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==What Will Jesus Do When He Returns To Earth From Heaven?== <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;"><BR> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">“He will mend the broken and create a new Heaven and a new Earth," says Colin, 12. "He will raise the dead from the grave and will take all those who believe in him to eternal paradise.” </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;"><BR> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">In case you haven't noticed, this world and the people in it are broken. As the nursery rhyme goes, "All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty back together again." </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;"><BR> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">Why? Because Humpty had a great fall. </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;"><BR> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">The fall as in Adam and Eve's first sin affected not only our original parents and us, but creation itself. It's hard to imagine the effects of the fall because all we've ever known from our experience is a broken world. We think it's normal. </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;"><BR> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">Our world is so broken that the Bible pictures creation as groaning for the day when Jesus Christ will return to put all the fallen, mangled pieces back together again. If we had even a little inkling of the renewed world Jesus will create, we, too, would be groaning and yearning for the day of his return.</SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;"><BR> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">I'm so glad that God is in the restoration and renewal business. "Redemption" is the Bible word. A modern word is "upcycle." God is going to upcycle the old, broken stuff of this world and make it new. That includes redeemed people. Resurrection bodies won't break down. Doctors will be out of a job.</SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;"><BR> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">"For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body" (Romans 8:22-23).</SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;"><BR> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">“Jesus will come down in a cloud," says Marco, 10.</SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;"><BR> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">Several times Jesus said he would return in the clouds (Matthew 26:63-64 & 24:30). Jesus also said, "I am the bread of life" (John 6:49). Does this mean he is literal bread? Of course not. As Jesus used "bread of life" as a metaphor to describe his life-giving power, so "coming in the clouds" is a metaphor or a code phrase for God's judgment.  </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;"><BR> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">Old Testament prophets Ezekiel, Joel and Isaiah wrote of the Lord coming in the clouds as a metaphor for God's judgment (Ezekiel 30:3, Joel 2:1-2 & Isaiah 19:1). The way to decide whether "coming in the clouds" is literal or figurative is to look for the same language in the Old Testament.  </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;"><BR> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">"Jesus was not telling them to look for Himself in the sky," writes author Gary DeMar. "He told them they would see a sign that proved He was in heaven, sitting at His Father's right hand (Acts 2:30-36). Those who had witnessed Jerusalem's destruction would see the sign of Jesus' enthronement when they saw Jerusalem's destruction."</SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;"><BR> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple all happened within a generation just as Jesus predicted (Matthew 24:34). The Roman siege that began in the spring of AD 67 and ended in fall of AD 70 (3.5 years) left Jerusalem, its temple and people utterly desolate.</SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;"><BR> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">Although Jesus already came in the clouds to judge his people, keep looking for his return to establish a kingdom "in which righteousness dwells" (II Peter 3:13). </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;"><BR> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">Think about this: We live in an age of grace where all (Jew and Gentile) have an opportunity to enter into God's kingdom by trusting Jesus Christ as their savior. Don't miss it!</SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;"><BR> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">Memorize this truth: Romans 8:22 previously quoted.</SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;"><BR> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">Ask this question: Are you ready for Jesus to return?</SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">____________</SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: medium;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;"><BR> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: small;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">Listen to a talking book, download the "Kids Color Me Bible" for free, watch Kid TV Interviews and the Mission Explorers Documentary at www.KidsTalkAboutGod.org.</SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: small;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;"><BR> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: small;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">Bible quotations are from the New King James Version, unless otherwise noted. </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: small;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;"><BR> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="font-size: small;"><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana;">COPYRIGHT 2014 CAREY KINSOLVING</SPAN></SPAN></DIV> [[Category:For Children"]]