EAGERLY WAITING

EAGERLY WAITING

In Acts 1, after Jesus had already been crucified, buried, and risen from the dead, He appeared again to His disciples.  Verse 9 tells us that He ascended into heaven, “He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” As the apostles stood and looked toward heaven two men in white apparel stood by them and said this in verse 11, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

As Christians, our faith and hope rest upon the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died for our sins, that He rose from the dead on the third day, and the promise of His return.  We are told in several passages of God’s word of His certain return.  I Thes. 4:16-18 says, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. (17) Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (18) Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

The Bible clearly tells us that Christ is coming again. The question is, do we eagerly await His coming, do we dread it, or do we even think about it at all? Heb.  9:28 says, “So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”  The statement, “To those who eagerly wait” describes the true followers of Christ who realize that something far better awaits in eternity for the faithful in Christ and therefore they look for and long for Christ’s return.

The idea is that if we believe in the promises of God, then as Christians,  we know a home in heaven awaits us.  A home where there will be “no death,  nor sorrow, nor crying” and also Rev. 21:4 says, “There will be no more pain.” This home is assured for the faithful and will become a realization upon Christ’s return and judgment. For the obedient disciples of Christ,  this should be cause for joy and therefore we should eagerly anticipate Christ’s return with no dread and no fear.

Phil. 3:20-21 says it this way, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ  (21) who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body  according the  working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”  These are words of comfort, words of hope, and words of assurance to the faithful in Christ  Again we see the attitude of God’s people in verse 20 described as those who “eagerly wait for the Savior”. We eagerly wait because, again, we know that better things are ahead when Christ comes back.

I Cor. 15:19 says, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ,  we are of all men the most pitiable.”  We live in a world that is filled with sin and we are surrounded by those who do not know God and have no desire to. We live in a world where our bodies have illness and ailments and eventually grow old and decay.  We live in a world that more a MD more turns it’s back on God and has no shame in it. We should be thankful that although God blesses us each day, that this world is not our home for eternity. For the Christians,  our hope is in Christ and in better things and better places.  Therefore it is only logical that we eagerly wait and long for His return.  “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20)

- Garrett Alsip