If Jesus Were to Come Back Today....

If Jesus were to come back today, what would he find you doing? Or, better yet, what would you not want Jesus to find you doing?

That very thought is why I have never gone to Las Vegas. I just know if I ever set foot within the city limits that will be the very day Jesus will appear in a cloud of glory. Being found in “Sin City” just doesn’t bode well in my mind unless I am there to do mission work, which is what I hope I will be doing when Jesus returns. Yes, I want God to pick a day when I am helping to feed the poor, or at the very least, at a church service.

Appearances are everything…. Right?

I’m using a little “tongue in cheek” humor here, but in reality, none of us knows the date Jesus is coming back (Matthew 24:36). God, in his infinite wisdom, choose not to pass out calendars with the date circled in red. If he had, what would our response most likely be?

Procrastinate!

Why do today, what we can put off until tomorrow! If I knew the date, I would wait until the week before and then get serious about God. I would try to cram in as much Bible and good works as I could during those last few days and hope for the best; much like I did during finals in college.

Sadly, there are a whole lot of people out there who are living with that same mentality. They think they have all the time in the world to get right with God. Or, maybe they know Christ, but have grown complacence in their faith because he is, in fact, a long time coming. Peter even addressed this very issue when he wrote:

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

In this verse, Peter explains that God is not slow because he cannot fulfill His promise. It’s the very opposite, in fact. God is giving sinners every opportunity to turn to Him in faith before that final day of reckoning. Therefore, instead of growing impatient or complacent as we wait, we should actively participate in sharing the Gospel. We need to stay faithful and be about God’s business every single day.

Yet, even as I type this, I know that it sounds so much easier than it really is. Raise your hand if you think waiting is easy. I visualize a hospital waiting room; there is nothing easy about it and the longer you have to wait, the harder it becomes. It’s then that we become distracted, and Jesus knows this about us.

In the Gospel of Luke, you will find a conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees. They were questioning Jesus as to when the kingdom of God would come (Luke 17:20). We chuckle now because we know they were asking God himself when he was going to arrive. However, the Pharisees could not fathom the possibility that Jesus truly was the Son of God. Instead, they were “ever seeing but never perceiving.” (Mark 4:12) They were looking for a political Messiah, who would overthrow Rome, and not a Messiah who would free them from the chains of sin and death.

To illustrate his point, Jesus used two events from Genesis to show the certainty and the suddenness of his return: the flood, and the destruction of Sodom (Genesis 6, 7, 19). In both examples, the people of the world were caught unprepared as they engaged in their everyday activities. We know that Noah witnessed to his generation for 120 years preceding the flood, but no one listened. Just like the Pharisees, the people of his day were “ever hearing but never understanding.” (Mark 4:12)

Jesus’ warning still flashes like a beacon for us. Life will continue as usual until the day of his return. There will be no announcements made. No post or tweets to let people know that today is the day, and most will be going about their business indifferent to the whether there is a God or not.

But we, as believers, are called to be different, and we must always be ready. Jesus wanted his disciples to understand the importance of perseverance during the wait; thus, he told this parable:

He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” (Luke 18:2-5)

So here is a helpless widow up against a contemptuous judge who could care less about her case. She had no hope of gaining justice, but she was not willing to give up. Thus, she used the only weapon she had available – persistence. With nothing to lose, she became an irritant to the judge, willing to driving him crazy with her constant requests for justice.

And it worked! Her pounding persistence became an embarrassment to him, and so to get rid of her, he saw that she received what she had been asking for - justice. Jesus then concluded by saying:

“Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.” (Luke 18:6-8a)

The connection should be falling into place for us now. If an unjust judge will finally respond and do the right thing, how much more will a great and loving God respond! He is not indifferent or inattentive. God loves us. He hears our prayers, and he wants to give us good gifts (Matthew 7:11). Therefore, we can trust that one day he will return and there will be justice.

I don’t know about you, but I am feeling pretty good about things. God loves us and everything is going to be okay in the end; however, if you look back at the parable, you will see that Jesus is not quite done. He ends it with a twist by asking: “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8b)

And now we have circled back to my original question: What will Jesus find us doing when he returns? Will we have persisted in faith? Will we be overcomers? Or will we have grown weary and given up?

Ultimately, this question should serve as both a warning and an encouragement to us. We all need to stop and consider what it means to pick up our cross and follow him (Matthew 16:24). We need to count the cost, as Jesus said (Luke 14:28), and hopefully come to the conclusion that whatever we might lose in this world while we wait is nothing in comparison to what we will have gained in knowing Christ as our Savior.

I keep thinking about what I would like Jesus to find me doing when he returns, and I always come back to this: I just want to be found loving him and loving my neighbors as myself. If I am doing those two things, everything else will have fallen into place.

Lord, help us to all stay faithful until we see you face to face.

For the glory of God! Lisa

Discussion Questions

Like the widow in Jesus’ story, how can you practically demonstrate faith that persists in your day-to-day living?

Do you find God’s delay comforting or have you grown weary during the wait?

If you knew for certain Jesus was coming back tomorrow, what would you do differently today?