Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Let the one who is unrighteous remain unrighteous, let the one who is filthy remain filthy, let the one who is righteous continue to do righeousness, and let the one who is holy remain holy. Behold, I Am Coming Soon! And my reward is with me, to pay back everyone according to his work. Rev.22:11, 12.

When I was 9 years old, someone convinced my mother that Jesus would return in the year 1964. He noted the text "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be when the Son of man comes"(Matt. 24:37) and reckoned that the days of Noah had lasted 120 years (the time it took Noah to build the ark). He added that period to the year 1844, which was significant to him for other reasons, and concluded that Jesus would come back in the year 1964. The idea impressed me enough to decide that I would have fun until around 1962 and would then get ready to meet Jesus.

In the year 1975 a pair of brothers held some studies in which they argued that Jesus would return in 1981. I was studying at the seminary then, and the men urged several of us to quit school and get down to the business of warning the world. Had I taken them seriously I might have done so, but I had already been through this once before. I had learned that one has to balance one's belief in the soon return of Jesus with an awarness that God wants us to prepare thoroughly for future service.

First-century Christians tended to read text like the above in a similar fashion. As time went on it tempted them to think that the Lord was becoming slack in the fulfillment of His promises(2Peter 3:9). But the apostle Peter pointed out that the seeming delay of the Advent was because of God's desire that all would come to repentance. The time between Christ's first and second comings is an extension of His grace. God's desire to save is so great that even those who scoff against the reality of His second advent receive more opportunity to repent.

Those who have genuine faith, however, will find that it gets stronger and stronger as the delay gets longer and longer. The key to this text is not the timing of Jesus' return but the identity of the One who is coming. Those who are waiting for the arrival of a great friend find their anticipation growing as the time of separation increases. When I am traveling away from my wife, she gets more beautiful by the day, and my desire to be with her increases with time.

It is out of a living relationship with Jesus that we maintain our confidence in His soon return. While we should live each day as if it were our last one on earth, delay will not destroy that relationship. For each day of our lives the word is "He is coming soon!"

Lord, I thank You that the constant barrage of date-setting that we once experienced has faded. Help me to keep my focus on kwnoing You, which will make me ready for You return.

The instruction is to "lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." It is for your own interest to secure heavenly riches. These alone, of all that you possess, are really yours. The treasure laid up in heaven is imperishable. No fire or flood can destroy it, no thief despoil it, no moth or rust corrupt it; for it is in the keeping of God(TFMB 89).