What are We Waiting For?

Introduction:

Stand and read with me: Matthew 26:64 "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."

Dr. George Sweeting once estimated that "more than a fourth of the Bible is predictive prophecy...Both the Old and New Testaments are full of promises about the return of Jesus Christ. Over 1800 references appear in the O.T., and seventeen O.T. books give prominence to this theme. Of the 260 chapters in the N.T., there are more than 300 references to the Lord’s return--one out of every 30 verses. Twenty-three of the 27 N.T. books refer to this great event...For every prophecy on the first coming of Christ, there are 8 on Christ’s second coming."

Today we want to talk about the second coming of Jesus. I do not want to talk about all of the circumstances and events around the second coming that are so debated, that is for another day.

I want to focus on the simple and amazing truth: Jesus is coming back!

I would like to start by reading from 2 Peter 3:

Verses 3-4 “First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation."

Verses 8 “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 

Because we are made in the image of God, to some degree, even yet in this life, we experience time in a similar way. 

We hear people say things like this: When they finish school, “It seems like yesterday I started school.” When the children move off to college, “It seems like yesterday they were toddlers in diapers.” On a vacation, “It seems like we just arrived yesterday and now we are leaving.”

A thousand moments seeming like a day. 

When Jesus appears it will be to Him like it was only yesterday that He left. 
And so that 2000 years has passed and that He has not yet returned is inconsequential. 
And so Peter continues in verse 9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

God is not slow as we understand slowness. Jesus is coming back!!

Picture now with me a young woman. Her life is characterized by despondency and a seemingly unbeatable listless and lethargic uncaring approach to life. 

She hangs on only to the past. She has memories, beautiful, life-giving, joyous occasions when the sun yet shone brightly. She is in the arms of the man she loves, they are laughing, they are holding hands walking, his eyes, his scent…

He mysteriously disappeared. And so she is left with memories. Heartwarming ones yes, precious yes, but the days, the months, the years prove too much and she lives with very little hope of seeing him again. The strength of joy is gone.

Picture now with me a second young woman. Her life is characterized by courageous resolve, steely endurance and a joy and hope that is palpable and contagious. 

She too has memories, beautiful, life-giving, joyous occasions. She is in the arms of the man she loves, they are laughing, they are holding hands walking, his eyes, his scent…. 

But this woman has memories with the hope of seeing him again. She knows where He is and carries with her the promise he has made that he will return. Yes she cherishes the memories, they are heartwarming, yes, precious, yes but eliciting her courage and the strength of joy is the promise, the hope of his return.

Two young women living so differently, on completely different trajectories in life.

I believe that too often we inadvertently live like the first woman. So few Christians it seems, live with courageous moral resolve and integrity. So few live with steely enduring faith in Jesus in the face of suffering. So few live with a joy and hope in Jesus that is palpable and contagious. 

 We focus, and rightly so, on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the salvation that is ours through what He has done for us in the past but this is not the full salvation picture, half of it is missing. What are we saved to? We are saved to live with Jesus, to be fully like Him and fully with Him.

Jesus has promised to return but I have heard very few and have had very few conversations about the return of Jesus. We seem to have forgotten about it.

It shows. It is telling on us. 
1 John 3:2-3 “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears,[a]we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”

Listen to what characterized the first believers in Jesus. 

1 Corinthians 1:4-7 “I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge— 6because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.”

Listen to Paul writing to the Thessalonians. He is affirming their faith in God as authentic and real. 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 “They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.”

What characterized the believers is that the trajectory of their lives was determined by an active waiting. The eager anticipation of the appearing of Jesus.

They turned away from idols, from worshipping and pursuing earthly man-made gods and entered into a heavenly perspective.

What these verses seem to be telling us is that for these believers the waiting for Jesus’ return could be seen in a decidedly different lifestyle. It marked them as different. It was something that affected and changed their priorities and their goals in life, and their perspective on events, circumstances and people in their lives.

What makes a Christian different is what we long for.

Can we love Jesus and not long for His return?
Conclusion:
Here is an excerpt from an article on CBC News website dated Wednesday, February 14th, 2007
It may just be the best Valentine's Day gift ever: about 75 soldiers from Canadian Forces Base Shilo are reconnecting with their families Wednesday, returning from a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan.
The soldiers, with the Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, will land in Winnipeg Wednesday evening, then make the trip about 200 kilometres west to Shilo, near Brandon.
Candace Weiss, wife of Master Cpl. Jon Weiss, is driving to Winnipeg to meet her valentine.
"It's too long of a wait for them to get back here," she said. "As soon as he's on Canadian soil, I want to have him in my arms."
Weiss said it's been a long six months. She's cared for the couple's two children, one three years old and one now nine months, on her own, and she's watched friends lose their loved ones in Afghanistan.
"It's indescribable. It's the relief that our hero is finally coming home, and we get to see him."
Hebrews 9:27-28 “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 2so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”
The saved are characterized by a longing for Jesus’ return. They have lived here with their eyes fixed on heaven rather than on earthly things. They have sought Him in this life, they have been united by a tie as close and indissoluble as if the same blood ran in their veins.
And a long distance relationship is not enough. They do not want to be forever communicating as in a long distance phone call. They want to see the lips of Jesus move when He says, “Well, done, good and faithful servant.” 
They want more than the memory of the cross, they want the very arms of Jesus gathering them to Himself. 
A child, eyes watering, half-choking, swallowing down his vegetables. A bowl of chocolate ice cream the reward for an empty plate. 
Aching swollen feet, lungs laboring for every breath, heart pounding, muscles cramping, mind screaming, teeth ground to stubbs combating the pain.Stamina, strength, achievement, a personal best time the motivation of the endurance athlete.
Mind-numbing monotony, overuse joint injuries, working into the night, workers on an assembly line, get up, go to work and come home, now picking up their pay checks, the dream of a better life for their families, 
Generously loving the poor, forgoing comfort to comfort hurting people, keeping promises to our children even when it hurts, going without food, without sleep, persevering in prayer for a friend.
Standing before Jesus, seeing Him face to face. In the presence of the one who gave His life for us, the reward of a believer in Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the prize. Jesus is our reward.
Let us not forget the words of Jesus Matthew 26:64 "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
Does your mind return frequently to the truth of Jesus’ appearing? And when it does, does your heart want it?—is there an eagerness to see Him?
If not there are three possible explanations from the least to the most serious.
1. You may have trusted in Jesus as your Savior and Lord but you have not yet been well taught of His second coming, and ignorance hinders the eager expectation of your heart and prayer.
2. You may have trusted in Jesus as your Savior and Lord; you may know in your head the truth of the second coming; but you have grown cold and distant and have not felt for some time that Jesus is precious and that seeing Him would be the fulfillment of all your longings.
If this is true then there is something in your life that is causing you to be unfaithful to Jesus. God may have shown you today what that is.
3. You may have never submitted to Jesus as Lord and trusted Him as Savior and you need to enter into a relationship with Him and allow Him to take control of your life and change you from the inside out.
As we sing the closing song I encourage you to meet with Jesus. He is alive. He is here. Come forward. Come to the front and meet with Jesus.