Comforting Words

After the many troubling words we read in Matthew 26, we can understand why the disciples' hearts were troubled—and why Jesus tells His followers how not to have troubled hearts: 

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-3)

Jesus promised us that if He goes from us, He will come back to us and take us to the place He has prepared. Paul writes that when Jesus does this, He will rescue us from the wrath to come, transforming us in the twinkling of an eye to be with Him forever (see 1 Corinthians 15:51-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18). This moment could happen at any moment, unattached to any other moment. This is the first part of His Second Coming, which we call The Rapture of the Church.

This hope is a purifying and comforting hope. So do not let your hearts be troubled—comfort each other with these words. 

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)