Good enough for the thief?- Open heavens devotional by Pastor E. A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: 1 Pet 1-2
GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE THIEF? Tuesday, May 04, 2010
MEMORIZE: “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night” (1 Thess. 5:2) READ: Revelation: 1:7-11 “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” (Rev. 1:7).The King is coming. The Creator of the Heavens and the earth who once came as a baby, will return as the King of kings.  However, His return will be in two stages. At the first stage, He will come unannounced - like a thief in the night (1 Thess. 5:2). He will be coming to ‘steal’ the precious ones of the earth whom He has redeemed by His blood. “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garment, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame” (Rev. 16:15). In that advent, only the prepared ones like the five wise, holy and watching virgins will go with Him. Many who are rising and falling in their Christian faith will be so engrossed with whatever they deem more important that they would not know when Jesus would come as a thief. For such people, shame, sorrow and disgrace are inevitable. One lesson from this is that God does not want His children put to shame. God is not happy when you are disgraced so He does what He can to prevent shame. But inspite of all the warnings, many will still face shame for paying deaf ears to the voice of the Holy Spirit. You shall not be taken unawares at His coming. The second stage of His second advent will be a public coming unlike the first. He will return with the believers He earlier ‘stole’ from the earth because He wanted to hide them from the seven most horrible years the earth would ever know, also called the Great Tribulation (Isa 26:20-21).  As He returns with His saints after this period, the Antichrist will gather the world’s  army to resist His earthly takeover at the battle of Armageddon. That would be the mother of battles yet, it would not exceed one day.  Jesus and His saints will defeat the resisting forces in a physical combat and would take over the earth and reign for 1000 years. Although nobody would want to be ‘stolen’ or missing presently, the second advent is a good time to be ‘stolen’. Are you among the precious ones the Lord will ‘steal’ at His coming? Ask God to make you part of those to go with Him to Heaven at His second advent. You shall not be left behind! ACTION POINT: If your name is not missing from earth’s register, you will not be present to answer  your name during Heaven’s roll call. May you be missing from earth on that day!