1 Thessalonians 4-5 CSB
Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (4:17)
The dictionary defines imminence as “the state or fact of being about to happen.” This is the perspective that Paul had on the second coming of Jesus. In discussing the return of the Lord, he tells this 1st Century church (perhaps only about 20 years after the death of Jesus), that He would return and take believers home to heaven with Him. Of course, there would be a resurrection where the dead in Christ would rise first and then those who were alive and remain would be “caught up” (raptured) together with them to meet Jesus in the air.
What is fascinating is Paul’s statement of “we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up with them.” Paul speaks as if he fully expects the Lord to return while he is living. It’s as if he thinks, “Yes, some 20 years have passed since the ascension of Jesus, but not to worry the return of the Lord is imminent.” It’s as if Paul lived believing that “this day could be the day.” He believed that Jesus could come again at any moment in time and that nothing was preventing His return. Paul had an urgency about his work, his ministry, and his preaching that was driven by this sense of the “soon” return of the Lord Jesus. Perhaps we need that same urgency?
While it has been almost 2000 years since the ascension of Jesus, we should be just as expectant of His return as Paul was only 20 years later. In fact, we should be even more expectant because if He can come back at any moment then it means that today we are closer to His return than we were yesterday. No one knows the mind of the Lord and nobody knows when the second coming will occur, but we do know that He is coming and there is much Kingdom work to be done today. The time is coming when we won’t be able to work any longer. Live your life with a sense of expectancy that looks to the heavens knowing that this moment could be the moment when you are caught up to meet Him.
