"JESUS IS COMING AGAIN!"

Acts 1:10 - 11

Jesus stands in the center of the group, and pronounces a blessing upon them. He lifts His pierced hands, and while He is lifting them, He begins to rise from the earth. To their astonishment He has risen above them all. A cloud has taken Him from their sight.

These disciples now must have heavenly promises that would reach out beyond Christ's moment of ascension into the untried and dangerous future. These promises would not be lacking. They pierced their way into the consciousness of the disciples with fantastic force. They spoke peace to their hearts. They dispelled their gloom. They undergirded them for the struggle ahead.

The two promises were related to the entire future. Specifically, they related to the period introduced by the day of Pentecost and concluded by the return of Jesus. Standing on these promises and availing herself of their power and inspiration, the early church marched forth to spiritual victories which should challenge believers today. We should desire to have such great victories in the name of our risen, ascended, and coming Lord Jesus.

Jesus rises above them. The disciples stand spellbound and suddenly a cloud takes Him away. They are riveted to the spot. They are gazing as if to get another glimpse. They linger there for a long while. They continue to look upward.

It is not the Lord's will that they stand on that spot, waiting and inactive. Then, their looking is interrupted by two men (angels) in white apparel. " Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?" No time was to be lost in mourning and regret. It was true that their Lord had vanished from their sight; but someday He would return; meanwhile, there was a work for them to do. The angels were telling them that they shouldn't be hanging around as if they had nothing to do. He still lives! He has given them a work to do until He comes. So, they were really saying, "Therefore, go and do it!" They didn't have to be told twice. They went back to Jerusalem.

They would always be inspired by this blessed hope:
" This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven."

We are expecting Him to return. He could come back at any time! He will be the same Jesus.

The promise of His return (verse 11) is beyond any words we could ever say to describe that great event. The angelic visitors are saying that at a point in time and place, Jesus will again break from that other world into this world of time and history. The angels tell us that Christ's return is certain. We can count on it! " This same Jesus will come back again." He will step back again into visibility. Suddenly! He will be back!

All the truths that are in the Gospels: the reality of heaven, God, the soul eternal life, the cross, the resurrection, the ascension - all prepare us to believe that from the presence of God, Jesus will come!

Of all the momentous events enacted on the stage of this world from creation onwards, the most remarkable and glorious event is yet to come.

When the Bible speaks of Christ's coming again in power and glory, it is made plain that this coming will be greatly different from His coming as the babe in Bethlehem's manger. On that occasion He came in humility. When He comes again, He will come in glory.

He " will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven." How did He go? Visible! When He comes again, it will be just the same way.

Lenski:
"He departed visibly.
He shall return visibly.
He went to heaven. He shall come from heaven.
He went away bodily. He shall return bodily."

At the end of this age there will be a visible, bodily return of our Lord. So, this passage brings us face to face with the certainty of Christ's coming again.

We must not speculate when it will happen. We must not speculate how it will happen. This would be both foolish and useless. Jesus, Himself, said that only the Father in heaven knows those things. The coming again of Jesus is not a matter for speculation or for idle curiosity. Christians are to expect the return of Christ. But we disobey His command when we try to predict the time of His return. It is unfortunate when preoccupation with His return renders secondary the sense of His presence. The Lord may not come back for another thousand years, but He is here now, and I am going to see Him long before that. Every Christian will see Him as they leave this earth because when we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord. We are only a heart-beat away from seeing the Lord at any time.

Jesus is coming again!
That fact is a summons for us to make ourselves ready for that day when He comes! It can be at any time! This should be a constant influence to our inner spiritual life.