Judgment day and our great hope

The second coming should not be spoken of to our children in some foolish attempt to scare them straight. Christians should not live in dread of being left behind when Christ returns. No—Paul speaks to those living in the trials. He is speaking of us. It is hard to be a Christian. We have these enemies afflicting us. We are often not doing that well. And in my favourite end-times statement, Paul says that this is our blessed hope: We are waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13). Yes, the New Testament urges believers to be awake and to be ready. But Paul asserts in our passage—or later on in First Thessalonians—that by trusting in Christ, we can be certain we will be ready. You do not need something in addition to following Jesus, trusting in Jesus, to make you ready. It is trusting in Jesus that makes you ready. Why? Because readiness is his work. He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it in the end. Look at 1 Thessalonians 5:9–10. Paul says that here is why we can be confident—without fear of Christ’s return: For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. If you believe in Jesus Christ, then you are the elect of God. He predestined your salvation from the foundations of the world. The end of the world will bring that to pass—for his glory. So instead of dreading the return of Jesus, as sadly so many Christians in our generation do—God, I think most Christians today, if they were told, Could you do something to delay Christ’s coming? To make it come later?—first of all, we would. Yes, we are afraid of his coming. We want to stop it from coming. But what is the testimony of the early church? Maranatha—come, Lord Jesus. And he answers, Surely, I am coming soon. So this is a message of joy and comfort to all who are waiting for him.¹

Richard D. Phillips