The sequel day3

  

 

He told them He was coming back from the dead, but they weren’t waiting for Him at His resurrection. They weren’t hanging out near the tomb with banners that read WELCOME BACK, JESUS!

He came back and they didn’t believe it was really Him until they saw the scars.

He came back with no fanfare in the quiet hours of a still Sunday morning. No one was around at the time — a few guards nodding off at their post, suddenly bowled over by whatever it was that rolled the stone away. None of the people who said they believed in Him so much that they would follow Him through the gates of hell were even there.

He said He was coming back, and they went fishing.

Then He reminded them about all the things He had taught them. He showed them the scars and convinced hundreds that He could conquer death. He revealed His true nature by serving and teaching and sending them out into the world.

And then He told them He was coming back.

Will we be waiting for Him at His appearance? We’re not talking about selling everything and moving en masse to some mountaintop where we’ll sit in a meadow stringing garlands of wildflowers and singing “Kumbaya” until He returns.

He has given us a task. He has told us plainly that our responsibility is to go out into the wide world (not retreat from it) and make disciples of people from every nation on earth. We’re to baptise and teach and be salt and light. We’re to help and feed and clothe. We’re to do the kinds of things He did.

We’re to be the Body of Christ.

But make no mistake about it, He’s coming back.

And so we pray with the saints throughout the centuries.  Maranatha! Lord, come quickly!

But there are people who aren’t ready for Him to return. If He were to return today, they would be faced with the prospect of entering a Christless eternity. For their sakes, as badly as we want Him to return, we also want Him to wait awhile longer.

We’re torn. We long for His appearing, but we relish the patience He is currently demonstrating. And until He does return, we should be about the business He has given us. And we should value the time we have. Jesus did not spend time treading water until it was time to die and return to the Father. Neither should we.

 

Prayer 

 

Dear Lord, when I reflect on the greatest Story ever told — the Story of the creation, the fall, Your redemptive plan to restore what was lost in the fall and the glorious consummation to come — I marvel at its scope, its genius and its majesty. Your sovereign power is so great that You can use even the vilest acts for a greater good, and You most decisively demonstrated this in the death and resurrection of Your Son. Jesus the Messiah, the Passover Lamb, the fulfilment of the prophets, the Sin-bearer and Redeemer of the world, will return in glory, majesty, might, dominion and authority, and every knee will bow to Him. Until that great day, You have given Your Body, the Church, a precious time of opportunity to manifest Your life, light and love in this world. As a member of that living Body, may I be Your faithful witness in my time.

In Jesus’s name, Amen