How can we be certain that Jesus will return as he promised in the fourteenth chapter of John’s gospel? John 14:2 records the words of Christ, “In my Father’s house there are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” Two thousand years have since passed since Jesus made this promise.
Did something not go according to plan that has delayed his return for us? Has God seen the moral degradation of civilization and reconsidered? What is the logic in allowing mankind to continue on its path to self-destruction and why doesn’t God simply step in and right the ship before it is too late?
The Bible tells us that Jesus established a new covenant which he ratified on the evening of the last supper (Luke 22:19-20). A covenant is a promise and in this case Jesus established what constitutes a marriage contract between himself and the Church or the body of true believers. In the article, The Bride of Christ, February 9,2021, I illustrated the parallels between a first century Jewish marriage and the new covenant, right down to the finest detail. We are betrothed to Christ by this covenant and we are to be faithful to him, keeping ourselves pure for our Bridegroom and the promised wedding feast (Revelation 19:6-9).
In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul gave instructions regarding wives submitting to their husbands and husbands loving their wives and he extended his directive to the Church. “He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church – for we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery – but I am talking about Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5:28b-32. The concept that Paul is driving home here is that the intimate relationship that believers are called into with Jesus as their Bridegroom is a binding covenant that Christ will not forsake. It is a relationship that will culminate when we leave our earthly family and be united with Christ, becoming members of his heavenly family.
The Old Testament also likens God’s love for his people much like a beautiful woman as Psalm 45 describes in verses 10-11, “Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your father’s house. The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.” The book Song of Songs depicts a love story written by king Solomon over nine hundred years before Christ. In the eighth chapter in verse eleven we are told, “Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon; he let out his vineyard to tenants.”
In the first chapter, we are introduced to these tenants, one of which is a young girl named Shulammite (Song of Songs 6:13), who has dedicated herself to the care of the vineyard at the expense of her own interests. Her skin is darkened by the sun indicating she puts in long hours yet her beauty is able to capture attention and compel people to stare (Song of Songs 1:5-6). Her brothers don’t appreciate her hard work though and endeavor to deprive her of the affection offered by any young shepherds who may happen to pass by.
However, there is someone who’s heart is stolen by her beauty and the two exchange mutual admiration which progresses into love. They proclaim their steadfast dedication to one another, and chapter 6:3 records, “I am my lover’s and my lover is mine.” The young man must leave but he promises to return and make her his bride and from chapters three through six she longs for his return. “O daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you – if you find my lover what will you tell him? Tell him I am faint with love.” Song of Songs 5:8.
Chapter 6:10 tells us he returns in a great procession, “Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession?” Not only is his return unannounced but his true identity is disclosed as the king in verse 12, “Before I realized it, my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people.”
Jesus often illustrated his return as a bridegroom coming for his bride. In the parable of the ten virgins, he illustrated that the bridegroom was delayed and only half of the virgins had taken extra oil and therefore only five were prepared to make it to the wedding banquet before the door was shut (Mathew 25:1-13). The implication that the bride would have to endure a long deferral before the return of the bridegroom is intentional and relevant to today’s Church.
Additionally, Jesus will return unannounced, just as a first century Jewish bridegroom did not fetch his bride until his father gave him the green light, when the marriage chamber was complete. Jesus said, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” Mathew 24:36-39.
Jesus went on to issue a warning, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you must also be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Mathew 24:42-44.
The Apostle Paul reminds us in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-5, “Now brothers, about the times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety, destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.” Knowing this, we must have the discernment to recognize the signs we are surrounded with in our world today. Events in the middle east regarding Israel, societal trends and political indications that we are indeed living in the last days.
God wants his people home. The Bridegroom wants his bride. All of creation is groaning from the weight of sin. One can feel it, sense it, that time is running out. The majority of the population is oblivious to the progression of prophecy and completely unaware of the coming tribulation. Judgement will come swiftly and the wicked will perish just as it was for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
What is God’s logic in waiting such a long time to return for his beloved Church? There is only one answer and it is because of his intense love for his people. When God disclosed to Abraham his intentions of destroying the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham thought of his nephew Lot who lived there and immediately reasoned with God about sparing the cities if God found even ten righteous people within their walls (Genesis 18:33). God committed to not wiping out the righteous with the wicked, but he did not spare the wicked. He led Lot and his family out of harm’s way before destruction was carried out. In the same way, Noah and his family were rescued in the ark when the world at that time was destroyed in the flood.
In Mathew, chapter 13, Jesus tells the disciples the parables of the sower and of the weeds. He explains how the kingdom of God resembles growing and harvesting a crop. The population explosion in the last century means that there are currently more souls to save for the kingdom of God than at any previous time in history. In fact, there are more people alive right now than have lived in the entire history of civilization put together. God is waiting for a maximum harvest of believers to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Paul reminds us in Romans 11:25, “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of Gentiles has come in.” As those numbers pour in, we are getting closer to the culmination of God’s plan for his bride and the fulfillment of all prophecy.
All of creation is groaning under the weight of sin. It is evident in nature, in politics and in humanity. Civilization is ripe with signs that the harvest is imminent. Signs predicted in the Bible that would immediately precede the return of Christ. God has not forgotten his covenant with the Church and as his bride we must remain faithful and pure, forsaking all others as we anticipate the Bridegroom coming to fetch his bride.
We must not perceive God’s timing as complacency or abandonment. Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:8-9, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow to keep his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
Rest assured that the Bridegroom will return for his bride. Know that he will come and take us to be where he is so we can be together forever. As time marches on and evil runs its course throughout the earth we must stand firm in our faith. Jesus’s words are true and his promises are good. “Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.” Revelation 3:10.
