The Power of Hope: 7 Days to Hoping in the LordSample

The Hope of Christ's Return | Paul

Knowing that waiting for Jesus’ return would be difficult, the apostle Paul wrote to encourage believers— then and now— to hope in our Lord and Savior’s return. Not wanting his brothers and sisters in Thessalonica to “sorrow as others who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13), Paul offered some specifics about the moment the Lord returns for His church, specifics perhaps revealed to him when he “was caught up to the third heaven” (2 Corinthians 12:2). 

First, “the dead in Christ will rise” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Next, people who are alive will “be caught up together . . . in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (v. 17). Then— the best news and greatest hope of all— “We shall always be with the Lord” (v. 17). What a glorious truth to fuel our hope! 

May our lives reflect the hope we have in Jesus and the promise of His return.