Watch! Be on Your Guard, Part 3

Mark 13:23-37
Gerrit Buddingh’ | Sunday, July 18, 2021
Copyright © 2021, Gerrit Buddingh’

Tonight I intend to preach from Mark 13 my concluding message (part 3) in this series. There is an old rubric that fools rush in where angels fear to tread. And that is unfortunately very true when it comes to anything about end times and perhaps especially this chapter. So if know where the landmines are hidden, I will endeavor to walk around them. For the rest of you, I will not even tell you where they are.

Hear the word of the Lord (Mark 13:23–37):

²³ So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.

²⁴ “But in those days, following that distress,

“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
²⁵ the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

²⁶ “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷ And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.

²⁸ “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ²⁹ Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. ³⁰ I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

³² “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³ Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. ³⁴ It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.

³⁵ “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. ³⁶ If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. ³⁷ What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”

We have had two parts previously on Mark 13. This is the concluding one. The first point for this evening is: “The Parousia: Signs in the Sky”; point two: “Jesus Is Literally Coming Again”; point three: “The Ingathering”; and point four, “Pay Attention.”

1. The Parousia: Signs in the Sky

Notice that in verses 24–37 there is an obvious change from the subjects that have gone before. Jesus says, “In those days, following that distress, the sun will darkened and the moon will not give its light. . . . And at that time, people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens” (Mark 13:24–37).

Some biblical scholars interpret this portion of the Olivet Discourse, which we find in Mark 13, Matthew 24, and Luke 21, as speaking not of Jesus’ final, literal coming at the end of time, but of his figurative coming in judgment at the end of the Jewish age, which was fulfilled in the temple’s destruction in AD 70. And a case could be made for that. Consider the following:

• Certainly, the temple’s destruction was preceded by wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, pestilence, and other troubles.
• Certainly, Judaism had reached an apostate condition when the Jewish people by and large rejected and continued to reject Jesus as their Messiah.
• Certainly, there were false claimants to be the Messiah.
• Certainly, there was persecution of Christians by the Sanhedrin and by the Roman government.
• Certainly, the gospel was literally preached throughout all the reaches of the Roman Empire and even beyond, to the southern part of India. The apostle Paul wrote that this would happen and it did.
• Certainly, there were astronomical perturbations at the time of the siege of Jerusalem. Comets flashed across the sky, according to some historians. The sun and moon were darkened, in some sense. But these kinds of words are Jewish non-scientific, poetic images of judgment. We see that in the Old Testament elsewhere, in Ecclesiastes 12:2; Job 3:9, Isaiah 13:10; Ezekiel 32:7; and Joel 2:10. And thus they are a fitting picture of judgment against Jerusalem and the temple. Such language usually entailed cataclysmic shifts in human events.
• Certainly, Tacitus, the Roman historian, and the Jewish historian Josephus each reported that some observers claimed to see, like Elisha and Gehazi, the chariots and soldiers of heaven gathered in the cloud formations above Jerusalem when the Romans came.
• Certainly, the Romans did come to quash the Jewish uprising.
• Certainly, Christians at that time fled, as Jesus had warned them to do.
• Certainly, the Roman army destroyed Jerusalem. Roman soldiers and their commander invaded the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, and then destroyed them.
• Certainly, the apocalyptic language that Jesus uses can support the idea that his Olivet prophecies were all fulfilled in AD 70.

The apostle Peter in his first sermon in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost says that the Holy Spirit’s being poured out on the church at that time was a fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy in Joel 2, where God said, “I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:17–21; see also Joel 2:28–32).

Certainly, the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit on God’s people was accompanied by significant signs and wonders. Certainly, portentous occurrences such as tongues of fire resting on people happened. There was a cataclysmic shift in church history. Joel’s prophecy was fulfilled poetically, not scientifically, not the way we view language today.

