by Steve Reeves
Synopsis: Remembering that Jesus will return provides motivation and strength to resist the moral decay surrounding us today.
After Jesus had ascended into heaven, an angel appeared reminding the apostles that Jesus was going to return (Acts 1:9-11). Before the gospel was first preached on Pentecost, before persecution of the church arose, disciples needed to remember the words of Jesus, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I come again” (John 14:3). The apostle Paul instructed the Corinthian church that the Lord’s supper served to remind us of His death as well as His return (1 Cor. 11:26).
Today, Christians are surrounded by cultural rot that seems to grow day by day. At work, they are pressured to keep silent about moral issues by “woke” managers and administrators. At schools and universities, students are pressured to accept and approve the immoral behavior of the LGBTQ+ movement. It’s in the military, the boardroom, social media, and promoted by advertisers and companies everywhere. Now, more than ever, Christians need to remember the promised return of Jesus. The events and the results that surround His return provide motivation to resist this moral decay and strengthen us to be found “watching” and “ready” for His return (Matt. 24:42, 44).
Many, in religious circles today, seek to emphasize only one aspect of Jesus’s return: taking of the righteous to heaven. They speak little of the punishment of the wicked. Some religious groups don’t believe that such punishment will occur. Some don’t believe in hell’s existence, while others speak of a temporal punishment and not an eternal one. When the Holy Spirit spoke of Christ’s return, he revealed that several events or proceedings would take place. His return would usher in more than just a pathway to eternal life in heaven. In a recent ad on TV, the announcer asked, “When you die, are you going to heaven or not?” The first part of the question is good! We should be ready at Jesus’s return or upon death, to go to heaven! What does “or not” mean ? Some will say, “If you miss heaven, you’ve missed it all.” True! Yet, as one preacher noted, “If you miss heaven, hell is all that’s left”!
His return is heralded with a shout and the trumpet of God: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Thess. 4:16). Paul declared, “The trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised” (1 Cor. 15:52). It will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked, for the Lord affirmed, “The hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28-29).
The preceding verses also indicate that judgment follows the resurrection. In His revelation to John, Jesus said that death and Hades give up the dead and they will be “judged every man according to their works” (Rev. 20:13). Paul used the resurrection of the dead and the subsequent judgment of the world in his appeal to the Athenians to repent. He said, “The times of ignorance, therefore God overlooked; but now he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent: inasmuch as he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).
The return of Jesus will usher in our accountability to His words. He himself said, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I spake not from myself; but the Father that sent me, he hath given me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak” (John 12:48-49). His words are the same as the Father’s words. One cannot separate the will of the Father and the will of Jesus, for they are one and the same. A member of the Jehovah’s Witness religion once asked, “Who is going to judge us, God or Jesus?” The answer is both! Paul told the Athenians that God, “will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained” (Acts 17:31). Jesus said, “For neither doth the Father judge any man, but he hath given all judgment unto the Son; that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father” (John 5:22-23). That is why we must obey the gospel of Jesus Christ (Mark 16:15-16), and then, as a Christian, observe all that he commanded (Matt. 28:20).
Jesus said that the time of his return will be without warning and at a time that we don’t expect (Matt. 24:36-44). Paul told the Thessalonians that, “the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night” (1 Thess. 5:2). Should this frighten us? Should we live our lives in constant fear? No! Jesus gave us the “formula,” if you would, so we might anticipate and welcome His return with confidence. He mentioned two things in Matthew 24. The first: Watch. “Watch therefore: for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh” (v. 42). The second: Be ready. “Therefore, be ye also ready; for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh” (v. 44). He then spoke four parables, in the remainder of the chapter and continuing in chapter 25, that addressed the nature of judgment. Their theme: Watch and be ready.
The four parables in Matthew 24:45-25:46 contain four aspects of life and judgment. If we consider these, there will be no fear of Jesus’s return. In each of the parables there is (1) a responsibility or command given, (2) time given to obey or disobey, (3) there’s a time of accountability that comes unexpectedly, and finally, (4) judgment is given as reward or punishment.
In the parable of the servants (24:45-51), both were responsible for taking care of the “household” while the master was absent. Time was given to obey or disobey (v. 48). He came back unexpectedly (v. 50), blessed the faithful servant (v. 46) for doing what he was told, and punished the evil servant who had spent his time getting drunk and beating his fellow servants (v. 50). Watch and be ready.
The ten virgins (Matt. 25:1-13) were given a responsibility, had time to prepare, then unexpectedly the bridegroom came (v. 6). The “judgment” (opening and closing of the door to the feast) found five to be “ready” and five not. There was no second chance for those who were unprepared. Jesus’s point is found in verse 13, which says, “Watch therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour.” Watch and be ready! One can see this same theme repeated in the last two parables as well.
Let us also welcome His return! If we are being faithful as a servant, prepared and ready for His return, using our talents, and serving others (Matt. 25:21, 23, 34-40), we will hear “well done good and faithful servant” at his return! Are you ready? Have you obeyed the gospel? Are you faithful? Watch and be ready!
“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23).
