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Most Christians have great joy in believing that Jesus will come again, but there are some people who do not possess this precious hope.
Perhaps they feel like the woman who, having heard a sermon on the return of Christ, hurriedly left the service during the final prayer.
Later she confronted the minister and asked, "How could you dare pray 'Come, Lord Jesus'?" She added that if Jesus came it would
interrupt her many plans. The minister replied, "Jesus is coming whether you want it or not." Even today there are many who do
not want Jesus to come, but there are many others who are anxiously awaiting His return. Dr. G. Campbell Morgan said, "To me the second
coming is the perpetual light on the path which makes the present bearable. "
Do you expectantly await His coming? An aged Negro man once said that he waited for Christ with his feet untangled. If we are going
to feel such a sense of expectation, we must understand the promises of His coming. There are many such promises but only a few of them
can be shared in this study.
In Matthew 26:64, Jesus said, "...Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds
of heaven." Paul wrote, "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..." (l Thes. 4:16). John adds, "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see
him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen" (Rev. 1:7).Therefore, "Be
ye also patient: stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh" James 5:8).
In addition to these Scriptures which positively and emphatically announce His second advent, there are two other Scriptures which
we should notice. The first is John 14:3. Before Jesus left this earth. He promised, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." Because He promised to return, we should expectantly wait.
We should be like the little boy whose father told him to wait on the corner while he drove the car down the street for a tire repair.
At the garage other problems were discovered which made repairs require a longer time than the father had previously thought. The
father became anxious and concerned about his son, but upon his return he found the boy patiently waiting. The child said, "I knew
you would come as soon as you could so I stayed where you told me, waiting and watching for you." How wonderful it would be if every
child of God had such confidence in the return of our Lord! Then at His coming we could say, "I stayed where you told me; I waited
and I watched."
The second verse is Acts 1:11, in which angels said, "...this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like
manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." This Scripture reminds me of a mother whose son left his homeland to migrate to the United
States. When he departed he told her, " I will come back to see you again." After many years the mother's friends tried to discourage her
expectant waiting. 1hey told her that he came in his letters and they insisted that she expect no more, but at last he returned home again.
Some would say that, since Jesus promised in the Bible to return and come in Spirit to us, we should expect no more; but I do. His promise
was to return not only in Spirit but also in person. Jesus went bodily and visibly into heaven, and the angels assured us that He will return
in the same manner. Job believed that he would see his Redeemer with his eyes Job 19:26), and so shall we. Yes, He will come again,
and when He does, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:10-11).
Having scripturally documented the fact of His return, we should now consider some of the signs which precede it. People are basically
inquisitive today, as they were when Jesus walked on the earth. His disciples asked on one occasion" ...what shall be the sign of thy coming,
and of the end of the world?" (Mt. 24:3). They wanted to know what to expect and what signs might indicate the arrival of the events of
which He spoke. In the verses of that lengthy chapter, Jesus answered their questions by describing awful events such as wars, natural
disasters, and spiritual changes such as iniquity abounding while love waxed cold. The immediate application of those Scriptures dealt with
the apostasy of Jerusalem and its destruction by Titus about A.D. 70; nevertheless, many of those conditions have existed at other times
and still exist today. So perhaps in the extended view we may see some measure of application of those Scriptures to the second coming
of Christ. There are also many other signs of "the last days" which Paul described as "perilous times." He said, "For men shall be lovers
of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,
truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more
than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away" (2 Tim. 3:2-5). No doubt these sins
have marked every age in history to some degree and have been bemoaned by faithful saints of God. Perhaps in every age since our
Lord was on the earth, some have witnessed the presence of such sins and felt that the coming of the Lord was near. Even today these
conditions are widespread throughout our nation and the world. In our society there certainly are people who love pleasure more than
God and prove it each Lord's day by neglecting the worship services, giving preference to some pursuit of pleasure. Many today call
themselves Christians and yet flaunt their adultery, homosexuality, and fornication openly. Paul said they have only a form of godliness.
Other signs which people are expecting are the "antichrists" (l John 2:18-23;4:3), "that man of sin" revealed, and the coming of a "falling
away" (2 Thes. 2:3-4); yet these have been witnessed throughout the gospel age. We now live in a day when men will not endure sound
doctrine (2 Tim. 4:3), and many have fallen away from"the truth of God's Word.
Since most if not all of these signs have been witnessed by saints since the promise of His return, how can we know when He is coming?
The answer should be obvious; we cannot discover the time of His return. We cannot use the signs as an instrument to predict when
He will come again. I personally believe that these conditions will get worse and worse (2 Tim. 3:13) and then suddenly He will appear.
There is no possible way for us to know when He will come so to "state a date" would manifest our ignorance of the Scriptures. Jesus
said that "...of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only" (Mt. 24:36). Though I cannot tell
you when, I do believe that His coming is near. In 2 Peter 3:8 we are told "...that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and
a thousand years as one day." Perhaps there is a connection between this passage and the six days of creation after which our Lord rested
(Ex. 20:11). If this connection is divinely intended, then at the end of 6,000 years of human history, our Lord will come. Of course none
of us can calculate when that time will be or even get close to it, because of the inaccuracy of our timekeeping. It could mean that He
He will return shortly before the turn of the century, or it may go beyond for a hundred or more years. Only God knows when the end
will come; no mortal will know when Jesus will return until He arrives.
Since God has not given signs by which we can calculate the return of Jesus and has been pleased to keep that time a well-guarded secret,
then we must ponder the reason. I believe that He divinely designed it this way so that we would be in a perpetual state of waiting,
"...Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ ..." (Titus 2:13). Since we
cannot know when, only that He is coming, we must wait with patience and in constant readiness. I want to be like the old caretaker
who was hired to keep up a vacation home for his wealthy employer. During the twenty-four years of his service, the master of the house
visited only four times; yet the caretaker kept it as beautiful as if his master were coming that very day! We should live each day in a state
of expectancy, waiting and looking for Him to come the second time without sin unto salvation (Heb. 9:28).
The promise of His second coming was not just to give people something to believe, because He will come again even if we all become
weary with waiting and cast away our hopes. God gave this wonderful knowledge of His coming that it might have a positive affect upon
our lives today and every day; therefore, we are to live each day as though it were our last and to expect Him to to come at any time.
"Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober" (l Thes. 5:6). "For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come,
and will not tarry" (Heb. 10:37). "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Rev.
22:20). Let us be busy about our Father's business (Luke 2:49) and thereby bring glory to the One for whom we wait expectantly.
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