A common American Southern farewell is “Y’all come back and see us, you hear!”. It is an invitation to return and visit. But it is not expected that you will. The sentiment expressed is that we enjoyed your visit, and you are always welcome, but we realize that it is highly unlikely that we will see you again.
When we read the references to the second coming of Jesus, there is the tendency to interpret them in the same manner. “We know you are coming again Jesus, and that you said that you would be coming soon, but it is not likely to happen any time soon.” How then should we understand these last words of Jesus in the New Testament: “Behold, I am coming soon!” which is repeated three times in the last chapter of Revelation (22:7,12,20)? Are they just pious expressions which have no substance? What relevance do they have to us today?
It is obvious that for them to mean what they say they cannot be understood in terms of chronological time. Even in New Testament times scoffers said, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness” (2 Peter 3:1-10). In fact, the whole of the book of Revelation cannot helpfully be interpreted in terms in chronological time. The numbers and years enumerated are symbolic. They point to a reality that is beyond the historical, beyond this world, to a vision of heaven and eternity. The vision revealed to St. John is not of the passage of time, but to reveal the difference between the veiled and the unveiled, the inner spiritual meaning of events, the back-story.
So when Jesus promises he is coming soon I interpret it to understand that he is revealing to us momentarily to expect him to come to us, in the events of our daily lives, in the moment of our need at the crises of our lives, and at the hour of our death, as well as at the end of earthly time. Jesus told the disciples: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:3) “I will come back for you at the end of your time on earth, which will be soon in the perspective of eternity. I don’t want you to fear death, because it will be the moment when I call for you and take you to be with me. You will not be going to an unknown and an unfriendly place, because I have prepared a place for you with me. It will be altogether lovely and comfortable, and you can be assured of a warm welcome in my heavenly home.”
“Soon” is the English translation of the Greek tachus, which can mean quickly, or suddenly.
“The tone of the Greek word is caught in English by, ‘Taxi! Taxi!’ When we hail a taxi, we summon a driver and his vehicle to tend to our immediate need to get somewhere. We shout, get in, and are on our way. We do not make an appointment with the driver for later in the week. No delay is anticipated.” (Eugene H. Peterson, Reversed Thunder, p.190)
A theme in Advent is the teaching of Jesus about being ready for his coming. There is a spiritual urgency about using the time to get ready for his coming for us. “Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back – whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’” (Mark 13:32-37)
So we are to live each day in expectancy – expecting the Lord to come, like a thief in the night (1 Thess.5:2) – to come in the encounters we have with one another – to come in the crises we experience – to come in our awareness of his presence – to come in our sicknesses and healing – to come at the hour of our death – to come in the accident that changes our lives, the diagnosis that alters our perception of mortality, the tragedy that shocks us. He is coming soon i.e. suddenly, at an hour we do not know.
Living in the light of this conviction, makes life and death full of meaning and purpose, because it is lived in the context of eternity. We cannot be indifferent or complacent about our life or the lives of our loved ones.
The expectation of Jesus’ coming provides a goal that shapes and unifies life….This urgency is liberating, for it compels us to stay awake, deeply and earnestly aware of who we are and what we are doing… In his novel, The Second Coming, Walker Percy posed the question, ‘Is it possible for people to miss their lives in the same way one misses a plane?’ The answer is yes. Percy describes such a life in his character Will Barrett, a widower and retired Wall Street lawyer: ‘Not once in his entire life had he allowed himself to come to rest in the quiet center of himself but had forever cast himself forward from some dark past he could not remember to a future which did not exist. Not once had he been present for his life. So his life had passed like a dream.’ (Eugene H. Peterson, Reversed Thunder, p.192)
Will decided to test whether God existed by putting himself in a position where God would have to reveal himself either to save his life, or he would die. Instead, he is precipitated into being cared for by Allison, a young lady who is recovering from electro-shock therapy for emotional withdrawal. In looking for proof of the existence of God and a sign of the apocalypse he and she discover their need and love for one another. They learn to care for one another, and to receive care from one another. The novel concludes with these words, “Is she a gift and therefore a sign of the giver? Could it be that the Lord is here, masquerading behind this simple holy face? Am I crazy to want both, her and Him? No, not want, must have. And will have.” In Walker Percy’s fiction Will Barrett encounters the second coming of Christ in the person of Allison and their newfound love, which gives meaning and purpose to his life.
If I know that the Lord is coming for me, I must order my life and priorities to prepare myself for his coming. I want to be ready. That goal shapes my life. It gives me an urgency that liberates me from trivial things that could distract me from being ready. It compels me to stay awake, to be deeply and earnestly aware of who I am in Christ, and what I am doing in his service. I don’t want to miss Christ’s purpose for my life. I don’t want to sleepwalk my way through life.
What about you? Are you preparing yourself for his coming? Are you ready, if he comes suddenly? What goal shapes your life? Are you present for your life?
The book of Revelation ends with these words: “Yes, I am coming soon.” The response of the apostle, speaking for us all is: “Amen, Come, Lord Jesus.” This is maran tha in Aramaic: a prayer used by the early church. Can you pray this prayer for yourself? Are you open to his coming? How different will your life be if you expect the Lord to come into your life today? He can come in unexpected ways. His coming can transform your life and give it new meaning and purpose. What an exciting prospect!
(Ted Schroder, SOUL FOOD: Daily Devotions for the Hungry, Volume 4, 298-301)
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