Jesus is coming back. No one knows when; it could be today. Believers celebrate this fact. We each other that he’s coming back. We sing songs about it, and put bumper stickers on our cars, and read books and watch videos about Jesus coming back. But if someone were to look closely at our lives, would they conclude that we actually believe what we’re saying? Do we act like we really believe that Jesus is coming back?
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church:
Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3).
This phrase, “the day of the Lord,” is used in Scripture to mean several different things, but in the paragraph just before this one, Paul was talking about Jesus’ return, and we can safely conclude that he’s still on the same topic here. It will happen suddenly and unexpectedly, when the people who are not preparing themselves do not expect it. When they feel safe, Jesus will come. But what does this mean for me?
But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober (1 Thessalonians 5:4-6).
The application, then, is not at all about drawing timelines or making charts or issuing “rapture alerts.” God is not calling us to be prophecy watchers, but to be sober and awake. Self-controlled, in other words. We are not to live as though we had all the time in the world, but as servants who expect our boss to return at any moment, just as Jesus himself taught:
Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
“Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back – whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’” (Mark 13:33-37).
Christ will come “like a thief in the night.” We are not children of the night, however, but of the day. We don’t have to be surprised like those who are sleeping. Not because we will know the date in advance – we won’t – but because we are called to be ready, so that whenever Jesus comes, he’ll find us doing what we were told to do.
At the same time, this passage does not imply that I should quit everything and go sit on my rooftop, waiting for Jesus. That’s not what I was told to do. Yes, he might come today, so I’d better be ready. But it also might be many years yet, so I’d better be ready for that possibility as well.
The question we should be asking ourselves continually is, “am I, right this minute, doing something I would want to be found doing when Jesus returns?” Not so that we can feel guilty, but simply as a way of paying attention to what we’re doing. And as a reminder of who we are; the sons and daughters of God. Because in the end, what it really comes down to is living out the reality of who we already are. Not out of fear at the thought of Christ’s return, but in joyful anticipation of what he will find when he comes.