Lesson Nineteen • The Return of Christ
Pastor Philip Piasecki
Have you ever found yourself waiting for someone to pick you up or meet you somewhere, and they are running late? Not only are they late, but they double down by telling you they are “almost there.” When in reality they are not even close. They tell you they are five minutes away when really they are fifteen minutes away? This is one of my biggest pet peeves. It is not the being late part, but the not being honest about being late part. If you are fifteen minutes away, just say you are fifteen minutes away so I can plan accordingly! Just be honest people! Okay, thanks for letting me vent. I feel like some Christians have this perspective toward Jesus when they think of His second coming. He clearly tells us in Scripture that He is “coming soon.”
Revelation 22:6-7 says, “And he said to me, ‘These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place. And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.’”
We may read this some two thousand years later and feel that He is confused about His definition of the word “soon.” Just like the person who says they are almost there when they are not even close. This is when we must humble ourselves and acknowledge that His ways are not our ways. When thinking about the second coming, I love to think of 2 Peter 3:8, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
When we look at the second coming through the perspective of this verse, the Lord has only been gone a little over two days. In His eternal perspective, He is coming soon. So, why does Christ tell us He is coming soon, what should our response be to that? Is it to stare at the sky each day looking for His return? Of course not, but unfortunately many Christians fall into the trap of being consumed with His second coming that they neglect the work that the Lord has put before them.
Revelation 22:11-13 adds, “Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy. Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
I love that the verse says let “the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.” Despite the fact that the Lord is coming soon we have a job to do. We still need to be righteous and we still need to be holy. We have a world that needs saving and we should thank God for every extra day that He waits to return, because that means more people around us have the opportunity to know the saving love of Christ. When the Lord does return, I hope He finds the people of The River Church busy growing in their faith and sharing the love of Christ with others.