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Bible Study Theology

Christ’s return will be sudden

Here’s another post in a short series I am doing on the return of Christ.  Read back over the last several posts to see my purpose in focusing on the this tremendous truth:  Jesus will return to earth.    Today I want to show how the Scriptures teach that his return will be sudden.

But before I go to some specific Scriptures, I feel the need to emphasize that what I am challenging us to do is NOT to focus on the COMING of Christ, but on the coming of CHRIST!  Do you understand what I mean by my use of capital letters there?  Very often, when we speak of Christ’s coming, the emphasis is on the event, and we forget the person of the event.  What makes the second coming so encouraging to us as believers is that it is JESUS who is coming.  If Jesus isn’t precious to us… if we fail to see his glory and the desirability of being in his bodily presence, then we will have missed the encouragement that we can receive by remembering that the glorious bridegroom of the church is coming back to earth.

So when we see in Scripture that Jesus’ return will be sudden, we understand that the suddenness of his coming is an encouragement to those who love him, while it will be dismaying to those who don’t.

Perhaps the passage that most clearly teaches this truth is Matthew 24:36-44.  

But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.  37 As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man (see also 2 Pet. 3:5-6 for a comparison to Noah’s flood).  38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left.  41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.  42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.  43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.  44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Consider the difference in the way the two individuals mentioned will perceive the suddenness of Christ’s return.  Of the two men in the field (v. 40), or of the two women at the mill (v. 41), one rejoices as he/she is immediately in the presence of the one he loves most, while the other is suddenly  aware that the flood of judgement that Jesus Christ promised has come upon the world, and he/she is outside the Ark of Grace.

I Thess. 5:2ff, another passage that underlines the suddenness of Jesus’ return, draws this same contrast:

2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.  3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security”, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labour pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.  4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.  5 For you are all children of light, children of the day.  We are not of the night or of the darkness.  6 So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.  7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night.  8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.  11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Here again, the return of Christ is spoken of as being very sudden:  To those who deny his coming and find their peace and security is something other than the salvation that Jesus provided at the Cross when he died as a substitute for sinners, Christ’s coming will result in “sudden destruction” (v. 3).  But for those who are united with Christ in his death and are looking to him alone for salvation from their sinfulness (vs. 8-10), his sudden return is the culmination of a hope that has been implanted in their hearts since the day they first came to Christ in repentance and faith–the hope that “we might live with him” (v. 10) for all eternity.

There is another passage that comes to mind as painting this picture of eager anticipation for Christ’s return–a passage not often associated with eschatology, but I think very appropriate.  It is in the Song of Solomon, chapter 3

1 On my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not.  I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my soul loves.  I sought him, but found him not.  The watchmen found me as they went about the city.  “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”  Scarcely had I passed them when I found him whom my soul loves.  I held him, and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her who conceived me

Our puritan forefathers rightly saw in Solomon’s love poem, the relationship of Christ with his Bride, the Church.  What a beautiful picture is painted in these verses of the Church eagerly anticipating the return of Christ.  It is in this context that the Scriptural doctrine of the sudden return of Christ is such an encouragement to us as believers.  Very soon now, our Lord will come for us.

Sorry these posts on Christ’s return have been so infrequent recently, but I’m trying to learn a fairly difficult language right now, and that has occupied a lot of my time!  How I desire for this unreached people among whom I am living to know this glorious truth that Jesus is coming back.  By God’s grace, may many of them receive life on that day and escape the wrath to come!

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Bible Study Theology

Christ’s return is certain

Yesterday I talked about the Scriptural command that we should encourage one another with the fact of Christ’s return.  I believe that when we fail to do this, the result is either apathetic disengagement with the work of the Lord, or despair in the face of persecution and difficulty.  God has saved us, his children, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  And he has given us  the “blessed hope” that our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will return and complete that salvation by his glorious appearing (Titus 2:13-14)

So what does the Bible teach about Jesus’ return?

His return is certain.

There is no doubt: Jesus will come back.  The angels said to the 11 disciples as they watched Jesus rise up into the air:  “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11)  Jesus will come.  As I Thess. 5.2 says, “the day of the Lord will come…”  In Matthew 24:44 Jesus said, “…the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”  

The Bible also reminds us that the certainty of Christ’s coming will very often be challenged by those around us.  The apostle Peter says in 2 Peter 3:3-4

3…knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.  4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming?  For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

But even though at times we may be tempted to question the return of Christ due to influences like  this spoken of by the apostle, let us encourage ourselves (and one another) with this fact:  Jesus IS coming.  It WILL happen!  A more certain assertion cannot be made than this one:  Jesus will return to earth.   There is no fact more certain than that. 

  • It is more certain than the possibility that the cancer in your body will kill you.
  • It is more certain than the continuation of your career.
  • It is more certain than the value of your life insurance policy.
  • It is more certain than the retirement you are planning.
  • It is more certain than the plans you have for what you want to do for the Lord.

Jesus is coming.  Hallelujah and Maranatha!

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!  21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.  Amen.

(Revelation 22:20-21)

I want to continue with more blog posts on the coming of Christ, but it may not be until the end of the month before I can post again.  Sorry.

NOTE:  In order to keep this post brief, I haven’t included all the specific promises of Christ’s return that the Bible contains.  Perhaps you could contribute to this blog by mentioning in the comments section some of the specific verses promising Christ’s coming that I have not mentioned.

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Bible Study Theology

The importance of meditating on Christ’s return

Recently I was involved in a special prayer meeting for a church in Asia that is being persecuted.  As we prayed together, the Spirit brought to my mind the following passage from 1 Thessalonians, and the importance of actively maintaining in the forefront of our minds the hope of Christ’s return.  Frequent meditation on Christ’s return will encourage and strengthen us as we face persecution and difficulty in this world.  

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.  14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.  15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.  16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.  18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

When we fail to meditate on these details of Christ’s return, we are missing out on a very important source of encouragement that God has designed for us.  Paul says that we are to “encourage one another with these words.”  

In the next chapter, he says the same thing:  “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (I Thessalonians 5:11).  This second reminder to encourage one another, just like the first, follows a description of the details that will surround Christ’s return to earth.  

I Thessalonians 5:1-10

“Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you.  2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.  3 While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security’, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labour pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.  4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.  5 For you are all children of light, children of the day.  We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.  7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night.  8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.  9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.  11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Consider the tremendous power these truths have to encourage us as God’s people.  When we face persecution and difficulty during our lives, even if that difficulty is for an extended period of time (perhaps even for our whole lives), meditating on the truth that Jesus is coming back and will eternally reign as king over a perfect and sinless new earth will give us a different perspective on our circumstances.  What is a year of suffering? or ten years?  or a lifetime? in comparison to what Jesus has prepared for us in eternity?

Or taken from another perspective, meditating on Christ’s return will encourage us not to be slothful and lazy during those times when we are not facing difficulty or persecution.  As verse 6 says, “let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and sober.”  What regret we will experience at the return of Christ if we have not busied ourselves with the Lord’s work as we wait for him to come.  We will be like the servant who had nothing to show for the talent that had been entrusted to him in his master’s absence.  (For a sobering thought, read the consequences this servant suffered in Matthew 25:30)

So given the power that these truths have to encourage us, over the next several days, I want to meditate on what the Scriptures teach about the return of Christ.