“…while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as Jesus went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, WILL SO COME IN LIKE MANNER as you saw Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:10-11)
“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and EVERY EYE WILL SEE HIM, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. “I am the ALPHA AND THE OMEGA, THE BEGINNING AND THE END,” says the Lord, “who IS and who WAS and who IS TO COME, the Almighty.” (Rev. 1:7-8)
As believers we should be DAILY YIELDING TO THE RULE AND REIGN OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, walking in holiness. “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” (Matt. 25:13) We must be ready for, “…the Son of Man is coming AT AN HOUR YOU DO NOT EXPECT.” (Luke 12:40)
After four years of war, the allies were going to invade German-occupied Fortress Europe. D-DAY MARKED THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR THE THIRD REICH. Germany had been preparing for years for this invasion, building a fortress along the Atlantic sea wall 1,800 miles from Holland to the Brittany Peninsula. They sent their best strategist, General Erwin Rommel (the Desert Fox), TO PREPARE FOR THE INVASION THAT WOULD COME. For eight months he strengthened the coastal barricades. He pushed himself and others to the breaking point, working day and night for a June 20th completion deadline.
But, on the morning of JUNE 6th 1944, D-DAY CAME and the fifty-one year-old General was 500 miles away, in Germany sleeping. THINKING THAT NOTHING WOULD HAPPEN, HE HAD TAKEN A THREE-DAY HOLIDAY TO BE WITH HIS WIFE ON HER BIRTHDAY. The invasion took place at a time and a place that he, and the German high command, didn’t think it would come. They thought they were prepared. They thought that they might be invincible. But THEY DIDN’T REMAIN VIGILANT AND READY, AND THEY PAID THE PRICE IN DEFEAT.
THE SON OF MAN IS COMING AT AN HOUR YOU DO NOT EXPECT…
-Bill Stockham