“The coming of the Son of Man can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. When he left home, he gave each of his slaves instructions about the work they were to do, and he told the gatekeeper to watch for his return. You, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know when the master of the household will return—in the evening, at midnight, before dawn, or at daybreak. Don’t let him find you sleeping when he arrives without warning. I say to you what I say to everyone: Watch for him!” (Mark 13:34-37)There is a lot of talk about how the end of the world is obvious from what is happening right now in the world. and that is just what it is: a lot of talk.
There is of course, the Mayan calendar that gives 2012 as the end, there are a bunch of people from some church that say May 21, 2011 will be the end, others just say that the events in our world today are an obvious indicator that Jesus will be back soon.
The problem is: no one really knows when that will be. And it has been 2000 years since Jesus began talking about it. His own people thought it would be soon, but it has turned out to be a long time.
John even ended his book of Revelation with the comment He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! (22:20) They all thought it would be pretty quickly. Paul even writes in the Thessalonian letters that they quit watching for the return of the Lord and go back to work.
Back in 1988, I received a book that was entitled, “89 Reasons Why the Lord Will Come in 1989.” It was funded by the American Bible Society and was written by a guy who had duped a lot of people into pouring a lot of money into his idea that Jesus was coming back in 1989.
As it turned out, he had been wrong before. There have been rumors of the end for centuries and still, Jesus has not come back.
Jesus told his disciples: But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. (Matthew 24:36). He told them that even he had not been told when the end of the world was going to come.
I really believe God didn’t tell Jesus when he was coming back because he didn’t need to know. Jesus was, after all, human and didn’t need to know a bunch of stuff. And it was possible the human Jesus would weaken and tell his apostles not to worry, it would be a long time.
But the point is we do not know. The Master will return in the evening, at midnight, before dawn, or at daybreak and will be expecting us to be ready.
Don’t worry about when. Worry about who. You. Concern yourself with getting your life right and be ready for the Master when he comes.
Come, Lord Jesus.
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