The Rapid Return

I have always been intrigued by the natural phenomena of lightning. The event itself is filled with contradictions. It is both beautiful and dangerous. It creates great light, but whether it strikes in the day or night, it comes out of darkened skies. It can kill quickly and burn horribly, but it adds nitrogen to the soil, aiding in the growth of living plants, benefiting mankind.

My mother used to tell me and my siblings of a thunderstorm that came when she was a little girl growing up on my grandfather’s farm in the mountains of North Georgia. Some of his cows were near a barbed wire fence, part of which was nailed into a tree. Lightning struck the tree, and the powerful current, thousands of volts strong, ran down the wire and killed his cows.

That story she told never left my memory, and I have always been leery of the dangers of lightning. I think most careful people respect the power of this dangerous and rapid reality of nature. Jesus used the illustration of the rapidity of lightning to describe His return. In Matthew 24:7
Jesus said, “For as the lightning comets out of the east, and shines even unto the west: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” His will be a very rapid return indeed.

There are three things we should consider about our Lord’s return. I share them because as a reader and student of God’s word, and as one whose fascination with, and study of history, has been a lifelong passion, I feel His return may very well be imminent.

I am feeling what so many servants of God are feeling. The earth is growing old and decaying. Man’s wickedness is, at the very least, on the level of Sodom and Gomorrah, the waning days of Babylon, and the rotting stench of the last days of Rome before being overrun by pagan tribesmen.
Throughout the earth, though, the Bride of Christ is adorning herself with the righteousness of God and the beauty of our Savior Jesus Christ.

A “pouring out” occurring at the same time as
“a falling away”…..Jesus is coming.
So….Here are the three things to remember about Jesus’s Return:

1. It will be an “unannounced event.”
There will be no emergency warnings, no special news bulletins to interrupt regular programming.
No bullhorns or loudspeakers calling everyone to attention so an announcement of His return can be made…..An unannounced event….
Completely unannounced.

2. It will be a “quick event.”
Jesus said it would be as fast as the lightning. The Apostle Paul said it would be as fast as your eye can twinkle or sparkle. No time to pray, repent, make restitution, run to church and kneel in an altar or even bend your knees or tune in your heart to heaven…..It will happen fast.

3. For those ready, it will be an event of
“Great Power.”
Paul said in Romans 8:11, “….He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies…”. Paul told the Corinthians that when Christ returns, ”the mortal would put on immortality and the corruptible would put on in corruption.” More power will come upon us than we have ever felt or dreamed of when Christ returns.
One more thing, my friends…..Be ready.

Dr. David M. Griffis

General Director