Many are concerned about all that is going on in the world today. There are wars, pestilences, unusual weather patterns, economic uncertainty, and moral declension. They wonder, what do all these things mean? People are asking, where’s the world headed? How will it all end? Does anyone have the answers to the world’s problems? Humanity is dismayed and confused.

Thankfully, we have the words of our Creator who offers these words of comfort through His servant, John, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away (Revelation 21:1-4).

Jesus Christ, the Creator of the world (John 1:1-5, 14), can be trusted when He assures us that He will come again to rescue humanity from this world of sin, perplexity, and woe. We can have faith in His word when he promises to make all things new. To date, everything that He had promised and that which had been prophesied about Him, by the prophets of old, have come to pass exactly as was foretold. When and where He would be born. The precise period of time He would do His ministry on earth. How, when and where He would die. The time of His resurrection from the grave. All have been fulfilled with uncanny accuracy. One of His modern day disciples commented, “Some skeptics have suggested that these prophecies were accidentally or coincidently fulfilled by Jesus. According to the Science of Probability the chance of any one human being-up until the present-fulfilling a selection of just 8 of these prophecies (including the one on the crucifixion) is 1 in 1017…And here we are considering only 8 prophecies. What if we were to consider 48 prophecies? The chance then becomes virtually zero. (1 X 10157) (That’s like finding a particular grain of sand out of all the sand on earth and beneath the sea.)What about all 61 prophecies? (Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Josh Mc Dowell).

With such an impeccable record, we can indeed be assured and confident that His last promise, the Blessed Hope, will be likewise fulfilled. His servant Paul tells us, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:11-14).

But how will He appear? Is it going to be a secret as so may believe and teach, or will it be the most glorious event that the world will ever see? The very first thing Jesus told His followers when they asked Him about the signs of His coming, was that they must be careful that no one comes along and deceive them (Matthew 24:4-5, 11, 24). He then went on to tell them of the manner of His coming. He proclaimed, “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be… And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:27, 30, 31).

The promise of that glorious appearing was not lost on His beloved disciple John. He declared, “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). John continued, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but He himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.  And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings, And Lord of Lords” (Revelation 19:11-16).

With such a clear record of the manner in which He will come, no one needs to be deceived. But how certain can we be of His coming? Considering the evidence of all the other events prophesied about Him and fulfilled in His life, you can be confident that indeed this final event, the Blessed Hope, will be likewise fulfilled as prophesied. Again, his servant Paul, not only pronounced the manner of His coming as Jesus Himself and the beloved John declared; but he spoke with assurance of the most glorious event to take place in human history. He confidently declared, “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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 4:14-18). No secret here.

The angels joined the chorus of the assurance of the Blessed Hope. As Jesus completed the work appointed Him here on earth and began to make His way back to His and our heavenly Father, the angels confirmed the Blessed Hope. Doctor Luke left us with this account: “And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight.  And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:9-11). Not only by men and angels, but most assuredly, we have the assurance of the One who cannot lie, our Lord and Savior Himself, Jesus Christ. Addressing his troubled disciples on the night before He gave His life to ransom and reunite us back to our Father, He offered these words of comfort and compassion, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.  In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3). That promise is as sure for us today as it were for His disciples almost two thousand years ago.

The Blessed Hope, the soon second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, is the overarching theme of the Bible. It’s a divine chain of truth that stretches as an unbroken cord from the first book of God’s Holy Word to the final words the Sacred Record. The patriarch Job, in the most despicable of human condition; having lost every earthly possession, deprived of family and health, exclaimed most positively, “For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:  Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me” (Job 19:25-27). The prophet Isaiah likewise declared, “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it ” (Isaiah 25:8). He continued, “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead” (Isaiah 26:19).  The Psalmist David assures us, “For he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth” (Psalm 96:13).

When that day comes the entire world will be divided into two classes. One class is described thus: “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? (Revelation 6:15-17).

But, the other class, the one I pray that you and I will be in, will look up, face to face with our Savior, and joyfully declare, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (Isaiah 25:9). He shall then respond with the most melodious voice ever heard in human ears, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). I plan on being in that class. What about you?

May you be strengthened by and share the Blessed Hope.