Series: Advent
Jeremiah 33:14-16 ESV
Matthew 24:36-44 ESV
Revelation 1:4-7 ESV
Many times in my life I’ve been personally confronted by others who claim to know the time of the coming.
A few times the confrontation was ‘in my face’ and they raised their voices.
Jeremiah 33:14-16 says, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’”
I stood fast each time I was confronted and told the person/people that no one knows God’s timing for the coming.
God does not share the timing as a means of prophecy.
Matthew 24:36-44 says, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
The real point is that NO ONE KNOWS.
I don’t happen to believe that is coded. I think literally no one knows the hour or the day or the year when the Son will return.
I think that’s why when I was twenty something I was so frustrated.
Everywhere I turned people were saying they knew. They were implying they had an inside track.
Fifty years ago there were books and shows and movies implying they knew something.
I got so frustrated that I went to my dad and asked him about it. Now you have to understand my dad was an engineer. His college degree was in engineering and he thought like an engineer,
He was also a Bible scholar.
He taught Sunday School for forty years and he studied his Bible every night.
There were two things I could count on about my dad. He would be in his chair studying his old Bible and he would watch ‘Gunsmoke.’
When I would ask him about the coming of Jesus and tell him I heard someone preach who said they knew about when Jesus would come, he would remind me, “They know nothing.”
Then he would remind me that even though they didn’t know exactly when, the reminder that it would happen eventually wasn’t really such a bad thing. Every time I went to him to complain he would remind me they really didn’t lie.
He would remind me it will happen.
He also reminded me I need to pray about it and commit it to God.
Boy, oh boy I wish I had a dollar for every time he told me to give it to God.
I would definitely be a millionaire!
As it turned out, my dad gave me a much greater gift that a dollar. His repeat reminder that no one knows, but it will happen finally stuck with me.
Now, fifty years later if the subject comes up I reiterate that no one knows when…but we do know it will happen.
Jesus will come again.
Jesus came as a baby.
Jesus came back after Calvary.
Jesus WILL come again. Revelation 1:4-7 says, “Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.”
We don’t know when, we just know coming again is a fact.
Spiritual Practice: Thank and Trust
Thank God and trust God for the timing.
In God, Deborah
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