Thursday, December 13, 2007
The Question of His Return
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
—Luke 4:18–19
In 1999, as the world prepared to enter a new millennium, there were some who claimed to have somehow deciphered a biblical code, secret messages, and an understanding of the original language of Scripture that revealed that Christ would come back in the year 2000. Of course, there is no Scripture whatsoever to support this kind of idea. And, of course, Christ did not come back in 2000. The fact is that we don’t know when He will return. He could come back today. Or He could come back in 10 years. We really don’t know.
Jesus said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only” (Matthew 24:36). If you were to translate that from the original language, it would say something like this: “No one knows the day or the hour when the Son of Man will come back.” What that really is saying is, “No one knows the day or the hour when the Son of Man will come back.” God said what He meant, and He meant what He said. He will return when He is ready. He will return at the appointed time.
The purpose of Jesus’ first coming was to preach “the acceptable year of the Lord,” in other words, that salvation is available to all. But the purpose of His second coming will be to execute the vengeance of God.
If you are an unbeliever, you ought to come to Him now, since now is “the acceptable year of the Lord.” Come to know His grace and love and invite Him into your heart and life. Don’t wait until He comes with judgment for a sinsick world.
For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org.
Copyright © 2007 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions,