The Return of Christ or Live for Christ?

The background scriptures for this entry are as follows: Matthew 24-25:13, Luke 21:5-36, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11, and Hebrews 10:19-25. In these passages we hear from Jesus who talked about His return in some detail and Paul using the promise of Christ’s return to encourage the Thessalonian believers. These passages also refer to some other passages in Isaiah and Daniel that are good for further study, but this entry will not refer to them.

Jesus begins by making comments about how “not one stone here will be left on another” (Matthew 24:2b, NIV), speaking of the Temple, and that there will be false messiahs, teachers, and prophets but for His disciples not to be deceived by them. By telling His disciples this, Jesus was preparing them for what is to come. Even though some tend to stress the “when” or talk about how Jesus said, “this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened” (vs. 34, NIV), there is a greater message that is covered in Jesus’ discourse.

Before we get into the important message, let’s look at the timing of the events Jesus mentioned here. He was very specific as to when this would happen, it is to be in the time that the Father chooses; therefore, no one else knows nor can know. Jesus points out that we will know the seasons, as we know when summer is coming, or a pregnant woman can tell the baby is coming when the contractions start. The point is that we will not be able to come up with a specific time so it is a waste of time to even try.

The most controversial statement that Jesus made in this discourse was one that apparently dealt with His current generation. Jesus said, “this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened” (vs. 34, NIV). There were many that were convinced that Jesus would return in their lifetime and were anticipating it, but we know that this did not happen. This brings up a question, why did Jesus promise this if it were not going to happen? The simple answer is that the generation he was talking about was the generation that saw the “season” of his coming and it would be them that would “not pass away,” not the ones he was speaking to at the time. However, this statement did have a consequence of some of Jesus’ followers adamantly preparing for His coming.

The coming of the Messiah, Jesus, is going to be a glorious time for those who know Him but a sorrowful and fearful time for those who have rejected Him. It is this knowledge that Paul speaks to in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11, when he speaks about “the day of the Lord,” as the heading in the New International Version says. Paul speaks about the coming of the Lord in some the same terms that Jesus does in Matthew and Luke. The addition of “therefore encourage one another with these words,” in 1 Thessalonians 4:18 and “therefore encourage one another and build each other up just as in fact you are doing” in 5:11, carries on the overall message that Paul is teaching, to be in community with other believers.

Earlier, in 1 Thessalonians 4:1, Paul begins by telling the church how to live. The Greek word for “how to live” can also be translated “how to walk.” We, as believers in Jesus Christ, are to please God with our walk. That is, who we walk with, where we walk to, and what we do as we walk. This harkens back to the “Great Commission” found in Matthew 28, Jesus tells us to “Go” and “make disciples.” The word for “go,” in the Greek, can also be translated, “walk,” the same English word as in 1 Thessalonians. As Christians we are to make disciples as we walk or as we are going. It’s not just a “sit and believe” kind of faith, it is a “go out and do” kind of faith.

When writing the book of Hebrews, the author understood what it meant to live as a Christian and continued the message that Jesus and Paul had given in the previous passages we have looked at. After calling the church to persevere, the writer states “and let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (vs. 24-25, NIV).

As believers in Christ, we are to focus on the right things, not those that do not have a definite answer for us. We know, without a doubt, that Jesus left us with a mission and that mission is to be carried out where God has placed us. We also know that this mission is to be done as the outflowing of the community of believers. So, let us all be faithful to the “meeting together” with other Christians so that we can be encouraged to carry out that to which God has called us all, making disciples.