The early church lived in constant
expectation that Jesus would return at any moment. Indeed, every generation of Christians has
understood that His return was imminent.
All of the New Testament writers reminded their readers of Jesus’
warnings of this fact. Yet, it’s been
some 2000 years of waiting now and He hasn’t returned. Did He forget? Did we miss it? Or was He speaking figuratively and not
literally? Should we reassess our
thinking and interpretations about the second coming?
No, just reconsider what Jesus said
about His return. First of all, He
promised to come back and take us to heaven (John 14). And since He has never failed on a promise,
He is to be trusted to do just that.
Secondly, He said that we wouldn’t be able to figure out the timing of
His return (Matthew 24, Acts 1, 1 Thessalonians 4 & 5 and other
places). He doesn’t want us to be
distracted with late preparations that should have already been taken care of (Luke
12). And third, let us never forget that,
since we have no idea when we’re going to die, we must be busy living in
readiness for His return every moment of every day.
Too many, however, get impatient
with the long wait and begin to get caught up with the cares of the world and
with their own selfish pursuits. Peter
warned his readers of this dangerous attitude (2 Peter 3). It appears that some disciples he had
experience with had become complacent and reckless with their souls because of
Jesus’ delay. He urged the faithful not
to lose sight of the need to live holy lives right now, because growing in holiness is the only way of preparing
for Christ’s return.
I wonder how many worries and
stresses would disappear if we were to live each moment with the realization
that Jesus might return at any second.
How many possessions and activities would vie for my time if I knew that
I wouldn’t live long enough to use and enjoy them? How big of a house is needed, or how nice of
a car is required, or how many investments are recommended for those who know
that each day could be their last? Is it
possible that we Americans have lost sight of Jesus’ imminent return? Just think
about how swamped we’ve become trying to obtain and maintain things that in the
end will burn up with the rest of this creation. And this is just among us Christians.
It’s high time for each of us to
learn again the necessity of preparing for Jesus’ imminent return. There is no reason for a Christian to be
caught off guard on the last day (1 Thess. 5:4). Get into Christ (Acts 2:38;
Romans 6:3-5; Galatians 3:26-27), and work at staying in Him (1 John 1:7). And
let’s get busy maturing our faith and encouraging one another daily (Hebrews
10:25) to be practicing holiness so that we will be found working steadily at
it when He does come again.
Doug
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