基督再来
约翰一书二章28节至三章3节
28小子们哪，你们要住在主里面。这样，他若显现，我们就可以坦然无惧；当他来的时候，在他面前也不至于惭愧。
29你们若知道他是公义的，就知道凡行公义之人都是他所生的。
1你看父赐给我们是何等的慈爱，使我们得称为神的儿女；我们也真是他的儿女。世人所以不认识我们，是因未曾认识他。
2亲爱的弟兄阿，我们现在是神的儿女，将来如何，还未显明；但我们知道，主若显现，我们必要像他、因为必得见他的真体。
3凡向他有这指望的，就洁净自己，像他洁净一样。
信息分享
基督终有一天会在我们面前显现，然后我们便会被带到祂的面前。这个观念先是令我们感到十分振奋，接着便对我们发出极大的挑战，因为我们都要显露在基督的审判台前。
这段经文告诉我们有关主再来的三方面。首先，我们要坦然无惧地面对祂的再来；其二，我们会在祂再来的时候改变；其三，我们要因着祂的再来而儆醒。让我们分述如下：
当基督再来的时候，面对祂的基本上只有两大类人，就是信徒和非信徒。可是，第28节却告诉我们，信徒中间可能也分为两大类：第一类是坦然无惧地迎接主的再来；第二类却因主的再来而感到惭愧。
经文没有暗示信徒可能会失去救恩；然而，一个生活散漫的信徒，又怎能与主保持美好的相交？当主再来的时候，他当然会感到无限惭愧了。
约翰继续指出，当基督再来的时候，我们便会改变。祂当初降世为人，是道成肉身，成为我们中间的一个人。但当祂再来的时候，我们便会反过来变得像祂。我们将会有一个像祂那样的身体，就是永不衰残的身体。我们将会有祂一样的性情，就是无罪的性情。此外，我们将会像祂一样，永远在天上与天父在一起。还有甚么比这一切更宝贵呢？
最后，是基督再来提醒我们此刻要儆醒。盼望在主的再来时能变得像祂的信徒，此刻便应该学像主。信徒若能「洁净自己」，便能够愈来愈像主，像主的仁爱、像主的忠心、像主的真诚。
祷告：
主啊，求你使我常作准备，随时预备迎接你的再来。
CHRIST'S COMING AGAIN
1 John 2:28 to 3:3
28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.
29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.
1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Message
One of the many wonderful things about the Christian life is that it not only covers the past and the present but it also gives us a tremendous hope for the future. That hope is centred in the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Christ will one day appear for us and then we will appear before him. The first thought is thrilling. The second thought is challenging. 'We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ.' These verses speak of three aspects of his coming. First being confident at his coming, then being changed at his coming and thirdly being challenged by his coming. Let's look briefly at each of these.
These verses do not say being confident of his coming, but confident at his coming. When he comes there will be two classes of people-the believers and the unbelievers. But this verse 28 says-to us that there will be two classes of believers at his coming. There will be those who will face him confidently and there will be those who will be ashamed before him at his coming.
There is no suggestion here that a true Christian may be lost at his coming but that it is possible to live such a careless, undisciplined life that we are out of fellowship with Christ when he comes. How could a person like that be anything else but ashamed at the coming of Christ?
John says also that we will be changed at Christ's coming. At Christ's first coming, he became like one of us. At his second coming we will become like him. We will have a body like his-eternal. We will have a nature like his-sinless. We will have a position like his-in heaven with our Father. Could anything be more wonderful than that?
Then there is the challenge of his coming. The Christian who hopes to be like him at his coming must begin to be like him now. The word 'purify' here really means to keep on purifying ourselves-in other words to grow more and more like him. It means to grow more loving, to be more faithful, to be more sincere, or putting it simply again, to be more like Christ.
A PRAYER:
Lord help me to be ready if you were to come today.