Are You Ready for Christ’s Return?
By Jay Wegter
The people who lived at the time of Noah had never seen a catastrophic flood. They mocked Noah and his sons as they saw the ark take shape. “That’s the height of stupidity to build a boat too big to take to the water!” They refused to believe that God would bring His waters of judgment to the boat, and to the entire earth.
In the days of Sodom, Lot’s neighbors had never seen the Jordan valley split open and belch geysers of fire as burning sulfurous brimstone rained from the sky. Even when warned by angels, the members of Lot’s family laughed out loud at the prospect that the cities would be destroyed by God. Jesus and the Apostle Peter compared the destruction of Sodom and the world of Noah to the second coming of Christ.
As with the days of Noah and the days of Lot, the present world is filled with skeptics who say of Christ’s return, “Where is the promise of His coming? All things continue just as they have from the beginning” (2 Peter 3:4).
We must guard against that spirit of unbelief. Scripture teaches the doctrine of Christ’s imminent return. The Bible teaches that He could come back at any time.
PROPOSITION: I want to give you five reasons why you must be prepared for Christ’s return so that you will greet the Lord in confidence and hear, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21, 34).
- We must be ready because Christ commands us to be ready
a.) The Lord Jesus Christ gives us these readiness commands for our own good and for our own safety.
Matthew 24:42 – “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.” (Rather than fixing a date for His return, Christ instead places the emphasis upon faithfulness, watchfulness, stewardship, expectancy, and preparedness. Note the parables that teach these values in Matt 24 & 25.)
Luke 12:35 – “Be dressed in readiness and keep your lamps alight.” (The faithful steward in this parable pictures the genuine believer who properly manages the spiritual riches God has put in his care for the benefit of others. The Lord requires believers to carefully manage what has been entrusted to them. The faithful fulfillment of the duty of stewardship will result in honor and reward at Christ’s return.)
Mark 13:35, 36 – “Therefore, be on the alert—for you do not know when the Master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, at cockcrowing, or in the morning— lest He come and find you sleeping.” (Jesus commanded believers to watch and pray. We are to stay alert, always looking for approaching danger. We are to pray, seeking divine assistance in the endeavor. Believers are to be ever watchful for their Master’s return.)
b.) The Lord Jesus Christ warns us of the real danger of being weighed down with the cares of life. Those who are consumed with the concerns of the world will be caught unaware.
Luke 21:35 – “Be on guard, that your hearts may not be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life, and that day come on you suddenly like a trap.”
Luke 17:32 – “Remember Lot’s wife.” (In the days of Noah and in the days of Lot, judgment came suddenly. Christ’s return will be similar. People were destroyed in the midst of everyday activities. None of the things Jesus mentions here are inherently sinful. But people were so absorbed in the things of this life, they were utterly unprepared when judgment came.)
APPLICATION: Have you taken these commands seriously? Can you honestly say that you are prepared for Christ’s return? Satan works to keep the unprepared spiritually asleep. Better to feel alarm now and prepare yourself, than to remain unprepared and wake up in judgment.
- We must be ready because eternal destinies will be fixed at the moment of Christ’s return
a.) Once Christ returns, there will be no possible change in eternal destinies—no second chances—no possibility of reassessing the situation and making adjustments. The state of the soul will be irreversible.
2 Thess 1:7, 8ff – “. . . When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,” (When the Day of the Lord arrives, it will bring destruction and judgment upon every unbeliever. Christ comes back as the unbeliever’s Judge and as the believer’s Deliverer. The saints will enjoy rest and relief, and the privilege of sharing in Christ’s glory.)
b.) Christ will pronounce publicly the eternal destiny of every person.
Acts 17:31 – “. . . He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
John 5:22, 27 – “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son.” “And He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.” (Jesus is God in human flesh. The Father granted Him the status of Judge of all mankind.)
Romans 14:11-12 – “For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.’” “So then, each one of us shall give an account of himself to God.”
