The Whole Story #12 :: Maranatha // Chris Holm

Most of us picked up our picture of the end of the world from somewhere other than the Bible. A novel, a movie, a footnote in a study Bible. This week we went looking for where that picture actually came from, and traced it back to one man in the 1830s, a study Bible in 1909, and a series of paperbacks and movies that turned his idea into common sense.Then we opened the actual passages. In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul isn't writing an escape plan. He's comforting a grieving church that thought their dead loved ones had missed out on Jesus coming back. The Greek word behind "meet the Lord in the air" describes a welcoming party going out to greet a king and walk him home, not an evacuation. In Matthew 24, Jesus points us to the story of Noah to explain what "taken" and "left" mean, and in that story, the ones taken were taken by judgment. The ones left were safe in the ark.We also looked at why judgment doesn't have to be something we dread. For people who have actually needed things made right, a good God who judges is not a threat. It's the promise that nothing gets left crooked forever.The Bible doesn't end with a warning to get our act together. It ends with an invitation. Maranatha, come Lord Jesus, is what you say about someone you love who is almost home.If you're grieving someone who died before you thought they should, this one is for you. They didn't miss anything. They're not behind. They're ahead of you, and the same God who is bringing them back is the one we're waiting on together.