Titus 2:13
INTRODUCTION
It is July 24, 1969. The astronauts are returning from a long journey. They left on July 11, 1969, placed their feet on the moon, and now they are heading home. A Navy vessel, located about 1,200 miles from Hawaii, is waiting for them. On board are many scientists, engineers, reporters, and the President of the United States. Their eyes are fixed on the skies, trying to penetrate the clouds of the early morning. They are all looking up, anxiously waiting to see the return of Apollo 11 from the moon. At 5:41 a.m. a shout is heard: “There it is!” Apollo 11 has come back.
For centuries the Christian church has been looking up to the heavens, waiting for the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise, “I will come back.” The last time Jesus was seen on earth, He was ascending to heaven. Angels assured the disciples that “this Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11, NASB). This promise has enriched the life of believers by infusing it with hope. Today we will explore what that promise means to us.
I. PERMANENT ACCESS TO GOD’S PRESENCE
At the Second Coming, Christ’s presence will be unique and in a permanent form. God has always been on our planet through the Spirit. But He also appeared to Moses hidden in a bush (Exod 3:2–4), to the Israelites on Mount Sinai (19:16–20), and to a prophet who saw Him filling the temple with His glory (Isa 6:1–5). God also appeared to us in His Son, hidden in human flesh (John 1:1–3, 14), for a limited period of time, in the land of Israel. That is the nature of biblical divine epiphanies; they all have temporal and geographic limitations, and they are only witnessed by a few.
The mode of God’s presence at the Second Coming is unlike anything else in human history. All other divine apparitions were a pale reflection of what this one will be like; in a sense they were a type of this one. The Second Coming will be the consummation of God’s presence among human beings on this sinful planet.
When Christ’s presence irrupts into our planet in the splendor of His divinity, the earth will be shaken to its very foundations; there will be fire, light, earthquakes, and the sound of trumpets. Creation is not large enough to encompass the fullness of His glorious presence; it recedes as if trying to make room for Him. Every human being will mysteriously see Him at once (1:7). The universal character of the Second Coming leaves no place for the wicked to hide; they have no choice but to face the risen Christ.
At that glorious moment, the barrier of sin and death will crumble down and God’s presence with us will be visible and permanent. Humans have anxiously desired to be in the very presence of God, to be able to see Him. John says that “when He appears . . . we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2). Jesus expressed it well: “The pure in heart . . . shall see God” (Matt 5:8). What a wonderful promise! The Second Coming of Christ means to me that I will see my Creator and Redeemer! The human longing to see Him will be fully satisfied.
II. FILLS OUR LIFE WITH HOPE
The Second Coming of Christ is the blessed hope (Titus 2:13). We are creatures of hope, not of despair. Every moment of our life is lived in expectation and hope. We exist anticipating the realization of what we hope for. We have many hopes, and we expect many things, but we all need a hope that defines us and gives meaning to our lives. Without such a hope we would live in despair. The Christian hope is so intertwined with our very being that it cannot be removed from us without drastically altering the meaning and quality of our existence. In the absence of this hope, many live fainting “from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world” (Luke 21:26, NIV).
The Christian hope is grounded in Christ’s death and resurrection. The significance of our lives is determined by what happened in the past—the cross—and by the future—the consummation of our salvation. We live waiting for “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us” (Titus 2:13– 14a, NIV). This hope does not anticipate destruction but announces salvation and our reunion with those who sleep in Christ.
This hope anticipates the removal of sin and death from the planet and from our fallen nature (1 Cor 15:51–53). What would it mean to exist free from sin and selfishness! The power of Christ’s sacrifice will transform our nature into a glorious one, and this will happen “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor 15:52, NIV)! The Second Coming of Christ means that my life has been filled with a glorious and wonderful hope and I am looking forward to its realization!
III. DEFINES OUR PRESENT FUNCTION IN LIFE
The return of Christ speaks to us about the past (the cross), the future (the return of Christ), and about the present. The present is the time between the first and the second comings of Christ. God became human, and we saw His glory (John 1:14), but now we also anticipate His future visible coming. We exist between these two epiphanies. The present is the time of waiting. The promise of Christ’s return enriches the present by answering the question, what should we do during the waiting period?
Shortly before Jesus’ ascension, the disciples asked Him, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6, NASB). They would have liked to move from the first coming to the second without having to wait. Jesus said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:6–8, NASB).
We should never worry about the timing of Christ’s coming. We must wait because Christ filled the waiting period with meaning: “Go and fulfill the mission I am entrusting to you!” He gave us a mission. We should not stop the mission in order to speculate about things not revealed to us. It is in the fulfillment of our mission that we get ready for the return of Christ. Whenever the church arises and becomes active in the proclamation of the gospel, the church is revitalized.
The Second Coming of Christ means to me that I know why I am on this planet. I am here with a very specific mission—namely, to share with others the hope I cherish in Christ. We were born not simply to work, earn a salary, get married, get a house, retire, and then die. No! Our roles in society are to be used by God to point sinners to the cross of Christ as the only way of salvation and to its consummation at His return.
CONCLUSION
On that day we will shout with joy, “There He is!” “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us” (Isa 25:9, NASB). Meanwhile, I ask you and myself: Are you daily longing to see Jesus and to be forever in His presence and in the company of loved ones? Are you possessed by the hope of Christ’s coming? How often do you think about it and pray for it? Are you grounded in the conviction that Christ died to save you and that He is coming to take you home? Have you placed your life in Christ’s hands to be used in any possible way to share the hope of Christ’s soon coming? As we pray now, ask the Lord to infuse you with the joy of Christ’s soon return.
Ángel Manuel Rodríguez, ThD, is a retired director of the Biblical Research Institute at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States.
