This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. Habakkuk 2:3

Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Revelation 22:20

“Is there any reason why you couldn’t pray and invite Jesus Christ into your heart right now?” It’s a question Marti asked four or five times a day while on the job as a flight attendant in the early 1970s, and in three years she says she never received anything but a positive response. As a new Christian herself, she and a fellow flight attendant who was also a new Christian prayed before every flight for God to show them one person to lead to the Lord, and one who was already a Christian to encourage them. That’s also why they would purposely bid for the short flights up and down the West coast so they could reach the maximum number of people in a day. And there were always two reasons they gave why the opportunity was “now.” 1) They were already 35,000 feet closer to heaven so why not now? — and 2) the Lord was coming back any minute. Are you ready?

It was one of the major drivers of the Jesus Movement. You heard it continually in various messages and embedded in so many songs: Christ’s return was imminent. And we truly believed it. The popularity and scholarship of Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth made the second coming common knowledge. It was not just a ruse to get people to make a decision for Christ, or a joke like “In case of rapture, grab the wheel.” It was going to happen, or as God told Habakkuk, “It will surely take place. It will not be delayed.” In fact, I was so convinced of the Lord’s soon return that I didn’t think seriously about my future.

And then, almost overnight, it was gone. As the Jesus Movement faded, so did the interest in the second coming. What happened? I’m sure we could theorize lots of reasons, and they all would probably have something to do with getting married, settling in, working, raising a family, getting more and more committed to this present existence, providing for our future here on earth.

But what happened to the reasons Christ’s return was foremost in our minds? Does it matter less now that Jesus is coming back? Have we become apathetic about the return of Christ? Do we just not care about this anymore, or worse, do we disbelieve it? I hope not. If anything, we’re closer now to His return than we have ever been. And you know what? We’re closer now to His return than when you just read that. And you can keep saying it, and it will keep on being true.

If we have lost our interest in the second coming of Christ there is a huge disconnect between our faith and how we live it out.

Like any prophecy of the Old Testament, these words to Habakkuk had a fulfillment in his lifetime, but also a future application. “If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place,” could apply to this moment right now. There is no question that we need to be more focused on the return of Christ. Many times in the New Testament we are challenged to look for the Lord’s return. From Jesus to John in Revelation we are told to watch and wait. John even says that we purify ourselves in our hope for His return: “But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. All who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).

As the last verse in our Bibles says, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Think of that. The Bible doesn’t have a “THE END” at the end of it. That’s because it never ends. It’s the story of God creating us, loving us, losing us, visiting us so He could buy us back through His death and resurrection, and returning to take us to be with Him forever. What a story! It’s the never-ending story. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”

Introducing our new podcast, Between the Answers 

Beginning September 18 through mid-October, the daily “Between the Answers” Podcast will look back to the pioneers of a historical phenomenon: the Jesus Movement, examine why it transformed into a broader social and political force over time, and ask questions about the Movement’s original message and its transformative power today. Our premise lies in the questions we need to ask between the answers.

Join John & Marti for the latest podcast by clicking on the logo: