Insight for Living

Bill Meyer: Christian believers are called to keep watch so we're not caught unprepared for the Lord's return. So honestly, are you faithfully waiting for his second coming? Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll presents fascinating insights about that great day ahead.

Through the story of President Eisenhower's unexpected visit to a dying boy, Chuck illustrates the crucial difference between getting ready for Jesus' return versus keeping ready. In this study, Chuck will encourage and inspire anyone who's been uncertain about how and when to prepare. He titled his message "On That Great Gettin’-Up Morning."

Chuck Swindoll: You believe that Jesus died and rose again? You say, "No, I've never believed that." You don't have any hope. You're not ready. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again—keep reading—even so, God. God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.

Now you have nothing to worry about, my Christian friend, if your dear parent or loved one died in the Lord. Nothing to worry about. The source of this marvelous resurrection is God. God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep.

Now, hold your place and turn back to one of my favorite sections in the New Testament: 1 Corinthians chapter 15. The greatest chapter on resurrection in all the Bible is 1 Corinthians 15. It's one of my favorite places to turn at a funeral service.

In fact, one of—I hate to announce this, but one of my favorite services is a funeral service. I sound ghoulish every time I say something like that. But I've never seen it fail: people who come to a funeral service often wouldn't darken the door of a church.

But see their loved ones now in the box—the last place they want to think about being—and love has drawn them to this place, and you have a chance to open the truth and tell them how they can prepare for life hereafter. 1 Corinthians 15 is a passage I love to turn to, beginning at verse 50.

"Now I say this, brethren..." Remember what I told you? Brethren—this is for the Christian. "Now I say this, fellow Christian, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable." What does that mean?

Well, it means just what it says. Flesh and blood, as you and I know it, can't make it through eternity. We do a pretty good job of it to make it through 80, 90 years, and we look pretty whipped if we make it to 100. But nobody can make it for a thousand or 2,000 years. Nobody.

So in order for us to have a body that can make it throughout eternity, there has to be a change. This perishable flesh and blood has to go through a change. Even if we're standing on this earth alive when Christ returns and we are swept up to be with him, somewhere between earth and heaven, we have to be changed, or our old bodies will decay on us, and we won't enjoy the pleasures of the next 100 million centuries with our friends.

We would look awful if we didn't change. And look at the way he says in verse 51: "I tell you a mystery." Now, the word mystery is really a Greek word, mysterion. Mysterion doesn't mean like our English mystery. Our English mystery is like a murder mystery. It's got intrigue, and it's complicated, it's confusing. And even when you wade through the details, you're not sure you can explain them that clearly to somebody else.

This mysterion is like our word secret. Shh. I want to tell you a secret. Now, secrets are very different. Once you hear the secret, you go, "Ah, why didn't I think of that?" It's very clear. For example, several weeks ago, I had a man say to me, "You know, Chuck, she and I are really in love, and I'm going to pop the question, and we're going to get married. But don't tell anybody."

I have been tempted so many times to tell people the secret. Now, if I told you the secret, it wouldn't be complicated. You wouldn't say, "Married? What does that mean?" You know what marriage means. But it'd be a secret that I would now give a name to and you'd go, "Oh, they're going to get married! Hey, that's great." And it'd be very clear. That's—he wanted to tell me a mysterion. Shh. I want to tell you a secret.

Look at 51. "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." Is that good? Some of us, when Christ returns, are going to be alive. Now, many of our loved ones have died, and the older we get, the more of our loved ones have died. But some are going to be alive in the generation when Christ returns.

Now, the secret is all of us are going up. Verse 52: "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed." The other day, I looked into the face of our younger daughter. She was getting ready to leave to go to the football game, and the flash of light that came across her clear, beautiful blue eyes caught my attention. It was quicker than the snap of my finger.

But just like a flash of light, we will be changed. It will occur in such an infinitely brief moment you can't even time it. We'll be alive, we'll be gone, changed, and with him. In fact, the way it reads, "this perishable must put on imperishable, this mortal must put on immortality."

And when the perishable will have put on the imperishable, when this old bag of bones will have put on eternal kind of bones, then will come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." See the next verse? "Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory?" Let me tell you something. Paul didn't get that from Shakespeare. Shakespeare got that from Paul.

Death will be swallowed up in victory and it will close its mouth and never open again its ugly jaws. Forever with the Lord. That's a secret, and it needs to be told. Now, why do we have to be changed? I get a lot of help out of Merrill Tenney's book, The Reality of the Resurrection. In his section on the theology of the resurrection, I came across a very interesting part that's worth your hearing.

"The perfection of bodily health and the heightening of physical powers will be part of all believers' future physical heritage. Power is a quality of the resurrection body, contrasted with present impotence. For its size, the human body is surprisingly weak. If a man could carry in his hands a load as heavy in proportion to his weight as an ant can carry in its jaws, he would be able to handle half a ton. If he could jump like a grasshopper, he could clear 30 feet in a single bound."

"A dog can detect sounds that the human ear never hears. Man has not the endurance of a bird, nor the muscle of a bear, nor the fleetness of an antelope. In physical abilities, he is outstripped by almost every member of the animal creation. Furthermore, man is susceptible to the invasion of the unseen enemies of disease. Germs so tiny that they are invisible can ruin his physique and bring it down to the grave."

"A microbe that has neither consciousness nor intelligence can undermine vitality and destroy the intricate frame that has taken years to build. The natural body is weak and perishable, susceptible to every kind of illness and injury. By contrast, the resurrection body will possess power." Then he goes on to describe it. You want to know what our bodies will be like? You just check the body of Jesus after the resurrection.

He was able to move through space in a rapid period of time. He was able to move through a door that was closed and locked because his whole molecular structure in his body had been changed. He was able to span earth to heaven in an instant. Our Lord lives for us a model of that kind of body we're going to have. Now, with all that in mind, go back to 1 Thessalonians 4.

It's all so intriguing, you could just spend forever fiddling around with some of those details. But let's go back to the truth that we can count on. Look at Christ's coming. It gives it to us in an ABCD fashion, just like stair steps. If you like things spelled out one, two, three, four, you'll love the next three verses.

What's going to happen? "Well, this we say to you by the word of the Lord." So this is not some fantasy; this isn't some distant dream. This is the truth. "We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who have fallen asleep." God gives the dead preferential treatment. They're going to go first.

Now, here's the order. First, the Lord himself will descend from heaven. There will be a shout. There will be the voice of the archangel, and there will be the sound of the trumpet of God. So we have the Lord descending from heaven, we have the voice, the shout, the trumpet. Third—the last part of verse 16—"and the dead in Christ shall rise first."

So they'll be taken out of the grave; their bodies will be changed. Next verse, if you're keeping that kind of note, D in the list: "Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." And finally, it says, "we shall always be with the Lord."

Now, is that simple? Aren't those details helpful? You may be surprised to know that one very intelligent writer says we don't have to worry about those details. I quote: "We are not meant to take with literalism that which is a seer's vision. It is not the details which are important." Now, I thought that was interesting. If the details aren't important, what is important?

For example, is the word "all" important? He forgives us all our sins. I mean, does that seem to be kind of a casual word you could take to mean maybe all, few, most? No, he says all because he means all. This man says that what's really important is that there is a union between Christ and the Christian, and that's really what the passage is saying.

Seems to me the Lord went to a lot of trouble to give us a lot of verses when he wasn't short on vocabulary. He could have just used the word union if that was his point. I'm being sarcastic. The details are very important. Are the details of people you love very important? Ever married a daughter? The details of her wedding important to her? Trust me, very important to her. Very important.