APPLICATION: Do you know what Christ will say to you when He appears? Are you living now so as to please your heavenly King? Do you seek to order your life in obedience under His watchful eye? Have you made assurance of salvation your duty? (See 2 Peter 1:10-11.)
- We must be ready because Christ’s return comes unexpectedly and instantaneously
a.) The return of Christ comes suddenly without warning.
Luke 12:40 – “You too be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.”
Matthew 24:44 – “. . . The Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not think He will.”
2 Peter 3:10 – “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”
b.) The return of Christ at the Second Advent will be quick, like lightning. His appearance will be universal—witnessed all over the globe at once.
Matthew 24:27 – “For just as the lightning comes from the east, and flashes even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Revelation 1:7 – “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; Even so. Amen.”
APPLICATION: Those who are in great spiritual danger offer themselves false comfort. They entertain the thought that Christ’s return is yet far off in the future. They tell themselves that once conditions in the world reach a crisis point, they will seriously seek the Lord. By contrast, the prepared saint says to himself, “Maybe my Lord will return tonight.”
- We must be ready for Christ’s return, because only those who maintain a lively hope of His coming keep themselves pure (1 Jn 3:2-3)
a.) Only those with the passionate hope of being with Christ live to please Him.
2 Corinthians 5:9-10 – “Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
1 John 3:2-3 – “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
b.) Those whose hearts are fixed upon being with Christ will persevere to the end and not fall away.
Matthew 10:22 – “And you will be hated by all on account of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.”
1 John 2:28 – “And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.”
APPLICATION: Maintaining a lively hope of Christ’s return is essential to our success in overcoming the world, the flesh, and the devil. Scripture commands that we live be this expectant hope of being with Christ in glory (1 Pet1:13; 2 Pet 3:14; Heb 6:11-12).
- We must be ready for Christ’s return, because He will return as Lord and King for those who have worshipped and obeyed Him
a.) His holy ones shall see His glory and shall receive inexpressible comfort, joy and glory.
1 Peter 4:13 – “But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation.”
Jude 24 – “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy.”
b.) Those who have served Christ faithfully will be rewarded by the Lord.
Matthew 16:27 – “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and will then recompense every man according to his deeds.”
Matthew 10:32 – “Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.”
APPLICATION: Do you own the Lord now as your Master and Head? Do you go to Him for love and comfort? Do you commune with Him? His will for your life is in the Word of God. Are you attending to His loving rule in your life?
CONCLUSION:
Readiness for Christ’s return means that you are living as subjects in His kingdom in the present. You were created for an eternal love relationship with your Creator. God’s Word tells us that every person either loves God, or loves the world (1 John 2:15-17). The world and its lusts are passing away, only those who do the will of God abide forever.
If you met a woman who was to be married in a week with no real anticipation of the marriage and the honeymoon, you would probably conclude that she married for a reason other than love. Our anticipation to be with Christ is an expression of our love for Him (Revelation 2:4; 3:18-20).
Christ, our suffering Substitute is Worthy to be King!
All the treasures of God’s wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him (Col 3:2). Christ’s voluntary assumption of the role of substitute for us is the means by which God’s infinite grace toward us is manifested. In the New Covenant, the believer is radically identified with Christ so that he is brought into union with Him. By this living, vital, organic bond with Christ, the Christian partakes of all the benefits of Christ’s life, death, resurrection and intercession. Christ’s substitution for His people accomplishes an effectual exchange that results in infinite, eternal blessing to the believer and unending glory to God.
The Most Blessed Exchange
He was condemned, that we might be acquitted. He was spared not, that we might be spared. He became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He left heaven, that we might gain heaven. He became a citizen of earth so that we might become citizens of the Father’s eternal kingdom. He became poor, that by His poverty, we might become rich. He died, that we might never die. He became the object of God’s wrath, that we might be saved from God’s wrath and become the objects of God’s eternal favor. He became a bondservant obedient unto death, that we might be delivered from the bondage of sin and death. He obeyed as a perfect Son, that we might be adopted as sons and made perfect in Him. He fulfilled all of the requirements of a conditional covenant, in order that we might be brought into an unconditional covenant of grace.
