Joshua Yap

Hi, I will answer this in 3 parts.

"the day of the Lord will come like a thief"

This means that many people will be shocked and unprepared for Jesus' second coming. See Matthew 25:42-51. God says in this passage that we must "keep watch" and "be ready" for his second coming. Before Jesus returns, there will be people eating, drinking, merrying (Isaiah 22:13) and totally oblivious of the coming of the Lord, despite the signs of the times being very clear and people proclaiming the coming of the Lord, but as Christians we must be "keep watch" so that we will not be caught unaware. (See 1 Thessalonians 5:1-8 as well)

"and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved"

This is what literally will happen. The heavens or the heavenly bodies are basically talking about the heaven and earth that we ave now. God will make a new heaven and a new earth, and the former ones will pass away, destroying it with fire (Revelation 21:1) The world we live in is temporary, but we look towards a heavenly city in eternity (Hebrews 11:16, 2 Corinthians 5:1) 

"and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed"

This is talking about how the Lord will judge the earth and men according to their deeds. In Revelation 20:11-15, God describes the judgement that all men will face in the future. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 states that God will bring every deed into judgement, and in 1 Corinthians 3:12-14 is says all saved believers will also be judged by how they live, lastly all those who are not saved will be cast into the lake of fire, away from God's presence, but those who believe in Jesus will be saved and dwell with the Lord forever.

Hope I have helped :) 

Until he returns,
Joshua

November 09 2013 • 2 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report