As He Went Up, He'll Return

Recently, we witnessed Space X’s Starship rocket booster successfully return to the launch tower’s arms. This was marvelous because, usually, rocket boosters fall into the sea, and ships retrieve them.

Christians and unbelievers have something far more surprising awaiting. The two men who appeared to the disciples and people from Galilee spoke of it. They said,

“People of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the heaven? This Jesus, who was taken to heaven in the same way, will return, just as you saw him taken to heaven” (Acts 1:11)

The disciples believed the two men’s words, returned to Jerusalem, waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit, and died as witnesses of his ascension and promise of return. Although they didn’t see his return, their faith didn’t vary, and they encouraged others to wait for it.

Paul describes this as the Lord Jesus’s return with a loud trumpet (1 Cor 15:52; 1 Thess 4:16). Unfortunately, as the years passed and it seemed like the Lord was tarrying, people began to say it was false news and started to doubt his return. Peter, a witness to the Lord’s ascension and the two men’s declaration, said that God’s timing differed from ours. He wrote,

“Do not forget one thing, beloved, one day to the Lord is like a thousand years and a thousand years I like one day” (2 Pet 3:8).

Because of irreconcilable differences in how we calculate times, we find the Lord tarrying. But he isn’t. He is on his timing and perfect on timing. When the Father tells him to return, he will. The disciples (then and now) are to be ready while they steadily spread the gospel.

May we do that even this Christmas season, a time to remember his first coming! He will surely come, perhaps not in our lifetime, but he surely will.