The Day After

A Day After

by David Brenneman 

Today is a day of relief for some, a day unlike any other for others, and a day of mourning for many.  

The tornadoes that ripped through many states here in the USA left much devastation in their wake.  

There's another storm on the horizon that's been dismissed, been ridiculed, been mocked that is an inescapable reality because Jesus proclaimed it will be happening. The storm that will engulf this world when He returns to take His Church home to be with Him forever. 

We can even read in the days of the early Church that people were mocking God in asking where is this promised return?  

Today lives across many different states are changed. Lives are not and will not be returning to what had hitherto been their normal life. 

One report I read stated that a mobile morgue was requested. ODOT snowplow trucks being used to clear trees from the roads. 

This, my Dear Reader, is only an infinitesimal taste of the aftermath of the effects of Jesus returning.

Instead of horror stories from a few places, it will be on a global scale. 

Instead of a few thousand people without the essentials for a normal life, it will be likely billions. Millions will vanish in the twinkling of an eye when Jesus commands "Come!"

Jesus said to be on the alert. To be ready for no one knows the day nor the hour. After His resurrection of course He knew. He was one with His Father again.  

Are you really ready to meet Jesus?

Are you really striving to please Him in all that you do?  

Are you still on the fence about coming to Christ for salvation?

My Dear Reader, there will be no warning of Jesus coming back.  

Nothing to herald that great and fantastic moment in human history.

Nothing. Not a sound not a sign. 

Are you really going to risk it?  

The 7 years that follow that day will make all the World Wars look like an elementary schoolyard fight. There's nothing to compare those days to in all of human history. 100lb hailstones? Find any records of such a thing. The seas turned to blood? Nothing to be found there either. Vast amounts of biting insects that cause people to want to die but those millions of people won't be able to? Never been seen before.  

This day after ought to give rise to thinking that our days are not our own. Every single life is shown God's grace in that while we deserve the penalty of death due to our sins, we are blessed with a today. We all receive His mercy in not getting what we do deserve. 

Life isn't about personal identity...it's about being who we are meant to be in Christ Jesus. In this world I am David, son of Parke and Nancy. In His eyes, I am David, child of God. Joint heir to the Kingdom of God. In Heaven we will receive a new name from Jesus. In this world I am indeed shown love by family and friends. But nobody loves me as much as Jesus did when He died for me. Washing my sins away. Adopting me into His marvelous family. 

My Dear Reader this life in Christ is available to all who believe. To all who would come to Him. 

We don't know if we have a today let alone a next breath. 

Last night in the span of a few meager hours many people's lives were irrevocably changed. Some are wounded and require a hospital. Some were unscathed. Still others...either entered Heaven or Hell in an instant.  

There's countless billions of 'good' people in Hell. People who are in shock and disbelief that their lives weren't good enough to get them into Heaven. People who left this world in extreme pain and duress who quickly realized they were still in that after arriving in Hell.  

Sadly this happens every second of every day. 

Jesus Christ is waiting with open arms in Heaven for all who would come to Him for salvation who died believing and trusting in Him. They enter into His rest...as He promised He would. 

What people are waiting for is undeniably baffling. Waiting? Why? 

Everyone in Hell doesn't want to be there. They get no second chances. No do over.  

The storms in life should cause us to get real with our mortality.  

Jesus is not willing that any should perish but that all would come to Him for salvation. He doesn't want any to be going to Hell to pay for sins that He died for. But everyone must choose of their own accord.

Take a moment today to be sure of your salvation in Christ Jesus. If you haven't already chosen Him to be the forgiver of your sins and the Leader of your life...why wait?

Settle it today. Settle it now.

If indeed you are saved...are you living a life that says Jesus lives here?  

Time is coming that the global Day After is going to be the worst mankind has ever seen. Construction accidents, planes crashing, manufacturing disasters...horrific incidents on a scale that nothing Hollywood has ever tried to produce. 

Today could be that day Jesus Christ returns. Would you know it? Nobody will til after it happens. 

Global leaders will lie up a storm of their own as to what happened. 

I am ready for the shout that will take me out...are you?

All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.