1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
The Son of Man Returns
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God,and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.
Luke 18:1-8
The Parable of the Persistent Widow
1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Hebrews 10:32-37
Persevere in Faith
32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. 35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For,
“In just a little while,
he who is coming will come
and will not delay.”
2 Timothy 4:7
I Have Kept the Faith
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
The LORD Himself will return and come down from heaven with a loud command...The voice of the archangel will call, and with the trumpet of God, the dead in Christ will rise first...People still on earth will be caught up together and in the clouds will meet Jesus while still in the air...Jesus will return to the earth in His Second Advent...But will He find any faith left on earth?...I think this is such a sad question, our LORD asks about humanity's future and the generation of people when He arrives and is ready to meet them...And it could be our generation...Let us pray we all keep the faith generation after generation...
Such a sad thing to think about, when we ponder on this...Will Jesus find faith on earth when He returns?...Faith gone, but gone where?...Where would faith have gone?...Would people be worshiping something else?...Would faith be gone and lost in our daily busyness of life and in the other things we do throughout our days...Will our faith be in the idols of material things that we have accumulated?...Would faith be lost in a completely modern world full of technology?...
God knew that His Son would not be returning for many years...In fact, now it has been over two thousand years ago, since He ascended into heaven...And Jesus wondered about the state of the faith on earth when He returns...Will He find some people or any people of faith?...What a worrisome comment from our LORD...Worrisome for us, that is...Can we keep the faith?...Some will ask -faith in what or in whom?...Jesus teaches us to believe in God, but to believe also in Him (John 14:1)...He preceded this comment with a teaching on being persistent...We are to be persistent like the widow, going back over and over to the unjust judge...We have to fight (others and then even our own doubts) to keep our faith...We have to endure to finish the race of life with our faith still intact...
With so much going on in the world today, Jesus asks us this very good personal question...The world today seems more cynical now as we read about in the Bible and ponder on will there still be faith on earth....If Jesus came next week, would you believe and have faith in Him?...The earliest of Jesus' followers were persecuted, many thrown in prison, many had their property confiscated, many were exposed to insult, and many were killed for just believing in Him...The early Christians had to persevere in their faith...How many people today would die for their faith and belief in Jesus?...Believers know He will return...And just as I have faith in His Second Coming, I have faith that their will be a remnant (and for the sake of mankind, I pray that this remnant is a very large one -because we are all children of God) of those believing and following Him...St. Paul says some will meet the LORD in the clouds, upon His return...All that believe will have Jesus in their hearts, and His Father will see that...Then His Father will show us His tremendous grace and those who have kept the faith will be richly rewarded...