The saints are already celebrating the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. It is a very private celebration, for Jesus only appeared to His loved ones, and He only meets with His people at the Lord's Supper.
But one day, Jesus promised us, every eye will see Him! He will come soon in power and glory in the clouds, where all His saved ones will meet Him and forever be with Him.
But for the unsaved, it will be too late for celebration when they first see the risen Christ. Indeed, John the Apostle reports in the Revelation that, when every eye does see Him, the whole world will moan and be filled with great fear, because judgment will have come upon them.
When Jesus comes back, He told us, it will no longer be a "private celebration." It will be like lightning all over the full sky at once! There will be no doubt that it is He. We will not have to go to search out the Lord Jesus on that day!
It will be the beginning of the end, when Jesus comes back to set up His visible, physical reign on this earth for a thousand years.
At the end, all the unbelieving dead will be brought up from the graves, and the sea, and from hell, to be judged by the Lord Jesus. It is at that point, that every human being who ever lived will finally see Him.
The saints have all been seeing and living and celebrating with Jesus for a millennium at that point. From then on, their greatest desire to see their Redeemer with their own eyes in the flesh, will have only begun to be satisfied!
But all the rest who finally see Him, will be judged and condemned to the lake of fire. For His enemies, there is never any celebration of the risen Savior.
They will only see Him as their Judge. |
