“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels in heaven, but my Father only.”
When is Jesus coming again? This is a question that has been asked since Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father. As early as New Testament days, Christians were looking for the coming of Jesus. Be sure of this, there is no New Testament doctrine more sure than the fact that Jesus is coming again. His coming back is stated by Jesus and by all writers throughout the New Testament, but we are not given a date. I know that I do not know, but I don't feel ignorant because I am in good company. In Matthew 25:36 Jesus said: "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." All of the events of the end-time are in the mind and heart of God and will unfold as He deems necessary. Jesus added in Matthew 25:44: "Therefore be ye ready; for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." The point is that we are to be ready for His coming. As I've often said: "I'm not on the time and place committee, but I am on the preparation committee." However, I am among those who say that Jesus could come at any time. We just need to be prepared and ready. There is another aspect to this matter of preparation that I picked up on in Acts 1, where Jesus was about to ascend to the Father. His disciples asked Him a question: "Lord, wilt thou restore again the kingdom to Israel.?" Here is Jesus' answer, and it introduces the other aspect of preparing for His coming that I mentioned above. Jesus said: "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power. But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts 1:7-8) Jesus told them not to spend their time speculating but serving, because the Father is perfectly capable of taking care of His end of the bargain. As the angel said to Jesus' disciples in Acts 1:11: "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." It's almost as if the angel is saying, "Didn't you hear what He said? Stop gazing and go witness as He told you." In this matter we are not speculators or spectators; we are servants who are to "occupy 'til He comes." Instead of spending our time speculating, we are to spend our time being His witnesses to the world. I am not proposing that you should not study prophecy, or that you should not wonder about when Jesus is coming again. There are a lot of good studies on prophecy, but none of them ever try to tell us when Jesus is coming. David Jeremiah has done a lot of preaching and teaching on end-time prophecies, but he has not tried to declare a date. In 1988 a man, whose name I do not remember, wrote a book entitled: “88 Reasons Why Jesus Will Come In 1988.” I did not read it, but a lot of people did, and probably believed it until 1988 ended and Jesus had not yet come. He gave up –right? Wrong! He wrote a book in 1989 entitled: “89 Reasons Why Jesus will Come In 1989.” Well, we are still here – he missed again. Those who try to set a date always miss it and leave a lot of disillusioned people in their wake. Jesus told His disciples, and us, in Acts 1:8 what we are to do until He comes: “But you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” It is not our business to tell people when Jesus is returning, because we don’t know, but it is our business to help make sure that the good news about Jesus Christ is heard about around the world – and we need to start in our own “Jerusalem.” Jesus is coming again. That is a sure biblical promise. Until then let us be about the Lord’s business of witnessing to the world. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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