The Lord Jesus Christ is coming again. His purpose in coming is to bring justice to the nations. We shall appear with Him as His Body. We also shall bring justice to the nations, the nations who are His inheritance and our inheritance.

It is obvious if we are to appear with Jesus Christ and bring justice to the nations, we must be prepared in personality so we are helping with the task and not being a hindrance. The Holy Spirit is working the necessary changes in us today if we are following the Lord closely.

Have you ever thought much about this, about your appearing with Christ? Have you ever wondered why you will appear with Christ, what purpose there would be in your appearing with Him?

Have you considered what preparations might be necessary if you are to appear with Christ?

Think about the following verse:

We believe Jesus died and rose again and so we believe God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. (I Thessalonians 4:14—NIV)

"God will bring with Jesus."

Since the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews states that the heroes of faith of the Old Testament cannot be made perfect apart from us, I believe God will bring with Jesus every saint from the time of the righteous Abel to the last saint who died before the Lord returned. Do you believe this?

If such be the case, when the Lord comes He will bring with Him millions of people, who then will descend to the earth and be reunited with their resurrected bodies. After that, the living saints will be transformed and all will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air so the entire army of the Lord may appear with Him to an astonished world.

Can you imagine what a mighty host of glorified saints will now be approaching planet earth? The wicked will be terrified—and rightly so!

They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" (Revelation 6:16,17—NIV)

If all the dead in Christ are to be raised and transformed at His coming, and we then are to appear with Him to the world, we must ask ourselves: "For what purpose will Christ, Head and Body, appear to the earth; also, how are we to be prepared to appear with Him?"

The answer to both questions is found in the Prophets of Israel.

Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. (Isaiah 42:1—NIV)

The Servant of the Lord is Christ—Head and Body. The Christian Church is the Body of Christ. To the Apostle Paul was given the revelation that Christ, Messiah, has a body. The main purpose for the two thousand years of Church history has been that of creating and bringing to maturity the Body of Christ. All the ministries and gifts given by the Holy Spirit have had as their objective bringing the Body of Christ to maturity as measured by the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:13—NIV)

To be continued.