Further, God detailed as part of the old covenant the curses he would bring upon Israel if they were disobedient. He would bring a people to destroy Israel, and they would have no regard for the innocent. We see that in Deuteronomy 28:49–50, and that was literally fulfilled when Jewish mothers ate their offspring.

The historian Josephus writes that about 1,100,000 Jews died or were enslaved during the siege and desolation of Jerusalem and the surrounding region in this war that lasted from about AD 66–67 to AD 70. Jesus had previously prophesied this holocaust on the first Palm Sunday, as we read in Luke 19:41–44. It is of interest to note that Ezekiel 14:21 speaks of killing with “sword, famine, wild beasts and plague,” a just judgment of God to be brought upon Israel for her past disobedience.

This time, however, God’s judgment is for Israel’s greatest sin, the rejecting of Jesus as Messiah, and crucifying the Lord of glory, God’s own Son, as foretold by Jesus in his parable about the owner of the vineyard killing his beloved son’s murderers (Luke 20:9–19).

This also explains why, on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, Peter pleads with the people, with the Jews assembled there, to call upon the name of the Lord and be saved, to save themselves from that corrupt generation before that great and notable “day of the Lord” fell upon them.

In Luke 23, our Lord was on the way to lay down his life for the sins of elect sinners. On his way to Calvary, Jesus meets some women who were weeping and wailing for his plight. Turning to them, Jesus says, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then ‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!’ For if men do these things when the tree is green what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23:28-31).

The context of Luke 23:28–31 is the coming wrath against the people of Jerusalem and it matches the words of our Lord in Mark 13:17. This is also seen in comparing the statement about pregnant women in Luke 23:29 with that of Luke 21:23. All of this speaks to Jerusalem’s destruction, the dispersal of the survivors among the nations, and the land to be trampled on by the Gentiles until their times are fulfilled (Luke 21:24).

Mark 13:28–31 indicates that Jesus gave the Olivet Discourse so that his disciples would not be caught unaware when Jerusalem was surrounded and fell. He wanted them to be prepared for what would happen within their generation, within their lifetimes. This means that at least some of Mark 13 refers to the first century. Thus, in AD 70, Jesus’ predictions about the fall of Jerusalem and the temple’s destruction are fulfilled, confirming what Jesus said about the certainty of his words. Truly, if Jesus says something, that settles it. That is the case with his prophecies regarding the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem, and so it will also be true regarding his second coming in great glory.

It can be said that the heavenly signs mentioned by Jesus in Mark 13:24–27 are figurative language of apocalyptic writings and speak of the cataclysmic and momentous judgment and destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by Jesus, for he, as we heard, both judge and executioner. And there is warrant for saying this. Old Testament prophets used these kinds of cataclysmic images to describe God’s judgment of nations in history.

To understand why, we only have to consider what happens when an empire falls. We need to put ourselves into the shoes of ancient people. When an empire such as Babylon was conquered by another empire in the ancient world, those who formerly lived under the control of the conquered empire rightly saw the change as epochal, as the end of one world and the beginning of another. The balance of world power would shift, creating a new era. The new empire would bring new demands and dangers for those who lived under the old empire and who will probably endure suffering under the new one.

Even today, it is the dawn of a new age for conquered people when one nation conquers another. And Isaiah used such language in Isaiah 13:9–10 to predict the fall of Babylon, which occurred in the sixth century BC. So such language, as we see, can simply be used as a figure of speech to mean that ominous events will happen to make everyone take pause and fear.

The events surrounding AD 70 are of equal magnitude, for they spell the end of the Jewish age and the beginning of the Gentile age. What happens in AD 70 to the inhabitants of Jerusalem during the Roman siege and the destruction fits God’s covenant curses found in Deuteronomy 28.

The words of Mark 13:24–27 can also be taken literally, as indeed I think they should be, if Jesus is speaking in verses 24 through 27 of what will take place at his second coming. In verses 26 and 27 we read, “At that time [At the outset of these things, you could say], men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.” This is language that speaks of the second coming. It speaks of Jesus’ visible return in the clouds with great power and glory to fully redeem his people when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, as spoken of in Luke 22:28. This speaks of the final day of judgment.

