The se­cond co­ming of Christ is a cent­ral theme in the Bib­le. Je­sus said that no one ex­cept for God knows the exact time. God’s word ex­horts us to fol­low the signs of ti­mes and to be re­a­dy at eve­ry mo­ment.

“Be­hold, I come quick­ly: hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown.” So it is sta­ted in Re­ve­la­ti­ons (3:11).

Al­re­a­dy in the time of the ear­ly churc­hes, Christ’s re­turn was awai­ted with de­vo­ti­on. Chris­ti­ans con­temp­la­ted the din of the sur­roun­ding world, of­ten amongst per­se­cu­ti­on, and read signs of the ti­mes. Many be­lie­ved that Christ would still re­turn in their li­fe­ti­me.

The se­cond co­ming of Christ is a cent­ral theme in the Bib­le. In the New Tes­ta­ment alo­ne, the se­cond co­ming of Christ or hap­pe­nings re­la­ting to it are re­fer­red to over 300 ti­mes. For cen­tu­ries there have been plen­ty of dif­fe­rent kinds of fal­se prop­hets pre­dic­ting the day of judg­ment. They have spe­ci­fied da­tes for the se­cond co­ming of Christ and the end of the world. Each time the an­ti­ci­pa­ti­on has en­ded in di­sap­point­ment. Je­sus taught about the end of the world: “But of that day and that hour kno­weth no man, no, not the an­gels which are in he­a­ven, neit­her the Son, but the Fat­her” (Mark 13:32).

It is im­por­tant to keep vi­gil

What is the Bib­le’s con­cept of time like? God’s time is dif­fi­cult for the hu­man mind to un­ders­tand. Pe­ter de­cip­hers this sub­ject in his let­ter: “But be­lo­ved, be not ig­no­rant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thou­sand ye­ars, and a thou­sand ye­ars as one day” (2 Pet. 3:8). On the ot­her hand, it is not man’s place to spe­cu­la­te about God’s ti­me­tab­le. “It is not for you to know the ti­mes of the se­a­sons, which the Fat­her hath put in his own po­wer” (Acts 1:7). Our con­cept of time is ba­sed on the cyc­le of cre­a­ti­on sur­roun­ding us. But God’s work is not tied to our con­cept of time, or even our abi­li­ty to comp­re­hend.

Ins­te­ad of es­ti­ma­ting the exact time of Christ’s se­cond co­ming, God’s word ex­horts us to fol­low the signs of the ti­mes, watch in faith and be re­a­dy at eve­ry mo­ment. The wri­ter of the book of Re­ve­la­ti­ons al­so cau­ti­ons us to watch (3:11) in this short ver­se: “Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”

The an­gel of the church in Phi­la­delp­hia was ti­red in his own en­de­a­vor. He was told: “For thou hast a lit­t­le strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not de­nied my name” (Rev. 3:8). The an­gel of the church in Phi­la­delp­hia was en­cou­ra­ged to hold fast in this en­de­a­vor un­til the end, to trust in God’s name, His for­gi­ve­ness and care.

Paul’s joy

Paul al­so knew the tra­di­ti­on pas­sed down from an­cient ti­mes in which the win­ner of a lar­ge sports com­pe­ti­ti­on or a war hero was gi­ven a lau­rel wre­ath as a sign of vic­to­ry or ho­nor. When Paul saw his end ne­a­ring, he wrote to his yo­ung friend and work com­pa­ni­on Ti­mot­hy: “I have fought a good fight, I have fi­nis­hed my cour­se, I have kept the faith: Hen­ce­forth there is laid up for me a crown of righ­te­ous­ness, which the Lord, the righ­te­ous jud­ge, shall give me at that day: and not to me on­ly, but un­to all them al­so that love his ap­pe­a­ring” (2 Tim. 4:7–8).

Paul re­joi­ced that he had sur­vi­ved the dif­fe­rent tri­als of a mul­ti-pha­sed life through God’s po­wer and kept the gift of faith. For him, the pro­mi­se that Christ had gi­ven to his dis­cip­les was true: “And lo I am with you al­way, even un­to the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20).

Re­lying on God’s pro­mi­se

Paul awai­ted the re­ward, the crown of righ­te­ous­ness, which he would re­cei­ve when Christ came the se­cond time. It was not im­por­tant to Paul that Christ would come still in his li­fe­ti­me. He trus­ted that the day of the co­ming of the righ­te­ous jud­ge would come wit­hout war­ning be­cau­se Christ Him­self had pro­mi­sed it.

The pro­mi­ses of God’s words are still in ef­fect. No mat­ter how the world around us looks, and no mat­ter what kinds of ti­mes we are fa­ced with in our li­ves, Christ has pro­mi­sed to be with his own al­wa­ys and eve­ryw­he­re. When we rely on this pro­mi­se and trust in God’s grace and for­gi­ve­ness, it is safe for us to strive in faith one day at a time. May God give us strength to hold fast to our most pre­ci­ous tre­a­su­re. Then when Christ co­mes, we would al­so have the sign of vic­to­ry, the crown of righ­te­ous­ness, pla­ced on our he­ads.

Pub­lis­hed: Sii­o­nin Lä­he­tys­leh­ti 10/2013

Trans­la­ti­on: An­ge­la Hän­ni­nen

Teks­tis­sä kä­si­tel­lään seu­raa­via raa­ma­tun­koh­tia: Rev. 3:11

Jul­kais­tu eng­lan­nin­kie­li­ses­sä kie­li­lii­tees­sä 4/2014