40 years ago this August, the 28th, my life was changed. How do I know this?
Today as started studying the Bible - old school- with a real Bible in hand not an electronic one, I opened my old Bible from - you guessed it - almost 40 years ago. When I was looking at the old tattered and very worn Bible, there I saw the inscription my Great Aunt Alberta wrote. The Bible was not intended for me. The inscription read- 'To: Floyd and Shirley Pope From: Your Niece, Alberta.' Yeah, she got the niece part wrong, she was Shirley's (my mother) aunt, my great aunt. My Aunt Alberta was quite old at the time of writing the inscription. The date inscribed- August 28th, 1982.
How did the Bible end up in my possession? After my Aunt Alberta returned home (she came to visit from Rhode Island to New York for a family reunion) she left a lot of various Biblical material around and it piqued my curiosity. I wasn't in a very good place in my life (19 years old) and desperately needing some guidance. I picked up the book, 'Steps to Christ' and therein began my journey. I wanted to look up Bible references and having no Bible of my own I asked my mom if I could have that Bible, and she said I could.
Almost 40 years ago, the length of time the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, I first opened that Bible. A generation of time. So much has happened since I began that journey.
Today's following excerpt is about witnessing the return of our Savior, Jesus Christ as He comes to redeem His people, living and dead and take them to heaven-- 40 years ago I believed it was happening any moment, and guess what? I still do.
I'm not prophet, and I know there are things in the Bible I don't have full comprehension of. I do know my Savior told me to watch and pray as I wait for His return. My Savior gave me signs to look for. My Savior is going to return for me, I believe this as much now as I did 40 years ago. By His grace I will be redeemed, not because I'm worthy, but because He is worthy and He forgives me my sins, He creates in me a new heart, He makes my life here worth living, He gives me hope that there is so much more, a real life, a life how it was originally intended, all waiting for me, for you, for all of us! This awful world we live in was not Jesus' home, not the home of any of those who are Christ's- we are just pilgrims here, strangers passing through as we wait for our real home, our heavenly home and our eventual new heaven and earth home. None of the agonies of this life, and none of the supposed superficial treasures of this life are what matter, they will pass, they will all disappear and what will remain is our heavenly treasure, our Savior and the life He longs for us to have with Him. This is truth, not fantasy, all facts. The historical prophetic word of our God, the Bible proves this to be so beyond any doubt whatsoever!
40 years in August…perhaps it ended up being September when I actually took possession of that Bible- I don’t know the exact day, but it was that year. The next year, January 1983, I was baptized. I still remember, I'd asked my dad to come to my baptism and he said he'd try, but wasn't sure he could make it. When I saw him in the congregation I was thrilled! At the small reception after the baptism I can still remember hugging him tightly and thanking him, telling him if I never get married that this was that special of an occasion for me and I'm so glad he was there for it. Such a wonderful memory. Two short years later my dad passed away into death's sleep and never did get to see me get married, but he was there when I gave my life to Christ as I symbolically died and rose in that baptismal water up into a new life in my Lord Jesus- the most important day of my life.
I praise God for salvation through Jesus Christ my Lord, all glory, honor, praise and honor to Him always! Come, Lord Jesus, come! I long to see Your return! I long to meet You! I long to be with You and never part from You again! I love You, Lord! Thank you for loving me first!
******* (Excerpt continued)
AND, EVEN SO, WE WOULD INDEED SEE JESUS
"We shall see Him as He is;
Sweeter promise is there none
Than is given us in this,
For Christ's friends to think upon.
Though we walk in darkness here,
With the fogs about our face,
All the mists will disappear
When we gain our resting-place."
The Scriptural Foundation for This Blessed Hope
Christ has been here on earth once, and He has promised to come again. "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Heb. 9:28.
"Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14:1-3.
"And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Acts 1:9-11.
The second advent of Christ is clearly foretold in the Old Testament, as follows -
(a) Enoch prophesied of Christ's coming in glory. "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints." Jude 14.
(b) Job believed in the coming of Christ at the last day. "For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not a stranger [mar-gin] ; though my reins be consumed within me." Job 19 :25-27.
(c) David spoke of Christ's coming to gather His saints. "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people. Gather My saints together unto Me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice." Ps. 50:3-5.
(d) Isaiah prophesied of Jesus' coming to save His people and to destroy the wicked. "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it. And it shall he said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us; this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." Isa. 25:8, 9.
"For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many." Isa. 66:15, 16.
Christ's coming will be personal, in the clouds of heaven, and every eye shall see Him.
"Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Acts 1:11.
"And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." Luke 21:27.
"Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen." Rev. 1:7.
"Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth; behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. 24:26, 27.
"Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said; nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." Matt. 26:64; Mark 14:62.
"And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory." Mark 13:26.
"For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He shall come in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels." Luke 9:26.
He will come with all the holy angels, and will then gather the saints. "When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory." Matt. 25:31.
"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Matt. 24:30, 31.
(Excerpt "We Would See Jesus" A. T. Jones) To be continued…
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