How Do We Prepare for the Second Coming?
00:00:00.000 | Well, how do we prepare for the second coming of Christ?
00:00:07.720 | The question is a great one.
00:00:08.960 | It's always relevant, and it comes to us today from a listener to the podcast named Sarah.
00:00:13.420 | Thank you for this podcast, Pastor John.
00:00:15.240 | She writes, "How do I prepare for the second coming of Christ properly?
00:00:20.080 | What can I expect?
00:00:21.360 | What is to come?
00:00:22.360 | What should I be doing now as I eagerly await his return?"
00:00:27.260 | One way to summarize our preparation for the second coming is to say that there are three
00:00:33.200 | impulses that help us be ready.
00:00:36.640 | One, the impulse that comes from the glorious prospect of seeing the Lord.
00:00:42.520 | Two, the impulse that comes from the necessity of suffering before he comes.
00:00:49.120 | Three, the impulse to be found faithful and vigilant in our particular callings when he comes.
00:00:57.900 | So let me illustrate each of those three impulses, because that's the answer to the question,
00:01:03.840 | how do you prepare?
00:01:05.220 | You prepare by responding biblically to those three impulses.
00:01:10.220 | First, the impulse that comes from the glorious prospect of seeing the Lord.
00:01:15.700 | First John 3, 2 and 3.
00:01:18.140 | "Beloved, we are God's children now.
00:01:21.020 | What we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears," that's the
00:01:26.880 | second coming, "when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he
00:01:32.860 | is.
00:01:34.280 | And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself now as he is pure."
00:01:45.980 | So think about the psychological dynamics of those verses.
00:01:50.280 | When he says, "Everyone who thus hopes in him," he's referring to hoping to be like
00:01:57.440 | him.
00:01:58.440 | "When he appears, we shall be like him."
00:02:01.880 | Whoever thus, hoping to be like him, thus hopes in him, will purify himself now.
00:02:09.700 | So the point is, if you really want to be like him by seeing him when he comes, you'll
00:02:17.640 | pursue being like him now.
00:02:19.800 | You will.
00:02:21.220 | So the impulse of becoming a radically pure, holy, loving, sacrificial, Christ-like person
00:02:28.700 | now is the intense hope and desire for that to happen when he comes and we see him.
00:02:37.240 | That's the first impulse.
00:02:38.880 | Second, the impulse that comes from the necessity of suffering before Jesus comes.
00:02:45.680 | Now I have in mind here all Christian suffering, because Paul said that through many tribulations
00:02:50.920 | we must all enter the kingdom of God, Acts 14.22.
00:02:55.440 | And I have in mind the suffering that will become more intense near the end when Paul
00:03:03.520 | says in 2 Thessalonians 2.8, "The lawless one will be revealed in the earth, whom the
00:03:12.920 | Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance
00:03:21.040 | of his coming."
00:03:22.040 | Now, Jesus speaks of that season of lawlessness in Matthew 24.11-13.
00:03:29.180 | Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.
00:03:32.600 | And because lawlessness is increased, the love of many will grow cold, but the one who
00:03:40.180 | endures to the end will be saved.
00:03:43.260 | So the implication is that we should get ready for the Lord's coming, one, by being spiritually
00:03:49.780 | and mentally alert to satanic deception and false teaching.
00:03:53.900 | Two, we should be completely submitted to the Word of God rather than being lawless
00:03:59.500 | or self-willed.
00:04:00.500 | Three, we should be cultivating strong faith in the sovereign goodness of God so that we
00:04:08.460 | can endure to the end through whatever suffering comes our way.
00:04:15.580 | And just a word about how this applies to today, perhaps more than any other time in
00:04:21.860 | history.
00:04:22.860 | I may be wrong about that, but that's my guess.
00:04:26.260 | Human beings have developed popular as well as intellectual and sophisticated ways of
00:04:34.140 | denying the existence of any divine law or standard.
00:04:39.840 | We have found a way to claim plausibility for creating our own truth, creating our own
00:04:46.900 | right and wrong, creating our own identity.
00:04:50.340 | If you are born a man and you want, you want to be a woman, then there is no law in God,
00:04:57.040 | no law in nature, no law in culture to hinder you.
00:05:00.300 | You do whatever you think you want to do.
00:05:05.300 | You are a law to yourself.
00:05:07.140 | That's what Jesus means by lawlessness, and it is multiplied and increased.
00:05:14.740 | And Jesus says such lawlessness will be multiplied, will be increased, and that the effect is
00:05:20.700 | a tragic coldness of love among Christians.
00:05:26.460 | So one way to prepare for the second coming and its antecedent sufferings is to submit
00:05:32.120 | ourselves with intelligence and wisdom and joy to the absolute standards of God's law
00:05:41.220 | for the sake of warm love, not cold love.
