Three times in Revelation 22, Jesus promised that He will return (Revelation 22:7,12,20). Jesus said over and over, “Surely I am coming quickly.” He even added that we could trust this promise stating, “These words are faithful and true” (Revelation 22:6).
Jesus’ return is a promise made by God, a promise found so prolifically in the Bible that you can read about His Second Coming in nearly 500 prophecies of the Old Testament and one out of 25 verses in the New Testament. That Jesus fulfilled all 300 First Coming prophecies 100% means that you and I can rest assured that all of the Second Coming promises will be fulfilled as well.
In the exaltation of that exciting promise, the Apostle John closed out the book of Revelation (and the entire Bible) with a prayer: “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20). Final messages often are the most poignant. Therefore, when Christians today pray, we can follow John’s example and do so with the mindset of, “It could be today!”
The Birth Pangs
We live in a world where the alarming news and absurdity of what’s happening increases each day — especially at a rapid pace in our nation. Absurdities that we didn’t give much thought to before are suddenly becoming a nightmarish reality. It is obvious that society is speeding down the fast track to the end of the world as we know it. What astounds us today is the speed of its approach. But, that also means we are speeding ever so closer to the Second Coming of Christ.
But, how soon is soon? After all, it’s been nearly 2,000 years since Christ made that promise. From a human perspective, that’s a very long time. Though, from God’s eternal perspective, not so much. For Him, those two millennia have been only like two days (2 Peter 3:8).
The Apostles asked this very question of Jesus when He dropped the bombshell revelation on them about the eventual destruction of the Temple (Luke 21:6). This prophecy, found in Matthew 24 and paralleled in Mark 13 and Luke 21, resulted in the Apostles asking three questions specifically:
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