We Will All Be One at the End of the Day

There will come a time
When all is said and done
We’ll be with God
And we’ll be one
We will all be one
“The End of the Day”  (Greg Lambert).

As we enter Advent, we anticipate the coming of the Christ Child during the season of Christmas. It truly is a most wonderful time of the year as the song says. As Christians we enjoy the holiday merriment and celebrate the birth of our Savior as we look forward to Easter and ultimately to the Second Coming.

“Maranatha”, Come Lord Jesus, has been the prayer of the Church from the very beginning. Approximately eighty generations have prayed to witness the glorious event in their lifetime, only to experience the end of their life while waiting. St. Paul offers this consolation for all Christians of all ages, both living and dead:

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep. Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord,[a] will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together[b] with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, console one another with these words (1Thess 4:13-18).

The term “fallen asleep” refers to the process of death in the above passage, as well as throughout scripture. From the time of Jesus until the present, multiple generations and scores of people have undergone birth, life and death and now exist in a group that is termed “dead in Christ”. The math suggests there are approximately 108 billion souls from the past that will be “caught up together” with those still alive at the Second Coming. Of course, if the Lord tarries, the number from the past will increase. Those who have gone before us “marked with the sign of faith” will not be at a disadvantage when the Second Coming occurs. Rather, both the living and the dead will be caught up together for the glorious occurrence.

From the beginning, there has been a high degree of curiosity as to the details of how and when Jesus would return. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus declares the following:

But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. In [those] days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be [also] at the coming of the Son of Man (Mt.24:36-39).

Before Jesus returns in Glory, there will be a great tribulation according to scripture. Presumably, only those alive at the time will witness the cataclysmic happenings. There has been a lot of ink spilled over how and when believers will be spared during this time. Those already dead in Christ will most likely be exempt, and constructs like the “Rapture” would have believers being whisked away from the horrors that will take place. No matter how and when the great tribulation occurs, and whom it directly affects, the virtue of Fortitude applies to all believers, past and present. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains the necessity of fortitude during times of tribulation:

Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause. “The Lord is my strength and my song.” In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world (CCC 1808).

At the end of the day, after having endured trials, persecutions, and tribulation in the battle of earthly life, we will all be one at the Second Coming of Christ. Come Lord Jesus!



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