Are the details of our Savior's children important to him? You better believe it. They're his children. And if he's going to gather them together, living and dead, and bring them in this great family reunion back to him, does he want to make sure it goes exactly as he's planned it? You got it. Just exactly as he planned it. He'll come—the shout, the trumpet, the voice. The dead will rise. We who are alive, together, caught up, changed, and in a twinkling of an eye with him.

I remember when I was a little boy wondering if we would, once we got to heaven, ever stand a chance of getting out of heaven. My lifestyle at that time concerned me a lot, and I wondered if somebody would show up with a clipboard that had the details and tell God about it, and he'd call on me one day and say, "Hey, it's over. It's curtains, Chuck."

But I came across verse 17 with a great relief: "we shall always be with the Lord." Count on it. We're in. Isn't that great news? With him forever. You like to mark your Bibles? Mark this family reunion. Verse 17: "we... together with them... always with the Lord." Mark that. In the next funeral service you attend for a saint, remember that.

Someday there'll be a reunion, and I'm going to be caught up with them in the clouds to be forever with the Lord. Why? Because I deserve it? Because I'm a preacher? Because she was a good person? No, no, a thousand times no. You've already forgotten verse 14: "because we believe that Jesus died and rose again." We are declared righteous because we have believed right, and therefore we can grieve right.

Talk about comfort: "comfort one another with these words." How often I have. Turn from 1 Thessalonians over a couple or three books further to Titus. It's a little book we don't look at very much. It occurred to me when I thought about what I've just shared with you, there needs to be some kind of wrap-up. There needs to be some help on what does it mean to prepare for his coming. How do I respond to this appropriately?

Titus 2, the last section, verses 11 through 13, will help. I want to give you three things to remember if you want to respond appropriately to a talk on prophecy. Verse 11: "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all." First, make certain you have taken what God has given. That is his salvation.

Christ died on the cross for your sins. He died. He rose later from the grave, triumphant over sin. Therefore, he is your bridge to heaven. That's the gift of salvation, and you must take it. It doesn't come by osmosis. It doesn't come by heritage. It doesn't come simply by hearing it. You must take it. Have you taken what God has given? That's the first question. Have you? Have you taken it? You must. That's first, top priority.

Second, this same grace of God, verse 12, instructs us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires. Second, continued to resist a corrupt lifestyle. You want to know how to prepare for Christ's coming? Resist a corrupt lifestyle. Can't think of anything worse than being suddenly surprised in a lifestyle that's ungodly when my Savior comes for me.

This is the third, and it's the positive part. It's verse 12: instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, we are to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age. Live in a sensible, godly manner. That's the positive side. That means you stay involved. You stay in touch. You give yourself to God's world program. You share the Savior. You make him known. You live for his glory.

And by the way, it just occurs to me that some of you may be very, very concerned about some loved one who died in a horrible kind of death—perhaps blown apart, perhaps in some tragic scene—and you wonder how in the world is it all going to come to pass? Relax. God has put it all together. He can handle it.

I love the story of Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island. His body was exhumed for reburial. It was found that the root of an apple tree had penetrated the head of the coffin and had followed down Williams' spine, dividing into a fork at his legs. The tree had absorbed the chemicals of the decaying body and had transmuted them into its wood and fruit.

Hold on. The apples in turn had been eaten by people, quite unconscious of the fact that they were indirectly taking into their systems part of the long-dead Williams. How out of this complex situation will God handle it? Relax. He made you out of nothing; he can bring you back to something. It's no problem with God.

See, people will bring up stuff like that, and then they'll say, "See there? You're talking to me about Christ coming? Give me a break." I'm talking to you about Christ coming. I'm talking to you about the sovereign God who made you, calling you into account. He won't have any trouble putting you back together and bringing you face to face with him.

Years ago, during the presidential term of office of Dwight Eisenhower, the President was vacationing in Denver. It came to his attention that a little boy named Paul Haley was dying of an incurable cancer—six-year-old lad. And he had one great dream, that was to someday see the President.

