Be Encouraged:
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words. [I Thessalonians 4:16-18, NIV]
Praise the Lord! He is coming back! Simply by looking at the state of the world, I am inclined to think it will be sooner, rather than later and that’s as specific as I get about the timing of his return. As Christians, these verses should massively motivate us to confront every soul we can with the message of God’s free gift of mercy and salvation, before it is too late – and yes, there will come a time when it will be too late. There will be a reckoning.
These versus should NOT cause us to bury our talents, or spiritual gifts, in the ground [Matthew 25:14-28], in effect hibernate and idly wait for Christ’s return. Christ gave us the Great Commission to go and make disciples, and this charge does not end until: A) he comes, or B) we die. Either one of these two scenarios can happen at any moment. There is no prophetic event that needs to happen before Christ’s return. It can happen at any time.
Don’t Play the Timing Game:
"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. [Matthew 24:42-44]
Almost two thousand years ago, Christ stated that he will return “…at an hour when we do not expect him.” To me, this is somewhat of a rebuke – even though I think I’m actively watching for his return, he will come at an hour when I do not expect him. Even though I’m actively writing in this forum about Christ’s return, I should be certain that he will come at an hour when I do not expect him. Therefore, these verses tell me that I should not waste time and credibility guessing the day or hour of his return. Joseph Smith Jr, principal founder of Mormonism, fell into this trap and specifically named the date of Christ’s return (1891 in Smith’s case), only to be proven wrong. As a Christian, I should do my best to “stand at the ready” as though I was waiting for a thief to break into my house, and in the meantime do what God has called me to do, with the talents he has given me. The exact day and hour of Christ’s return will still be a surprise because Jesus said it would be in Matthew 24.
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