With our sin upon Him, He became alienated from the Father, that we might be forever reconciled to the Father. He became a curse for us, that we might we might be redeemed from the curse of the Law. He was born under the Law so that we might be delivered from the Law. He experienced dereliction and the loss of all well-being, that we might have infinite security and blessing in Him. He was glorified in our nature, that our nature might be glorified in Him. He became our surety (cosigner, or guarantor) that we might be co-heirs with Him. He had our sin imputed to Himself, that we might have His righteousness imputed to us.
He was foreknown and consecrated by God as Savior, that we might be foreknown and predestined in Him for salvation (1 Pet 1:20-21).
He was made lower than angels for a little while, that we might be raised above angels forever. He bore our guilt so that we might be pardoned of our guilt. He received stripes and wounds, that we might be healed of our deadly wounds of sin. He submitted to humiliation, that we might be honored and spared eternal shame. He suffered for the truth, that we might come to know the truth, love the truth, be set free by the truth and be sanctified by the truth. He redeemed us, that by our salvation, the wisdom of God might be revealed to men and angels. He partook of our natural condition, that He might deliver us from our moral condition.
He became a man of sorrows, that we might have His joy.
He accepted our lot, that we might gain His glory. He emptied Himself, that we might be filled. He became the “cleft rock,” so that we might have a place of refuge from which to behold the glory of the Godhead. He became the cleft rock so that rivers of living water might well up inside of us forever. He became thirsty, that we might never thirst. He was made like us, that we might be made like Him. He partook of our flesh so that we might partake of His Spirit. He joined Himself to our race, that we might be joined to Him and made one spirit with Him. His soul was distressed unto death, that our souls might have perfect rest in Him. He suffered all sorts of temptation, that He might come to our aid and deliver us from temptation.
He made all of our soul’s enemies His enemies that we might be delivered from them and become His friends forever.
He entered into the “cog-works” of God’s justice, that He might reap what we had sown. He took our punishment, that we might reap what He had sown in righteousness. He went from glory to occupy a body of dust so that we might go from dust to glory. He became so poor as to have no place to lay His head, that we might have an eternal home in His Father’s house. He took the sting out of death so that we might be delivered from the second death. He was raised from the dead as “first fruits,” that we might be raised with Him unto eternal life. He left His Father’s throne so that we might sit upon His throne with Him.
God has installed Christ as King—every knee shall bow
It is clear from Philippians 2:9-11 that it is impossible to bring honor and glory to God the Father unless you gladly submit your life to Christ as Lord and King. We are also told in Psalm 2:7-9, “But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain. I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘Thou are My Son, today I have begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth as Thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, Thou shalt shatter them like earthenware.’”
This means that Christ’s kingship over humanity and the entire cosmos is God’s idea. We cannot find a more loving; perfect; loyal; faithful; merciful; holy; righteous; forgiving king than our Lord Jesus Christ. The warning is that the spirit of this world—the spirit of iniquity is still being promoted with ever greater vigor. It is Lucifer’s lie of a ‘master-less’ freedom—namely that a person can serve only themselves and be accountable only to self—as if that is the highest liberty. That lie was first conceived in the heart of the evil one—and it is the lie that characterizes all those who follow him.
Countless individuals wouldn’t dream of identifying themselves as ‘enemies of God’. Yet, these same persons day after day reject God’s testimony concerning His Son. All those on earth who are not committed to live the glory of God are regarded by Him as adversaries. The Father’s wrath poured out on the Son of God is proof that wrath shall be poured out on all those who reject the Son (as the only hiding place from divine wrath). These proud sinners may not feel like enemies of God—but they are none the less. The fear of God and the cross of Christ belong together. Those who have not believed are warned that the wrath of God abides on them (Jn 3:36). There is no standing before God but in the Son (Rev 6:15-17). God has given His infallible testimony concerning His Son (1 Jn 5:9-12).
