“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” – Matthew 25:31-32
As you go through life, living, loving, working, playing, glorifying God, and serving Him, never forget that Jesus is coming back to Earth one day. We may freely acknowledge that Jesus is ruling and reigning in Heaven right now, but still easily dismiss or forget His promise that He’ll return to Earth. That’s certainly understandable since it’s been 2000 years since His resurrection. It gets easy to assume that He won’t return in our lifetime and functionally forget that He’s going to return at all. When we do, we lose our urgency about obeying Christ’s commands to introduce Him to others.
We must never do that. We must always live with the urgency that comes from the certainty that Jesus is going to return. When He returns, it will be in glory and power. It will be visible to everyone in the world. It will be to judge the world. He will quickly, justly, and perfectly separate everyone who ever lived into two groups. For those who’ve embraced Him as Lord of their lives, trusting in His sacrifice on the cross to pay the debt for their sins, there will be no condemnation. They’ll be welcomed into the joy of His Kingdom forever. For those who haven’t, there will be no praise, only eternal condemnation without hope or recovery. It will be awful for them.
If Christ is your Lord, His return should hold no fear for you. However, it will be the worst news imaginable for those who haven’t yet been forgiven their sins and received eternal life through faith in Jesus. It will be the worst day ever for everyone you’ve ever met who hasn’t met Jesus. This promise and warning is intended to give every Christ encouragement and urgency to do what Jesus commanded. We must live our lives to make disciples of Jesus. We must love and tell people about our faith and equip new believers to really follow Jesus with the urgency that comes from knowing and believing that Jesus could return today. #FollowJesus