Jesus Will Return

Mature Christians speak about Christ and point to the promise of his return. He is coming again and that is good news to whosoever will believe. When he comes, he will separate the sheep from the goats, judging the hearts of humanity. There was a time in our life when we had no knowledge or interest in Christ. We were ignorant of his advent, his incarnation, which was his first coming to earth in flesh and therefore we were ignorant of his second coming as well. But have come to know and trust Christ. We believe that he is who he said he is. We also believe what he taught and live out his teachings. Given that he taught that he will return again, we begin learning how to live in light of that truth. For a season it seems challenging to us because of how the world, our desires, and our concerns which demand our loyalty. As our loyalty is firmly established in Christ through the time we spend with him, we mature in him. Maturity in Christ leads us to turn away from the things that challenged us as our anticipation for his return increases. The things that were important to us are not so anymore. What is important to us now is that we help others come to know Christ. He is coming and we will be ready. But we also want those we know and love to be ready. They may not believe us, but we still need to tell them. Not because we have a duty to do so, but because of our love for God and our love for them. Therefore, as often as we have an opportunity, we speak of Jesus Christ, which includes his promise to return.

Growth towards Christian maturity

Concentrating on My Future

All of us are born into this world dead in sin. We walk around as if we had life because we do have physical life for a season, but we are spiritually dead. We have no love of God. No knowledge or interest in Christ. We live for ourselves. We pursue the things of this world that we believe will satisfy the desires and lusts of our flesh. There is no understanding in us. No concern for our soul. Our aim is to gain the whole world; at least as much as we desire, but we don't know that in the process we would lose our soul. As far as Jesus's death and resurrection, we know nothing about this. The gospel is not good news to us, if we have even heard it. That Jesus ascended into heaven and promised to return again sounds like science fiction at best, but more like old fairy tales to us. Our focus is on what we get in this life, nothing else.

Challenged by the Future

Only those who hear the good news of the kingdom of God and believe the gospel become Christ's followers. It is to his followers that Jesus? promised to return is good news. As we listen to what he taught, we encounter his statements about returning from heaven one day. At first it is easy for us to miss since there is so much that Jesus teaches and the truth of his death and resurrection have to sink in. But eventually we come to see that he also promised to return. We see that Jesus told of his second coming to his disciples and to the religious leaders. His disciples eventually believed him. The religious leaders accused him of blaspheme and called for his crucifixion. As his disciples, we too come to acknowledge that he said he would return. Because we are not yet mature in Christ, we find the idea of his return challenging in light of other things he said. We look at ourselves and the things we have done and wonder if we will be separated with the sheep or the goats. There may even be a tug we feel that we somehow have to go out and do all the things Jesus had said in order to earn the right to be counted among the sheep. In time we will see that what Christ calls us to is simply faith. That faith will lead us to serve others in a variety of ways, but we don't serve in order to earn eternal life when he returns. We may also look upon Jesus? question about whether he will find faith on the earth when he returns and wonder if we really have faith. Maybe we see the picture painted by Paul of our being presented as people who are holy and blameless and above reproach, and wonder if that is even possible with us. In these and similar ways, we find ourselves challenged by the idea of Christ's return and what the future holds for us. But as we grow in Christ, those issues get resolved. Not by our doing something about them, but by our knowing and trusting Christ. Our confidence in placed more and more in him. Another challenge we face as we grow in Christ is related to our place in the world. Jesus Christ opened the eyes of those who were blind. Likewise, he opens our eyes to spiritual realities that we could not see before being born again by the Spirit. Looking at the direction our world has been and is going challenges us. We may start off thinking that if people just knew Christ, the world would be made right. But the more we get to know the truth of Scripture and observe the passions and choices of people, the more we come to realize that the world needs a radical transformation. We see that transformation connected to Christ's return. We believe that Jesus said he would someday return. Yet we are also disturbed about him returning because there are people we know and love who don't believe Christ. Yet another challenge is that the world still has some appeal to us. We are dying to ourselves and hungering more and more for Christ and his kingdom. Even so, there are things that we look at and desire. Maybe it's a relationship, something we would like to accomplish, or even the enjoyment that comes from the simple things of life. We are challenged because we are coming to realize that Jesus? return is going to change the way things are. Since we don't know exactly what that means or what things will look like, we are tempted to hold onto the things we think we know or expect. The thought of his return challenges to allow God to be God.

Believing Christ will Return

--Needs content--

Looking for Jesus' Coming

Maturity in this area of our walk with Christ develops as we hunger for the kingdom of God more than anything else. We pray as Jesus taught us to pray that our heavenly Father's kingdom would come and His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. These take deep root within us and lead us to draw near to God and experience His drawing near to us. The more we consider the state of this world in light of the kingdom of God; we hunger for Christ to come. The more we contemplate the promises of the kingdom and what it has to offer verses our life here and now and what we think see the world offering, the more we long for Jesus? second coming. The more time we spend with Christ, the more naturally we serve the Lord out of love over and above any sense of obligation or duty and thus the coming of Christ is much more appealing than when we thought we had to work for it. These are ways in which we grow and mature in light of Christ's imminent return. We are clearly maturing in Christ. Yet, there is another aspect of our maturity, which is telling others about Jesus? return. Obviously, in order to talk about his return, we have to be talking about him. His return makes no sense without his death, resurrection, and ascension. It makes no sense unless people understand the problem of sin and death and our need for salvation. It is not at all desirable for those who are not willing for Christ to be their Lord. Therefore, we must share his whole story in order to be able to talk about his return. Because we grasp the big picture and know God's patience with the world, we speak of his return as we pray for those we love and call for the Lord to come. We hear him say that he is coming quickly and we are ready. But there are those who are not ready and we pray for opportunities to bring the gospel to them. We have no idea how much longer we are going to have to wait for Christ. In every generation there are those who say that Christ will come in their time. Yet he waits for it is not yet time. It may be a long wait. There may be many dangers that we face. He warned us to be on alert about false claims that he has come. Still, he has promised to come and he will come. Until Christ returns, we talk about Christ to all who will listen and tell them that he is coming.

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