Do Christians REALLY Think Jesus is Coming Soon?
Well, praise Jesus today everyone. The question
is, do Christians really think that Jesus is coming imminently? Is He coming
soon? Since Jesus walked on this earth and died on the cross and resurrected,
Christians have been saying Jesus is coming soon, and it's been 2000 years.
So in the perspective of many mockers, Jesus is
not coming soon. In fact, I've heard Christians say like, you know, this
building is going to be built as soon as Jesus returns. And they'll basically
mock the idea that Jesus is returning soon. They'll say it'll happen as quickly
as Jesus will return.
And we know that Jesus always said throughout the
scripture he's returning soon, he's coming imminently, be prepared. But then
you have people that are always mocking. And they say “the world will always go
on as it always has. Therefore, we don't really need to be worried.” It doesn't
matter if Jesus comes in our lifetime in the way that the Christians think that
He comes on the clouds, or if you physically die and Jesus returns that way.
In either case, the time will be up for you. The
time ended for many mockers and many Christians who continue to mock God, the
end will also come for them. They will meet Jesus when they die, and He will
send them to hell. They will not be prepared. It is scary how many Christians
mock Jesus. They don't prepare.
They think that the world will just continue on as
it always did, and they don't even realize how bad things are getting in the
world. Jesus would say, you see the signs of the time, or you see the signs of
the air, how the weather is coming. But you don't understand the signs of this
generation or the signs of the time that you live in.
And the same is true today. Even though everyone
knows that bad things are happening in the world, they still don't understand
that what that means for them personally is they need to repent and get right
with Jesus. Jesus said this to His disciples in Luke, this is chapter 12. 42And the Lord said, “Who then is that
faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household,
to give them their portion of food in due season? 43Blessed is that servant
whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 44Truly, I say to you that he
will make him ruler over all that he has.
That is the kind of steward we need to be. We need
to be preaching the truth of Jesus with our life, calling others to repent,
telling others that the return of the Lord is near.
Not mocking what Christians think of how soon
Jesus will return and saying, well, Christians have always thought Jesus was
going to return in a week and it's been 2000 years, therefore it will be
another 2000 years. We can't mock Jesus. He will always have His way and His understanding
is not the understanding of men.
So there's a reason why Jesus said He was coming
quickly. One of my thoughts on this, that is my thought, is how when you're
young, you perceive everything to be going by very slowly. One year seems like
it takes an eternity. I remember when I was in third grade, it seemed like it
took forever. By the time I got to fourth grade, it went a little bit faster.
Now that I am almost 40 years old and my children
are growing up, one year seems like comparatively an hour to what it used to
be. And time goes by so quickly, I could say life goes by very quickly. It goes
by in a flash. When you look how quickly your life went in the past, you can
think through it in a second.
And it's astonishing, the older you get, how
quickly time goes. Now imagine if we can think that being only 35 or 40 years
old, God being an infinite amount of times older than we are, for Him to say,
behold I'm coming quickly. From God's perspective, all these things are
happening very quickly. We don't live long at all. At best we live 80, 90, 100
years maybe, which goes by in a flash. And if we don't prepare, who's to say
that we will be alive tomorrow? We could die of cancer, a car accident, there's
all sorts of ways we could perish. And we have to fear the one who, after our
body is destroyed on this earth, can throw us into the second death, which is
eternal torment.
And a lot of Christians are not prepared for that.
They say in their heart, “well I'm going to live to 100, that's a long time
away, it's taking Jesus forever to return, therefore I'm going to live my life
how I choose, and then maybe when I get to the end of my life, when I'm 99
years old, I'll repent then.”
I want to read to you what Jesus says about that
specifically in this Luke chapter 12, “45But if that servant says in his heart,
‘My master is delaying his coming,’” so this is exactly what we're talking
about guys, “and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and
drink and be drunk, 46the master of that servant will come on a day when he is
not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in
two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.”
