I've been wanting to write a book for several years. From years of teaching classes on the book of Revelation, I felt I had sufficient material to be able to fill a book with all of the cool stuff I had found there. But, when I wrote it all out, I got to only 12 pages, so that would be a pretty pitiful book! Maybe it will make a good blog instead. This is the first section of that paper. The other sections will follow as I have a chance to go through and update them. Enjoy!
Jesus is coming back! What a wonderful truth! No other thought has ever given me such joy and hope and purpose in life, and I can hardly imagine life without this assurance. It wasn’t always so wonderful to me, but one day it became my consuming passion, and has been ever since.
I had grown up as an “Adventist,” or so I thought. I attended church most Sabbaths in my life, when nothing else was important enough to keep me away. I remember staying home one Sabbath so that I could see a phone number on TV that would pop up for a short period at a certain time. I called the number, and was able to reserve tickets to a Pearl Jam rock concert. That’s how deep my commitment to church and the Sabbath was, but I figured it was plenty, and my conscience hardly bothered me about doing things like that.
Then, when I was 20, over a period of a few weeks, my life changed permanently. Under the influence of Godly and dedicated teachers at the Mission College of Evangelism, surrounded by people who wanted to live their lives according to the Bible, I experienced what I can only think of as a conversion. One night in the quiet of my room, I surrendered my life gladly to Jesus’ control, and wept with joy as I knew that my prayer was accepted. I had lived a God-less life, not taking the Lord into account in my planning and living, but through the working of the Holy Spirit on my heart, my life started afresh. The Bible became my favorite book, and I spent hours every day studying it or books that tried to explain it, and I was amazed that I had lived so close to such beautiful truth for my whole life, but had neglected to see it as something attractive at all. I started sharing what I was learning with others, and as they asked questions I didn’t have answers for, I was driven to deeper and more earnest study of the Scriptures.
Thus is was that one day I realized, as if for the first time, that Jesus truly is coming back to this earth again! I was preparing an evangelistic sermon on the subject of the second coming, and the Bible evidence hit me with such power that I was shocked, terrified, and thrilled all at the same time! Jesus was coming back, and for the first time in my life, it was a gripping reality, and it was good news! I was so excited I couldn’t contain myself! Life was full of meaning and purpose like never before, and my heart sang with the uncontainable joy I had just found.
“Hey, Chris, do you know what?” I asked one of my co-students that morning.
“No, what’s wrong with you?”
“Jesus is coming back! Jesus is coming back! Isn’t that wonderful?” I practically shouted at him, even though I was holding him by the shoulders. “It’s really real, and we can be ready for it!”
Christien, my attacked friend, hadn’t been raised as an Adventist, but had recently become one, so I guess he had already recognized the reality of the return of Christ, and he didn’t share my excitement that morning. “Of course He’s coming back, didn’t you know that already?”
“Well, yeah, but it’s so real. I didn’t know it was so real. This morning I was reading in Revelation, and it says, “Behold, He is coming with clouds. It just struck me that it is so real! I had heard about it before, but now I know it is true!”
This happened back in 1997, over a decade ago. At that time, there was a lot of talk about the year 2000 and the possible return of Jesus that year. We discussed the issue back and forth, and with my new-found life in Jesus, and my newly-discovered conviction that the Second Coming was an imminent fact, I wanted Him to come back in 2000, or even before. Heaven seemed so close at times in those precious days of study and prayer, and the longing of my heart was to see Him whom my soul loved.
Over 13 years have passed since that time. Now I’m married, and so is Christien. We are both doing the work that lies closest to us, seeking to allow God to mold our lives according to the Bible pattern, and sharing the gospel with others, but we are still here on earth. In my heart, the emotional excitement has faded, but my favorite subjects in the Bible are still the Second Coming and those events surrounding it. Probably no other truth in Scripture has gripped me so hard as this one blessed hope, and I yearn to see Jesus coming in the clouds of heaven to rescue His people.
Yet, Jesus has not come back yet. Why? Is He not as excited about coming back as His church is to have Him come back? Or is the problem on the side of the church itself? I believe I have discovered some interesting and relevant information from the Bible that can shed light on this subject. In this series of posts, I will present what I have found. I would welcome any comments or input you may have on this subject.
2 comments:
We should be more ready to share than ever. I have to decided that the way to feel more like sharing is to just start sharing and to listen to God telling you when and who to share with. Keep it to yourself and it starts to stink!
Amen, Verity!
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