The Essential Jesus (Part 19): The Second Coming of Jesusنموونە

Waiting for...?

PRAY: Heavenly Father, when it comes to the second coming, I sometimes feel like this: "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24).

READ: 2 Peter 3:1-18

REFLECT: I once saw a college production of Waiting for Godot, the famous play by Samuel Beckett about two tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, who spend the entire play anticipating the arrival of a person named Godot. They talk, they have conflict, they meet other characters, but in the end Godot never shows up. Although Beckett refused to explain the play, his message was clear: life is meaningless if we spend it waiting for something that never happens.

That's exactly how some first-century Christians were beginning to feel about the second coming of Christ. They were waiting, waiting, waiting, but nothing was happening. And to make matters worse, skeptics were becoming more vocal with their taunts (v. 4). Today, it's over two thousand years later, and Jesus still hasn't returned. Have Christians been suckered into some meaningless play with Vladimir and Estragon? "Absolutely not!" is how the apostle Peter would answer, and he devotes the last section of 2 Peter to explaining why.

The biblical response. First he points to the words of the prophets and the words of Jesus himself (v. 2). Even though it's centuries later, we have access to both in the Bible. But the reality is, people have always doubted God's Word. So Peter reminds his readers that when God speaks, things happen, like at creation and at the great flood in the time of Noah (vv. 5-6). And since God's Word says the second coming will happen, we can be sure it will (v.7).

The philosophical response. God is outside of time (v. 8); he doesn't sit around marking his calendar like we do. As a result, what seems like a long delay is actually a big opportunity for more people to come to know him (v.15).

How should we then live as we wait for Jesus to return? We should focus on living "holy and godly lives" (v. 11). Then we'll be drawing closer and closer to Jesus while we wait for that day when we meet him face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12).

APPLY: Do you ever have doubts about the second coming of Jesus? What are they, and what helps you overcome them?

PRAY: Lord, I ask for your help to live a holy and godly life while I wait to meet you face to face someday.