice in all its power. It is so penetrating that it will reach even the ears of the dead and awaken them from their sleep of death. His voice will make the whole earth tremble. It is the voice of the Creator of the universe.

In the clouds does not come an inconspicuous man who is nailed to the cross. No, in the meantime he has exchanged the crown of thorns for the crown of the ruler of the universe. This time Jesus does not come as a weak, helpless baby, but as the King of kings in power and glory.
This will also be a frightening sight for believers. When they see Jesus in his purity and holiness, they will wonder who can even stand before him. But Jesus„ melodious voice will cry out: “My grace is sufficient for you!" No human language can express the joy that will then fill the believers!
Now nothing stands between them and the object of their deepest worship. No weakness, no bad habit will cloud their fellowship with Jesus any longer. What was never quite tangible before, what they only believed in, has now become a reality.

While the believers ascend to heaven with Jesus and the angels in glorious songs of praise, the dark earth increasingly disappears from their view. No one pays any attention to the gloomy planet devastated by the consequences of sin. All the possessions, all the work and toil, all the struggles and pleasures of this world, which so often demand so much strength and attention, are suddenly no longer important. The redeemed only have eyes for their Savior. In the same way, Jesus only has eyes for his beloved children. His heart rejoices with happiness over every single one of them who has allowed themselves to be saved by him. His work of redemption is complete. He is satisfied with the result. It has truly been a long and arduous journey for him and his children. But now their journey together is coming to an end. Everyone can already see the pearly gates and the golden city wall of the heavenly Jerusalem. The pilgrims are overcome with joy and deep awe. Their journey was so arduous, full of darkness and hardship. So much they had to give up and leave behind. Now they can catch their first glimpse of their reward. Our hiker comes to the same conclusion as all the other pilgrims: it was worth the sacrifice and effort of the long journey! He has made it. His journey is coming to an end.

The signs of the imminent coming

When Jesus lived on this earth, he mentioned a number of signs that would occur shortly before his return. Wars, natural disasters and epidemics would increase. True love will grow cold in people's hearts. There will be many false religions that will lead people astray. We have seen all of this increasingly in recent decades. But Jesus says that this is only the beginning of the end. There will still be a great debate about the true day of rest (is it Saturday/Sabbath or Sunday?). This question will lead to a worldwide restriction of freedom of faith and conscience, which will begin in the USA. Here, too, there are already many signs that it may not be long before these prophecies are fulfilled. As a result of this debate, all people will (have to) take another hard look at the God of the Bible and make a decision. Next, the seven last plagues will be poured out on the world, which will destroy a large part of the world's population. The natural disasters will increase more and more until the earth is almost completely destroyed. All these disasters will be blamed on the faithful followers of God. They will therefore be persecuted and shall be killed. On the day when this death sentence is to be carried out, God will intervene and save his people. He will come in person to rescue his children from this perishing world. They have passed the test of fire, have completely renounced the life of this world and are now ready to meet their Redeemer.

I personally believe that we are not too far away from these events. The question is: have we already made our decision and do our actions confirm this decision?
What about you? Would you be ready if your Savior came today to take you to the place of eternal joy?

Click here for the grand finale!

This is a painting by the artist Nathan Green. I really admire his gift.