AND THIS JESUS YOU SEE TAKEN FROM YOU…

The very final mention of Jesus after His resurrection was in Acts 1. Jesus had spent 40 days on earth after He mysteriously rose from the grave [Acts 1:3]. He had appeared several times to His unbelievably stubborn disciples who simply couldn’t believe their eyes even when He appeared in person before their very eyes. Luke made sure to report how Jesus had to ask for food to eat before their very eyes😂 before they believed that He wasn’t some floating spirit/ghost in the fiction of their imagination but a fully fleshed man who was still bones, flesh and blood🤭 [Luke 24:42-43]. The very last mention of Jesus before He ascended was a declaration by two angels dressed in white, standing beside the disciples who had been ‘awestrickenly’ staring at the sky as they watched their friend levitate into the air, being carried further away from them into the sky by some cloud. They must have been experiencing a pool of mixed feelings, realizing everything He had told them was playing before their very eyes, knowing what was about to follow, wondering how on earth they were going to carry on the incredible legacy this guy was leaving behind. Their thoughts were interrupted by [hopefully soothing😏] voices that asked an almost silly question. These men, as if they couldn’t see what was happening, as if they couldn’t tell that the disciples were having a moment with Jesus,🙄  asked:

“Men of Galilee, why are you standing looking at the sky?”

Tuh!🙄 I’m glad I wasn’t a disciple at the time, ‘cos seeing as the Holy Spirit was yet to come in Chapter 2, I would have born the opposite of whatever fruits He brings and given these men my piece of mind! Did you not literally see a marvel scene play right before our eyes?!😳 But these angels had more to say, and I reckon that is why the disciples [especially Peter] did not say a word. They said:

“This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back the same way you saw Him go.”

Suppose that it’s a bright sunny morning. You dress up and set off for school/work. If it’s a weekend, you’re probably on your way to do a half day or on your way to a wedding or funeral.🤷🏽‍♀️ If you’re on the other side of the world, your day is ending/ has ended. You’re about to either send that final email before you go to sleep or snuggle under your blanket to watch a movie. Suddenly the sun dims its light till it’s pitch-black. The moon loses its light. You see the stars fall from the sky. The heavenly bodies are shaken! And just like the disciples watched Jesus leave in a cloud, you see Him coming down in clouds of heaven. You can sense power and glory without any explanation. Like the men of Galilee, you’re ‘awestrickenly’ gazing into the skies with your jaw dropping to the floor when you hear the blast of trumpets louder than you thought your earthly ears could take. Nobody explains it to you, but you know it’s a summon. It’s a call to ascend and join this Jesus, this friend and Lord you’d never had the opportunity to see like the disciples. You have lost control of your body at this point. In fact you can’t think of anything but the glory in the eyes of the man your eyes have seen. Your eyes are fixed on Him, in the clouds, smiling down at you. Your heart hears the warmth of His voice speaking quietly in your heart. Your heart is remembering everything you’d ever heard about Him, and you can hear…no, feel the vibration of His voice in your heart tell you, ‘I told you I’ll come get you’…still with that smile in His eyes. You manage to break your stare for a second to realize that your body is levitating because His angels are carrying you upwards towards Him, but it’s not just you. If you were peacefully lying in your grave, you’d find yourself suddenly burst out of it, your body levitating. It’s not just you, it’s every brother and sister in the Lord you’ve ever known! It’s every brother and sister in the Lord from all the four corners of the earth! It’s strange, you can’t explain it, but it’s boldly written in your heart that these are your fellow kinsmen! The members of the new army, the new family of the Lord! You forgot you were levitating, because all you could see were the eyes of this man that pierced through your soul and the warmth in them that swallowed you into Himself. He’s come to take you home. HOME! [Mt 24:29-31, 1 Thess 4:16&17]. And it is at this point that you realize:

That same Jesus whom the disciples watched ascend into the heavens, has returned the same way they watched Him go like the two men said!

For in the twinkling of an eye, we will be changed! [Glory!🤩] For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality! [1 Cor. 15:52 -53]. Oh how I long to be alive when this day comes!

He comes quickly, brethren! [Rev. 22:12] But He comes only for His own. There’s no better place to be than under the covering of His blood. Accept Him to reign over your life, that you too, can look forward to His coming.

That Jesus who was seen rising into the heavens, we will also see descend from the heavens! And when He does, it’ll be just to take me home! It’ll be just to take YOU home.🥰🤭

Love,

⭐ RAD! ⭐