Dwight Eisenhower made an act that will long outlive his great speeches when he said to one of his aides, "Let's go see young Paul Haley." They got in the presidential limousine and they drove over one August Sunday morning to the home of a six-year-old boy that didn't know the President was coming.

Flags on the fenders were flying as this black limousine drove up. Doors flew open and out walked the President, who knocked on the door. Mr. Donald Haley, the father, opened the door, wearing blue jeans and an old dirty shirt and one day's growth of beard. Said, "Yes, can I help you?"

And the President responded, "Is Paul here? Tell him the President would like to see him." And little Paul, to his amazement, walked around his father's legs and stood and looked up into the face of the man he admired the most. Dwight Eisenhower kneeled down, shook his hand, took him out to see the presidential limousine.

And before he said goodbye, he hugged little Paul Haley. They shook hands again and he left. Only one man was not entirely happy about it. That was Donald Haley, who said, "How can I ever forget standing there dressed like I was in those jeans and an old dirty shirt and an unshaven face to meet the President of the United States?"

He had to get ready. I'm talking about keeping ready. Are you? If you're not, then get ready. Let's bow together. Ever met Jesus? Are you living for him? I mean living as if he were to come back and rap on your door? Why not? Why are you living like you're living? He's your Lord. Or it may be he's not. Take him now. Get ready.

If you've never met Christ, I have the privilege of announcing that he's available. And he'll someday come back for a visit. The only way you want to meet him is clothed in the righteousness of God. We have a prayer room for those that would like to have some people pray with them and talk with them about this decision.

I know it sounds simple, but you maybe have some complicated concerns and you maybe just need the assurance of somebody with their arm around you saying, "Listen, I want to pray with you. I understand what you're wrestling with. I want to help answer some of your questions." Don't put this off.

Father, thank you for the Savior, for Christ who loved us, who loves us and gave himself for us. Thank you for his promise that he'll keep his word. Come quickly. We're ready. We're keeping ready because your coming would be at any moment. Cause those who are not ready to get ready without any further delay. I pray in the Savior's name. Amen.

Bill Meyer: Can you imagine what it was like to have President Eisenhower show up on the front porch? This true story paints a beautiful picture of a surprise visit from the King of kings. You're listening to Insight for Living. Chuck Swindoll titled today's study in 1 Thessalonians 4, "On That Great Gettin’-Up Morning." It's just one of 12 in our series on Contagious Christianity.

To listen again, download our convenient mobile app where listening to Chuck's full-length messages is free. Or did you know that Insight for Living offers Chuck's messages on audio CD or MP3? To own the complete set on Paul's letter from our series Contagious Christianity, visit us at insight.org/offer.

One of Chuck's most beloved books ties in directly to what we're studying right now. It's called Laugh Again: Experience Outrageous Joy. Some might feel that laughter is flippant or unnecessary, but joy—the kind that provokes occasional outbursts of laughter—is medicine for the soul, and it's a reflection of the happiness we feel when we truly understand that God is the source of gladness.

To be frank, there's a lot about our lives that are anything but funny. In Laugh Again, Chuck explains how to discover unshakable joy in the worst possible conditions. After all, Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians while chained in a Roman prison, yet the pages he wrote overflow with joy. If Paul found it there in that dark cell, just think what's possible for you right where you are.

Discover how to experience outrageous joy when you request Laugh Again. It's yours when you make a donation to support the ministry of Insight for Living. Your gift to Insight accomplishes far more than covering the cost of a book. Your contribution will help someone you may never meet find a reason to smile. Let us send you Laugh Again when you call us at 800-772-8888 or go to insight.org/donate.

I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chuck Swindoll explains who will experience Christ's return like a thief in the night. Thursday on Insight for Living.

The preceding message, "On That Great Gettin’-Up Morning, Part 2," was copyrighted in 1984, 1985, 1993, 2003, and 2024, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.