Waiting for the Return of Jesus

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen 

A short article by Ken Ham inspired me to write this one, and I will link to it later. He raises some points worth considering. Christians have been waiting for over 2,000 years for his promised return, and as we were told in 2 Peter 3:3-7, unbelievers are mocking us. God has his own timing and reasons.

End-times prophecy (eschatology) is a complex and divisive subject. Personally, I believe in the pre-tribulation catching away of the saints.

Pexels / Simon Berger

Unfortunately, there are people who want to fight about which view is best, and even condemn other Christians for having the "wrong" view. In my experience, it seems that many who hold to amillennial and post-tribulation views are extremely caustic toward pre-trib Christians, but I'll allow that "our side" can be strident at times as well. There's no cause for pride from anyone in having the "right" view, but people sure do seem to want to feel special, don't they?

Like others, I have speculated that conditions are worsening. Our world was created very good, but because our first parents sinned, things have been going downhill after that point. Bad things in the world are used my misotheists to say that there is no God, scientist don't understand things in our bodies so they call them "junk" and "vestigial" as evidence of evolution (debunked, proving creationists right all along), people are getting more violent, greed, and other interpersonal evils. New diseases are cropping up, and there are natural disasters.

Those sure sound like signs of the end times that we read about in the Bible.

Arch-heretic Kenneth Copeland can be an excellent speaker (which makes his false teachings even more attractive and dangerous). He said something, maybe in the mid-1980s, that stuck with me. It was something like, "Jesus didn't say go ye into the church and sit till I come getcha!" Somehow, that's how opponents of the pre-tribulation viewpoint think we are acting. People who ignore Matthew 24:36 and set dates set themselves up for great disappointments, but we're not giving away our possessions and standing on the tops of hills waiting for Jesus.

Christians agree that Jesus is coming back. What are we to do in the meantime, since it could be any minute or years from now? Keep on going about the Lord's work, spreading the gospel, upholding biblical authority, defending the foundations of the faith. Hope for tomorrow, but keep working. I hope you'll take a few minutes and read "Is Jesus Coming Soon?", which inspired this one.