Jesus Will Return

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday, the 25th of June, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

This morning we’re going to finish up with the Apostle Peter’s two letters to the early church.  Peter has mostly written words of encouragement to those Christians that were scattered out over the known world, and to us today.  He shared with them, and us, that our hope is in Christ, that He is the reason for our hope, the foundation of our hope.

The Apostle cautioned us not to return to our old, sinful ways, but instead to strive to live a holy life, to be more righteous in God’s eyes.  He reminded us that we were chosen by God to be the living stones of His Son’s church, with Jesus Himself as the Cornerstone.

He gave us testimony into the three Persons of God and exhorted us to be virtuous, to practice self-control, and to patiently endure all that we are faced with.  And he warned us that false prophets, false teachers and preachers, still abound even to this day, spreading their lies, deceiving good people, leading to their eternal doom.

So I think we can see that Peter’s letters are a mix of flowers and thorns.  He offers great encouragement, followed by dire warnings.  But if we consider his audience, this is exactly what they needed - encouragement to stay the course coupled with warnings about the dangers ahead.

And as he closes his final letter, Peter stays true to form.  Here, though, he looks into the future not for additional warnings, but to a wonderful day yet to come.  Please listen and follow along to the 3rd and final chapter of Peter’s 2nd letter to the early church, and I’ll be reading from the Contemporary English Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 My dear friends, this is the second letter I have written to encourage you to do some honest thinking. I don't want you to forget 2 what God's prophets said would happen. You must never forget what the holy prophets taught in the past. And you must remember what the apostles told you our Lord and Savior has commanded us to do.

3  But first you must realize that in the last days some people won't think about anything except their own selfish desires. They will make fun of you 4 and say, “Didn't your Lord promise to come back? Yet the first leaders have already died, and the world hasn't changed a bit.”

5  They will say this because they want to forget that long ago the heavens and the earth were made at God's command. The earth came out of water and was made from water. 6  Later it was destroyed by the waters of a mighty flood. 7 But God has commanded the present heavens and earth to remain until the day of judgment. Then they will be set on fire, and ungodly people will be destroyed.

8  Dear friends, don't forget that for the Lord one day is the same as 1,000 years, and 1,000 years is the same as one day. 9 The Lord isn't slow about keeping His promises, as some people think He is. In fact, God is patient, because He wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost.

10  The day of the Lord's return will surprise us like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a loud noise, and the heat will melt the whole universe. Then the earth and everything on it will go up in flames.

11 Everything will be destroyed. So you should serve and honor God by the way you live. 12 You should look forward to the day when God judges everyone, and you should eagerly desire for that day to come. On that day the heavens will be destroyed by fire, and everything else will melt in the heat. 13  But God has promised us a new heaven and a new earth, where justice will rule. We are really looking forward to this!

14 My friends, while you are waiting, you should make certain the Lord finds you pure, spotless, and living at peace. 15 Don't forget that the Lord is patient because He wants people to be saved. This is also what our dear friend Paul said when he wrote you with the wisdom God had given him. 16 Paul talks about these same things in all his letters, but part of what he says is hard to understand. Some ignorant and unsteady people even destroy themselves by twisting what he said. They do the same thing with other Scriptures too.

17 My dear friends, you have been warned ahead of time! So don't let the errors of evil people lead you down the wrong path and make you lose your balance. 18 Let the gift of undeserved grace and the understanding that come from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ help you keep on growing. Praise Jesus now and forever! Amen.

--2 Peter 3 (CEV)

Let us pray…  Almighty God, we know You are patient.  You hold Your wrath in check, giving everyone the chance to turn from their sin and accept Jesus as Lord so that none might be lost.  Thank You, Father, for showing so much love and mercy for Your misbehaving creation.  Sadly, though, Father, not everyone believes.  Many have hearts of stone and will not repent.  Many refuse to believe.  Please, Father, help us help the lost.  Please guide us in ways to reach out to the unbelieving world and show them Jesus by how we live and act.  And please help us resist the temptation to return to our old life.  Please shield us, Father, from those who serve Satan and spread his deceitful lies.  Remind us of what we have been taught about salvation through Jesus and our need for righteous living.  And Father, please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe in the days ahead.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Please help us see the red flags Your Spirit raises before we fall into the devil’s trap.  Help us remember that our Lord will return for us, so we must remain washed clean of our sin by the blood of the Spotless Lamb.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

July is just around the corner, and it also happens to be Family Reunion Month.  So I thought I'd push the calendar just a bit with this little story, told by some unknown narrator:

My entire family has come from various parts of the country to a family reunion during the holidays. On a Saturday, we headed to a local museum and outdoor park for the day.

About midday, my niece, age six, is playing with our various children while the adults sit and talk. A few minutes later, she proudly comes to us and says that she has gotten the family reunion photo done.

We are confused and try to understand what is going on. We press her for more information, as we are worried that some stranger was taking photos of random six-year-old girls.

However, it turns out that, when she was out of our direct view, another family had been taking a professional family reunion photo and had accidentally included her in it, thinking she was a member of their families.

I have always imagined, somewhere in America, there is a set of grandparents and siblings trying to figure out which of their families this random, not actually related, six-year-old belongs to.

There’s an expression used today known as “photo bombing”.  It’s when one person sneaks into another person’s photograph.  Like if we were out at an event somewhere and I was going to take a picture of Erin and Chad and Steve came and stood behind them smiling and waving.

That little girl was photo bombing some other family’s reunion pictures.  And I can just imagine the puzzlement that family must have felt later on as they looked through all the photos from that day.  “Now, who does this little girl belong to?  Is she Blanche’s granddaughter???”

Well, there’s one family reunion where everyone will belong, and everyone will know each other, because it will be one big family!  I’m talking about the family of God made up of all who believe in His Son Jesus, and the great reunion we will someday have when Jesus comes again to take His church home.  Little girls, old men…  we’ll all become new again and be welcomed with open arms.  And we’ll know one another as children of God.

We all know how often the Apostle Paul was arrested and held prisoner, usually beaten in the process.  Well, Peter was not spared a similar fate.  He was placed under house arrest as the Roman Emperor Nero waged a reign of persecution against the church.  He wrote his first letter while imprisoned in Rome.  And he was martyred, executed by the Roman authorities, shortly after writing this second.

Peter must have foreseen this, for in the 1st chapter of this letter he wrote that “the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent”.  We can hear the urgency in his voice, the need to share extremely important information with us while he still drew breath.  Peter wants… no, Peter needs us to understand that our Lord Jesus will return!  There will be naysayers and scoffers who will ridicule us for our belief, asking when will this magnificent event occur, why hasn’t it happened yet, if we are disobeying this God you speak of, why hasn’t He already done something about it?

Thanks to Peter, we can answer those questions.  When?  Well, we don’t know, and we’re not supposed to.  Jesus has promised to come like a thief in the night, not to steal anything, but to come unannounced and by surprise.  If we knew when He is coming, we could do anything we want, live as sinfully as we pleased, and then repent at the last moment and be spared.  No, He wants us to live righteously, waiting patiently for Him to come and take us home.

Why is God still holding His hand of wrath, rather than melting the whole universe down as He said He would?  Because God is patient.  He loves His creation and wants all people to be saved, so He gives us every possible chance to turn from our sin and seek His face.

But God’s patience will someday run out and the Day of Judgment will be upon the earth and all its inhabitants.  Everything will be destroyed.  The heavens will go up in flames and everything else will melt in the heat, all to be replaced by a new heaven and a new earth where justice will rule forever.

So Peter warns us not to be led astray by wicked people who serve Satan.  And he reminds us of the Apostle Paul’s words along the same lines as these, backing up his writings with another authoritative reference.  “You have been warned ahead of time!”, Peter exclaims.  “So don’t fall victim to deceitful lies.”

But along with all the warnings are words of encouragement for the believer.  The evil ones who persecuted us and lied to us and tried to rob us of our faith will finally get the punishment they deserve.  We will be avenged.  They may have gotten away with their wickedness in this life, but they’ll pay the price in the next.

For the believer, though, a new home awaits, our home with Jesus, where true justice will prevail and rule for all eternity.  Jesus spoke of this new home and his words were recorded by the Apostle John in the 14th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 1 through 3…

1 Jesus said to his disciples, “Don't be worried! You have faith in God, so have faith in Me. 2 There are many rooms in My Father's house. I wouldn't tell you this, unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place for each of you. 3 After I have done this, I will come back and take you with Me. Then we will be together.”

--John 14:1-3 (CEV)

There’s the promise: “I will come back and take you with Me.”  Jesus promises He will come back for us, His church, no matter how far we may be scattered apart.  We don’t know when this will happen, but Paul tells us what it will look like when our Lord returns.  Hear what Paul wrote in his 1st letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 4 verses 16 and 17…

16  With a loud command and with the shout of the chief angel and a blast of God's trumpet, the Lord will return from heaven. Then those who had faith in Christ before they died will be raised to life. 17 Next, all of us who are still alive will be taken up into the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the sky. From that time on we will all be with the Lord forever.

--1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (CEV)

That’s the great family reunion I spoke of earlier, when all who have died before us are raised again to life, and they and those who are still alive are taken up into the clouds together, to be with Jesus forever.  This is what we have to look forward to.  This is what we are saved for.

Family, Jesus will return.  Don’t pay any attention to anyone who says otherwise.  Satan, through the wicked people who so willingly do his bidding, will try to convince us that not only will Jesus not return, but that neither Jesus nor God even exist in the first place!

We have been warned.  We have been taught the truth.  Now it’s up to us to stay true, to maintain our belief, to keep maturing and growing in our faith.  We have been given underserved grace and the understanding that comes from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Let us thank Him and praise Him and give Him all the glory.  And let us share the warning and the truth, that Jesus will return, so that others might be saved.

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the one true Son of God.  Come, Lord Jesus, come.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for the undeserved grace You show us.  Even though we are disobedient children, You love us so much that You keep giving us the chance to turn from our sinful ways and do what is right.  You sent Your Son to offer us salvation, and He died to this earthly life to wash us clean of our sin.  Some sweet day, You will send Him back to earth again, this time to judge all of creation.  Father, thank You for giving us the faith to believe in Jesus as Your Christ, even as others mock us for our faith.  Forgive them, please Father.  Please help us see through their lies and deceitful ways.  And please help us not be afraid to reach out to them, showing them Your love, so that they may be saved by Your mercy and grace.  And Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith and tries to pull us away from You.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You came once to save us if we would just listen and believe.  You will come again, this time to judge us whether we listen or not.  Thank You, Lord, for giving of Yourself that we might be saved.  By Your blood we are washed clean to stand before God at our last.  And because we listened and believed, we will spend eternity with You and our heavenly Father.  No greater reward could a person ever ask for or receive.  Please, Jesus, help us be more obedient children.  Help us grow and mature in our faith by following Your example and Your word.  Shield our minds and our hearts from the world’s lies and empty promises.  Guide us around the clever ploys and snares, all the temptations the devil uses to entrap us.

And Jesus, please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Please heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.