Sermon for Saturday
Behold He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him, Even so, Amen. Revelation 1:7
When does this great revelation of Christ to all of humanity take place? Certainly not during our tenure here on earth. Some have linked the great appearance John describes here with the Rapture, but that is certainly not so. This is an appearance before all, not just the saved. We will have been called Home well before this great event.
The clouds that are mentioned here are not rain-bearing mists, but great manifestations of the judgment of God. How different from the age in which we live, in which the rain falls on the just and the unjust, in which God dispenses His blessings and kindnesses to mankind despite incredibly widespread rejection of His greatest kindness, the giving of His Son!
The clouds were beautiful as I took my little granddaughter to her mother’s van, pointing out the lovely shades of pink and red to her, and trying to explain why the clouds had taken on such magnificent hues. We can appreciate clouds at times, and we depend on their bounty of rain far more than we often realize. Storm clouds can be threatening, and can deliver incredible mayhem, but they signs of God’s goodness, not His judgment. And they have been so ever since the Flood. But the clouds of wrath and judgment are going to come, and untold millions will wail for eternity.
In this age of grace and clouds of goodness, let us praise God that we were brought within the shelter of His Salvation. And let us also push on with the Gospel, to present others with God’s story of love and mercy before they are left behind for His wrath and judgment. -Jim MacIntosh