The Great Reunion of the Saints

Recently (October 8 and 9th) it happened to be my high school class reunion. We will be celebrating 20 years of our graduation from AHS. It will be a time when old friends gather to reminisce about our times growing up together. We will discuss the past and the present, with a hopeful eye to the future. Many classmates have moved out of town and this is the only time to connect on a personal level.
A few weeks prior to the reunion. I was asked if there was anyone I was looking forward to seeing. Without hesitation, I answered my friend Jeff. Throughout high school we were inseparable. If we shared a class we were always seated around each other. If we were involved in the same activities, we were together. If there were a trip to be taken, we would sit beside each other on the bus. Pick up a yearbook and you would be hard pressed to find a picture that included both of us, in which we were not beside each other. After high school we went our separate ways. I went to Emporia State and Kansas Wesleyan. He went to K-State. After college, we got jobs, families, and pretty much lost touch. The last time I really sat and talked to him, 10 years ago, at our last reunion.
At the reunion, we reconnected again. Even though it has been twenty years (and forty pounds and less hair later) we still got along great. After a few minutes of reminiscing we spent the rest of the evening catching up and reconnecting. It was a good time.
A reunion is a nice thing. You reconnect with lost friends and loved ones. People you have not talked to in many years. It will be a time of joy. Yet, there is one reunion that will be even more joyful. The Great Reunion of the Saints.
It can be said that we all have lost loved ones at some point in our lives. Whether it is a grandparent, parent, sibling, or child, we all have experienced loss. My class has even lost a member through a series of tragic events. As King David remarked in Psalm 23 that we all have walked through the valley of the shadow of death.
There will be a time when we all will be called together. “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.” (Revelation 20:12 NIV) Imagine what a time that would be, everyone from our lives, past, present, and future, gathered together. What a glorious time that could be.
There is a warning among this. The Bible states that all will be raised, some for eternal life, some for condemnation. “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out―those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.” (John 5:28, 29 NIV)The reunion will be a great time for those who believe, but for those that do not, the reunion will not be a happy time.
That weekend, while my class was having their reunion, I was also look forward to another reunion. A reunion for all eternity, the Great Reunion of the Saints.