Waiting For His Coming
Since the beginning of the Church, believers have been waiting for the Second Coming of Jesus. The first coming of the Messiah Jesus was preceded by millenniums of prophetic promises and yet at the “fullness of time” all that was prophesied of Him came to pass. God, Himself, spoke out the first prophetic word when He said that the “seed of the woman” would crush Satan under His feet. (Gen. 3.15) First, there is the Eternal Word, then the manifestation of that Word in time and space. The Bible says that: “The Lord does nothing without first revealing His secrets to His servants the prophets.” (Amos 3.7) True prophecy, begins with God and then is heard and spoken by men or women who are divinely inspired. In fact, there are 365 references in the Old Testament that prophetically speak of the birth, life and death of Jesus.
Just as the first prophecy of the coming of Jesus was spoken by God, His second coming was first revealed by the Son of God. First, Jesus spoke of His Second Coming in parables, (Luke 12.35-40), and later, more clearly, as in John 14.2: “…I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself…” In the New Testament, one out of every twenty-five verses refers to the return of the Lord and the establishment of His Kingdom here on earth. There are more verse referring to His Second Coming than His First. Because of the centrality of the message of Jesus’ return, believers, everywhere and in every age, have been anxiously waiting for Him.
The message of the Second Coming, gave urgency to the spreading of the Gospel.Believing that their generation could be the last generation, the early believers left all to dedicate themselves to preach the message of salvation to their Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Though most saw the immediate return of the Lord as an urgent call to evangelize the lost, some took the position of spectator and were just waiting. This is what took place in the Church at Thessalonica. In Paul’s first letter to this church, he warned that the day of the Lord would come as a “thief in the night”. (I Thes. 4.15) Though the Paul’s intention was to encourage the church to stay firm in their faith and active in their mission, some just stopped everything and sat down to wait. I am sure they thought that working and investing for the future was a waste of time, seeing that, with the Lord’s coming, all would be lost.
In the year 1000, much of the Church believed that the end of the first millennium marked time set by God for Jesus’ return. Many sold their livestock, quit their jobs and went to high places, while dressed in white garments, to wait His coming. In 1988, Edgar Whisenant, a NASA scientist and Bible student, wrote the book: 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. Over 4.5 million copies of this book were sold, as many believers anxiously expected his interpretation of end-time events to be accurate. Some quit their jobs, maxed out their credit cards and even killed their animals, as the predicted date of the Rapture approached.
Just as all the prophecies of the First Coming of Jesus were accurate and were fulfilled, all the predictions of the Second Coming will also be fulfilled. To avoid “jumping the gun”, it would be wise to follow Paul’s admonition to the Thessalonians. He instructed them to not be idle, but diligent in their work, to stand firm in their faith, and to be established in every good work and word. We all need to be active in our waiting. Let us all be found doing His will on the day of the Lord’s return.
Scriptures to meditate on:
Gen. 3.25; Luke 24.25-27; John 14.1-4; Acts 1.6-11; I Thes. 4.15-18; 5.2; II Thes. 1-10-12; 3.6-10.