Christ's Return - Part I

With everything that is happening in our country and world today, there is more and more enthusiasm for “Christ’s return”. There are many churches proclaiming the rapture, where the righteous are taken up to God in an instant before God’s judgments fall upon all the unrighteous people on the earth. There are churches and organizations holding prayer vigils and they are praying for Christ’s return and His kingdom to finally come. While most “believers” are waiting and praying for Christ’s return – I am scared that His final return might soon be upon us. While I am not scared for my self, I am scared for almost everyone else. On the latest censes of the world as of Aug 2009, it was estimated that there were 6.781 billion people on this earth. How many of these billions of people are ready to meet their Maker and Judge?

I am not aware anywhere in God’s Word where God instructs us to pray for His return. God says to watch for the signs of His return, get ready, but should we really be praying for His return? Most “believers” are looking forward with enthusiasm to Christ’s return, but should we really be looking forward to Christ’s return? Do we really want to see or know about the condemnation of many of billions of people upon His final return? Do we realize the state that the world will be in when Christ returns to make a new heaven and earth? Jesus Christ Himself told us how it would be.

Matt 24:36-39 - No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood , people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

What Christ is saying in Matt 24:36-39 is that no one will know when Christ’s final return will be, only the heavenly Father. Christ will come back when the conditions of the world are like it was before the great flood of Noah. There will be all sorts of evil and almost everyone’s heart will be feeding on the evil to fulfill their own selfish desires. When Noah closed himself and his family inside the ark and it started to rain and flood the whole earth, what do you think Noah and his family felt like when they could here multitudes of people whaling and crying out for help? Noah and his family knew all life would be destroyed except for them. All those people outside the ark would forever be condemned to an eternal hell. If you were Noah, how would you of felt?

Luke 17:28-30 - It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.

When the LORD and two angels came to Abraham and told him that they were going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of their unrighteousness, did Abraham delight and look forward to the destruction of all those unrighteous people? No, Abraham pleaded with God over and over again until God agreed to not destroy those cities if He found even 10 righteous men there. When Abraham saw from a distance the fire come down from heaven and destroy the cities, how do you think he felt? Abraham didn’t know those people (except for Lot and his family), but he felt for his fellow man and for the many souls lost on that day.

Jesus Christ Himself said it would be like this when He returns. So how will it be when Christ returns? Evil will rule the lives of most men. For the most part, people will be fulfilling their selfish desires and ambitions. So if the stipulation for Christ’s return is that almost all people will have corrupted themselves and will be living a very unrighteous life, how many souls do you think there will be to rapture? The bottom line is that when Christ does finally return, it will be because God no longer sees a reason to keep a world going that is mostly unrighteous and evil. Like the days of the flood and the days of Sodom and Gomorrah.

How about we stop looking forward to and stop praying for Christ’s return (or waiting on our left behinds) and start living like Jesus Christ and showing His light and His love again to this world. Maybe if we start loving our neighbors with God’s love, they will see that love and want it for themselves also. Maybe if we repent and decide to live a righteous life for God, maybe God won’t end up only finding a few righteous people, but many righteous people instead. Maybe if God sees enough righteous people, God will decide to give us more of His grace and patience and decide not to return yet. Wouldn’t it be great if Christ decides to give this world more time to repent, so some of the billions of people might be saved. I don’t know about you, but I care about the lost souls that will be lost if Christ returns soon. I also want my children, grand children, and great grand children to have enough time to get to know God and come to love God with all their hearts, souls, and minds.

A lot of people believe they will be raptured up and won’t have to experience Jesus’ wrath. Don’t you find this a bit (or a lot) selfish? If we really loved our fellow man and we loved them as much as ourselves (as God commands us), then we would put ourselves in their place. If we loved them as ourselves, wouldn’t we be praying for God not to return just yet, but instead show more mercy and grace for the billions that will be lost forever? Are todays Christians mainly thinking about themselves and not the lost anymore?

Just some thought to show how far we’ve come,
Michael W Reid