What are you going to do if Jesus's return is not for you?

This question capture headlines, imaginations, and intense Biblical debate. Over the years, I’ve seen heated arguments as well as relationships turned icy as people wrestle with this question.

Perhaps rather than focus on the question of when will Jesus return, maybe we should be asking, what if Jesus doesn’t come back for you another 50, 100, or 200 years? Such a question awakens us to our responsibility to raise up strong Christian leaders in the next generation, teach the Scripture to our children, and pass the baton of faith as well.

He echoes this multiple times.

Keep alert.

Stay alert.

Be alert.

Fanfare surrounds Jesus’ arrival into Jerusalem. Leafy branches. Thick and thin robes lined the path, quieting the click sound of the donkey’s hooves.

Rather than take a seat on a throne, Jesus judges and cleanses. A fig tree is cursed for unfruitfulness. The temple is turned upside down. The people are wonderstruck by Jesus’ teaching and authority.

Then Jesus speaks of shadows of things to come. Allusions. Mysteries. Hidden secrets that theologians and the church have tried to decode for the thousands of years. Centuries of people declaring we are in the end times. They weren’t wrong. Soon their time did end.

But the call of Jesus does not seem to be to study the end times (though I’m all for that if it draws you closer to Christ and into His Word!), the call of Christ is:

The second coming of Christ is the blessed hope of the church, the grand climax of the gospel. The Savior’s coming will be literal, personal, visible, and worldwide. When He returns, the righteous dead will be resurrected, and together with the righteous living will be glorified and taken to heaven, but the unrighteous will die. The almost complete fulfillment of most lines of prophecy, together with the present condition of the world, indicates that Christ's coming is imminent. The time of that event has not been revealed, and we are therefore exhorted to be ready at all times.

Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him.
— 2 Thessalonians 2:1

When Paul wrote his second letter to the church of Thessalonica, he was exceedingly excited at the thought of Jesus’ soon return. In fact, he was so thrilled about the prospect of Jesus’ coming again that he devoted the entire second chapter of Second Thessalonians to the events that would occur in the last days. As Paul wrote this famous chapter about the events of the last days, he began by declaring, “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him.”

Notice that Paul uses the word “beseech” in this verse. Normally the word “beseech” would be the Greek word parakaleo, but in this verse, Paul uses the word erotao rather than the word parakaleo. The word erotao means to ask or to make a strong request. This word calls upon the listener to cautiously listen to what is being said and to respond in a fitting manner to what has been heard. Because Paul is speaking of the coming of the Lord and uses the word erotao to appeal to his listeners, he clearly means for them to take his words seriously and to let these words make a strong impact in their lives.

But the question at hand is if He ( Jesus) does not come back for you? What are you going to do? When we think about the coming of the Lord, it should make a strong impact in our lives. It should affect the way we live, the way we think, the way we carry on in our relationships, and the way we invest our money into the Kingdom of God.

It is simply a fact that Jesus is coming for His Church, and we should constantly live in the light of His coming. When we live with the awareness that Jesus is coming again, it changes our conduct and behavior. By using the word erotao (“beseech”), Paul is communicating to his readers that they have a responsibility to respond to his message about Jesus’ soon return. They are to live in a godly, upright, and holy manner as they wait for “the coming of our Lord.”

Can we get to the Kingdom on our own merit? Can we read this? Then he ( Paul) begins to speak to them about the “coming of our Lord.” The word “coming” is from the Greek word parousia. This word always places special emphasis on the Presence of the Lord — especially the Presence of God that can be tangibly felt among His people. Here it is used to describe the strong Presence of God that will be felt when Jesus returns to gather His people to Himself. The word implies that the Church will feel a phenomenal divine Presence when it is time for Jesus to gather His people to Himself at the end of the age.

This means that as we come closer to the return of Jesus, the parousia — the strong Presence of the Lord — will be strongly sensed among believers. In fact, the ever-growing, strong Presence of the Lord in the midst of the Church will be one of the signals that Jesus’ return is close at hand. As His Presence gets stronger and stronger, we will know it is time for Him to return to “gather” us to Himself.

When Paul speaks about “our gathering together unto Him,” the phrase “gathering together” comes from the Greek word episunagoge. This word is used perfectly in the apocryphal book of Second Maccabees 2:7, where it refers to that moment in the future when God will finally gather His people together to Himself. This is exactly how Paul uses it in Second Thessalonians 2:1 as he talks about that moment when God will finally gather His people together to Himself at the coming of Jesus.

In Second Thessalonians 2:1, Paul uses the word episunagoge (“gathering together”) to describe that future moment when the Lord will quickly gather or collect His people together to Himself at the end of the age. At that divine moment, all of God’s people will be quickly gathered together and collected in a common assembly to meet the Lord in the air. What a meeting that will be!

“Brothers, I make this urgent, heartfelt request to you today, earnestly and sincerely pleading with you from the bottom of my heart to hear what I’m telling you and to do exactly as I say. The appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ is very near. In fact, it is so close that we can almost feel His Presence as if He were already here among us. The moment we have all longed for and waited for is almost upon us! I’m talking about that moment when Jesus will finally gather us together to Himself.

Will you be there?