“Behold, I am coming soon…” (Revelation 22:7)
Almost two thousand years later and Jesus has yet to return. Blues singer Keb’ Mo, echoes the sentiments of many. While encouraging people to get up and do stuff on their own he sings:
Get up everybody, get off your [rear]
We gotta do something, and we got to do it fast
Cause the people are hungry, starvin’ and the fuel is low
Don’t wait for Jesus, he ain’t comin’ back no mo’
While believers wouldn’t go to the lengths of Keb’ Mo we still have our struggles with the Lord’s tarrying. Why does he not come and rescue us? What is he waiting for? Millions of believers, stretching out over two millennia, have cried out “Come, Lord Jesus”. And he’s yet to return. Has he abandoned us? Does he care?
The Reason He Has Tarried
I find it interesting that the believers in Peter’s day had the same concern. This after having waited no more than three decades. Peter responded to their concern by saying,
“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
Jesus has not yet returned because there are still people to come to repentance.
Make this personal.
If the Lord had answered the pleas of the first century, there would have been no second century. And without a second century there wouldn’t have been a twenty-first century. And without a twenty-first century there wouldn’t have been a you. And without a “you”, believer, there would have been an empty seat at the marriage supper of the lamb.
You would have never known the Lord because you would have never been born. Never to know Christ. Never to know his glory. Never to revel in His excellencies. Never to worship.
So why did the Lord not come when the first century saints pleaded with Him?
One reason is because you, believer, weren’t born yet. God had purposed from eternity to save you. He couldn’t answer the prayer of that first century saint because it would mean that you’d miss the dance. Because of his great love for you, he waited for some 2,000 years so that you could be born, and so that you could be brought to repentance. God is that dedicated to your joy.
It’s Also Not About You
Now, as good Americans we’ll read this truth and rather than fall at our knees to worship God, we’ll grab a mirror and marvel at our awesomeness. We’ll think that Jesus waited because we’re so amazing and heaven wouldn’t be the same without us.
No, it’s not about you. That heavenly feast isn’t fundamentally about us. It’s about Him. It’s about His glory. Yes, God is so glorious that there weren’t enough worshippers in the first century. In order to really capture even a sliver of his radiance thousands of years of believers falling in adoration are needed.
Also, this isn’t uniquely your story or my story. It is our story. The reason that the Lord has yet to return is because there are still believers that will come to repentance. Who knows maybe there is only one. Therefore, while we pray and cry out, “O, Lord come” let us be faithful in sharing the gospel to make the answer to that prayer a possibility.
O, Lord come!
