Why the Second Coming of Jesus Is Our Ultimate Hope
I think the second coming of Jesus has become one of the most neglected doctrines in the church today. I am including myself in that. We talk often about the cross and the resurrection. Every December, we spend an entire season celebrating the first coming of Christ. We sing about it, preach about it, decorate for it, and teach our children about the night Jesus entered the world.
We should. The first coming of Jesus changed everything.
But the Bible does not end with an empty tomb. The risen Jesus is coming again.
For some reason, we do not talk about that nearly as much anymore. Maybe part of the reason is that conversations about the second coming can get strange pretty quickly. People start arguing about timelines, charts, dates, signs, and exactly how everything is going to happen. Eventually, we can become so consumed with figuring out the details of Christ’s return that we miss the reason Scripture tells us about it in the first place.
And the Bible talks about it constantly:
- The second coming of Christ is the most talked-about doctrine in the Bible.
- In the 260 chapters of the New Testament, there are 318 references to the second coming.
- That means roughly one out of every 13 verses mentions it.
- For every one prophecy concerning Christ’s first advent, there are eight concerning His second. (We have an entire holiday devoted to celebrating His first coming, but nothing for the second.)
- Every moral command given in the New Testament is tied directly to the second coming.
How can this not be an essential doctrine? Listen, the point is not simply that Jesus is coming again. The point is that knowing He is coming should change the way we live until He gets here.
If Christ really is returning, there are at least four ways that truth should shape our lives as Christians.
Stay Awake
There should be a sense of spiritual urgency in the Christian life.
Jesus tells a story in Luke 12:35–36 about servants waiting for their master to return. They do not know exactly when he is coming, so they stay ready. A few verses later Jesus makes the application clear:
“You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Luke 12:40That same posture runs throughout the New Testament. Titus describes Christians as people who are waiting. Hebrews 9:28 says we are eagerly waiting for Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 1:7, Paul describes believers as waiting for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In other words, Christianity is not supposed to be lived asleep.
If I really believe Jesus could return, then there are sins I need to repent of. There are people I need to forgive. There are conversations I need to have. There are things consuming my attention right now that probably should not matter nearly as much as I have allowed them to.
The return of Christ has a way of putting the rest of life into perspective.
Stay on Mission
Right before Jesus ascended into heaven, His disciples wanted to know when everything was going to happen. Jesus responded in Acts 1:7 by telling them that it was not for them to know the times or seasons.
“You will be my witnesses.”
Acts 1:8I love that. What does a witness do? They tell people what they have seen, heard, and experienced. You have experienced the risen Christ. Go tell.
Y’all, the disciples wanted a timeline. Jesus gave them a mission.
We can spend our lives trying to determine exactly when Jesus is coming, or we can spend our lives doing what He told us to do until He comes.
Revelation ends with the promise, “Surely I am coming soon.” Until then, we testify. We witness. We share the Gospel. We go.
We are not rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. We are eagerly waiting and working.
There are 3.2 billion people who have never heard the sweet name of Jesus. The nations need Jesus. Mooresville High School needs Jesus. Your family needs Jesus.
Forgive Because Jesus Is Coming
The return of Jesus even changes the way we deal with people who hurt us.
When someone wrongs us, we naturally want justice. There is something inside of us that wants to climb into the judgment seat and make sure that person pays for what they did.
The problem is that we were never meant for that seat. It is too big for us.
“If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’”
Romans 12:18–19Notice that God does not say, “I might repay.” He says, “I will.”
I can forgive because I know Jesus is coming. I do not have to pretend the wrong did not happen. I do not have to call evil good. I simply do not have to carry the impossible burden of making everything right myself. Christ will set things right.
That means I can get out of the judgment seat. I can forgive. I can begin to heal. I can trust justice to the One who judges perfectly.
Have Hope in Suffering
This may be where the return of Jesus becomes most precious.
Jesus describes His return in Mark 13:24–27:
“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.”
Mark 13:24–27Notice that Jesus says He is coming “in clouds.”
That imagery runs throughout Scripture.
- God led His people out of Egypt in a cloud (Exodus 13:21).
- His glory appeared in a cloud when He gave them the Law (Exodus 24:16).
- When the temple was dedicated, the glory of God filled it (2 Chronicles 5:14).
Is Jesus one day going to be “riding in the clouds”? I don’t know. What I do know is the cloud represented the glorious presence of God dwelling with His people. So, when Jesus says He is coming in clouds, there is something beautiful in that promise: God is coming to dwell permanently with His people.
That is why the second coming is such good news for hurting people.
Revelation 21:1–5 gives us a picture of where all of this is going. God will dwell with His people. Death will be gone. Mourning will be gone. Crying will be gone. Pain will be gone.
God will make all things new. That does not mean our pain is not real right now. Sometimes life looks nothing like we thought it would.
Maybe you thought you would be married by now. Maybe you pictured the house, the white picket fence, and a couple of kids running around, but life did not turn out that way.
Maybe you have walked through infertility and felt the heartbreak of your body not doing what you desperately wanted it to do.
Maybe your body has become the source of your discouragement in a different way. It has been one treatment after another, one doctor's appointment after another, or chronic pain that greets you every morning.
Maybe it is a broken marriage. Maybe somebody you trusted betrayed you, and the wounds they left have made it difficult to trust anyone since.
Maybe it is grief.
You know what it is like to lose a parent, a sibling, a spouse, or even a child. You know the strange feeling of waking up in a world that keeps moving when somebody you loved is no longer in it.
It tells us they do not win.
The Shepherd was struck.
The King was pierced.
The fountain was opened.
Jesus bore our sin.
Jesus took our judgment.
Jesus rose from the grave.
And Christ is coming again.
He will restore all things. He will make all things new. That is our hope.
Your Greatest Problem Has Already Been Solved
Following Jesus does not mean you will never be discouraged. It does not mean the diagnosis will change. It does not mean the marriage will suddenly be fixed. It does not mean the financial problem will disappear. It does not mean every prayer will be answered exactly the way you wanted.
Our greatest problem was sin. We were sinners standing guilty before a holy God, unable to rescue ourselves.
And Jesus took care of that. At His first coming, Jesus bore our sin and took our judgment. He went to the cross, entered the grave, and rose again.
He defeated death.
And that is why the second coming gives us so much hope. The cross proves that Jesus has already dealt with our greatest problem. The empty tomb proves that even death cannot defeat Him. His promised return tells us that He is not finished.
There are things in my life I cannot fix. There are prayers whose answers I cannot see. There are losses I cannot undo. There are hurts I cannot make disappear.
But I know what Jesus has already done. And I know He is coming again.
So if Jesus Christ took care of my greatest problem at His first coming, I can trust Him with every other problem until His second coming.
The Christian's hope is not that everything will be easy. Our hope is that our King is coming again.