The Angels Are Ready

By Júlio César Prado

“Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34).

What a wonderful day it will be when Jesus returns! What glorious scenes shall I see when my Lord appears in the clouds with His angels and trumpets of God! What a joy it will be to see Jesus face-to-face and hear Him call me: “Come, blessed of My Father.” And I will find Him in the air, already transformed to live eternal life. Oh, the weight of glory! Oh, what an unprecedented moment! Now, finally, we will be together!

Our eyes shall see the Prince of Peace with His diadem of glory and His name on His garment: “King of kings and Lord of lords.” His face shines like the sun. Singing, the angels come. Jesus calls the dead saints: “Awake, awake, awake, ye that sleep in the dust, and come forth!” All are resurrected perfect, in the likeness of Jesus. Mothers welcome their children. They will never be apart again! We go up to the New Jerusalem singing and in chariots with living wings.

Everyone participates in the real space voyage that lasts a week. With shouts of joy and gladness, the angels lead the righteous in the “chariot of clouds” to the New Jerusalem in Heaven. As they enter the city of twelve pearly gates, Jesus finds them and bestows on them the three emblems of victory and an insignia of their royal status.

There, in the city, we will celebrate the Sabbath. But before we enter, we will receive the four emblems of victory: the crown of glory, on the head, placed by the hands of Jesus; in the crown, the new name; the palm of victory in the hand; and then the shining golden harp. This means that the conflict, the great controversy between good and evil, between light and darkness, between Christ and Satan, is over! The twelve pearl doors open and we enter. With dazzled eyes, we contemplate Paradise, the Eden of Adam and Eve, with its streets of pure gold, the river, and the tree of life.

“As the ransomed ones are welcomed to the City of God, there rings out upon the air an exultant cry of adoration.” (The Great Controversy, p. 647).

It is at this moment that the emotions reach their peak, because Adam meets Jesus and falls at his feet saying, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!” (Revelation 5:12). There is also the great multitude singing praises to the Father and the Son (Revelation 7:9, 10). Again, Jesus is the center of everyone’s praise. Human words will never be able to express the feelings that will reverberate there in the hearts of the saved.

There, between amazed and surprised, ecstatic and enraptured, we discover wonderful things prepared by God for us that, in the world of sin, our eyes have never seen, that our ears have never heard, and that at no time penetrated our hearts or passed through our imagination! “Finally! Finally! Finally!” we will all exclaim.

There we see thrones and also a long silver table. With a musical voice, Jesus says: “Come ye, the blessed of my Father, inherit the reign that hath been prepared for you from the foundation of the world!” In response, we sing the song of Moses and then the song of the Lamb. This is a new song that will echo through the endless ages. The great theme of this song is: “Christ, All in All,” never sung in heaven or on earth.

We could use our imaginations and inspired accounts to describe the glory of heaven. But they would be far short of the dazzling reality. Everything can be summed up in these words: “Death will be no more,” because God will dwell with men (Revelation 21:4). “God himself will be with them” (Revelation 21:3).

Do you want to be there? Do you want to walk hand in hand with Jesus? See the Father? Are you waiting for Jesus to come back? Then “every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (I John 3:3). It was worth it to take up the cross, walk with God, love Him, and live with Jesus.

We are now making great strides towards the end of the great controversy. We are heading towards the reward that the saints will receive for having walked with God! The angels are ready and Jesus is in the heavenly sanctuary getting ready to change His priestly garments for the royal ones that He will wear when He comes to get us.

“The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light” (Romans 13:12).