Steve Hulshizer
In John 14 Christ encourages his disciples by declaring that while He
was leaving them, He would return. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye 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 unto myself; that where I am, there ye may
be also.” (John 14:1-3)
The Promise?Every believer in Christ has the promise that the
Lord will come again and receive him unto Himself. A reassuring aspect of this promise is
the Person who made it. It is the Lord Himself who made this promise, “I will
come again.” God manifest in the flesh has promised to come again. We can take
comfort in this, for we read, “That by two immutable things, in which it was
impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to
lay hold upon the hope set before us:.” (Heb. 6:18)
It will be the Lord “Himself” who comes for us. The same One
who fed the 5,000 with a few loaves and fish. The same One who raised the dead, and made
the blind to see. The same One who walked on water, and calmed the raging sea. The same
One who walked with the two on the road to Emmaus. The same One man rejected and
crucified. “This same Jesus” will come to take us home to be with Himself.
The purpose of this promise is stated by the Lord Himself,
“that where I am there ye also may be.” He is coming again to take us out of
this world to where He is. The bride will be with the Bridegroom. For all eternity we will
be where He is.
The Prospect?This promise gives each believer a prospect?the
certainty of being with the Lord. We can look forward to be taken from this world, whether
we are alive and remain at His coming, or whether we have already gone to glory through
the gate of death, only to be reunited with our resurrected and changed bodies.
This hope is heavenly. (Col. 1:5) It is a living hope, in that it is in
the living One who sits at God?s right hand. (1 Pet. 1:3) This hope is “an
anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast?.” (Heb. 6:19)
One aspect of this prospect is its intimacy. It is the
Bridegroom coming for His bride. The bride is to be looking for a Person, not an event.
Paul said, “We look for the Savior.” (Phil. 3:20) The Thessalonian saints had
“turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; And to wait for his Son
from heaven.” (1 Thess. 1:10) We should be waiting for the Lord as a bride waits for
her bridegroom. Not just to be taken from the scene, but to be where He is.
Another aspect of the prospect of His coming is imminency.” The
Lord can come at any moment. This should keep us from driving our tent pegs deeper and
deeper into this world.
The Period?Between the Lord?s promise to come again, and
the realization of the prospect set before us is a period of time. It is an indefinite
period of time. There are no “seventy weeks” for the New Testament church. How
long this period is no one knows, except God.
The fact that this period is indefinite requires us to wait
patiently. As in Noah?s day there are some who would question whether the Lord
will keep His Word. In similar fashion Israel grew tired of waiting for Moses to return
from the mountain and made themselves “other gods.” Idolatry is an ever present
danger as we wait “for His Son from heaven” in this indefinite period.
The period is not only indefinite, but one of increasing darkness,
departure, and deception. This means we must be watchful. We must
“wait,” and we must “watch.” There is to be an expectation. We
must not fall asleep as did the ten virgins. The Bright and Morning Star precedes the
rising of the sun and will arise in the darkest hour of the day. We must remember the
longer the night, the closer the rising of the Sun.
This period will also be marked by impurity. We must then walk
as children of the light. We must flee fornication, and walk as examples to the
dark world around us.
Indifference will mark this indefinite period of time. This
requires the believers to be working. So many are entangled in the affairs of life,
and are indifferent with regard to the things of the Lord. Worldly events take priority
over the gatherings of the local assembly, and personal time in prayer and the reading of
God?s Word.
The Provisions?The Lord has not left us without provisions for
this indefinite period of time. The following are some of those things which we have to
encourage and enable us to patiently wait, watch, walk, and work until He comes again.
We have an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance reserved for
us in heaven. (1 Pet. 1:4) We have the certainty of forever being with the Lord. This fact
should keep our eyes forward and encourage our hearts. (Heb. 12:2)
We have an interceding High Priest who “ever liveth to make
intercession for us.” (Heb. 7:25) One Who has been here and suffered for
righteousness sake.
The Lord has given us the indwelling Holy Spirit to comfort us
along the way. One who will come alongside to strengthen us during this time.
Then there is the inspired Word of God. That which never changes
is able to guide us through this ever changing world.
We also have the incense of the Lord?s Supper; that
constant remembrance of the One who purchased us at great expense and Who will return to
take His bride to be with Himself.
Having this personal promise of the Lord Himself to return for us, let
us continue to wait, watch, walk, and work in this indefinite Period between the Promise
and the Prospect, making use of all the Provisions He has provided.