Jesus coming again
I hope that this little series has been a blessing to you. Ten pictures of Jesus giving us a great overview of who he is and what he is all about. And today we're going to look forward to a picture that nobody has seen yet. It's a picture of Christ coming again at the end of the age.
In Mark 13:26 he says this: “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 heaven.”
Have a picture today of my friends of Christ coming again. And keep watch, as he says later in the chapter, keep watch, so that when I come you're not found to be sleeping, to be dozing. Be ready, be ready at any time.
Beware False Messiahs
I used to lecture at a college in Pretoria and I'd walk to the train from the college. Right in between the college and the train was a little sect or a cult who believed that Christ came back as this Chinese man a few years back. They had all this reasoning - he was born in 1948, which was the same year that Israel became independent, so they said that's it! That's the link! This is the man!
A good few times on my way back to the station these people stopped me and tried to convince me of this and I remember listening carefully to what they were saying. And I actually remember it rattled me. I went and looked up this man they were talking about and tried to figure out if what they were saying was true.
But there are a few things that didn’t match up. Firstly, the man who they claimed to be Christ never claimed it himself, which seemed to be a bit of a red flag. Secondly, this man died in 1991 or something and that went against a lot of what the Scripture says.
In reading Jesus' own words he said, don’t just believe it if someone says, here's the Messiah or he has come because a lot of false people are going to come, claiming to be me.
Be Ready Always
And what got me was Jesus saying this in Matthew 24:27: “as lightning comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” In other words, it'll be unmistakable. It'll be this instant, huge, glorious event that will be so obvious we won't have to try use cryptic clues to figure it out.
And so will this picture of Jesus be in your heart every day? Jesus coming again on the clouds for all to see. I remember towards the end of her life my gran said to us, “I sit here on the patio and look at the sky and say, Lord, is today, the day? Is that him there in the distance?” she would say.
Have this picture in your mind and be ready that when he comes you don't get caught. You don't get caught dozing.
What a glorious day it will be if we are ready to embrace him when he comes.
