John Fischer The Catch

In 1 Thessalonians, the coming of the Lord is likened to a thief coming in the night. “When people are saying, ‘Everything is peaceful and secure,’ then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman’s labor pains begin. And there will be no escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:3). This story of the coming of the Lord being an unexpected interruption of our peaceful lives has been used for years by evangelicals as a means of scaring people into the kingdom. When I was a kid, there was even a movie circulating all the churches called “A Thief in the Night.” Ask anyone old enough to have remembered that movie and they will tell you it scared them out of their wits.

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The return of Christ is imminent. Tell me you haven’t had a thought about that lately with all the earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, wars and rumors of war going on. These are the signs of the times and they mean something.  Jesus told us to pay attention to the signs and purify ourselves in the hope of Christ’s return. The first Christians were anticipating this event probably even more than we are despite the fact that they were a long ways away from its fulfillment. That’s because they had seen Him go, and the angels said He would return in the same way. It was real; they had seen Him, heard Him, touched Him. And He’s coming back.

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When [Jesus] had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9-11)

Any day now, any day now,

I shall be released. – Bob Dylan

This is the message of Acts. Straightforward. Essential. Profound. This is what you need to know: Jesus Christ, whom you killed (yes, we all did) rose from the dead so that you might be forgiven, and He is coming back in the same way that you saw Him go.

The disciples believed that Jesus was coming back in their lifetime. If the angel said He would return in the same way they saw Him go, it must mean they would be around to see it. Wouldn’t you have thought that? Besides, every generation since has thought theirs would be around to see it, and that’s the way it should be. The potential of Christ returning in your lifetime makes everything about following Him closer and more urgent. How would I live if I knew Christ wasn’t returning for another couple hundred years? How would I live if I knew Christ was returning any day now? Big difference.

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