The Second Coming of Christ

November 25, 2012
Last Sunday of the Church Year


GOSPEL LESSON: Mark 13:24–37
24 “In those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
28 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the cock crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

Do you know what time it is? Kids learn to tell time because it is very important for this busy life. They have to know what time the cartoons come on, when to go to bed, when to go to school. Adults need to know about work and appointment schedules. We have to know the calendar dates for birthdays and holidays. Farmers need to know the proper time for planting and harvesting. Business people need to know when to buy and sell. In dealing with people, we all need to know when to speak and when to hold our tongue. Time and timing is very important. And in our Gospel lesson, Jesus says there is another time we need to know about, namely, the end of the world.

This teaching about the end of the world is a very important part of the Christian doctrine and life. Jesus spoke very clearly that he will be coming again to judge the earth and to give believers in him eternal life. But eternal life does not mean anything if it is lived in this old world of sin and misery. This world and this age must end, in order to create a new heaven and earth for eternal life. There are two pictures of the end of the world. One picture is that of distress and fear, the other is the picture of victory and happiness. It is a day of fear because Jesus says it will be the Day of Judgment. Therefore we fear, because we know our sin before God, and we fear God's judgment. We fear because we know the anger of God and because we don't fully know his mercy and love. We fear because we do not fully trust God. We know the promise of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." But sin and the devil make us doubt that precious promise of salvation.

The fear will only be removed when we learn to trust Jesus. We have to remember that Jesus keeps his promises to us. First, he made the promise that he would die on the cross to forgive our sin and then rise on the third day. This is impossible for people, but Jesus kept that promise. And therefore we know that since he kept his promise about his death and resurrection, he also forgives our sin. Jesus promised that after his ascension, he would return to this world. We trust that promise because Jesus has kept his other promises, especially about his death and resurrection. Jesus also promised that we would die and rise again, on the last day. That is when Jesus will come again in glory for our salvation. That is why it is a day of Joy for us! We trust that promise because Jesus rose from the dead. We trust Jesus when he said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away" (Mark 13:31). The words that don't pass away are the promise words about judgment and salvation.

In the Communion Liturgy there are these words that are sometimes used, "Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again." It is not that we are just living between Christ's first and second comings, we are living in the presence of the risen Christ right now. He comes to us in the Gospel, in the Sacraments, in the Bible. We are so living in the presence of Christ right now, that the Second Coming of Christ is just a fulfillment of his love and grace to us which we already have right now.

However, we are not yet in heaven. Jesus says that in the last days, "following that distress, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken." (Mark13:25). That will be the final time, but before that there will be distress. As we read Mark Chapter 13, Jesus tells us about the distress of the world before the last time: wars and rumors of wars (7), earthquakes and famines (8), persecutions and betrayal of Christian believers (11, 12), government oppression to Christianity (14) and false prophets and messiahs claiming to be the Christ, the Savior. All of these signs were there in the first generation of the church. And they are still here today. When we hear about a war or a big earthquake, we Christians should think about the end of the world. When we see a rainbow, we should remember the promise of God not to destroy the world again by flood. We remember the love of God. But when we feel the earth quake or we shake with fear, we should remember that God has promised to do away with this old world, and we should remember that the time is ripe. God does not need to wait for the world to get any worse. Now seems to be the right time to return in judgment.

Are you ready for Christ to return? Are you sure of your salvation? Would you be one of the elect that the angels will gather (13:27)? We all hope so! But can we be sure? Yes, we can! When we think of our sin and our weakness, we might lose that hope, but our hope is not based on ourselves, it is based on Jesus Christ. He is coming not just to punish the world, but also to save his believers. He loves us so much that he is coming to take us to be with himself forever.

When will that be? We don't know. Only God the Father knows. But we are ready when we believe and accept him as our Father. What should we do in the meantime? Watch, pray, and lead a life pleasing to God: a life of love. We live our lives in love and respect for others, because that is what God wants us to do. We don't need to go to a mountain top to wait for Jesus. We live our lives in the presence of Christ. We live our lives in the prayerful faith of the Lord’s Prayer.

There is a story about Martin Luther. He said that even if he knew that tomorrow was the end of the world, he would plant an apple tree today. A tree takes about 3 years to bear fruit; it seems a waste of time to plant it if tomorrow is the end of the world, or a lack of faith that tomorrow would be the end of the world. But the idea is that we humans have been given work to do by God. Planting trees, teaching children, studying for a test are what we should be doing, fully confident that this is the will of God.

"Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again."　

"Thy Kingdom Come."　

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church


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