The offices of Christ (Prophet; Priest; and King) answer the sin sickness of our hearts The universal sin disease hides its symptoms from those who are sin-sick. The symptoms include: self-deception; self-righteousness; and self-justification. As long as these symptoms remain undiagnosed, the sinner sits in relative spiritual complacency. God uses His law to ‘diagnose’ the terminal illness of the human heart. God uses the gospel of Jesus Christ to heal th sin-sick heart.
In fact, Christ Himself is the answer to the sinner’s sin-sick heart—He sees into our hearts (Heb 4:12). Christ answers those three areas of sin-sickness in His own Person. As Prophet, Christ addresses our self-deception—for He is the truth incarnate who sets free (Jn 8:28-36). As Priest, He meets us at the point of our transgression, self-righteousness and self-justification, and pleads the merits of His blood on behalf of the believing sinner (Rom 10:1-4). As King, He answers our self-will and rebellion—and then rules us by His imperial instrument, His infallible Word (Rom 5:6-10).
In the last days countless individuals will say, “Where is the promise of His coming?” The attitude will be that Christ’s return is a false hope entertained by the deluded (2 Pet 3). In our age of skepticism and empiricism, people allow scientism to determine which metanarrative they will believe. By contrast, the Christian is on watch—eagerly awaiting his Lord’s return. And, in the context of the Lord’s return, the Scriptures utilize the following kinds of terms to describe faithful believers: stewards, slaves, bridesmaids, bride, citizens of heaven, strangers, aliens, pilgrims, overcomers, those groaning, etc.
Unregenerate worldlings have a false sense of peace, but are in imminent danger They imagine that they will be able to find a way of escape—after all, they have escaped judgment so far and they don’t feel the rod of God on their backs. The Word teaches that the only safe place is refuge in Christ. For God is going to reveal the lies behind all false refuges. For, in the sight of God, the whole human race is broken down into two groups: those who trust God and not themselves—these are of the seed of the woman; AND, those who are of the seed of the serpent—these trust themselves and not God (Gen 3:15).
Prior to the first coming of Christ, every generation looked for the Deliverer—the seed of the woman who would bruise the serpent on the head—giving him a death blow. Since Christ’s coming, the faithful of every generation (the seed of the woman) look for the return of Christ. Again, the contrast is between those who trust God and those who trust themselves. Only those who trust God take refuge in Him.
The biblical philosophy of history is decidedly linear—everything is catapulting toward a goal—a predetermined end in which Christ will be revealed in His glorious return to consummate all human history. Creation, cataclysm, Law, incarnation, redemption, new creation, deception, consummation, re-creation—every beat of redemptive history is moving ineffably toward this goal of a restored creation when the kingdom of and the glory of God will fill the earth.
The world’s philosophies of history are man-centered. The humanistic view presents man as ever-learning and progressing—moving toward a humanly conceived and constructed utopia. The cyclical view is that history is an endless cycles of repetition. This view fits with the Hindu notion of reincarnation. The fatalistic view is that purposeless, mindless fate is providing a kind of impersonal control with no real end or purpose (the byword is, eat, drink, and be merry; for tomorrow we die). Christ warns in numerous places that all of life exists in preparation for the next life. True wisdom heeds these warnings; for everything is ‘on loan’—we will give an account of how we have used our stewardship before God. This is inseparable from the doctrine of man created in the image of God.
The divine judgment that is coming will forever destroy the myth of ownership.
God our Creator is Owner of all that He has made. As our divine Owner, He has the absolute right to define our entire lives; to tell us how to live and what to believe. Unbelievers hardly give a thought to the fact than in this universe of vacuous cold and searing heat and poisonous gases—it is remarkable that we have a blue planet with so much of it blessed with fresh water and temperate climates. God has created a habitat for us—our planet hangs upon nothing— sitting suspended in space—just the right distance from the sun.