Notice that in Mark 13:24–25, there is a change in subjects from what has gone before. It starts with the word, “But [Gk., alla].” “But in those days, following that distress, ‘the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’” The phrase “in those days” is ambiguous. We could ask the question: Does it mean “in those days” at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans? Some would say, “Of course.” Many others, however, say, “No, they clearly refer to a time immediately prior to the second coming.”

Interestingly, Jesus’ use of the Greek word alla introduces a sharp contrast with what goes on before Jesus’ return and the time immediate to his coming. This appears to underscore that Jesus is speaking of two different periods of history. The first phase deals with the destruction of the temple and those other circumstances which must come to pass in the lives of the disciples and continue on subsequently up to the present. In this time, the age of the Jews ends with the temple’s destruction and the age of the Gentiles begins.

The second phase is the end of the age and Jesus’ second coming. Just as a number of Old Testament prophets have done, Jesus seems to foretell of a more immediate event, namely the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and then also introduces another event which will come to pass in the distant future.

2. Jesus Is Coming Again

The Nicene Creed summarizes for the orthodox Christian its believe that human history is advancing toward a climactic day of judgment. It says, “[Jesus] shall come again, with great glory, to judge the living and the dead.”

The New Testament clearly teaches us that the first coming of Christ will be followed by his second. Jesus referred to his return more than once. We find it especially in Matthew 24:30–31, but also in Matthew 25:19 and 26:64, and in John 14:3. In Matthew 24:30–31 it says, “At that time, the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”

Angels specifically spoke of this same event at the moment of Jesus’ ascension. In Acts 1:10–11 we read that the eleven remaining apostles “were looking intently up into the sky as [Jesus] was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’”

The New Testament epistles repeatedly speak of Jesus’ second coming. We can find it in Philippians 3:20, 1 Thessalonians 4:15–16, 2 Thessalonians 1:7 and 10, Titus 2:13, and Hebrews 9:28. On that great day, Jesus will return visibly to complete the full establishment of his kingdom, to judge the world, and to usher in the new creation, which we read about in Acts 1:6–11, Hebrews 9:27–28, and Revelation 20 and 21.

Following a period of great tribulation, Jesus will physically return. He returns not as he first came, with his divine glory cloaked and hidden in human flesh, born to an impoverished young woman in the backwater Judean town of Bethlehem, and his earthly parents being forced to flee soon after his birth into Egypt to save his life. No, Jesus will come back physically, but he will come back in glory.

While this seems self-evident to a historically evangelical biblical church, it was popular and still is popular in liberal Protestant circles to believe that Jesus will not come back. Instead, the philosophy and mysticism of Jesus will come back, and an acceptance of his teachings and imitation of his lifestyle of love will increasingly dominate the earth. Then the ethical norms from the Sermon on the Mount will be established, and utopia will be enjoyed by all.

This is not the message that the Scripture gives us. The Bible teaches that the incarnation of the Son of God—his life, death, and resurrection in the first century—was not his last manifestation in the flesh to men on earth. In John 14:3, Jesus says that he will come back, he will return.

When Jesus ascended into heaven in Acts 1, the two angels said he would come back in the same way they had seen him go up into heaven. So the Lord’s return will not be a spiritual one, coming to dwell in the hearts and minds of people to make them happier and more ethical. But instead it will be a visible, bodily, and personal return. And it will be a glorious return. Matthew 16:27 tells us that Jesus will return “in the glory of his Father with his angels.”

His glorious coming will be visible to all. In Revelation 1:7 John writes, “Look, he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him.” Likewise, in the 1 Thessalonians passage we mentioned earlier, Paul says, “The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God” (1 Thess. 4:16).

