[A note from our Managing Editor: Tim Shorey, pastor and author, is one of our Gospel-Centered Discipleship staff writers. Tim is also currently battling stage 4 prostate cancer. On Facebook and CaringBridge, he’s writing about his journey. We’re including some of his posts in a series on our website called “The Potter’s Clay: Faith Reflections from a Cancer Oven.” To preserve the feel of a daily journal rather than a published work, we have chosen not to submit these reflections to a rigorous editing process.]

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Dear Journal,

So what does a cancer-fighter who doesn’t know how long he’s going to live think about, or at least want to think about? I don’t know the time for my departure (will it be one year? Two? Five?), but I do know where I want my mind to be and stay. Here’s the verse that captures one of my greatest longings, if not the greatest:

“Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:17).”

All of the five words in our title are lifted directly from that text. 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 is a description of what is going to happen when the heavens open. Whether by our death or Jesus’ return, we’re going to see Jesus, meet Jesus, and be with Jesus. But I need to slow this down to let it sink in.

Heaven is going to include unimaginable and inexpressible joys (1 Cor. 2:9; Eph. 3:21—22). But the first and the best of these is captured in these five astonishing words: “We will meet the Lord.” They present the opening scene or Act I for those of us going to Heaven. If someone were to ask me, “Tim, what is the first, the best, the highest, and the happiest thing about Heaven?” I’d answer, “We. Will. Meet. The. Lord.” This is worth a kind of freeze-frame meditation by pondering each word:

“We”

Heaven is going to be a shared, “we” experience. While our relationship with the Lord is personal (which is wonderful), it is also shared by all who believe in Jesus (which is even more wonderful). As much as I enjoy quiet personal time with the Lord, I cherish time with the Lord while with others in the Lord, even more. Heaven is going to be a “we” thing; it’ll be the ultimate Church gathering, family reunion, and celebratory parade for vast multitudes (1 Thess. 4:13—18; Rev. 5:9–10; 7:9–12)!

“Will”

What is promised in 1 Thessalonians 4 is a sure and certain experience. It will happen. We will meet the Lord. No maybes. No fingers crossed in uncertain wishful thinking. No ifs. This is one of God’s many “I wills,” and his “I wills” are as good as done. The only thing left, is for us to see it with our own eyes.

“Meet”

The promise is that we will meet the Lord, which speaks of a personal and relational experience—a warm and loving encounter with Jesus. Jesus is not a formal, distant-and-detached all-business Savior. When I die and go to heaven, or when Jesus comes back as King of kings and Lord of lords, he won’t be a strictly business kind of King, so occupied with the business of heaven that he doesn’t even notice I’m there. No, he is coming to meet us! And on that day, we will meet him—the One who is all our desire and longing.

“The”

This definite article implies that Jesus is an utterly unique Lord, and that meeting him will be an unparalleled experience. The One we will meet is “the Lord.” Yes, The Lord. He is not “a” Lord. He is “the” Lord, apart from whom there is no other. Which means that meeting him will be a one-of-a-kind experience, for he is the incomparable, utterly unique, and supremely and singularly above Sovereign. He isn’t one of many lords; he is the one and only Lord that matters. All others are usurpers and pretenders. To meet him is to encounter the One who alone is supreme, before whom all of heaven and earth will bow (Phil. 2:9—11).

“Lord”

To repeat, we will meet the Lord! Meeting the Lord will be a transcendent experience because the Lord is the Lord of all lords. There is no one else as great as he is. He is “the Lord” after all. And it is “the LORD” whom we will meet. Once we have met him, we will have met the Sovereign Lord of All, the transcendently incomparable One. And in meeting him, we will be changed. And he will ravish our hearts with wonder, love, and joy for all the ages to come.

This is the essence of our coming heavenly joy, and I defy anyone to surpass it. We all like to boast of those whom we have met: allegedly noteworthy people, powerful leaders, star athletes, the rich and famous, well-known church leaders, artists, authors, and even (if we’re not careful) celebrity pastors. But Jesus is Lord. To meet him is to meet the one who is the highest, the greatest, and the worthiest of all. And in meeting him, we will never be the same again.

These five God-inspired words, “We. Will. Meet. The. Lord.” form one of the simplest and yet most profoundly complete statements of Christian hope that has ever been penned. And they capture the reason why, despite my cancer and my radically altered life with its many losses and crosses, I still have hope, and will (by God’s grace) to the very end.

May the Lord give all of us grace to keep our eye on the sky more and more with each new day.

* You can read all the posts in this series here.