God requires but a modest ‘rent’ from the inhabitants of planet earth—namely that we live lives of thanksgiving to Him; for He showers us with abundant care and good things. Well, we know from Romans chapter one that one of the first deviations from the truth (suppression the knowledge of God) is followed by the refusal to give thanks to God. A host of other rebellious errors soon follow. Romans chapter one is a frightening chapter; for God’s response to man’s exchanges of divine ordained truth, worship, and purpose is a series of ‘givings over’ of man to the penalties inherent in his sinful choices.
God will not allow rebellious man to keep living as a usurper and enemy of His glory. The Lord will send His judgments as a function of His consummative purpose to ‘take back the title deed to the earth’. When these judgments begin (especially in the plagues of Revelation) it will serve as a kind of ‘eviction notice’—for planet earth will become less and less hospitable. Its wicked, ungrateful inhabitants will find that their earthly abode is going through spasms that will eject its sinful inhabitants.
The earth in upheaval is testament to the fact since the Genesis flood the earth has never found its pre-flood creational equilibrium. How blind men are as they put fossil fuel into their cars that God has already judged the earth globally by water. This is the Apostle Peter’s main point in the book of 2 Peter. The next global judgment is by fire—and man’s complacency and pride and willful ignorance of coming judgment by fire is directly due to willful ignorance of the fact that God has already judged the earth globally in the past (in the Genesis flood).
Christ’s return will be like that of a thief—Christ will find most totally unprepared Why the thief analogy? The thief comes when the homeowner is not on guard. The thief takes what is precious and leaves loss in his wake. When Christ returns; the magnitude and suddenness of the loss will be beyond calculation. For untold millions of individuals, Christ’s return will reveal how little they have valued their eternal souls. (Countless individuals would do almost anything to have Donald Trump’s wealth—the loss of their eternal souls is not a deadly hazard they dwell upon.) In the thief analogy, what sinners thought was true treasure will prove to be an iron anchor to sink their souls into the darkness of everlasting perdition. By contrast, those who follow Christ have left everything gain Him. Christ Himself is their true treasure—they are willing to ‘sell all’ in order to have Him. They take up their cross daily, deny themselves and follow Christ.
Christ’s all-sufficient atoning work does a sinner no good unless that man turns to God in repentance and reconciliation
Sinners trust themselves and not God. They lead self-directed lives with their backs to God. To repent is to turn one’s back on sin and one’s face toward the Lord. It is to exercise faith in God while renouncing self as the final source of salvation, wisdom, and direction. Saving faith involves taking refuge in God. Unbelief is about man’s infatuation with false sources of refuge. These false sources of refuge will be exposed for what they are when the Day of the Lord hits with a vengeance (see the Psalms which condemn unbelievers for not taking refuge in God). To truly fear God is to realize His holy determinate plan to punish every sin ever committed—either at the cross of Christ, or forever in the person of the sinner in eternal hell.
Only those who fear God flee to Christ and His cross. The man who fears God is haunted by the inescapable principle of sowing and reaping. Therefore he trembles at the Word of God— knowing that his Creator cannot be mocked. For whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. The grace of God only makes sense against the backdrop of sowing and reaping. Those who fear God affirm Him as the moral governor of the universe whose moral authority enforces and energizes the principle of sowing and reaping. This is why it is inconceivable to them to look for refuge anywhere but in God. Oh the preciousness of the grace of God purchased by Christ— interrupting the bitter harvest of thorns; of wrath; we deserved.
One’s attitude about the return of Christ is a kind of spiritual barometer. Those who are abiding in Christ and walking with Him are eager for Christ’s return. They build upon the Rock. They view all of life from the perspective of God’s holy character and their relationship with Him. Biblically, this is the only way to be ‘in touch with reality’.
Concerning Christ’s imminent return and the fixity of destinies at His coming, death has the same effect as His return—a person’s destiny is forever fixed. And, no greater contrast can be imagined than the difference between the saints greeting Christ at His return (joy, marveling—2 Thess 1:10); and the reprobates fleeing into the rocks and caves and begging for annihilation (Rev 6:15-17).