Overcome By Grace

What I’ve learned in my prophecy studies is that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ has everything to do with grace. The moment Jesus said, "It is finished," dropped His head, and gave up His spirit, the price for every sin that every man, woman, and child has committed was paid on that terrifying, yet glorifying day.

Those who have been blessed to have God reveal this mystery of grace to us have experienced the sanctifying work of His Spirit in our lives. The moment we raised Christ up in our hearts and said, "I am no longer the god of my life — You are," we died with Him. We became dead to sin and alive to Christ, and our walk in grace began.

Jesus, and this grace that He has freely given and lovingly lavished upon us, is our focal point. Our desires, and even our good deeds, are not to be our primary focus. Jesus Christ was crucified, arose, and supplied us with grace in abundance. This is where our eyes are to look, no matter how good or bad our lives appear to be. Once we have our hearts set in Christ’s direction, then and only then can we correctly live and distribute the greatest commandment (love) by the power of God’s Spirit rather than by our own efforts.

As we struggle to grasp grace, we stumble and fall, crawl and groan, always seeking to climb back to the throne of grace we had seemingly seen so clearly before. Each time we make it back to our Master’s feet, we are even more thankful for what He accomplished on the cross because our understanding of our shortcomings, and His grace is broadened and clarified.

As life continues, and if it does so in accordance with His desires, our hearts become even more grateful for His sacrifice and grace as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Eph. 6:5).

Just as Jesus was raised on the third day, we were raised from spiritual death to spiritual life once we believed in Him. Paul tells us that because Christ was raised, we will also be physically raised before the end comes (1 Cor. 15:12–19).

The moment we are caught up in the air to be with our Lord at the Second Coming will be the first time we will fully know Jesus and His grace. Every step we have taken in this life to understand and know Him will dim in comparison to the grace we will be shown on that day. Jesus and His grace will be known more clearly than anything we have ever seen with our physical or spiritual eyes during our journeys on this earth.

Imagine the moment we come face to face with Christ. I believe our lives will flash through our hearts and minds like a split-second, speed-of-light slide show. Everything we have ever done will be remembered. The evil thoughts and actions we committed against our fellow man and against God, and our infinite unworthiness, will be made known in their spiritual entirety.

As quickly as this happens, however, we will be overcome by grace. Every evil thought and deed we just viewed will be covered by the blood of the Son and fall away from us, never to be experienced again. For the first time, we will know what it means to be pure. For the first time, we will feel what it’s like to be truly holy. For the first time, we will truly understand what the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit did for us on the day of the ultimate sacrifice.

We will feast with God at the great wedding banquet in celebration, for we will be Christ’s bride and He our groom. From this moment on, we will live with Him, and He with us, forever. We will drink the water of life and He will wipe away every tear and take away all mourning and every ounce of pain.

We will enter the Lord’s realm clothed in the righteousness of God and walk the streets of gold alongside the river of the water of life under God’s glory, for we will no longer need a lamp or the light of the sun because He will be our light. The sting of sin that brought the curse of death will be abolished, and we will praise Him for all eternity!

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Who Will Be Left Behind And When, pp. 10-13
http://whowillbeleftbehindandwhen.com/