The Timing of the Lord’s Return

Preacher:
Date: June 3, 2015

Bible Text: Matthew 24:36, 42 | Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father… Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come! Matthew 24:36, 42

An acquaintance of mine was traveling with his family, and to reach an engagement where he was performing, he had to drive overnight. As you probably know the roughest time to stay awake is when the gray streaks of dawn pierce the eastern sky, and Thurlow was fighting sleep as the family began to waken. A little four-year-old rubbed her eyes, and out of the clear blue, said, “Mommy, when is Jesus coming back?”

Nobody had said anything about the return of Jesus Christ, but someway the light in the eastern sky reminded the little child of something she had heard, and she thought that surely the sky would be something like that when Christ returns.
A very surprised mother blinked and then said, “Well, Jesus could come back anytime!”

“Anytime,” remarked the little child, “When’s ‘anytime’?”

Pausing for a moment to get fully awake, the mother said, “Anytime could be today, or tomorrow… or even this morning. Anytime is just anytime!”

Nobody said anything for a few minutes and then the little girl said, “Mommy, better comb my hair ’cause if Jesus could come back anytime, I’d better look nice for Him!”

Out of the mouths of babes come some great truths! The question of “anytime” grows greater with every world conflict in the Middle East, as the players on the chessboard reshuffle–making us ask the question, “Is this it? Is Armageddon around the corner? Could this conflict lead to the return of Jesus Christ?

Jesus was very clear when He said that no person could set a date. You’ll find His words in that great passage we call “The Olivet Discourse,” when Jesus talked about His return, and in the context of the fact He is coming back he said, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father… Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come!” (Matthew 24:36, 42).

A lot of folks, though, have never gotten the message.

For example: In 1914, followers of Judge Russell, better known today as Jehovah’s Witnesses, expected Jesus to literally return, and thousands of them went to a certain place dressed in white, expecting that event to take place. But it wasn’t in 1914!

In Hertfort, England, in early December of 1968 the paper read, “The world is definitely coming to an end on Wednesday, December 11, 1968, at noon precisely! A full report will appear in this paper on Friday!”

In 1969, Elizabeth Steen–a 28-year-old Richmond, California housewife, predicted the end of the world on April 14. On that day 10,000 people gathered in Union Square in San Francisco, expecting the world to come to an end. It didn’t end then either.

Okay–people have been wrong, but does that mean, the event will never take place?

Long ago, Peter said, “First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this coming he promised?” Peter continues to say that God’s timetable is different from ours, but that eventually, He will return!

It’s true that nobody knows the day or the hour of Christ’s return, yet Bible scholars are in general agreement that the Bible gives clear direction as to the season or the era which points to His return. Furthermore, repeatedly the Bible urges believers to be watchful, looking for His return! If it were impossible to identify the signs of His return, it would have been pointless for Jesus, as well as the writers of the New Testament, to look for the signs of His return. Think about it.

Resource reading: Matthew 24:36-42.