Some of you will know that we now have two cats at the vicarage, called George and Mitsy. They’ve been with us since January, and are just over a year old. They love exploring our garden, and spend several hours each day going through the undergrowth, climbing on our fences, chasing garden birds and running after rodents. But at the end of every day, after all their adventures, they always return home. We hear the ‘click clack’ of our cat flap, and we know our feline friends are back! And of course, we’re ready to receive them. Their food and water are topped up, their cat bed is prepared – and the children are ready to give them a stroke! (It’s a tough life for a cat!)
Today we are at the very start of Advent, just four weeks from Christmas. That time of the year when Christians look forward not simply to Christmas, and Jesus’ first coming – but to his second Advent, his second coming. Far, far more important than my family readying ourselves for our pets’ return at night, Christians (as God’s family) should be readying ourselves for Christ’s return in glory. It is a massively more significant event. An unrepeatable occasion that will draw the world as we know it to a close. But why, and how should we get ready? Why should we expect Christ to come back, and how on earth are we to prepare for such a unique and extraordinary event?
The Lord will come again!
Though we may be tempted to doubt it, the Bible is clear that Jesus will indeed return. There are up to 300 references to Jesus’ return in the pages of Scripture.
We’ll be spending a lot of time over the coming month celebrating Christ’s first coming. All our Christmas festivities will be centred on Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem 2000 years ago. But when Christ comes back it will be even more significant that his first coming. This time it will not be humbly in a stable, surrounded by straw and livestock – but in great glory, surrounded by a heavenly host.
A description of what will happen is found in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. There the apostle Paul writes: “The Lord will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first…and then we will be with the Lord forever.”
This inspired passage by Paul is a helpful signpost to the key features of Christ’s return. It will be comprehensive, divisive and certain. For a start, Jesus’ second advent will be comprehensive. The Bible’s talk of trumpets, loud commands and angelic voices makes it clear that when Jesus reappears on the world stage, it will be glorious, global and unmistakeable! No one will be left in any doubt of what has happened.
Jesus’ return will also be divisive. Division is not always a good thing. For example, people are currently worried about divisions within our society – divisions between races classes or cultures within our country.
But division and discrimination can sometimes be good news. Division and discrimination can be a good thing when it weeds out what is evil and preserves what is good. And that is what Jesus will do when he comes back to judge the world.
In our Gospel reading Jesus speaks of two men being in a field – one will be taken and the other left. And in verse 41 Jesus says that two women will be grinding with a hand mill and one will be taken and the other left.
When Christ returns everyone and everything that is irredeemably evil and unpleasant in our world will be removed, and a new creation comprised entirely of goodness, beauty and joy will result. There will be a wise and judicious sorting and sifting of this present world. All that’s good will be retained, all that’s evil will be discarded and destroyed.
Are you ready and waiting?
As well as being comprehensive and divisive, Christ’s second coming is also going to be sudden and surprising. Jesus says in our Gospel reading that neither the angels in Heaven nor he himself know the day of his return. Only God the Father knows. Christ’s second coming will take the world by surprise, he says, just as the people of Noah’s day were shocked and surprised when the flood came.
As Christians we should be excited and expectant at the prospect of Christ’s return. We should start living today as citizens of Heaven as we await Jesus’ great coming. We should be ready to greet our heavenly King on the day he comes.
In our reading from Romans 13, the apostle Paul described the behaviour we should adopt as we await Christ’s return. It is worth quoting again his words in full: “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.”
In other words, sensual self-indulgence is not the right way to pass our time as we await Christ’s return. As Christians the pursuit of pleasure is not primary goal we should be pursuing as we await our Lord’s return. On the contrary, says Paul, our ambition should be to clothe ourselves with Christ.
Just as we might put our coats on at this time of year in readiness to go outside, so Christians should make it their life’s ambition to clothe themselves with Christ as we get ready to meet him face to face – whether that encounter comes on the day we die or the day he returns.
To clothe ourselves with Christ is to trust him and to become like him. To clothe ourselves with Christ is to conform our thoughts and deeds – our beliefs and behaviours – to the pattern and standard he sets before us. We should be praying that God’s Holy Spirit will help us become more and more like Jesus. In practice this means:
- Conforming our beliefs about God, humanity and morality to the teaching of Jesus – not to conventional wisdom about the meaning of life, or to our culture’s mistaken ethical assumptions.
- Clothing ourselves with Christ also means showing Christ-like love and grace to those in need around us, such as the sick, the bereaved, the homeless, the socially excluded, the lonely, the marginalised – the list goes on. For example, next week we will all have the chance to support the work of Save the Family, but making gift donations for children in their care.
But above all, clothing ourselves with Christ means speaking of the Lord Jesus to people we know who don’t yet know him – to friends, family and neighbours who are not yet ready to meet him.
Indeed, the reason why Jesus has yet to come back is that he is waiting for more people to come to faith in him. Christ’s return in judgement is being delayed while God waits for the people to repent and turn to him. He wants the maximum number of people to receive him as their Saviour, rather than face him as their judge. And our role as Christians is to make sure people hear Jesus’s generous invitation join God’s forgiven family. Everyone is invited. Anyone can accept.So this Advent, let’s resolve to await Christ’s second coming by his being fruitful, faithful servants. Let’s clothe ourselves with Christ and be ready and waiting to meet him. And let’s take every opportunity to introduce him to our non-Christian family and friends.