Come Again… | Sunday, August 3, 2025

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. (John 14:1–3)

Christ has always promised to come again — and that promise is meant to anchor your hope no matter what you face.

The Creed's Final Word About Christ

This summer we paused our normal studies in the Gospel of Luke to mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which met in AD 325 in what is now Turkey to articulate what the church believes about the triune nature of God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The council ended in August of that year and produced the Nicene Creed, every line of which is drawn from Scripture.

We have worked through the creed's statements about the Father and about Christ as creator, savior, suffering servant, and resurrected and ascended King. Today we come to the last statement about Christ, which could fill an entire series on its own: "He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end."

Across the world today, millions of Christians rehearse these very words, as believers have for 1700 years — simply and clearly stating what we affirm about God and our trust in Him. This affirmation gives us great confidence and hope whatever we go through in this life.

A Distinctive Mark of the Christian Faith

The second coming carries with it big and sometimes frightful imagery — the apocalypse, the end of the age, the last days. Every summer brings another apocalyptic blockbuster. And when there are wars and rumors of wars, or earthquakes in diverse places — like the one that struck while I was traveling — our minds are pulled toward the reality that life will end.

We all know personally that our lives will end; that becomes more real the longer we live. Over 25 years of ministry I have stood at dozens of funerals and bedsides. But the Scriptures foretell an end not only to our individual lives but to the present age — the apokalypsis, the revelation. Every person you know, even those who don't believe in God, holds some end-times scenario in their mind.

The conviction that "He will come again" is a distinctive mark of the Christian faith throughout church history. If you are a Christian, you believe as an essential aspect of your faith that Christ will come again — and you believe it according to His promise. This idea did not arise from some random teaching; its source is Jesus Himself.

The Context of Jesus' Promise

In John 14, Jesus speaks these words hours before His arrest, condemnation, and crucifixion. It is the passion week. He has gone into Jerusalem, had heavy exchanges with the religious leaders, and predicted the destruction of the temple. When the disciples tried to soften His words by admiring the temple buildings, He told them, "Not one stone will be left upon another." They were shocked.

That prophecy came to pass within forty years, in AD 70 under the Roman general Titus. I have walked the excavated road below the temple mount where those very stones were cast down — you can see the fulfillment of His words with your own eyes.

So the disciples were deeply troubled, and into that distress Jesus says, "Let not your heart be troubled." That is a hard word. When you receive bad news or face anxiety-producing situations, you cannot simply command your heart to be at peace; there must be a reason to bank that faith upon. And He gives them one: "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again."

Point One: The Church Has Always Affirmed and Trusted in Christ's Return

The second coming is not a novel idea the church invented decades or centuries later. It comes from Jesus' own statement. The expectation of a Messiah coming in glory predates Him — Daniel, 500 years before Christ, saw the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great glory; Isaiah, 700 years before, spoke of the increase of His government and peace without end. But Jesus declared, "I am the one who will bring it. I will come again."

He instructed His disciples to pray to this end. In the Lord's Prayer we pray, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." And the very last chapter of the last book of the Bible ends with the church praying, "Lord, come quickly." For 2,000 years we have prayed that prayer, and just as surely, there will come a day when Jesus answers it.

To affirm Christ's return is to state publicly as fact that He died, was buried, rose again, was seen alive, ascended into heaven, and will come again in glory. From the earliest days, a person was not received into the church through baptism unless they could affirm these things — proclaimed in the Apostles' Creed, some two hundred years before Nicaea: "He ascended into heaven... and He will come again to judge the living and the dead."

I have met Christians who say they are unsure about the second coming. I believe you can be a Christian and not believe in it — but only because you have misunderstood the Scriptures or received false teaching. The church has affirmed this from the very beginning based on the promise of Jesus.

The apostles believed Jesus would come in their lifetime and taught their hearers to live in readiness. We have now been waiting awhile. It seems long to us, but to the infinite God it is short — Peter says a day with the Lord is as a thousand years. He has been gone only a couple of "days." With the Lord, time is nothing, for He stands outside of time.

Point Two: Our Ultimate Confidence Is in the Resurrecting and Returning Christ

I deliberately say the resurrecting Christ. We have hope not only because Jesus rose, but because at His return He will raise us. He is not merely the resurrected Christ; He is the resurrecting Christ who raises us to newness of life. This is exactly the comfort Paul presses on the Thessalonians.

I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus... For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4)

There is a palpable difference at a deathbed between the one who knows Christ and the one who does not. There is grief and sorrow either way — but for the Christian it is not without hope. Therefore Paul concludes, "Comfort one another with these words."

Point Three: The Second Coming Fills Us with Joy and Peace and Hope

Everyone has an eschatology — the study of the last things. Even your skeptical friend has an end-times scenario: a major earthquake, an asteroid strike, thermonuclear war, AI taking over, global warming. And that scenario shapes how they think, what they fear, and how they live.

But here at this church we have said for years that we want everything we do done with joy, because we have an optimistic vision of the future: one day Christ will rule and reign from His kingdom upon the earth, and there will be no more death, sorrow, sickness, tears, or war. Who would not want that? Between now and then there may be shake-ups, but even when people speak of nuclear war or the dangers of AI, I find I still have peace — because my ultimate hope is that Christ will one day rule and reign.

