When I was a brand-new believer in the 1970s, many Christians eagerly listened to Bible teachers “proving” from Scripture that Christ would return in the 1980s. The Late Great Planet Earth told us the fig tree in Matthew 24:32–35 was Israel, and the generation that witnessed Israel’s return as a nation in 1948 wouldn’t pass away before Christ’s return. Convinced of this, one of my friends didn’t get dental work done, saying, “Why spend the money when Christ is going to come back within a couple of years?” (He ended up regretting it!)
Years later, as a pastor, I hesitated before preaching on Christ’s second coming because I was weary of the prophecy obsession, which was less about Jesus than endless speculation about the tribulation, the antichrist, the USSR being Gog and Magog, the Chinese army preparing for Armageddon, the locusts of Revelation 9 being helicopters — and so on.
Yet a healthy emphasis on Christ’s return is vital for believers, since “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior” (Philippians 3:20). Christ will appear “to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:28), and he will reward “all who have loved his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8).
Scripture calls his return “the happy fulfillment of our hope” (Titus 2:13 NET). The hope in view is not wishful thinking but rock-solid, blood-bought certainty. Since Christ’s return is the believer’s great hope, we should ask ourselves: What will it mean when he does return?
That Happy Day
It’s not essential that we understand in detail how the future will fall together. But the cornerstone of all orthodox eschatology is belief in the second coming of Christ — his physical return to this earth.
Preaching on the second coming, Charles Spurgeon said, “To stand star-gazing at the prophecies, with your mouth wide open, is just the wrong thing; far better will it be to go on working for your Lord, getting yourself and your service ready for his appearing, and cheering yourself all the while with this thought, ‘While I am at work, my Master may come. Before I get weary, my Master may return.’”
The imminent return of Christ means he can return soon, within short order, as has been true for two thousand years. It also means he does not have to return when we think (1 Thessalonians 5:1–3). As Jesus himself said, “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:44).
Unless Christ returns in our lifetime, we’re all going to die. In God’s perfect timing, he will take each of us out of this fallen world. Then, at the appointed time, he’ll send his Son back to set up his kingdom and initiate a resurrection of believers for eternal life on the new earth. How grateful we are for God’s promise of resurrected bodies and renewed minds, with which we will be better able to glorify him by enjoying him forever!
John Calvin wrote, “Let us not hesitate to await the Lord’s coming, not only with longing, but also with groaning and sighs, as the happiest thing of all. He will come to us as Redeemer” (Institutes 3.9.5).
That will be the day when everything changes.
Only the Beginning
Our interest in the end times often extends to the period preceding and immediately following Christ’s return. But while his return will be unspeakably wonderful, it will end quickly. What will not end is our ongoing, ever-deepening relationship with Jesus. It will get richer and richer, day after day, for “in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). And as we wait for Jesus above all, we can also long for our eternal home: “According to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).
A woman engaged to a man living far away joyfully anticipates the day he will return for their wedding, an event that will change their lives. The same is true for us, the corporate bride of Christ, as we await his return. Yet a wedding, wonderful as it is, is only the beginning. I recall my wedding with great fondness, but when I consider the 54 total years of knowing Nanci and our 47 years of marriage, I can say that among the countless memories we shared, only a sliver of them are from our actual wedding day.
Likewise, the return of Christ is not just an explosive event that ends history but one that begins a new history and removes the curse, such that we will never again be hindered in our relationship with Jesus. “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4). We will experience the ongoing, daily revelation of his person as we live in his direct presence.
Best of all, once he returns, he will never leave us again.
Face-to-Face with Our Bridegroom
When you are in love, you desire to be in your beloved’s presence. Where you go and what you talk about are secondary to the joy of simply experiencing life together. The same will be true of life in the direct presence of Jesus, our true Bridegroom and best Friend.
I sometimes ponder what it will be like to see Jesus face-to-face, to fall on my knees before him, and then to talk and eat and walk with him as a resurrected person living on a resurrected earth. Like Job, I’m struck with the realization that “I myself will see him with my own eyes — I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:27 NIV).
Sometimes we imagine too much when it comes to eternal life. But usually, the problem isn’t that we imagine; it’s that what we imagine can be biblically ungrounded. We fail to picture in our minds the realities that Christ reveals to us in his word. Rather than ignore our imagination, I believe we should fuel it with Scripture, stepping just through doors the Bible opens.
We only look forward to what we can imagine. So, do imagine what it will be like on the new earth to walk with Jesus, as the first disciples once did. Living in Christ’s presence will be the ultimate fulfillment of the abundant, overflowing life God promised.
In the meantime, many unanswered questions remain. For instance, how will every eye see him when he returns (Revelation 1:7)? Or how will untold millions of believers on the new earth be able to talk and walk with Jesus one-on-one? Will we take turns enjoying his bodily presence? Or will the one body of Jesus somehow be simultaneously present with his people in a million places? The questions abound, but what we know is that God is capable of doing far more than we imagine.
All that will surround us on the new earth — the people, banquets, work, culture, arts, sciences — all of it will point us toward Jesus. Though we’ll always be finite, we will continue growing in our knowledge of the infinite God. In the coming ages, he will show us “the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7). What will we learn about him as we worship with the four living creatures (Revelation 7:11)? What will we learn from angels (Revelation 5:11), and what might they learn from us? What insights will we glean from the animals on the new earth (Isaiah 11:6–9; 65:25)?
As we look into the faces of people and angels and animals, we’ll see the myriad ways our Creator has revealed himself to us. We will forever progress in the depth and breadth of our relationship with Jesus — first, directly with him; second, through other living beings and the fascinating new world that he will create. Our entire lives will be centered on him, and we will learn more about him through the countless adventures that await us.
Come, Lord Jesus
Jesus will return after the last martyr is killed (Revelation 6:11), the last convert converted. But “concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matthew 24:36). As we wait, we’re to serve him faithfully, trusting Jesus to return when he deems it good to do so — whether that’s within our lifetime or hundreds of years from now.
Meanwhile, we fully place our hope in Christ and his promises. He will return, and we will be resurrected to life on the new earth, where we will behold God’s face and joyfully know and serve him forever.
So, eyes lifted upward, together we say, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
