‘…waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.’

Titus 2:13,14

Last weekend Patrina and I heard a sermon that was loosely based on the passage above describing the Blessed Hope of the believer.

What is the Blessed Hope? Paul makes it clear to Titus that our hope is in the fulfilled promise of Christ’s return. For the believer in Jesus Christ, we do not experience death without genuine hope! That hope is tied directly to the Resurrection we celebrated just a couple of weekends ago.

And in another letter, Paul described the return of the Lord this way –

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

Some people point out that the word “rapture” is not found in the New Testament and that is correct. The word translated “caught up” in the passage does give us an indication as to what will happen at the Lord’s return. Look at the phrase that follows in the passage. We will be snatched away to “meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

Paul wrote of this earlier to the Corinthians –

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52

This is the promise of the Resurrected Christ. This is our blessed hope. Because Christ is resurrected, we do not grieve as others who have no hope. Because He is alive, we will also live. Some will die and be resurrected. Others will be transformed in the “twinkling of an eye.”

Embrace the Blessed Hope and “encourage one another with these words.”