"The Coming of Christ For His Church" (rapture) 1 John 2:28-29

We read, (28) “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. (29) If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.” There are Christ followers who are totally unaware that the Bible teaches that Christ is to return to this earth for His church. Yet this has been the hope of believers in every age and has sustained them in the darkest hours of the persecution of the church. The coming of Christ for His church is as certain as any event in God’s program for this world. The coming of Christ means accountability to Christ! (V. 28) “Now, little children, abide in Him” – The Apostle John commands that all Christians should abide in Christ. We are to be occupied with Christ, taken up with Christ, operating on Christ’s power, obeying Christ and living every moment for Him. In other words, Christ is to be the center of our affection and attention and everything is to be related to Him. “so that when He appears” – This is the appearing of Jesus Christ to receive His church to Himself (the rapture). “when He appears”-- the Greek word translated “when” introduces the element of uncertainty relative to His coming. John doesn’t mean that the fact of His coming was uncertain! Instead, he meant that the time of His coming was uncertain, and this is the reason for “continuously abiding” in Him! The Lord’s return for His church is an imminent event! Imminence is defined as, “near, close at hand, approaching, to move or become nearer in frame to something” in the sense that it could happen at any moment! Other things may happen before an imminent event, but nothing else MUST happen before the event happens! In other words, Christ coming back to rule over the earth is not an imminent event! That’s because the rapture and the tribulation must take place before our Lord returns to sit on the throne of David! The nearness of the day affords a great motive for the efforts to which we are urged! “we may have confidence and not shrink away (unashamed) from Him in shame at His coming” – At the return of Christ, a Christian will either have confidence, boldness or freedom when the Lord returns or he or she will shrink back in embarrassment! This verse teaches that every Christian is going to give an account of his or her life to Christ. This will take place at the Judgment Seat of Christ after His return for the Church. We read, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). There is coming a day of judgment for Christians, not for sin but for service! Christ died for every Christian’s sin; therefore a Christian can never be judged eternally for sin but will be judged for good works and faithfulness to Jesus Christ. There is a day coming when that which is hidden shall be revealed, where everything covered will be uncovered, and that which has been spoken in secret will be shouted from the housetops. What if our Lord should now appear? How should we meet Him? These are questions that we might often with advantage put to ourselves! Be encouraged!