Hope For His Hour

Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Matthew 24:44 RSV

Have you ever had something unexpected happen to you? Surprises can be fun or they can be disastrous, depending on where we are and what we are doing. An unexpected check may arrive in the mail just in time to pay a financial obligation. A relative or friend we may love very much might call or visit. Unpleasant surprises might include a traffic accident or word from the bank that our account is overdrawn.

The return of Jesus Christ is going to be a surprise too. It will be the most glorious and wonderful surprise of all for those who know Him and have committed their lives to Him. For those who are alive, their bodies will be transformed “in the twinkling of an eye” and they will meet Christ in the air! Imagine what a surprise that will be. You are going about your daily routine when, suddenly and without warning, your body is completely transformed into the likeness of Christ’s resurrected body, and you “take off ” to meet Christ in the air.

For those who do not know Christ, His return will also be a surprise—but a very unpleasant one. For the judgment will soon follow, and those without Christ will spend eternity in hell.

We should use every opportunity we have to tell others of our glorious Savior, who wants all of us to meet Him in the air and to live with Him forever.

Our Father and our God, I wait with anticipation for Your coming again. Your triumphant return will be a day of joy and celebration for me because I am Your child. Prepare me, Master, for that great day so I am ready to meet You in the air. In the name of Christ the Lord. Amen.

Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).