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Life has many uncertainties. A person who seems strong and healthy one day may drop dead the next. Someone on whom we were depending may disappoint us; a trusted friend may betray us. The human philosophies that bid for the control of men’s minds are largely based on doubt and skepticism. Is there nothing certain anymore? The Bible gives a powerful and positive answer. It supplies the certainty of a loving, eternal God who keeps His promises and who has revealed Himself through His Word. Moreover, it tells of the man, Jesus, who was certainly the Christ, begotten of God. His redeeming life and death were consummated in the glorious resurrection.
A further comforting certainty for Christians is the return of Christ. It was at a time of confusion, anxiety, and perhaps even doubt among the disciples that Jesus first said, “I will come again and receive you unto myself” (John 14:1–3). To the ungodly Caiaphas, Jesus promised during His trial that the Son of man would come “on the clouds of the Heaven” (Mat. 26:64). The coming of Christ meant rest from persecution and trial, the sharing of glory with Christ, and the receiving of a crown of righteousness (2 The. 1:6–7; Col. 3:4; 2 Tim 4:8). There is no teaching in the New Testament that He will establish a kingdom upon the earth when He comes. Contrariwise, the Lord considered His church and His kingdom on earth one and the same (Mat. 16:18–19). Christ began reigning over His kingdom when He established the church through His apostles (Acts 2:29–47). This is why Paul wrote to the church in Colossae and reminded those brethren that they had been translated into the kingdom of Christ (Col. 1:13). This is also why the writer of Hebrews wrote to those Jewish Christians and reminded them that they had received a kingdom which could not be shaken (Heb. 12:28). When Christ comes, instead of establishing His kingdom, He will gather those who have been in His kingdom upon the earth, the church, and deliver this kingdom to His Father to be glorified with Him in Heaven forever (1 Cor. 15:24–25). No wonder John exclaimed, “Amen, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).
[Note: I wrote this article for, and it was published in the “Bible Thoughts” Column for the Hood County News, Granbury, Texas, January 12, 1978.]
Attribution: From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.
