I'll Be Back

“Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” Hebrews 9:28

“I’ll be back!” Arnold Schwarzenegger threatened when denied entry to a police station in The Terminator. “I’ll be back!” Douglas MacArthur promised after losing the Philippines to Japan during World War 2. “I’ll be back!” Jesus assured His troubled disciples at Thursday’s Last Supper. Arnold kept his word and crashed a car through the front door only minutes later. MacArthur kept his word and landed on Leyte two and half years after he left. And Jesus will surely keep His. He is coming back. “He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”

Jesus didn’t come the first time to make a name for Himself (though His name is already above every name-Phil. 2:9), He came to buy a people for Himself. With His blood, He “purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation”(Rev. 5:9). Jesus was born to die so we could live. He came the first time to bear our sin. He will come the second to bring our salvation—to restore, to reward, to renew—“and so we will be with the Lord forever”(1 Thess. 5:17).

The cross symbolizes His first coming. The clouds represent His second. At His ascension, angels promised sky-gazing, mouth-gaping apostles that “this same Jesus…will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven”(Acts 1:11). We’re not sure when He will return for “no one knows about that day or hour”(Matt. 24:36), but we’re certain that He will return. “I will come back and take you to be with me”(Jn. 14:3).

You could say that right now we’re on “LayAway,” but our price has already been paid in full. One day the sky will split, and our Savior will return to claim His prize. He arrived initially in humility and poverty, but the next time around, Jesus will come in honor and power. A few smelly shepherds greeted Him on His birthday, but on His breakthrough day, “every eye will see him”(Rev. 1:7). The silent Lamb will return as a Lion, and the whole earth will hear His roar.

So what do we do while we wait? Share His story. Since Christ’s return spells doom for those not His, we should welcome others to “God’s Waiting List.” Only joy or judgment lies ahead, and because God has turned our horror into hope, we should witness in a way both intense and inviting.

Christ’s Second Coming inspires strength and ignites passion. He will return, but we’re still here for a reason. The old adage holds. “Don’t be so heavenly-minded that you aren’t of any earthly good, and don’t be so earthly minded that you aren’t of any heavenly good.”

Don’t spend all your time staring into the sky, but do keep glancing up.
He’s coming back.