Is Jesus Coming Soon?

 

[Jesus said] “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 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, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 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. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Matthew 24:36-44 ESV).

 

It seems like more people are preoccupied with the Second Coming of Jesus than ever in my experiences. I must confess I have always been theological centered in the imminent return of Christ; however, I have never subscribed to any semblance of predicting the “times or the seasons.” I do encourage everyone to be expectant and ready however.

 

Not long ago as I was visiting with someone in the office, they began to ask me questions about the Second Coming. AS I took them to various Scriptural references, they asked, “Wouldn’t that be awesome if Jesus came back today?” That comment took me by surprise, coming from a young adult. It reminded me of a conversation that I had with one of my physical therapists. Somehow we got on to the subject of death. He said something that intimated death was the worse thing that could happen. My response was a standard denial of that. I said, “No, that is the best outcome.” He then asked, “Well, if you were to die, what would you miss seeing your children and grandchildren do in their life?” I simply said, “Nothing.” I then quoted Hebrews 12:1. Then he surprised me by asking, “Well, what would they have missed with you being gone?” Now that’s a different question entirely. The thought is the undergirding of what I want us to explore in the next few days. We must concentrate on personally being ready and doing whatever we can to help others be ready for the final call of Jesus.

 

Two things are certain: either Jesus will call us home in death, or He will return and initiate the end of time as we know it. The greatest question is whether we are ready? Are you? Only faith in Jesus will suffice in that moment!