As I watched her walking slowly down the church aisle on the arm of her father, my heart filled with joy, anticipation, and nervousness all at once. We had planned for this moment at the Hinsdale church for so long; at last it was here. Our life together would begin, and it was thrilling. Forty-four years later, our journey together is still a great adventure for which I thank God every day.
Weddings are wonderful when the day arrives. But the preparations can create lots of stress. The right wedding dress (Jennifer designed and made her own). Securing a location and catering service. Choosing and sending out invitations. The circus of details makes brides and grooms exhausted. Yet when the day arrives, it is filled with happiness as family and friends celebrate the two people they all love.
The Lord chose wedding imagery to capture the culmination of human history: Jesus’ second coming and His kingdom. In Matthew 22:1-14 we read the parable of the Wedding Feast to which the guests refuse to come. In exasperation, the king says, “Those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find” (verses 8-9).1 In Matthew 25:1-13, the parable of the 10 young ladies focuses on the guests. “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him’” (verse 6), and the girls get their lamps ready only to find that some are lacking the necessary oil. Revelation 19:6-9 builds on the imagery of the Church as Jesus’ spiritual bride, “For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.… Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” (verses 7, 9).
The return of Jesus to earth has been “the blessed hope” of the people of God since His departure (Titus 2:13). It was the testimony of two angels at Jesus’ ascension that rang in the disciples’ ears, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). The final words of the New Testament declare from Jesus, “Yes, I am coming soon” (Revelation 22:20).
Yet we wait. The apparent “delay” of Jesus’ return has occupied the thoughts of Christians since the first century. Paul addressed the worry that loved ones who died before His return would be left behind. He assured readers that “the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). For some, doubts grew about the promise. Peter reminded them, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
Similar uneasiness has existed in the Seventh-day Adventist community since 1844, when our spiritual pioneers proclaimed the soon return of Christ. Much ink has been devoted to books and articles proffering explanations for the apparent delay. Our daughter Amanda’s beloved uncle died suddenly when she was a little girl, and she exclaimed that nothing worse could happen and Jesus would certainly be returning now. Our own losses are amplified when we catalogue the immeasurable suffering from death, disease, tyranny, injustice, and moral rot that plagues our world. We wait, and well-meaning explanations for the apparent delay cannot placate the yearning of the hearts who long to see Jesus return.
John’s Revelation presents a panoramic story of salvation history that culminates in the glorious return of Jesus and a renewed planet earth.
I reflected recently on why—after a lifetime of study, praying, teaching, and preaching—I still believe in this “blessed hope” that Jesus’ return is soon. There are three principal reasons we can continue to shape our faith around the expectation of the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ:
The physical appearing of Jesus in the clouds of heaven is a foundational teaching of Scripture. From the time before the Flood, Enoch prophesied that “the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone” (Jude 1:14-15). The prophet Daniel saw the kingdom of God coming as the stone to fill the whole earth, ending the kingdoms of this world (Daniel 2:44). Jesus comforted the weary disciples, “I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me” (John 14:3). Paul taught that moral living in this age occurs “while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the Lord of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). John’s Revelation presents a panoramic story of salvation history that culminates in the glorious return of Jesus and a renewed planet earth. The physical, literal, audible, visible, imminent return of Christ to our world remains the “blessed hope” because it is anchored in God’s Word.
The soon return of Jesus Christ is the only hope for our broken world. The list of “horribles” on this planet can break the heart and crush the spirit. Humanity’s greed and selfishness is destroying the environment God left in our care. The powerful oppress. The weak are forgotten. Certainly, Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:12-13 speak of our time: “Because of the increase in wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” To stay standing necessitates a faith in that better day coming. We stay upright in spirit because we know where civilization is headed and there’s only one offramp. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). The soon return of Jesus remains the “blessed hope” because it is the inevitable happy ending of mankind’s story.
The soon return of Jesus Christ shapes how we live each day. It’s been said many times but bears repeating: “Jesus can return for any of us today.” Accidents, sudden health events, or merely the endless ticking of life’s clock remind us that our mortal existence is both fragile and fleeting. Psalms 39:5 expresses this in poetic poignancy: “You have made my days a mere handbreadth;… Everyone is but a breath.” Rather than making us fatalistic, this is the reminder to live each day fully and wholly in connection with the Lord. Knowing that Jesus is coming for us at any time invites a daily inventory about how to expend the gifts of time, money, and relationships. “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12) is the daily motto for we who await His soon appearing. I want each day to draw me closer to Jesus through prayer and time in the Word. The soon return of Jesus remains the blessed hope because it focuses my life on what is truly important.
Our name, Seventh-day Adventist, is a testimony to our confidence in the imminent “advent” of Christ to earth. A.W. Tozer summarizes it well, “Let us be alert to the season in which we are living. It is the season of the Blessed Hope, calling for us to cut our ties with the world and build ourselves on this One who will soon appear. He is our hope—a Blessed Hope enabling us to rise above our times and fix our gaze upon Him.”2
Maranatha!
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Bradford C. Newton is the president of the Pacific Union Conference.
1All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version.
2A.W. Tozer, Preparing for Jesus’ Return: Daily Live the Blessed Hope (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2012).
