We already know why He came. We already believe in Him. We already have the Holy Spirit. We already have that peace that surpasses all understanding. We already have that life, this new life, new heart, new spirit. Our suspense is over. But something else should be birthed in us instead of that suspense. And that’s the anticipation.
1 Thessalonians says, “For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you and how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son,” – to wait for His Son – “from heaven whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from?” He delivers us from?
Congregation: Wrath.
“The wrath to come.” Not through the wrath, but from the wrath. He will take us before the wrath, so we will not go through the wrath. Titus 2 says, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that in denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for….” We’re not anxious. This is no longer suspense of who He is. It’s “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of…” who? We already know who He is. Of who? “Of our great God.” He’s not a man only. He’s a man and He’s God. This is not just a man. This is not someone who is a human only. He is God who came in the shape of a man, but He’s God – the deity of Christ. That matters.
While it is true that anticipation has two sides, the side we favor is not the sense that something awful or unknown is on the horizon. Rather, it is the opposite. That someday something is coming that the word “wonderful” falls short of describing.
1 Corinthians 15:51-53
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 incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
Paul reminds us that putting on immortality and incorruptibility are not simply possibilities. They must happen. He also says they will happen as fast as the human eye can twinkle. It will be simultaneous with the resurrection of the bodies of the dead in Christ.
Since Paul said this must happen, there is no suspense as to what type of anticipation to expect. It is the good kind, knowing something wonderful is coming. On top of knowing it must happen, we have the heightened anticipation of not knowing the day or the hour which makes every day an equal candidate.
Think about how living in anticipation of something amazing happening each day would impact our outlook. It would change how we view hardship and change how we handle painful situations. It would change how we approach the normal stresses of life if we lived with the anticipation that something incredible could very possibly happen today.
The great part about our anticipation is that it is not simply a pipe dream. It is completely possible today and every day, because it is real.
John 14:1-3
“Let not your heart be troubled; you 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 to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
We have all been offered by well-meaning people the sage advice to “not worry” when we are facing something difficult with an unknown outcome. Typically, it is offered without the mechanics of how to “not worry”. But Jesus didn’t tell the disciples, “Let not your heart be troubled”, then leave them hanging. He said let not your heart be troubled, and then gave them the tools to follow through.
Jesus said He’s going to prepare a place for them (and us). Since He is doing so, He will come again and receive them (and us) to Himself so we can be where He is.
This is why He could say without any flippancy, “Let not your heart be troubled”. Because he followed up with, “I’m coming back to get you so you can be where I am.”
We can and should live every day in the anticipation of His arrival to meet us in the air.
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus,