Jesus will return with a shout, but what will He say?

Have you ever been “bone tired”?

You know, so tired you can feel it all the way down into your bones.

This past week for me was a protracted trial of sheer exhaustion. I’m glad that week is over!

We can all relate to a time in our lives when we felt so overwhelmed — whether spiritually, mentally, emotionally, or physically — that it felt like we just couldn’t go on.

By the grace of God, we did.

But all of us could list some things we’d like to be forever done with.

That day is coming!

Let me encourage you to remain diligent and persistent until Christ returns. To give you some encouragement, let me share with you this compelling little story as shared by missionary Gregory Fisher …

    “What will he say when he shouts?”

    The question took me by surprise. I had already found that West African Bible College students can ask some of the most penetrating questions about minute details of Scripture.

    “Reverend, I Thessalonians 4:16 says that Christ will descend from heaven with a loud command. I would like to know what that command will be.”

    I wanted to leave the question unanswered, to tell him that we must not go past what Scripture has revealed, but my mind wandered to an encounter I had earlier in the day with a refugee from the Liberian civil war. The man, a high school principal, told me how he was apprehended by a two-man death squad. After several hours of terror, as the men described how they would torture and kill him, he narrowly escaped. After hiding in the bush for two days, he was able to find his family and escape to a neighboring country. The escape cost him dearly: two of his children lost their lives. The stark cruelty unleashed on an unsuspecting, undeserving population had touched me deeply. I also saw flashbacks of the beggars that I pass each morning on my way to the office. Every day I see how poverty destroys dignity, robs men of the best of what it means to be human, and sometimes substitutes the worst of what it means to be an animal. I am haunted by the vacant eyes of people who have lost all hope.

    “Reverend, you have not given me an answer. What will he say?”

    The question hadn’t gone away.

    “Enough!” I said. “He will shout, ‘Enough!’ when he returns.”

    A look of surprise opened the face of the student.

    “What do you mean, ‘Enough!’?”

    “Enough suffering. Enough starvation. Enough terror. Enough death. Enough indignity. Enough lives trapped in hopelessness. Enough sickness and disease. Enough time. Enough!”

I don’t know if Fisher’s guess as to what Jesus will shout upon His return is accurate, but I like the thinking. I could imagine Jesus shouting, “Enough!”

It’s a coming glorious day which scripture itself tells us to encourage each other regarding. Read for yourself …

We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words. – 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18.

Whatever it is that Jesus shouts, His return will be the end to sin and all of its horrid works upon all of God’s creation, including you and me.

That will be the day when enough is enough, forever!

Scotty