Tag: moment

24.u. “In the twinkling of an eye”

1 Corinthians 15:51  Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17    For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.  For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.  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.

 2 Peter 3:10    But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

 Matthew 24:31    And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

In the Biblical sense, a mystery is simply a thing to be understood by spiritual, rather than by merely human perception. Paul will tell the Corinthian Christians something they could not have known by reason or research. They could not have known this unless God revealed it to them.

 In a single moment, Jesus will gather His people (both dead and on the earth) to Himself, for resurrection. There will come a day when in God’s eternal plan, He gives those dead in the Lord their resurrection bodies, and then in an instant He gathers all His people to meet Jesus in the air. All the redeemed on the earth at that time will rise up to meet the Lord in the clouds, and will receive their resurrection bodies.  Ironside says that the last trumpet was a figure of speech that came from the Roman military, when they broke camp. The first trumpet meant, “strike the tents and prepare to leave”; the second trumpet meant, “fall into line”; the third and last trumpet meant “march away.”

Are you anticipating the last trumpet?  Are you ready to hear it?  Are you ready to face death and enter eternity?  Surrender your entire life to humbly serve, honor, follow, obey, trust, and rely in Jesus Christ.  There is no other way to enter eternity in heaven.  

13.c. “I am very angry with the nations that feel secure.”

Zachariah 1:14  Then the angel who was speaking to me said, “Proclaim this word: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, and I am very angry with the nations that feel secure.

Isaiah 47:7-9     You said, “I shall be mistress forever,” so that you did not lay these things to heart or remember their end.  Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children”:  These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments.

Amos 6:1    “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria,

Revelation 18:7-8    As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’  For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”

Living at rest, secure, and in luxury has a way of leading people down paths of neglect and complacency.  It has a way of blinding us from things of God, the need for God, and mindful of how to live for Jesus Christ. Jesus is worthy of how we live, think, and act all of the time.  It is hard sometimes because we get comfortable with life when things are at ease.  We seem to gravitate toward thinking that our security is in the ease and luxury of life.  No matter how many times we are reminded in God’s word that life will have no meaning, no satisfaction, to peace, no joy, or no lasting purpose apart from Jesus Christ and humbly serving, honoring, following, praising, worshiping, obeying, and trusting Him.  God has demonstrated over and over again He will not sit silent.  He will not sit idle.  He will call everyone into account.  Be mindful of what your life was like prior to February 2020.  The economy was strong, unemployment was low, and people were busy buying and selling.  There was not much to worry about other than the political mudslinging.  However, there were other things in the wind as well.  More and more educators, government officials, and media editors were becoming bolder and bolder in their denial and defiance of things of God.  Sitting idly by, not speaking up, and living as though this has no effect on a society that was founded on Christian principles is not God-honoring. You have to wonder how far society has to fall away and turn away from God before He will intervene.  He is all-powerful and will call into account people and nations who defy and deny Jesus Christ.  Look around, do you think all of this fear, hatred, and confusion, just happens on its own?  No, it does not.  God is in control and is at the root of all of this, calling all of mankind to humbly repent and turn back to Him.