Are You Ready
For Jesus to Come?
“As they heard these things,
he proceeded to tell a parable, ...
because they supposed that the
kingdom of God was to appear immediately.”
(Luke 19:11, RSV)
The Scriptures are filled with prophecies
of the coming again of Jesus Christ to redeem His own from this sin ravished
planet. The day of the Lord's coming is probably one of the most oft repeated
themes in the Scriptures. Yet, for many Christians this topic of the return
of Jesus Christ is seldom spoken of, nor is it often spoken of from their
pastor's pulpit, but there are other well meaning Christians who are convinced
that Jesus is coming soon and seem to feel compelled to tell everyone of
His soon coming even though they certainly must know that there are a great
many deceased Christians who were absolutely convinced that Jesus would
come in their lifetime. They seem unaware that the declaration, “Jesus
is coming soon!” has today become a cliché synonymous with 'crying
wolf' to the vast majority, at least it is to those who live in western
societies. Some even say rather blasphemously that if the Lord doesn't
return soon He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorah. But thinking
the Lord will return sooner rather than later is nothing new, for even
some of the people in Jesus' day believed that He was going to return sooner
than Jesus knew He could.
So Jesus told an insightful parable,
crafted to stir them and us to deeper thought about His coming again even
though the parable, curiously enough, has virtually nothing to do with
the time of His return. It does, however, have everything to do with what
we should do with our time until He does return. It has even more to do
with who He is that is returning. The parable is the one where some servants
are each given a sum of money and told to use it responsibly and those
who did so were highly esteemed by the Master. But there was one who hid
his money and got no return on it because he was afraid of the Master for
being “a severe man” (Luke
19:21 RSV).
The point of Jesus' parable is that
He wants us to get our eyes off the calendar and onto the Person. The good
news is not that Jesus is coming soon,
but that Jesus is coming
soon. If He is “a severe
man” even a million years is too soon. According
to the principle that by “beholding we are
changed into the same image” (2Cor 3:18),
if we think of or picture Jesus as “a severe
man”, we will become severe ourselves if we
aren't that way already. Can we draw others to Jesus if we treat them severely?
Hardly. Of course God wants us to know the signs of the times and when
His return is near or imminent, but this is so we will be well prepared
for Jesus
now and not scared into believing for fear of a severe man coming soon.
Fear is a great motivator, but a very poor teacher. Fear is very good at
supplying adrenaline, but very poor at supporting and sustaining life and
love. In fact, fear cannot remain in the presence of true love. It is important
to understand that the enemy of God is the author of many misconceptions
and false pictures about God that he has etched into the souls and minds
of a great many people. But God wants all to come to know Him in truth
and abide in Him because of our love for who He really is, not out of fear
of Him condemning us and throwing us into hell.
“The one who does not love does
not know God, for God is love.” “God was in Christ reconciling the world
unto Himself.” (1John 4:8), (2Cor. 5:19).
To know God is to love God and to love God is to love Jesus and to love
Jesus is to love all others because Jesus gave His life for us all. The
truth of Jesus' parable is that no matter when Jesus returns, if we don't
know Him and represent Him aright in our lives as the God of love and the
only source of life, we will never be ready for His literal coming again
whenever that will be. God wants us to know Christ in truth so we can have
His character and live like Him so others will be drawn to Him through
our lives.
The same ones that feel compelled
to scare the sin out of somebody with “You'd better get ready because Jesus
is coming soon” often forcefully use Scripture as if it is a hammer with
which they feel compelled to nail somebody to the wall rather than as the
'Sword of the Spirit' which requires all the skill and finesse of the Master
Swordsman to penetrate deep enough “to judge
the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb.
4:12). Sadly enough, whether it's the supposed immediacy of Christ's return
or other last day events or many other doctrines, most people have felt
the severeness, the alienation, or the stinging judgment and unforgiveness
of others for not believing or interpreting Scripture as they do. Could
it be that unforgiveness is itself the unforgivable sin? Something to think
about.
God wants a people who are delighted
with the One who is coming, a people, filled with His Spirit, who can love
others to wholeness, a people, listening for His still small voice speaking
to their hearts.
“Let all bitterness, and wrath,
and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all
malice:Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even
as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.”
Eph 4:31,32
~ a portion of the above is from 'God's Healing
Love' by Dick Winn, pg. 314
A Wilderness Cry
A
