If only Jesus would return!

How often have you heard those words from a fellow Christian? And no wonder.

• Chinese spy balloons
• fake news
• corruption in the state department
• corruption in the White House
• leaks out of the Supreme Court
• FBI shenanigans
• looting
• criminals dancing through a revolving door and back to roaming the streets in search of their next victim
  
• CRT
• AI
• LGBTQ+

Are you exhausted yet?

I am. And if I’m not careful, the negatives that surround me can defeat my mind and my spirit. It doesn’t matter which political party is in power. They fire accusations at one another with the speed of bullets spewed out from a machine gun. Has the world always been this bad? Do these days mean Jesus is returning soon?

Every generation becomes exhausted and thinks theirs must be the worst of times. Surely, Jesus will come back, they think. Christians living at the turn of the second millennium believed they were living in the final days before Christ’s return. A thousand years since Jesus rose from the dead. The perfect number for Him to use to come back for His people. Right?

Wrong.

The 1900s brought two world wars and the brutal repression of Communism with the USSR and China leading several smaller countries down its destructive path. Count up all the massacres around the world, and there are at least fifty million dead.

Jesus didn’t return by 1950 either.

I call the days we’re living in a “time led by a spirit of confusion”. What the world has called evil in every past generation is now pronounced “good.” What the world agreed was good in the past is now vilified as “evil.” Everything is upside down compared to the entire history of mankind! Won’t Jesus come soon?

Maybe.

We have to read the book of Revelation in the Bible to get a sense of just how awful life will become before Jesus comes back to earth. We’re not there yet, but I want to know what we’re supposed to do while we wait for Him to return.

First Thessalonians is the perfect little epistle to turn to for the answer. It’s only three chapters. It will tell you to:

1. Thank Him for the faith of brother and sister Christians.
2. Remain unshaken and undeceived by apostasies.
3. Pray for preachers and evangelists that their work will be accepted and spread like a wildfire and that they will be protected from evil people.
4. Love the way Christ loves.

Ascension Sunday

On the day that Jesus ascended into heaven, two angels told the onlookers that He would return.

God had already kept His Word by sending Jesus to the earth in the first place. The purpose: to be a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus didn’t walk away from crucifixion. He embraced it, knowing the victory to come. Then, we celebrate Easter because after the torture of the crucifixion, Jesus rose from the dead!

Victory!

Who is the only one who can make that happen? God! After He arose, Jesus spent several weeks teaching His disciples of what was to come. Before He left them (the Ascension), He gave instructions to wait for the Holy Spirit, and that ragtag lot of misfits previous to the crucifixion obeyed Him!

The Day of Pentecost arrived, The disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit as tongues of holy fire rested on each of them. They were never the same again!

May 21st is Ascension Sunday this year on the church calendar.

We celebrate Christ’s promise: He WILL return for His people. He WILL judge the earth and all of its inhabitants. If God kept His promise to sacrifice His Son out of His love for us, He will surely keep His promise to return for His people! Isaiah 65:17-25 speaks of the new heaven and a new earth. Revelation 22:16-20 encourages us to come to Him, believe what He says, and be enfolded in His love.

Until that day comes, remember:

• Thank Him for the faith of brother and sister Christians.
• Stand tall and unshaken. The spirit of confusion has no hold over you. You will not be deceived.
• Pray for your pastor and other Christian leaders. Pray that their work will be accepted and spread like a wildfire and that they will be protected from evil people.
• Love the way Christ loves.

Come, Lord Jesus.