Topic: Christ Himself Comes for Us, [Ellen G. White  Devotional 7 December 2019]

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Christ Redeems Me Unto Eternal Life

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.

Jesus is coming, coming with clouds and great glory. A multitude of shining angels will attend Him. He will come to honor those who have loved Him and kept His commandments, and to take them to Himself. He has not forgotten them or His promise.

There appears in the East a small black cloud…. The people of God know this to be the sign of the Son of man. In solemn silence they gaze upon it as it draws nearer the earth, … until it is a great white cloud, its base a glory like consuming fire, and above it the rainbow of the covenant. Jesus rides forth as a mighty conqueror….

As the living cloud comes still nearer, every eye beholds the Prince of life. No crown of thorns now mars that sacred head, but a diadem of glory rests on His holy brow. His countenance outshines the dazzling brightness of the noonday sun. “And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords.” … The heavens are rolled together as a scroll, the earth trembles before Him, and every mountain and island is moved out of its place….

Amid the reeling of the earth, the flash of lightning, and the roar of thunder, the voice of the Son of God calls forth the sleeping saints…. Throughout the length and breadth of the earth the dead shall hear that voice, and they that hear shall live…. All arise with the freshness and vigor of eternal youth….

The living righteous are changed “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.” At the voice of God they were glorified; now they are made immortal, and with the risen saints are caught up to meet their Lord in the air. Oh, what a glorious meeting