The Return of Christ

I've heard a lot on this subject in recent years. I worked at a church were I heard the pastor say almost weekly, "Another sign of the soon return of Christ." I've read Facebook posts on it a lot from other pastors, and as many of us will all recall the recent prediction for May 21 and then October 21, 2011. But my most recent encounter with this idea has come from a job I didn't apply for.

I've been looking for a ministry position for almost a year now, and this past week I found a posting that was pretty much exactly what I have been searching for. But after doing some praying and researching of the Church I felt God leading away from it. But one of the biggest things that hit me was their state belief on the return of Christ.

The Bible tells us that no one knows the day or the hour except for the Father (Matthew 24.36). We are told that Jesus will return in the same way He went up to Heaven (Acts 1.11), and that He will come on the clouds and every eye will see Him (Revelation 1.7). Also we are told that it will be soon (Revelation 22.7) and it will be a time we do not expect (Luke 12.40). Note that these are not all of the Biblical references on this topic, simply a few that hit the major things we are told about it.

We are never told when it will happen, other than soon, and it has been soon for about 2,000 years. When the Holy Spirit came in Acts 2 it began the "Last Days". We have been living in them since the day of Pentecost. So yes, we are in the last days, and yes Jesus is returning soon, because it has been soon for the last 2,000ish years, and we are closer to it now than they were then. But that is the only thing we can say with any certainty.

And so it leads me to wonder why people make concrete statements about when Jesus is coming back? Who do we think we are to be able to say with certainty that Jesus will return on this day, or at this point in the future? Billy Graham once said, "Live everyday like Jesus will return today, but live everyday like we have to plan for the next thousand years." I shared that with the pastor mentioned above when he asked me my thoughts on the second coming, and he threw it back in my face saying, "That's just a man's opinion." Yes Billy Graham is just a man, but I think he makes a really good point.

We do not know when Jesus is coming back, all we know is that He is. And so we need to live life like that. We live ready, because Jesus could come back today. He could come back before I finish typing this sentence (obviously He didn't). But at the same time we need to live like He isn't coming back for a while. After all, it's been soon for almost 2,000 years.

I think when it comes to this subject people fall in one of two extremes. The first is those who emphasis the soon part. They are almost obsessed with it, and point to all of the bad stuff that is taking place in the world as evidence that Jesus is coming back any minute. What about the bad stuff that has happened before today? What about the Holocaust? What about the Crusades? What about the early century persecutions? What about the wiping out of the Native Americans, or the Aztecs? Bad things have been happening for thousands of years, but somehow what is happening now is worse than all of that in the eyes of this group.

And then there is the other side, the group that ignores all of this. They live as if they have all the time in the world (Talking about Christian's here). The second coming is something they blow off, possibly because of all the attention it gets from the other group, and things like the Left Behind series. This group, usually the younger generation because there have been times when I have thought this way, almost doesn't take it seriously. It's something that is going to happen some day, but not for a long time from now, certainly not until after we're dead. Let some future generation worry about it.

I think the answer, as with many things, lies in the middle. Living with the realization that every day that passes brings us one day closer, but that it still could be years away. We live ready for it, as the Bible says, "loving His appearing" (2 Timothy 4) but fighting the good fight, finishing the course, and keeping the faith (2 Timothy 4) in the event that it is still a long way off. We live sharing the Gospel in all that we say and do so that others see Christ in us, and we prepare the generation after us to do the same. We live every day like Jesus will return today, but at the same time live like He isn't coming back for a thousand years.

We do not know the day or the hour. It will happen suddenly and unannounced, like a thief in the night. The event will take place, and that is what matters. The when is not important, but what does matter is that it will happen. Jesus is coming back, how are you living?

"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."

To God alone be the Glory!

Peace be with you