I am Thankful for the Promise of the Lord’s Return
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:3 NKJV)
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,” (1 Corinthians 15:51 KJV)
“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: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 KJV)
The Promise
The Lord has promised believers in Him eternal life. He has also promised us that He will return. This return or coming is a coming of judgment on the world that has rejected HIm but it is a coming of comfort to those of us who believe in Him.
The Mystery
The Old Testament deals with an earthly people, with earthly promises and an earthly land. New Testament believers are a spiritual or heavenly people, with heavenly promises and a heavenly land or home. We are waiting for the Lord to return to take us to that mansion (or place of abode–maybe the guest room) that He has gone to prepare for us. His return is our motivating hope, and it is our purifying hope.
The Jews, the earthly people in the Old Testament, expected the first coming of the Messiah. Unfortunately they didn’t understand that He must suffer before he could reign and they rejected the Lord. He was born King of the Jews and He died King of the Jews. But He didn’t bear arms (weapons) or wage war and He didn’t come from a regal background. He wasn’t even born in Jerusalem. So the Jews rejected Him. They are still expecting Him to come and liberate them from their enemies, but unfortunately, because of their rejection of the Lord when He came the first time, they (as a nation) are going to experience His wrath before they experience His salvation. The part of His coming that we as Christians are expecting is the part that will deliver us from this wrath that is to come.
The Timing
Now therein is the problem. The Lord does tell us that He is coming again. His coming involves a catching away of believers since they have been delivered from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10). But He doesn’t tell us when. We are always to be ready. We are always to be busy with the Lord’s work until He comes. But the timing of many things in the Bible is a problem since the Bible is written about subjects in many places rather than being a chronological treatise. Having said that, we do have a calendar of events given to us in Daniel 9 There will be 69 weeks from the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem to the crucifixion. But the last week (the 70th week) apparently did not follow immediately upon the cutting off of the Messiah. Each week appears to represent seven years. The last of those weeks seems to commence with a peace treaty with the unbelieving nation of Israel and a man who promises them peace. He seems to be a prince out of the Roman Empire. It is clear from Luke 4:19-20 and from Isaiah 61:2, that the Lord fulfilled the prophecy of the “acceptable year of the Lord” when He came the first time. But there has been 2000 years between that fulfillment and the coming day of vengeance which I believe is found in the 70th week of Daniel’s prophecy. You will notice that the Lord didn’t read the whole verse in Luke 4.
So because we are an impatient people, many scoffers are saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation (2 Peter 3: 4 NKJV).”
Preparation
I believe the Lord is looking forward to having His bride in heaven. All who are saved during this day of grace are part of the bride, and are looking forward to His coming. He has promised and He will fulfill that promise. But as the time lengthens from His promise to His return, the anticipation of His coming only becomes sweeter. His coming will bring about the kind of joy that partners have when their loved ones come back unexpectedly from a long deployment in war. The long absence makes the unexpected coming all that much memorable.
I’m ready, are you?
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of December 5, 2021