Christ’s return will not be done secretively nor stealthily. No, it will be a loud and clear, and announced in such a way that everyone will know that Jesus has returned. It will be a fitting return for the King of kings and Lord of lords. We shall see Jesus, the Son of Man, physically coming in the sky, and he will send out his angels to gather the elect from everywhere, all those true saints living throughout the earth and those who have died and now dwell spiritually in the heavens.

This is the true rapture, the gathering up of God’s elect at the end of time. It cannot be a secret, invisible rapture as advertised on bumper stickers that say, “Caution: Driver may be raptured at any time.”

No, the veiling is over. Men will see the Son of God coming in clouds with great power and glory. The glory of Jesus as the Son of God has for the most part been veiled to humankind. (GJB) In the Old Testament, he was a mysterious figure of an anointed king to come, a new Son of David, a prophet greater than Moses. Amazingly divine language is used of him, and yet who could really imagine that that the Second Person of the Godhead would take on humanity.

Then the Word of God takes on flesh and becomes man. God the Son walks on earth as the Light of the world and the Savior of his people. And yet, who recognized him as such? And who believed his message? He was rejected by the Jewish religious leaders and the Bible scholars of that day. It is true that he performed miracles and developed a small following. But he did not rally about himself a mass movement nor an army. In the end, he was crucified. Where is the glory in that? In his resurrection is the answer—in his resurrection from the dead!

And where is King Jesus now? He is presently hidden from our eyes. In his humanity, he is seated on heaven’s throne, and in his divinity, he is everywhere. But he especially dwells in the hearts of those who have entrusted themselves to serve him as their Lord, even though we see him now only through the eyes of faith.

Here, though, is our hope. This Jesus, who visibly ascended into the heavens, will visibly return on the clouds, and we will see him face to face. The day is coming when we as his people of Christ will no longer be described as “people of faith,” for faith itself will be put aside for sight. We shall Jesus our King with our own eyes, not as a mere man, but as the God-man in all his glory and majesty. We read about that in the book of Revelation, in John’s vision of the glorified Christ, and we too will behold and experience it for ourselves.

Now, it must be pointed out that the prophecies of Jesus’ first coming were all fulfilled in a literal, historical way. Some of these must have seemed quite absurd at the time they were made: for example, the virgin birth, the miracles, the crucifixion, and his resurrection. History, however, has proven that they were not intended to be taken symbolically. Adequate reasons exist for believing that those prophecies regarding his second coming will also be fulfilled in a literal, historical manner.

Jesus is indeed coming again. He is coming not in any kind of wimpy way but in great power and great glory. And, again, his coming will not be secret. It will not be an event to be believed merely by faith. We will not need to convince anyone that he has come, for every knee shall bow before him—literally, every knee—both friend and foe alike.

Should you ever doubt that Jesus is coming again, you should buy an airline ticket and fly to Jerusalem and go up on the Temple Mount and see for yourself if you can find any trace of Herod’s temple. Just as sure as there is nothing left of the actual temple, not one stone upon another, so certain is the return of Jesus Christ in power and glory.

His first coming was as a bondslave who was obedient to the will of his heavenly Father. He came to give his life as the substitutionary atonement for the sins of his elect people. In his humanity, he was tempted to stand down in the garden of Gethsemane, but he prayerfully overcame that temptation and declared to God the Father, “Not my will, but yours be done.” In Philippians 2:8, the apostle Paul tells us that Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient unto death, even death on the cross.

3. Jesus Will Gather All His Chosen People to Himself

All the elect whom God has chosen before the foundations of the world were laid will each be gathered up and presented to Jesus, both great and small, both the famous and the unknown. Not one whom God has chosen unto salvation will be lost. No one will be missing. No one will be left behind. When the last day shall come, and the roll will be called, all God’s people, both living and dead, will be raised to glory.

Listen to what Isaiah says in Isaiah 43:5–7: “Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

These are not words just for the Old Testament people of God. This is the promise of God’s Redeemer to all his chosen people throughout the world and throughout human history.

