Anticipating the Second Coming
“When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” — Colossians 3:4
“Christ who is your life.” These are powerful words. When we feel down and deadened, we can remember that Christ is our lives. There is truth there we can claim, hold onto, live in. No matter our circumstances and our feelings, we as followers of Christ have the promise that when Christ appears, we will appear with Him in glory.
This is our destiny.
How different are our lives when lived at the mercy of circumstances and emotions? We must hold onto the solid rock of Christ. Our circumstances can be excellent or evil. Our emotions can be highs or lows. Anything can happen to you, but if it does — when it does — you need not fear or be affected, for Christ is your life, and you will appear with Him in glory.
It is challenging to live with this kind of farsightedness. Seeing the truth and living in it is obscured by the things that happen to us. I get a new job, and my excitement about it can overshadow the excitement of my true inheritance. I lose a friend, and I can forget that I have a Brother who will never lose me. I can come into money and believe that I have everything I need in this world, and I lose sight of the Lord of Redemption. I can lose many dear things all at once, and if I am not careful, lose sight of the Provider who is sovereign over all happenings.
I want to live in a spirit of readiness and anticipation. I want the daily reminders that my life is not about me and that I am entering the fullness of life in a brief time. This current fallen existence is both a foretaste of the joy to come, and a reason to remember that better things are ahead. For those of us who trust in the Lord, we were not made for anguish forever. We were made to suffer some now, that we might become more like Him, but then those tears will be wiped away. The pain will be over. No woman has a labor that lasts decades of her life — in short order, the child is born, and her hopes are realized. She has a daughter or a son.
How do we anticipate the “when Christ…appears” of Colossians 3:4? I think we anticipate it by looking for it. Anticipation is all about setting our expectations in a positive way. The joy we will have starts to build now, because anticipation makes something we hope for start to become real now. It’s like watching presents show up under the tree weeks before Christmas morning. We can rejoice in those presents with our name on them, we can delight in the number of them, and we can dream about what is inside those gifts.
As people who love Christ, let’s talk more about the return of Christ. His return has been guaranteed. Let’s remind one another that it is coming. There are gifts under the tree. This soon-to-be-realized hope is wonderful. The One in whom we have placed our hope is Faithful and True.
He is coming soon. Revel. Rejoice!
