Photo by Christian Buehner on Unsplash
Last week, I asked Jesus, are you the one?
The answer is that he is, but that leads to the question, what is the promise of his coming?
These were his [Jesus] last words. As they watched, he was taken up and disappeared in a cloud.
They stood there, staring into the empty sky. Suddenly two men appeared – in white robes!
They said, “You Galileans! – why do you just stand here looking up at an empty sky? This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly – and mysteriously – as he left.”
Acts 1:9-11 The Message
Three things to consider that the angels said:
1—Jesus was taken into heaven
In the Old Testament book of Exodus, Moses went to the top of a mountain to meet with God. After 40 days, the children of Israel came to Aaron, Moses’ brother, saying make us God because we have no idea what has happened to Moses.
It was a fair question.
He had been gone over a month without a single word.
God told Moses to get down the mountain because the people had corrupted themselves by making gods and worshipping them.
Can you imagine what happens when Jesus does not return after 2,000 years?
The Old Testament story of Moses gives us a clue—the people made gods and worshipped them.
2—Jesus will come as certainly as he left
The angels spoke to the disciples (Christ-followers), giving them a specific word—this very Jesus will return.
It is written in the New Testament book of Titus.
This truth gives them confidence that they have eternal life, which God—who does not lie—promised them before the world began.
Titus 1:2—The New Living Translation
I, the LORD, have spoken it;
It shall come to pass, and I will do it;
I will not hold back,
Nor will I spare,
Nor will I relent;
According to your ways
And according to your deeds
They[fn] will judge you,”Says the Lord GOD.'”
Ezekiel 24:14 New King James Version
The Evans paraphrase
God told the angels what to tell the disciples that day on the mountainside. Since he (God) does not lie, it (Jesus’ return) will certainly happen as he said.
3—Jesus’ return will be mysterious
The apostle Peter addresses this issue in his second letter.
First off, you need to know that in the last days, mockers are going to have a heyday. Reducing everything to the level of their puny feelings,
they’ll mock, “So what’s happened to the promise of his Coming? Our ancestors are dead and buried, and everything’s going on just as it has from the first day of creation. Nothing’s changed.”
They conveniently forget that long ago all the galaxies and this very planet were brought into existence out of watery chaos by God’s word.
Then God’s word brought the chaos back in a flood that destroyed the world.
The current galaxies and earth are fuel for the final fire. God is poised, ready to speak his word again, ready to give the signal for the judgment and destruction of the desecrating skeptics.
Don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day.
God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.
But when the Day of God’s Judgment does come, it will be unannounced, like a thief. The sky will collapse with a thunderous bang, everything disintegrating in a huge conflagration, earth and all its works exposed to the scrutiny of Judgment.
II Peter 3:3-10 The Message
In the last days:
- Mockers will have a heyday.
- Mockers will reduce everything to puny feelings.
- Mockers will scoff, what has happened to the promise of his [Jesus] coming?
- Mockers will not consider the bigger picture.
In the last days it will be all about me! Self-centered, self-righteous, self-important emotions will be heard regardless of the cost to anyone and everyone.
Does that sound familiar?
In the last days, Jesus—and anyone bold enough to follow him—will be accused of being small-minded, every kind of “phobic” that can be named and discarded as hopelessly lost and useless.
Has anyone experienced that?
The big picture will be lost in the last few days because of the attempts to erase the past. If it does not agree with the puny self-willed feelings of today, it it beyond canceled, it is erased.
Everything has changed
The apostle Peter points to the creation of the earth, where God spoke existence out of nothing.
The apostle Paul speaks about this in his letter to the church in Rome.
The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next.
Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in
until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the exact moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.
All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs.
Romans 8:19-22 The Message
He calls them birth pangs and says the earth and Christ-followers are experiencing them.
The promise of His coming
The apostle Peter says that God is holding everything back, giving humanity every opportunity to hear the clarion call of God, the Holy Spirit, to accept Jesus as savior.
This explains why it is taking so long. God the Father is looking for the last human soul to cry out in repentance and accept the eternal gift of salvation.
However, there is a day—like the special day you circle on your calendar—when God the Father says it’s done and turns to God the Son saying it’s time, return to earth and gather your people.
The cloud that took Jesus into heaven will be there to bring him back to earth. (I don’t know if it will be the same cloud; it sounded poetic!)
But when it will happen is a mystery. So, we wait, hope, trust, and pray.
A close personal relationship with the Godhead provides you a living hope. It is a living anticipation full of expectation of something good happening.
A close personal relationship with the Godhead is a journey. I invite you to follow along. As I learn, I will pass it along so you, too, can learn. I hope that as you learn, you can pass it along so that I (and others) might learn.
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