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May 04, 2023 18:30pm

Are You Ready?

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I stared at the numbers on the phone while I held the receiver in my hand, the long cord twisted around my finger. As I spoke to my friend on the other end, I thought about the Jetsons. They would get a call and a person’s face would come up on a screen. How cool would that be? If we could look at the person we were talking to on the phone! But there was no way that could happen! I mean, it just seemed like such a far fetched idea, only something on movies and TV shows.

The phone rang and I could see it was my nephew Christopher calling. It’s hard being so far away from them. Before their move, I was able to go to almost every baseball, basketball and soccer game. If there was a school performance, I was there. So, these phone calls are the next best thing with several hours separating us.

I clicked accept on my phone and there was his face looking right at me. We talked for awhile about this and that and the whole time I was getting to see him. It had been such a far-fetched idea and hard to even imagine, and yet, it was happening, just like in the show.

“And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” (Mark 14:60-62)

Jesus has been taken away to Caiaphas for questioning. The chief priests, the elders and the scribes all had a plan to accuse Jesus of blasphemy and then have Him killed. They hurled these accusations at Him, yet none of them were matching up with each other’s testimonies. So the chief priest asks Him directly and Jesus finally answers with the statement recorded above.

What? What does that mean? Coming in the clouds of heaven? What would this look like? To the Jewish people who believed in Jesus as the Messiah, this would be the ultimate dream. That Jesus would come with the power of heaven to destroy their enemies and save them. To the Romans it would look like treason. And to the religious leaders, it looked like their worst nightmare.

They shouted “BLASPHEMY” because there was no way they would give up their status and place. But they had no idea what it would truly be like or look like when Jesus did return in the clouds.

We’ve read it. We’ve heard people talking about it our whole lives. And with the events happening right now around the world, they say it’s even closer.

Jesus is coming soon.

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)

“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)

We cannot truly understand what this will look like. To the men listening to Jesus when He first proclaimed this, it seemed unthinkable, unimaginable. But, as we read the scriptures, there is evidence of its truth and soon, Jesus will fulfill this prophecy.

“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.” (Daniel 7:13)

The question isn’t whether this will actually happen – the question is, are you ready?

You can decide not to use FaceTime and claim that it doesn’t exist, but that doesn’t make it any less real. And you can deny Jesus and claim He doesn’t exist but that doesn’t make Him any less real. And it won’t stop Him from doing exactly what He said He would do.

Are you ready for His return? Have you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ? I pray you do that today before it’s too late.