Between now and when you stand in His presence you may receive a cancer diagnosis, the news of a tragic death, the collapse of everything you worked for, or even persecution for your faith, as believers across history have. Yet even in the midst of these things we have peace and hope, because Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled... I will come again and receive you to Myself."

The Question of "When"

We have been waiting 2,000 years. In the 1970s, Hal Lindsay's The Late Great Planet Earth radically reshaped American Protestant thinking and fixed many people on these matters — but things didn't unfold as predicted. Much of what we confidently state about the second coming is educated guess and speculation; we will discover the truth when we stand in His presence, and we may have been wrong.

Some have been wounded when the Lord didn't come the way and the time they expected — like the booklet 88 Reasons Why Jesus Will Return in 1988. It didn't happen. Here is one thing I know: those who tell you they know the date do not, for not even the Son knows — only the Father. But we do know He will come.

Have you ever wondered when? You are in good company. In Acts 1, just before Jesus ascended, His followers asked, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" He had just commissioned them to take the gospel to all nations, and they asked about timing. He answered, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power... and you shall be witnesses to Me."

This is key: my flesh, and yours, gets distracted by timing, signs, and blood moons, and Jesus constantly refocuses my attention on the mission. In Matthew 24, when the disciples asked when the temple would fall and what the sign of His coming would be, He warned, "Take heed that no one deceives you... you will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see that you are not troubled, for the end is not yet." Famines, pestilences, earthquakes — these are the beginning of sorrows, not the sign of the coming. And again He redirects: "This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come." Don't be deceived, don't be discouraged, don't be distracted — keep the focus on the mission.

Point Four: Faithful Waiting, Watching, and Working

After the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24–25, Jesus wraps up His teaching with three parables. The wise servant, whom his master returning after a long time found doing what he had been left to do. The five wise virgins who were ready and watching. And the talents, where the master gives his servants resources to work with and squares accounts on his return. The point of all three is the same: we must be faithful in our waiting, our watching, and our working.

"Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming" (Matthew 25:13). "Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing" (Matthew 24:46). Though we don't know when Jesus will come, we know that He will — and we know what we ought to be doing in the meantime. In Luke 19 He says, "Do business until I come" — the King James says, "Occupy till I come."

So we are to be about the Lord's business. The bumper sticker says, "Jesus is coming — look busy." But don't just look busy; actually do the work of waiting, watching, and working. We are called to be witnesses, to preach the gospel to every creature, to serve as ambassadors of His kingdom.

Point Five: He Will Confer Blessings and Rewards on the Faithful

Peter writes, "When the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away" (1 Peter 5:4). We believe the second coming, we proclaim it whenever we take communion — "we proclaim His death until He comes" — and we wait for it. But we do not wait passively. Every New Testament writer calls our minds to this reality and stirs us to engage.

Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it... You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. (James 5:7–8)

Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. (Romans 13:11–12)

Peter writes, "The end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers" (1 Peter 4:7). And in 2 Peter 3, since the heavens and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, "what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness... be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless." John adds, "Abide in Him, that when He appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming" (1 John 2:28). And Jude exhorts us to build ourselves up on our most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keeping ourselves in the love of God.

The message of the New Testament writers is consistent and clear: they believed and taught that Christ would come again, and that in light of His coming we should be ready and waiting for His soon return.

A Word on a Modern Shift

In the last 25 years there has been a notable shift in American Protestantism toward what is called the New Calvinism, and along with it a move in eschatology — first toward an amillennial view, then progressively toward a postmillennial view promoted by a number of prominent voices online. This is a departure from the historic position of the church regarding Christ's return, and especially from the expectation of His soon and imminent coming.

It is not that they deny the second coming; it is that they hold the church must first, by its own Spirit-empowered efforts, establish the kingdom and rule of God on earth — through means like Christian nationalism — before a coming they regard as far off, with much work to be done in between. There is much work to do, and I would not deny that. But I believe the apostles taught clearly that Christ could come at any moment and that we should be ready and looking forward to His coming.

He Comes as King and as Judge

This is why we say, "He will come again." And why will He come? To judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end. He comes as King to rule over His everlasting kingdom, and as Judge to judge in righteousness those who have done unrighteousness. As Isaiah 11 says, He will not judge by the sight of His eyes nor the hearing of His ears, but with righteousness for the poor and equity for the meek.

For centuries the church has prayed, "Lord, come quickly." And though He has tarried, we are waiting and watching — may He find us so working when He comes. Here is one thing absolutely certain: Jesus Christ will come in your lifetime, for you. Perhaps He will come for all of us. So we say, "Lord, come quickly" — and today you are one day closer to seeing Him face to face. I pray that you and I will hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Closing Prayer

God, thank You for Your word. It is living and powerful and challenging. Lord, sometimes it cuts deep and affects us at the soul level, because You want to do a work by Your Spirit and Your word and Your grace to transform us more and more into the likeness of Your children. Would You do that work? Help us to take seriously the exhortations we just read from Jude and Peter and James and John and Paul, and to be more diligent to make our call and election sure as we see the day approaching. And God, would You shine through us as bright lights to this world as we serve as ambassadors wherever You have called us — whether a school campus, a construction site, an office building, a political office, or anywhere else. Help us to recognize that we are there by Your divine decree to be a light shining in a dark place, and empower us by Your grace to be so. For we ask this in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, "Amen."