00:05:46.140 | Number three, the third impulse to be ready for the second coming is the impulse to be
00:05:52.820 | found faithful and vigilant in our particular callings.
00:05:59.140 | Over and over and over in the New Testament, we are told to be watchful, to be awake, to
00:06:04.860 | be ready.
00:06:05.860 | What does that mean?
00:06:07.700 | I think the parable of the ten virgins is a good illustration of what it means.
00:06:13.500 | The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the
00:06:17.940 | bridegroom.
00:06:18.940 | So that's a picture of being ready for the second coming, the bride returning.
00:06:23.660 | Five of them were foolish, five were wise.
00:06:25.940 | When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks
00:06:32.540 | of oil with their lamps.
00:06:35.420 | As the bridegroom was delayed, and that's Jesus' hint that there's going to be some
00:06:40.580 | distance of time, they all became drowsy and slept.
00:06:47.300 | All of them slept, all ten, not just five, all five, all ten slept.
00:06:51.980 | But at midnight, there was a cry, "Here's the bridegroom, come out to meet him."
00:06:56.600 | Then all the virgins rose, trimmed their lamps.
00:06:58.900 | The foolish said to the wise, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out."
00:07:03.340 | But the wise answered, saying, "Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go
00:07:08.900 | rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves."
00:07:11.700 | And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready, ready, went
00:07:19.820 | in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.
00:07:24.780 | Afterward, the other virgins also came, saying, "Lord, Lord, open to us."
00:07:29.100 | But he said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I do not know you."
00:07:34.060 | And here's Jesus' conclusion, "Watch, therefore."
00:07:39.140 | So the conclusion of the whole parable is answering this question, how do you get ready?
00:07:44.580 | Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day or the hour.
00:07:47.940 | Now what does that mean?
00:07:49.820 | Watch?
00:07:50.820 | Both the wise and the foolish virgins were asleep, and there was no criticism.
00:07:55.700 | That's not a problem.
00:07:56.980 | To watch, therefore, doesn't mean any kind of artificial getting up at night, looking
00:08:03.180 | out the window, paying a lot of attention to end-time conspiracy theories.
00:08:09.540 | Watch means do your job really well for Christ's sake.
00:08:15.500 | They had an assignment.
00:08:17.780 | Have your lamps.
00:08:19.660 | Have your oil.
00:08:21.940 | Respond to the announcement when it's given.
00:08:24.220 | Take the way of the bridegroom in, and they did their job just the way they should, and
00:08:29.620 | they entered in.
00:08:31.700 | They were morally, spiritually, you might say, professionally awake.
00:08:37.100 | They did their job the way God meant for them to do it.
00:08:41.580 | So that's what you find all over the New Testament.
00:08:44.220 | The Master has given all of us assignments for while he's gone.
00:08:49.420 | Gifts, resources, abilities, money, opportunities, relationships, spiritual disciplines, all
00:08:55.780 | of those are spheres where we do our job with faithfulness and diligence.
00:09:02.540 | One of the most important texts for me over the years as a pastor, and even still, is
00:09:06.580 | Luke 12, 42, where he says, like I'm hearing this spoken right to me, John Piper, "Who
00:09:13.180 | then," John Piper, "is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over
00:09:20.740 | his household to give them their portion of food at the proper time.
00:09:26.620 | Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.
00:09:34.820 | Truly I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions."
00:09:39.400 | You know what that means for me?
00:09:41.460 | That means, Piper, work your faithful fanny off to speak truth on Ask Pastor John.
00:09:50.420 | And if the Lord comes and finds you getting ready the day before you record, you'll
00:09:56.580 | be glad you were at work.
00:09:58.780 | Yes, I will.
00:10:00.660 | So let your life be guided by, one, the impulse that comes from the prospect of seeing the
00:10:08.500 | Lord, two, the impulse that comes from the necessity of suffering, three, the impulse
00:10:14.340 | to be found faithful, vigilant, full of love to Christ in our particular callings.
00:10:21.180 | And then we will hear him say, "Enter into the joy of your master."
00:10:26.060 | Wonderful.
00:10:27.060 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:10:28.060 | Sarah, thank you for the great question today.
00:10:29.700 | Thanks for joining us today.
00:10:31.340 | You can ask a question of your own, search our growing archive, or subscribe to the podcast,
00:10:34.940 | all at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.
00:10:35.940 | I am your host, Tony Rehnke, and Pastor John and I will be back in studio on Monday.
00:10:42.660 | Thank you for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast.
00:10:45.260 | We'll see you back here on Monday.
00:10:47.140 | Have a great weekend.
00:10:48.140 | We'll see you then.
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