Jesus is coming back soon – TRUTH

The return of Jesus Christ is the next big event on the church calendar. I know, you’re thinking you have a senior ladies’ potluck in your church basement this Sunday, but I’m talking about the universal church calendar, the one every church shares. Sure, Christmas and Easter will pass by, maybe this year, maybe for the next twenty or two hundred years.

But Jesus’ return is the next big thing the Bible clearly tells us is next.

So, when is that so I can put it on my Google calendar and not schedule anything else that day?

We don’t know. Soon.

Four times in Revelation (3:11; 22:7, 12, 20), three of them in the final chapter of the Bible, Jesus said “I am coming soon.” He said that out loud and John the Revelation writer heard it. John wrote this book be around AD 90, so let’s say two thousand years ago.

Let’s imagine that I’m at work and my wife called me and asked me when I was coming home because the kids are all gone and she is making this delicious five-course dinner. I reply, “Soon” then I don’t show up for ten years, you would wonder what my definition of “Soon” is while you call the police and file a missing person’s report.

For us, soon means…well, soon. Like, in the next half hour, maybe an hour.

The word “soon” in the Bible means quickly, speedily, without delay. But we always define “soon” according to the context in which it’s given.

My wife’s dinner is expressed in a timeline of 5pm to 7pm that night. She isn’t calling me to say she is making dinner for September 21, 2033. She means tonight so my “soon” response fits that context.

When Jesus states soon, he lives in an eternal context. For him, a day is like a thousand years (Psalm 90:4). For him, that’s like saying he’s stopping by in a couple days, maybe three—which could be two to three thousand years.

But there’s another way to see this. He’s not telling you when he’s returning, but how.

It’s like this: “When I arrive, it’ll be fast, quickly, before you know it.” In 1 Corinthians 15:52, Paul wrote that Jesus will return “in the twinkling of an eye.” Blink once and you’ll understand how fast that is.

Right now, time moves slowly in life, however, when you’re laying on your death bed at 88 years old, you’ll think “wow, that went by quickly.”

Jesus is coming soon, that’s the TRUTH. It will happen before you know it and we should live with a “soon” attitude every day.