We will all be there. We will all be gathered. The angels of God will not search in vain. As promised in Isaiah 11:10–12, they will not fail to bring us all home to our Father and to our Redeemer.

So how are we to prepare ourselves for Christ’s coming again? The answer is simple: We must make our calling and election sure. In 1 Thessalonians 1:4 we read, “For we know, brothers, loved by God, that he has chosen you.” Now, many people want to know their election before they look to Christ, but you cannot learn it that way. It is only to be discovered by looking to Jesus—looking to him exclusively for your salvation.

If you desire to ascertain your own election, the following method will assure you before God. Do you know yourself to be a lost sinner? Then go immediately to the cross of Christ and confess your guilt to him. Beg his forgiveness and surrender your life to him. Then tell Jesus that you stand on his promise in John 6:37, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” Tell him that he has promised in the Bible, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst” (1 Tim. 1:15).

So look to Jesus, believe on him, and you shall have proof of your election. For surely he who believes is God’s elect. If you will surrender completely to Christ and trust him only for your salvation, then truly you are one of God’s chosen ones.

But if you stop and say, “I want to know first whether I am elect,” you are asking wrongly. Go to Jesus just as you are, a sinner deserving God’s wrath. Abandon all your curiosity about election. Go straight to Christ and hide yourself in his sacrifice on your behalf, and you will come to know your election. The assurance of the Holy Spirit will be given to you, such that you can say, “I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day [the day of his return]” (2 Tim. 1:12).

Jesus was at the Triune council in eternity past, so he certainly can tell you whether you are chosen or not. But you cannot find it in any other way than this. Put your faith in him alone to save you, and his answer will be, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (Jer. 31:3). There will be no doubt about his having chosen you when you, by his grace, have chosen him. Spurgeon wrote, “Sons we are through God’s election, who in Jesus Christ believe.”

4. The Final Judgment Will Occur, So Pay Attention

Our text in Mark does not speak of specifically of this, but it is evident from the tone of Jesus’ talk. We are to be alert, for the final day will come suddenly. We must be ready. For what? To stand before our Judge.

Now, presently when we die, our bodies decay but our souls, being immortal, immediately return to God who created them. The souls of the righteous, those who have trusted in Christ alone for salvation, are at death instantaneously perfected in holiness and received by God into heaven where we dwell with Jesus in all his light and glory, awaiting the full redemption of our bodies.

But the souls of the wicked are cast by God into hell, where they remain in torment and utter darkness, incarcerated, awaiting the final judgment of the great day when everyone—that is, everyone—will be judged, both those who are physically alive when Jesus returns and those who have died; both those who rejected Jesus as Lord and those who have been clothed by him in his righteousness. We shall all stand before our Judge.

All the dead will be raised up. The bodies of people who have died will be united with their souls to join with those who are still alive, and we will stand before Christ the Judge. The Lamb’s book of life will be opened, as well as all the books containing all our thoughts and actions. True justice will be meted out, for Jesus, the all-knowing Lord, will judge all the evidence by the whole truth and nothing but the truth. He will render pure justice. No mistaken judgment will be made, and there will be no place to hide from his blazing, penetrating eyes. No lawyer tricks will get the guilty off, and no loopholes will be found. Justice, pure and undefiled, will be rendered.

Those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life will be acquitted. Christ having fully suffered the penalty due each of them for their sins and Adam’s—their case cannot be tried, for that would be double jeopardy. And clothed in the righteousness of Christ, they are now truly not only not guilty but innocent, justified, and declared righteous, as though they had never sinned or been born to Adam.

Jesus concludes his Olivet Discourse with an admonition to be watchful, to pay attention, for the day and hour of his return is not disclosed to mankind. In verse 32 he says that no one knows about that day or hour—only the Father, not even Christ. So he exhorts us, “Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come” (v. 33). In verse 37 he reiterates that. He says, “I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’” Interestingly, Jesus reveals his own ignorance about the day and hour of his coming in verse 32.

