Whenever times get difficult and uncertain enough to generate fear it seems that people start talking about the return of Jesus, or at least what people now call the “apocalypse” (though that word has in recent years come to mean something completely foreign to its original meaning in biblical literature). Our current days are fearful and very uncertain. To those that are a bit older it often feels like we no longer live in our world at all, but have somehow been transported into an alien and frightening world. As the world teeters and rocks many people are beginning to wonder if this really is, finally, the end of the age.

To be clear, I don’t think it’s bad to reflect on the second coming, I don’t think we ponder this reality enough in fact. Jesus gave repeated and explicit instructions on how we were to live as we wait in anticipation for his return. But this series will not focus on the usual second coming fare of, “Who is the Antichrist?” or “What day will he return?”, as we look at the actual teaching of Jesus we will see that Jesus does not even speak on the subject of the Antichrist and specifically declares that we are not to know the day of his coming. Instead this series will focus on how we should live in the time between the 1st coming of Jesus and his ultimate return. We will focus on how this hope can help and encourage us as we wait for that glorious day.

I am hoping to make this series more practically focused as well, concentrating on how we are to act while we wait, and what our attitude should be. We will focus on the hope that lies ahead and the work that is still undone, instead of dreading each passing day. We work in hope because with the return of the King will come the final consummation of the Kingdom of God as well. The barrier between God and Mankind will finally and forever be removed and we will live with him forever. For the believer this is not a dreadful fear, but a blessed hope and a source of strength in these troubled times.

With this introduction let’s begin with the following passage from John:

“Let not your hearts be troubled.

This passage is one of the passages that inspired the creation of this entire site. “On Walking the Way” was intended from the beginning to be an encouragement to action, not simply another discussion of Jesus’ words. It is to be a motivation to walk in his way. But as we see in the broader context of this passage, the way we walk is built on a very specific and powerful hope, the hope of the return of Jesus our King.

Let not your hearts be troubled

Jesus says this on the heals of telling his disciples that he is leaving and he is about to be betrayed, so he is asking them to trust fully in him through the time of uncertainty that is about to come. Of course this puzzles the disciples for many reasons, not the least of which is that they were pinning their hopes for the coming kingdom of God on Jesus, and if he is leaving what is their hope? Thankfully Jesus does not just say he is leaving he explains that he is coming back for them as well. It seems he has mentioned the fact that he is going to prepare a place for them before, but the shock of his blunt announcement that he is leaving without them has caused them to forget.

I will come again

…and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. This is really the hope Jesus was trying to get the disciples to embrace in their shock and grief at the thought of his leaving. Jesus was leaving for a reason, to prepare a place for them (and us) so that, we can be with him forever. But he further confuses poor Thomas with the next thing he says, “you know the way to where I am going”. Thomas was baffled, he didn’t know where he was going so how could he know the way?

I am the Way

The secret to this passage, if you can call it that, is understanding where Jesus was going. He was going to the Father. But more than that he told them, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” This is why Jesus is the way to the Father, because Jesus and the Father are one. As this dialog goes on we learn that the goal of his leaving is not only reuniting with his Father and preparing a place for them. Jesus tells them all, “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you”. He was not leaving them alone until he returns, he was sending them a helper, the Holy Spirit. It was through the work of the Holy Spirit that they would know and understand what Jesus was saying. But more than this, Jesus and the Father would come and make their home in them(and in us).

Walking in this Hope

For the disciples who heard this, all of this was still a future hope and honestly pretty confusing, but for us only the second coming of Jesus remains a future hope. The Holy Spirit has already been given to teach us all that we need to know to walk the way of Jesus to our eternal hope and destiny. We now have the fullness of God indwelling us, so we do not need to fear even death.

So our hope now consists of two parts, our present fullness in the Spirit of God and our coming hope for the return of Jesus and our eternal home. I think the perfect close for these thoughts is in John’s first letter.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us,

May this hope inspire and strengthen us this week as we face the uncertainties of the future knowing that the Father and the Son reside in us through the Spirit. And may we use the strength we have in the Spirit to walk in His purity, for we are never alone and our future is with Jesus forever!

Have a great week!