A week ago the free world paused to share the unfathomable joy of freed captives and their waiting loved ones in the biggest prisoner exchange since the Cold War. Few will ever forget the moment that former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva landed at Andrews Air Force Base the evening of August 1, 2024, as the President and Vice-President of the United States waited on the tarmac to welcome them back to freedom [1].
In a world in which good news is often in scant supply, it was a truly glorious moment.
Foretaste of the Great Reunion
But as I watched the joyful tears, heard the cries of reunion, and listened to the words of welcome from the leaders of our country, my mind leaped forward to a far greater reunion, to the ultimate freeing of captives that will occur when Jesus comes in the clouds of heaven. I thought of my favorite passage in all of Scripture, from the words of the apostle Paul:
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words (I Thess. 4:16-18).
How well I remember a grade school teacher in my local church school, asking me to read this passage to my fourth-grade class. When I finished, she said I should consider becoming a preacher when I grew up—something others had also glimpsed so far as my future was concerned.
Ellen White echoes the sublime promise of First Thessalonians 4 when she writes in the following statements:
Then Jesus’ silver trumpet sounded, as He descended on the cloud, wrapped in flames of fire. He gazed on the graves of the sleeping saints, then raised His eyes and hands to heaven, and cried, “Awake! awake! awake! ye that sleep in the dust, and arise.” Then there was a mighty earthquake. The graves opened, and the dead came up clothed with immortality. The 144,000 shouted, “Alleluia!” as they recognized their friends who had been torn from them by death, and in the same moment we were changed and caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air [##2|Ellen G. White, Early Writings, p. 16.##].
The living righteous are changed “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.” At the voice of God they were glorified; now they are made immortal and with the risen saints are caught up to meet their Lord in the air. Angels “gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Little children are borne by holy angels to their mothers’ arms. Friends long separated by death are united, nevermore to part, and with songs of gladness ascend together to the City of God [##3|——The Great Controversy, p. 645.##].
I can’t begin to imagine what it would be like to be held captive for five and a half years, as former Marine Paul Whelan was. And I can hardly imagine what it would be like to have liberty and the fellowship of friends and loved ones restored after such fearful bondage, irrespective of how long it lasted. But what the world witnessed on the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base was just a fleeting glimpse, a small foretaste, of the great loosing of history’s captives which will soon take place when Jesus fulfills His promise to come again and take His children home.
REFERENCES
1. Jennifer Hansler, Kyle Atwood, and Ivana Kottascova, “Russia releases Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan in historic prisoner swap with West,” CNN, August 1, 2024 https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/01/politics/russia-us-prisoner-swap/index.html
2. Ellen G. White, Early Writings, p. 16.
3. ----The Great Controversy, p. 645.
Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan