There was a time when believing that Jesus Christ was coming back soon defined the lives of many of us. I grew up in a church environment that believed in and proclaimed the imminent return of Jesus.
Today, however, we are embarrassed even to mention that we are looking forward to His soon appearing. We don’t want to look like fools in the eyes of scoffers, spiritual nihilists, pop-scientists, and those who possess an overly optimistic view of human progress. Plus, we have ourselves become uncertain too. What if we cry “wolf”, and nothing happens?
Likewise, it is out of fashion today to believe in the Second Coming. We plan to conquer Mars in the next 30 years. We fantasize about what the life will look like in the next 20 years. We dream about expanding the length of our lives indefinitely with the help of modern science and advanced technology.
Frankly, it is not politically correct to believe in the imminence of the literal coming of the Lord at the time when many are being hypnotized by the utopia of a gradual ushering in of the earthly kingdom; only to become a heavenly one through a guided process of spiritual, social and scientific evolution. We have not finished dreaming about reaching the very throne of God with our own tower of Babel.
And yet, the writing on the wall is ever more clearly upon us: the message of judgment declaring that our civilization has been “weighted on the scales and found wanting” Daniel 5:27. How much worse could it get? And just as the Noah’s generation of scoffers was horror stricken when their day of reckoning came, so will many living today be shocked when they suddenly realize that God is not an old full to be played with forever.
“When you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door”, Matthew quotes Jesus. Matthew 24:33. When that day arrives, suddenly and unscheduled in the calendars of the powerful, no remorse or repentance will be of any use. The door on the ark of salvation will be shut and sealed for good.
To use the thoughts of CS Lewis, the day will come when “it will be too late to choose your side. That will not be the time for choosing: it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not.”
Tihomir Kukolja 