2011 is over, 2012 has begun… now what? 12/31/2011 was a day like 1/1/2012 is and 1/2/2012 will be and each day thereafter… or will it? Consider Matthew 24:37-39…
As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
One day is like another… that is like the last… that will be like the next… until the day Jesus returns. THAT day will be different according to Christ (Matthew 24:30-31)
Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 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.
At the present, at least for now, today is like yesterday which will be like tomorrow. 2011 was like 2010 which will be like 2012… to a great degree. We wake up… go to work and school… babies are born and people pass into eternity. Kids graduate from high school and college… get jobs… are wedded… then live their lives. Monday follows Sunday… January follows December… and 8:00 AM follows 7:59 AM… at least for now.
But one of these days will be different. It will be as different as the day Jesus was born from the day before he was born. It will be as different as the day Jesus was resurrected from the day he was in the tomb. But it will be better… greater… more majestic. It will be filled with both GREAT rejoicing (By Christians) and GREAT weeping (By everyone else). THAT day is the day a trumpet will sound and there will be a great shout.
On THAT day, Jesus will break through the clouds… with all His angels… returning in great majesty, power, and effulgence. The dead in Christ will rise from their graves and those who are alive and remain will be changed from mortal to immortal. THEN we will meet the Lord in the air.
So “Now what?” What does that reality mean for us… today? Consider this from the Apostle Peter as written in 2 Peter 3:10-13…
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.
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved,what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Maranatha… Even so, COME LORD JESUS!