In a large room above their host’s house, thirteen men had gathered to celebrate the Passover. Jesus and His followers had finished their meal. He had poured water and washed their feet as an example that they should serve each other. Then He began to instruct them. In John 14, He told them to not be afraid because He was telling them that He was going away. There was a lot of room in His Father’s house. He told them that He was preparing a mansion for them. Over the years we have interpreted that to mean that each of us would have a mansion. What He was actually saying was that He was preparing His Father’s extremely large mansion with many rooms, one for each of us. This article isn’t about the mansion but it is significant to me. I don’t know about you but I always secretly thought that I really didn’t want a big ole’ mansion all to myself. How lonely that would be! But when I realized that He was preparing us a room in the Father’s mansion, it meant so much more! I’m not going to be living in a big mansion all by myself but I’m actually going to get to live with God – with my own room in His house! That’s a lot more exciting to me than having my own mansion.
But what we want to emphasis from the passage in John 14 is that He told His disciples (and we are also His disciples, because the seed of the Gospel that we have received was in the future words of these men that sat with Him) that if He went away to prepare us a room, then He would certainly come again to take us to our new home when the time came.
I’ve hard that all my life and perhaps you have too. Even in the days of the early Church they were looking for His return. So when will He be coming? Is He really coming back or have we been lied to all these years? We must remember that God’s timetable is much different than our own. We are finite. We think in terms of a beginning and an end. We are born on a date we celebrate each year. We hope it is a long time in coming, but we know the day will arrive when it is our turn to go. It is extremely difficult for us finite creatures to think of eternity – no beginning and no ending. That’s why God’s “returning soon,” is much different than our “returning soon.” Just know that, yes, He is going to come.
If you study the scriptures, you will soon discover that Jesus is returning in two stages. One is a catching up of those who are believers. The purpose of this coming is to remove Christians in order to protect them from the pouring out of the wrath of God (if you’d like to read more in detail about this you can go to spiritbread. com and download our book entitled “Finality” to read more about it). The second stage of His coming is the one that is prophesied the most and is in reference to His final coming with the armies of Heaven to once and for all conquer the devilinspired kingdoms that stand in resistance of God.
There is so much teaching in the Bible concerning His coming and there’s no way we can completely cover it all in a short article. But the main point is that He is indeed returning. He is coming back. It will take the world completely by surprise because they will teach (and are already teaching) that it is all a fable. Some will attempt to tell you that He has already come. But know this: His final coming will put an end to war, to hatred to strife and will usher in His Kingdom. He will rule the world and will bring about peace like we have never known.
Will it be in our lifetime? It most definitely could be. But whether it is or isn’t, doesn’t negate the fact that He is coming. It will behoove you to make your self ready and begin to do what He said: to watch and wait). Read the words of Luke 12: 37-39: “Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.” Be ready.
“But won’t I be wasting my time if it would turn out to all be a lie?” First of all, it isn’t a lie. It is going to happen. But let’s just say for arguments sake that it would turn out to be a lie. Would it be so bad to live a kind life, giving to others, being kind to your neighbors and doing good throughout your lifetime? What’s wasting time in that scenario? Wouldn’t it be better to live like He is coming and be disappointed rather then to not be looking for His coming and spend eternity in a lake of fire, eternally burning but never consumed?
Yes, He is going t come. I don’t know when. But I do know the how. I’m going to be ready. You do what you want to do. But it would sure be better to see you in that big house of God rather than to miss you because you went to … well you know what I mean.
— Jerry D. Ousley is the author of “Soul Challenge”, “Soul Journey”, “Ordeal”, “The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional” and his first novel “The Shoe Tree.” Newer books include “Finality” and “Dividing God’s Church.” Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge