Jesus Is Coming Soon! Series

A man once asked the Lord what a million years was like to Him. The Lord responded, “It is just a minute in my sight.”

“How about a million dollars?” the man asked. “It can’t mean more than a penny to you.”

“That’s right,” the Lord said. “A million dollars is but a penny in my sight.”

“Then,” said the man, “How about giving me a penny.”

“Sure,” said the Lord, “In a minute.”

2,000 years ago, Jesus said, “I am coming soon.” But His definition of “soon” seems to be a whole lot different than mine. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Revelation 22, Revelation 22, where we might gain some insight into what he meant when he said, “I am coming soon.” Revelation 22, look at vs.7 “Behold, I am coming soon!” Skip down to vs.12 “Behold, I am coming soon!” Now look at vs.20 “Surely I am coming soon.” There is no question…

JESUS IS COMING SOON.

Jesus is coming quickly. He is coming without delay.

But God’s time-table is a whole lot different than ours. 2 Peter 3 says, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:8-9).

From our perspective, Jesus has delayed His coming to give everyone a chance to repent. But from God’s perspective, Jesus hasn’t delayed His coming at all. It has only been “two days” since He made that promise.

Even so, I believe Jesus is coming very shortly. At no other time in history has the stage been so well set for the events described in the book of Revelation.

Now, for those events to happen, three sets had to be in place: 1st, Israel had to be established as a nation again; 2nd, The Roman Empire had to rise out of the ash heap of history; and 3rd, The Babylonian Empire had to come alive again, as well.

Well, that’s exactly what we have seen in OUR lifetime. 1st, Israel became a nation in 1948, and she regained control of the city of Jerusalem in 1967. She is also ready to rebuild the temple. The materials have been gathered, the priests have been trained, and the plans are all laid out. 2nd, The nations that were once a part of the old Roman Empire are coming together again, in what is today called the European Union. And 3rd, The Babylonian Empire is making a comeback in the nation of Iraq, which is the site of ancient Babylon. We see it every day in the news as they try to reestablish themselves with support from the west – exactly the scenario described in Revelation 17 & 18.

Throughout most of the 20th Century, all of these things were unthinkable. Babylon was just a dessert. The Cold War put an Iron Curtain right down the middle of the ancient Roman Empire, irreparably dividing east and west, and the descendants of Israel were scattered all over the world.

Now, in the 21st Century, these things are not only possible! They are happening right before our very eyes. Yes! I believe Jesus is coming very shortly.

And when He does, He will come suddenly. He will come in a flash, with no forewarning whatsoever. For when Jesus said, “I am coming soon,” he not only meant shortly, but suddenly as well. The Bible says, it will happen “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:52).

For several years, we home-schooled our children, and sometimes mom had to be gone for several hours. On those days, she would carefully lay out their assignments and say to our children before she left, “Be done your schoolwork by the time I get home.”

Well, the children would start well, but soon other things became more interesting than spelling or math. Eventually, they would drift to playing with their toys, fighting each other, or finding other ways to occupy their time.

Then, they would hear the noise of mom’s car coming up our gravel driveway. They made a mad dash to their desks and got right back to work. They thought they could fool their mom into believing that they had been working all the time.

Well, that won’t be the case when Jesus comes back. When He returns, there will be no time to scramble back to the work He’s called us to do. We won’t be able to fool Him, because His coming will be sudden.

Jesus is coming soon. That is, He is coming shortly and suddenly. Therefore, we better do what He told us to do. We better…