And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. Books were opened.

— Revelation 20:12

At the time of the Second Coming, many will wake up on that day ignoring Christ, as they have ignored Him for years, and then suddenly, without warning, unexpectedly, there shall come a sound that will chill the blood of every unbeliever, but will cause God’s own to leap with joy.

It will be the sound of a trumpet, as the Scripture says. It will be a sound that will be heard around the world. Then suddenly there shall appear in the heavens the sign of the Son of man, for the Lord, Himself, shall descend from heaven with great power and glory. His glory will eclipse the sun, and every eye will be lifted up to behold His great glory as He comes.

Then all around the world, graves will be opened and the dead in Christ shall rise first with their bodies reconstituted and glorified. And then we, which are alive, shall be caught up together with Him and we shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye. We shall be changed, and all that is corruptible will put on incorruption and all that is mortal will put on immortality. From homes, and kitchens, and cars, and planes, those who have trusted in Jesus will be taken up to be with the Lord in the air, who shall come with His angels and cherubim and seraphim and with ten thousand times ten thousand of His saints. In magnificent splendor and glory, He will come.

Question to ponder:
What difference does it make to you that history is marching toward its great climax, the return of Christ and the final judgment?

Concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.

— 1 Matthew 24:36

It is unfortunately true that there have been some in the lunatic fringe who have dwelt continuously upon the doctrine of the Second Coming and brought it into disrepute. There have been others who have ignored it completely, and still more who have distorted and perverted it. And yet it remains an inescapable and ineluctable fact that Jesus Christ will come again. Over 300 passages in the New Testament alone testify that Christ will come again, this time as a conquering King.

John boldly declares in Revelation: “Look! He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him … And all tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him” (Revelation 1:7). The Bible even concludes with this same promise, “Surely I am coming soon. Amen” (Revelation 22:20). And Christians every week across the globe affirm their belief in this great fact of His return, found in the Apostles’ Creed: “From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.”

When will Jesus return? This is the question that has puzzled the minds of innumerable people throughout the centuries. Our Lord said that no man knows the day or the hour of His coming. This is reserved for the Father alone. And yet He does tell us when it will be. He says that He will come in an hour that you think not.

Question to ponder:
Is there anything in your life you would do differently if you knew Jesus were coming tomorrow?

God is faithful, and by Him you were called to the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

— 1 Corinthians 1:9

When I look back at my life, what amazes me is that, throughout all these long and sometimes difficult years, Christ has been with me, He has never forsaken me; He has kept me in the way everlasting. I am amazed, considering how weak I am, that I have not been totally overwhelmed by temptation and sin. I have seen others who have fallen by the wayside. I thank God that He has kept me through these years. Why? “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:32). Jesus is our great intercessor with the Father.

By His grace, we are saved. By His grace, we are preserved. In this world, in this life, the temptations to stray will continue. We must be careful not to fall for the devil’s attempts to lure us away. Until Satan is restrained, he will continue to try. But know this: God’s ability to keep us is greater than any temptation. His hand is stronger than the tug from our enemy.

God’s faithfulness is greater than our frailty. His arm is strong enough; His counsel is wise enough to lead us all the way home.

Question to ponder:
How have you experienced God’s faithfulness?

My little children, I am writing these things to you, so that you do not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One.

— 1 John 2:1

Satan is the accuser of the brethren. Even as he appeared before God accusing Job, he accuses us of all manner of sins. All our iniquities and all our transgressions are picked up by this malignant spirit and hurled against us in utter condemnation before God’s Throne.

Who shall plead our case? Where is the advocate for our defense? Not only does Satan accuse us, but all about us are unbelievers who claim we do not live up to the ideals we profess. They say that there are hypocrites in the Church, and that each believer is also a sinner. Our own sinfulness is used to vilify us. Furthermore, at times our own conscience condemns as well.

Who shall plead our case? Thank God, there is One who is at the right hand of God, acting as our advocate. His blood ever intercedes on our behalf. Jesus Christ is our sure defense against all these enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Question to ponder:
What comfort does it give you to know that Jesus is ever pleading your case before the Lord?

We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in wickedness.

— 1 John 5:19

The ungodly world is energized, unknowingly in most cases, by Satan. Too often, the world under that energizing force accomplishes more than many Christians do. This has given rise to the belief among many, especially among some young people, that Satan is actually able to do more for them than God. This is a great shame. Christians have not believed enough and have not called upon God for great things nor have they demonstrated the might and power of God in this world. God is glorified by great things accomplished by Christians.

We know that Satan is the great mimic. He mimics God and he would try to destroy people by substitution. Satan substitutes everything that is Divine. On Christmas, we have the great ersatz savior, Santa Claus, the substitute for Christ. On Easter, we have the Easter Bunny and the Easter Egg—all to divert the thoughts of men away from that which is most significant.

We also know that Satan has been defeated by Christ in His death and resurrection. Christ came to destroy the works of the devil.

Question to ponder:
How do we know that good will triumph over evil?

Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but yield yourselves to God, as those who are alive from the dead, and your bodies to God as instruments of righteousness.

