Missing Persons

All photos courtesy of Unsplash

For seventy-five hours no one knew exactly where he was; in fact shortly after his escape some suggested that there was the possibility that he had already left the country. There was an immediate lock-down at Wandsworth prison when it was discovered that someone was missing. For just over three days Daniel Khalife became one of the UK’s most-wanted men until his arrest by a plain-clothes counterterrorism police officer as he cycled in Northholt in west London.

This high profile case was front-page news because of its seriousness, but around 170,000 people are reported as missing annually in the UK, a figure which is considered as an underestimate by charities and the police. There are families who have someone missing and have no idea where that person is; how distressing must that be!

In Luke 24.3 we read that Jesus Christ was missing when devoted women arrived at the garden tomb a few days after He had been crucified: they “found not the body of the Lord Jesus”. Others, on hearing this alarming news, hurried to the sepulchre, “and found it even so as the women had said: but Him they saw not” Luke 24.24. He was missing for He had risen from the dead, having, by His sufferings and death, secured a full and eternal salvation for all who would trust Him as their personal Saviour. His resurrection affords undeniable proof that God is satisfied with what the Saviour accomplished at Calvary and you, my friend need have no worries or doubts about His ability and willingness to save you eternally.

The next great event in the history of this world is the return of the Lord Jesus to take out of this world all who have trusted Him as Saviour. Be assured that just as He arrived the first time, about two thousand years ago “to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” Hebrews 9.26, so He will come again in fulfilment of His own promise, “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” John 14.3. Fanciful as it may seem, in a moment millions will be missing from this world. Will you be one of them? Perhaps someone reading this just now, knows many who will be missing when that great event takes place, suddenly and without warning! “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven … and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them … to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” 1Thessalonians 4.16,17. It could happen at any moment: are you ready?

In Revelation 20.10-15 we have one of the most solemn and disturbing scenes in the whole Bible, when the amassed myriads who have died without having trusted the Lord Jesus will stand before Him as the Judge. All hope of salvation is gone and their fate is inevitable; nothing and no one can then change that. In absolute silence those serried ranks will be faced with the irrefutable evidence of their guilt and thence be consigned forever to the Lake of Fire. It is too sad and tragic to even think about but, alas, it is all too real! In vain their names will be searched for in the Lamb’s book of life, the accurate record of all who have trusted Christ as their personal Saviour. “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” Revelation 20.15. Is your name there or is it missing? That is all-important my friend. You can have your name written there indelibly if, just now, feeling your deep need of a Saviour, you accept the unchanging truth of God’s Word that Christ died for your sins that you might never have to go to that dread abode of the lost, and confidently rest alone in Him. The moment you trust Him, your name will be inserted in that great “book of life” and Christ Himself will assume the responsibility of your eternal security.

Used by kind permission of Assembly Testimony