Well, the solar eclipse came and went, and Jesus still hasn’t come back. Maybe that wasn’t the final apocalyptic event some people thought it would be. Was anyone expecting to be raptured by now? It’s understandable that we’re enthralled with the question of when Christ’s second coming will be. But he made it clear that it won’t be at a time that we predict at all—in fact, it might not even be until we get impatient and give up. People have been trying to calculate the day for centuries, and not one of them has been correct yet.
Matthew records five lengthy speeches from Jesus; this one, about the end times, is the fifth and final one. Jesus stressed his second coming because it will be the final fulfillment of his grand plan to save us and reconcile us to himself. We are not meant to look just at the cross and stop there. Our entire lives now are eschatological; we look toward the end. We obey the Lord’s commands, love our neighbor, and spread his gospel worldwide, all with a fiery fervor and urgency, because we anticipate his terrifying wrath being unleashed and his glorious kingdom being inaugurated.
Sure, this merits a little freaking out from us. But not panic! Look at verse six; Jesus says we have no need for alarm. He is in control. We may look around at the growing forces of evil that rampage this world—and growing they indeed are—and despair about the rising power of the devil. First of all, truthfully, we’ve seen nothing yet; Jesus describes that yet-to-come final chapter as far worse than things are now. But second of all, let’s not forget that the power of the devil will never be a match for the power of our Lord. When things are worst, we can know with total certainty that things are just about to be better than we can imagine. God is sovereign; we have no need to worry!
Nevertheless, we persevere. As the darkness grows, we cling only tighter to our risen Lord. As false gospels and false Messiahs begin to pop up everywhere, we look to the Scriptures, and we are not swayed. We have an unquenchable hope, but our world will face tribulation aplenty before our hope is fully actualized. So persevere. Stand firm in your faith and do not be deceived, until Christ once and for all makes all things new.
