Suppose the Messiah will gather all of His sheep on an individual basis... dropping in on us right where we're at, doing what we do? Would you recognize Him and call out to Him...will your heart burn inside? Where will He show up, with the poor masses or will He be among the affluent...would He even come to your abode? Or would you miss your visitation and would He pass by unannounced and unrecognized; to your utter loss?
My hope is that I will do a double-take...as if suddenly glimpsing myself in a mirror...
1 John 3:2
"Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."
Hi Tone, it appears that just like lightning flashing across the sky from east to west, no one is going to need to tell anyone else that the Lord has returned, because we will all know it at the same time.
Matthew 24
26 “If they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them.
27 For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be."
And here is how Jesus describes His glorious return in the very same Chapter.
Matthew 24
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
30 And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.
31 And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other."
There is also this passage from the Apostle Paul concerning the Lord's return and those who died in Christ (as well the elect who are alive at that time). Take particular note of
v16-18 in this case.
1 Thessalonians 4
13 We do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Yours and His,
David