— Romans 6:13

There is a little couplet that I like so much, but it contains a good word—forgotten by many today—the word “mien” (pronounced “mean”). It means “countenance” or appearance. Listen to the couplet:

Vice is a monster of such horrible mien, that to be hated it needs but to be seen.

But too oft, grown familiar with its face, first we endure, then we embrace. Familiarity with the face of the monster of vice is the very essence of just about every talk show on television I have seen or know anything about (except the news or Christian-oriented ones). Christians, however, do not seek such familiarity. Instead, we should turn away from our old vices, our old habits, our old sinful nature.

The diminishing of our old nature is called mortification. The growing of our new nature is called vivification. Put the two together (mortification and vivification) and you get sanctification—one of the great glorious doctrines of the Christian faith.

Sanctification is a process that goes on and on throughout this life. It is never ever perfected in this life. It is not until we cross that river that there, in a final act of glorification, the final vestiges of sin are removed and we are declared to be perfect.

Question to ponder:
Is there any vice that you could possibly have grown too familiar with?

…choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time.

— Hebrews 11:25

I believe the greatest deceit Satan has ever perpetrated upon the human race, the most successful lie he has ever used, and one that impinges upon our consciences from a thousand different directions, is simply this: We shall find happiness and fulfillment through sin and by disregarding the commandments and precepts of God; and it is by throwing off the chains that bind, letting ourselves go and following our own passions, ignoring Christ and His Word that we will find satisfaction and joy in this life. Satan’s most successful lie would have us believe that joy will be ours through sin. I am sure that most of us have believed this lie a thousand times or more in our lives.

Yet, the great truth of the Word of God is that at the right hand of God there is joy forevermore. There is happiness in holiness. It is through submission to the will of Christ that man will find his true joy and fulfillment. These are two totally and completely antithetical propositions. One is truth, the other a lie.

Question to ponder:
Can you think of a time in your life when you believed sinning would make you happy?

Now when He had spoken these things, while they looked, He was taken up. And a cloud received Him from their sight.

— Acts 1:9

When Christ Jesus was finished with all His work on earth, He ascended in triumph to heaven. The day of his ascension ought to be celebrated as the coronation day for the King of kings.

Christ, who was once despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, now occupies a most exalted position where there is joy forevermore. Jesus Christ, once derided by sinners, is now celebrated by saints. The scoffing and the hissing of the reprobate have given way to the panegyrics of angels. The flailing of whips and the pounding of hammers have been replaced by the flourish of trumpets, the beating of drums and the flying of colors. The Son of God has come home to sit at the right hand of His Father—until all His enemies are made a footstool for His feet and Christ becomes all in all.

It is this Christ in all His glory, and with all His authority and might, who will one day come back to earth—but not as He came the first time. Not in humility, but with all His splendor and glory.

Question to ponder:
How do you picture the exalted and glorified Christ?

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

— Proverbs 14:12

I remember one time, not too many years before she died (she was probably about 75 at the time), my mother came to visit us. One day, she had a headache and she asked for two aspirin. After I gave her the aspirin, she put one in her mouth as far back as she could on her tongue, and then tried to swallow it. Guess what? She gagged and choked and sputtered. Finally, red in the face, she was able to get most of it down. The rest of it was smeared across the back of her throat, I suppose, in the attempt.

I said, “Mother, that’s not the way to take an aspirin. Let me show you.” I took some vitamins, threw them in my mouth, and drank them right down. She was amazed. “Mother, it’s all in the technique,” I said. “You don’t put the aspirin on the back of your tongue, you put it in the concavity of your tongue and it just floats down. She tried it and it worked. It isn’t difficult to swallow an aspirin when you do it the right way. It’s ghastly when you do it the wrong way.

So it is with virtually anything in life. It isn’t that difficult when we do it the right way, but it’s terribly difficult when we do it the wrong way. God’s Word shows us the right way for virtually everything we deal with in life. Let us trust God today. Let us do things God’s way, and see the truth of His Word.

Question to ponder:
Can you think of anything in your life right now that you may be possibly attempting to handle in a wrong way?

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night so that you may act carefully according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way successful, and you will be wise.

— Joshua 1:8

Are you one to meditate upon God’s Word? It is interesting that the book of Joshua is the only place in the Bible where we find the promise to prosper and have good success. God says that if you are careful to meditate upon the Word day and night, you will be prosperous in your goings and you will have good success. That is incredible. What God wants from us is simply faith and obedience to Him. He will take care of our problems.

At the end of the book of Job, God blesses Job, gives him children, his home, and double his flocks, his wealth and what he had before. We should remember that the Old Testament temporalizes the blessings of God. In the New Testament, they are more spiritualized and we are called upon to take the long look to understand that the things of this life will not be balanced until eternity. God has reserved for us in Heaven rewards beyond anything Job ever even dreamed of, and we should never lose sight of that promise.

Today, the success God grants to us is not always in the form of material blessings. Often it is spiritual, but He always provides what we need. Spiritual rewards are not less; they are more.

Question to ponder:
What does it mean to meditate on God’s Word?