Jesus is not this free love hippie, allowing every
religion and everyone into heaven and just forgiving them for everything they
have done without them choosing to repent. Jesus just said He would cut you in
two if you begin to eat and drink with the drunkards, and beat your fellow
servant, and if you begin to mock God saying, “He's taking forever, He's not
returning, it's not like Jesus says, He's not coming back imminently, He's
taking a long time, He's procrastinating, I'm going to go live my life how I
choose.”
Jesus literally says He will cut that guy in two.
That is a very scary thing. That's not what a hippie free love guy says, but
that is what the Lord of all creation says. If you don't get right with Him, if
you don't live for Him today, then He will cut you in two and appoint your
portion with the hypocrites or the unbelievers. And that servant who knew his
master's will and did not prepare himself or do accordingly to his will, shall be
beaten with many stripes. In other words, if you know what Jesus requires, if
you've read the Bible, if you know what Jesus says about repentance and you
don't do it, hell is going to be very, very bad for you. The level of torment
and the level of your punishment in hell will be much worse for you than the
other guy. Look what Jesus says about the one who doesn't know.
“47And that servant who knew his master’s will and
did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many
stripes. 48But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes,
shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much
will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the
more.”
So if you are a Christian that knows what Jesus
said, that He is coming soon, and you say, well Jesus is delaying His coming, I
might as well sit around and smoke pot, I might as well look at a little porn,
I might as well live my life for myself, it doesn't matter, I don't need to
talk about Jesus to anyone, I don't know if I believe in God anyways. If you
reject the words of Jesus, He's coming back at an hour you do not suppose.
Everything will be stripped away from you, and you will have nothing.
Are you prepared for the return of the Lord? Are
you prepared to sit before the judgment throne of God? Will He say, “away from
me you who commit iniquity?” Or will He say, “enter into my presence, my
servant who has done my will”? Have you been telling other people about Jesus
because you love Him? Have you been filling your mind and your heart with the
things of Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit gives you? Or have you been filling
up your heart with the trash of the world? Out of your heart you will speak. If
you have been filling your heart, your mind, with things that are good from the
Lord, when you speak, you'll be speaking out of that wonderful treasure of your
heart that the Holy Spirit has filled up. But if you have filled up your heart
with pornography, vulgar language, evil jokes, music that is Satan's music from
this world, rap music, rock music, the wicked country music, if you have filled
your heart with those things, whenever you go out into the world and you're
talking to anyone, you're not a light. What's coming out of your life are those
things that you have put in, which is pornographic, sinful and demonic. And
Jesus is coming at an hour to judge you that you will not be prepared. I warn
you to repent. Repent means to turn away from your sins. Call on the name of
Jesus, say, “I am a sinner. I've messed up. I have done evil in my life. I have
played the hypocrite and I have not done what's right before God.”
And if you come to Him with the sincerity of your
heart, He will forgive you and He will cleanse you from your unrighteousness.
But if you have pride in your heart and you say, “I'm going to live my life how
I choose, Jesus will come back maybe in several thousand years and I know I
have another 80, 90, 100 years left on me. Maybe I won't even die at all. Maybe
I'll just be raptured.” Then Jesus is coming at an hour you do not expect, and
His judgment will fall on you. And there is nothing that you can say to argue
with God. There is no one that you can hire to help you escape God's judgment.
There is no lawyer, no advocate. There is no one that can come to your aid when
you stand before a holy God.
You need to prepare today. Be like the five wise
virgins who had oil in their lamp that were prepared to shine for Jesus Christ.
Don't be ashamed of the gospel. Stand up for the truth. Stand up against evil.
Stand up against this wicked world and the things that are wicked within the
principalities of men. Are you standing up for the truth or are you a coward?
Are you an unbeliever? Are you engaging in witchcraft, sin, marijuana, all the
wicked things of this world or are you truly separate for Jesus Christ? May the
grace of Jesus be with you.
