Day #360 - In the Same Way
The Presence - A Devotional for living in Thanksgiving, Worship and Wonder
”After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”“
Acts 1:9-11 NIV
Do you like the day after Christmas?
What do you think about it? Are you sad that Christmas is over? Are you thankful? Or a bit of both? I love the day after Christmas because it usually means that I have time off with my family and we don’t usually have to be anywhere after such a busy month. As I learn more of the incarnation I want be more fixed on not just that truth that He has come but that He is coming again. May the last week of our year be fixed on the word Maranatha, “The Lord has come or come Lord.” Yes, Christmas is over this year and we remember that He has come, but He is coming again. I can’t think of a better way to prepare for the new year than to think of the new world that will come about when Jesus returns. Whatever will prepare us for His coming again will prepare us for another year.
When the apostles who had walked with Jesus and got to know Him so intimately saw the post-resurrected Jesus their lives were changed. He spent forty days teaching them from the Scriptures about Himself and the kingdom of God. But the time came for Him to leave and send us the Helper so that we might finish the work of Jesus across the world of preaching the gospel and making disciples. As He was being taken up in the sky angels appeared to the disciples and said as He is leaving to go to heaven, so He will return. He has come and He is coming again. He will be with us forever. Not only by faith through the Spirit now but by sight. If you think we experience “the Presence” now, just wait until He comes back. He isn’t coming as a baby next time, He is coming in the sky, victorious and glorious.
“And you will also learn about His second glorious and truly divine appearing to us, when no longer in lowliness, but in His own glory—no longer in humble guise, but in His own magnificence—He is to come, no more to suffer, but thenceforth to render to all the fruit of His own Cross, that is, the resurrection and incorruption; and no longer to be judged, but to judge all, by what each has done in the body, whether good or evil; where there is laid up for the good the kingdom of heaven, but for them that have done evil everlasting fire and outer darkness (1).”
Oh what day that will be when He returns on the clouds. We cry Maranatha Lord! How we long for Your presence. How we long for You to be with us forever. If your life is not ready for His return, repent and make Jesus Lord of your life. Its too late to wait until He comes back in the sky. Now is your chance to give Your heart and Your life.
Lord Jesus, King of glory. You have come and You will come again. Let me life be prepared for Your return in power and glory. As I remember that You came, may I live with urgency that You will come again. Cleanse me of sin and disobedience. You gave everything for me in Your incarnation, death and resurrection. I believe in You Son of God. I give You my life. In Your name, amen.
(1) The Complete Works of St. Athanasius (20 Books): Cross-Linked to the Bible by Saint Athanasius