Blessed are you who wait on the Lord and persevere to the finish. Today, I would like to be able to explain to you the exact timing of Christ’s return. The numbers of days in Daniel and in the book of Revelation surely shed some light on these matters. I grew up reading Hal Lindsey who had it all figured out. It was mesmerizing. In more recent times, Tim LaHaye made a fortune writing the “Left Behind” series.
So when will Jesus return, exactly? Are you ready? I do not know. Jesus himself said he did not know. I do not know more than Jesus. In Daniel’s day, these passages pointed to hope of a time when God himself would come and set the world to rights. Jesus pointed to the same time. So does the book of Revelation. But none of them tells us when. Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses both started with people who predicted the time of Christ’s return. Their leaders were wrong and they had to recalculate.
The angel Michael pronounced a benediction on those who wait. Daniel might have been troubled by the uncertainty. What was he supposed to do? “As for you . . .” Daniel was to continue to pray and serve until the end of his life. Then he would rest and ultimately rise to his inheritance.
I believe Christ could return at any moment. How then shall we live? “As for you . . .” We should pray constantly and proclaim the good news of salvation in Jesus. We wait and we persevere. Some of us will rest in the sleep of death. Then we will rise to receive.
