A Coming Moment
“I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
—John 14:3
From a 1919 issue of The Morning Star
ONE COMING MOMENT is distinguished from every other moment of all future time by the fact that it is specially mentioned in the New Testament. This unique moment is the one to which reference is made in 1 Corinthians 15:52 in the phrase “In a moment.” No other future moment has the distinction of being thus separately and specifically named in the New Testament.
One moment only—one brief moment, short as the time taken for “the twinkling of an eye”—yet so supremely important that we need not wonder that the Holy Spirit has called our particular attention to it by singling it out for special mention in the Word of God.
What wondrous events will take place in that moment? What will occur then to make that moment preeminent among all the moments which are yet to be? In that moment will be fulfilled the gracious promise given by our Lord to His own in the upper room at Jerusalem and recorded in John 14:3: “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself.”
In that moment will be wrought for the Lord’s people the great transformation foretold in 1 Corinthians 15:49-53 and Philippians 3:20-21. “We shall also bear the image of the Heavenly.” “We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” “We look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body.”
In that moment also will occur the wondrous rapture of the Lord’s people who will be caught up to meet Him as foretold in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18: “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
What a marvelous moment that will be—the moment when the Lord will come for His own, the moment in which they will be changed and made like Him, the moment in which they will be caught up to meet Him and be with Him; it is not surprising that the Holy Spirit has mentioned such a moment in the Word of God.
When will that moment come? When will these wondrous events take place? We cannot tell. The time of the coming of that moment has not been revealed; it is one of the secret things which belong unto the Lord our God (Deuteronomy 29:29; Acts 1:7). But all the prophetic Scriptures bearing on the subject testify, and the sad state of the world and the church bear witness, as with one voice, that the moment is drawing nigh.
Our Lord’s own words which occur three times in the last chapter of the Bible are an urgent message to all His people today: “I come quickly” (Revelation 22:7, 12, 20). Oh, that those last words of our Lord to us—“Surely I come quickly”—may come now with fresh sweetness and power to our hearts and may have their full effect in our lives. Our Lord will come suddenly. Our Lord could very well come soon. The very next moment may be the great moment, the moment in which He will come, the moment in which we shall be changed and caught up to be with Him forever.
How wonderful is the grace of our God! But for His grace we could never have looked forward to participating in the joy of that coming moment. We were sinners indeed, yet “He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). How wonderful that “He by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9)!
By that wonderful salvation—bringing grace of God, through the finished work of “our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us,” we who believe in Him have been saved. “Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7). By that wonderful grace of God we have been redeemed and regenerated, and now we “wait for His Son from heaven whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). How wonderful that coming moment will be! As we have seen, it will be a moment of many marvels. One of those marvels is specially emphasized in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. From that verse we learn that it will be the great moment of meeting.
We shall meet again our loved ones who are now absent from the body and present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 6:8). Who among us has not known the pain of the moment of parting, the sad sense of loss, the empty place in the home, when some loved one was taken away?
We have known the sorrow caused by that separation, even though we did not sorrow as those who have no hope. But soon we shall have the joy, the indescribable joy, of meeting those loved ones again. Well may our hearts overflow with praise and thankfulness to our God as we think of the coming moment of meeting. Soon that moment will come, that wondrous moment, when we shall be “with them” once again, and when “together with them” we shall be caught up to meet the Lord.
We shall see our loved ones again in that moment. Who can describe that marvelous time? Who can tell in the slightest degree the joy of that meeting? But, glorious as that will be, there will be an even more glorious meeting in that moment. We shall meet the Lord Himself—the One “who gave Himself for us,” the One whom we love “because He first loved us.” We, who are alive and remain until that coming moment, shall see then for the first time the One whom having not seen we love. In that moment we shall “meet the Lord,” and then, and forever, we shall be “with the Lord.”
If we cannot find words to describe the joy of meeting our loved ones once again, still more do we feel the utter inadequacy of words to describe the joy of meeting that Loved One, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself! But that inexpressible joy will soon be ours. We shall soon be “with them” once more, and, “together with them,” we shall be “with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Oh, the wonder of that moment of meeting! The moment when we shall meet never more to be parted: Oh, the wonder of the grace of our God! The grace which has made that moment of meeting possible for us.
May the moments—be they few or many—which have yet to pass ere that grand coming moment be spent by us in adoring worship, earnest work and continual watchfulness. May we, until that coming moment, exhibit in our lives the “work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father” (1 Thessalonians 1:3). As we hear our Lord say, “Behold! Behold! Surely I come quickly, quickly, quickly,” may we respond wholeheartedly and longingly, “Even so, come Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:7, 12, 20). Amen.
Printed leaflet of A Coming Moment is available from the FEA.