Let’s think for a moment what Jesus is talking about. In the context of his Olivet Discourse, he has made a prediction about God’s judgment on Jerusalem. He didn’t say AD 70. He didn’t give the day or the hour. But he did say “in a generation.” So it does seem that perhaps verse 32 refers to the city’s destruction during that time.

Jesus had a general sense but not a specific one. And he did not write any other book than the one we have. His admission of ignorance often causes great consternation to many readers, for how could God incarnate now know something? However, we must bear in mind that in the incarnation, the Son of God, without surrendering any of his divine attributes, took on true human nature with a truly human mind. And a truly human mind is not all-knowing. When our Savior admitted his ignorance as to the time of Jerusalem’s fall, he was manifesting to us his true humanity with all the non-sinful limitations that a human being can possess.

Jesus’ purpose is not to encourage his disciples to try and set a date, but, rather, to get ready for those events when they come. Though we live two thousand years later, many of Jesus’ predictions came to pass and the rest of them will come to pass. So these words of warning apply to us as well. Watch!

If the judgment on Jerusalem is a type of Jesus’ final return to judge all creation, then truly it is most important that we be watchful. We do not want to be caught unaware and unprepared. Here is all that matters. Here is what  “postmills” and “amills” and “classic premills” and dispensationalist “pre-trib-premills” and “mid-trib-premills” and “post-trib-premills” can all agree on: Our Lord Jesus will return.

But don’t be fooled by false Christs or preachers who say that they know the exact details about his coming. And don’t be discouraged that it seems to be taking a long time. Second Peter 3:8–9 says, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

Jesus is not waiting for everyone to get their eschatology straight. He is waiting for the gospel to be preached to each and every one of his elect throughout time.

Conclusion

If you have not repented of your sins and turned to Christ in faith for your salvation, Christ’s return will spell your doom. So I exhort you, make Jesus your hope. The day is coming when he will come back visibly to establish his kingdom. He will rule without opposition as King of kings and Lord of lords.

But before Christ would wear his crown, it was God’s plan that he should first bear the cross, which he did. And he fully paid for the sins of all the elect. Jesus is not just a mere man. He is not just one of the prophets. He was God coming to us in human flesh, born of a woman to be Savior of his people, of all those who gladly entrust themselves to him as their Lord.

So I ask: Who is Jesus to you? Is he the eternal Son of God become man? Is he your Savior? Is he your Lord?

Jesus is reigning now. He is not waiting to reign. He is seated at the right hand of God the Father, ruling his kingdom. In light of this, I want to leave you with a firm belief in his return, hopefully with an expectant wonder at this coming great event. Jesus may come at any time, at any moment, and we must live accordingly.

So how do we prepare ourselves for the second coming? The answer is clear. If you are not a Christian, you are not presently ready for the Lord’s return. Repent and trust in Jesus alone as Savior and Lord this day. And if you are a believer, seek to be a fruitful disciple, that you might hear Christ’s words of commendation when he comes again. We must ensure that we belong to Jesus as his redeemed people, as his disciples, as his obedient bondslaves.

Peter writes, “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. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of the heavens, which will be destroyed by burning” (2 Pet. 3:10–12, NASB).

Jesus is coming, and we are called unto holiness. Christians are nowhere called to continue to their sin. No, we are called to be saints. The bent and drift of our lives is to be holiness. Christians may sin, but we don’t practice sin. In light of Christ’s soon coming, we must repent and keep repenting, and seek forgiveness and keep seeking forgiveness, trusting in Christ alone and asking forgiveness of those others we have offended.

Jesus told us to “occupy until he comes” (Luke 19:13, KJV). We are to stay busy, faithfully serving him as our Lord until he returns. We are to heed the apostle Paul’s admonition, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15, NASB).

So be full of faith, not of fear. Persevere, for Christ is near. The man or woman who stands firm to the end will be saved. Praise God that he promises by his grace and power to keep us firm in the faith, for “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6). “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:21).