Jesus Forever: The Ascended, Reigning Christ
30 min read
The return of Jesus is not a rescue operation that abandons the world. It is the consummation of everything the Kingdom has been moving toward — the final judgment, the resurrection, and the renewal of all things.
"Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! — Revelation 22:20
1. The return of Jesus is the New Testament's consistent expectation.
The New Testament ends with "Come, Lord Jesus." It is the earliest confessional prayer of the church — the Aramaic Maranatha in 1 Corinthians 16:22 means "Our Lord, come." The return of Jesus is not a peripheral doctrinal detail appended to the core Gospel. It is the conclusion the entire story has been moving toward from the first promise of Genesis 3:15.
2. The return will be visible, personal, and bodily.
Acts 1:11 — "This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." The one who returns is the same Jesus who ascended. His return will be visible to all Revelation 1:7, will be preceded by unmistakable signs Matthew 24:29-31, and will be heard by the living and the dead 1 Thessalonians 4:16. It will not be an event that requires theological interpretation to identify. Every eye will see.
3. The return will accomplish final judgment.
Matthew 25:31-32 — "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." The final judgment is not a threat. It is the assurance that injustice does not have the final word, that every act of evil will be accounted for, and that every act of faithful love will be eternally affirmed.
4. The return will be preceded by tribulation — and it will be worth it.
Romans 8:18 — "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." The New Testament does not promise that the period before Jesus' return will be comfortable. It promises that the glory to come will make every cost of faithfulness seem small in comparison. The return of Jesus is the horizon that makes every present sacrifice intelligible.
5. The response to Jesus' return is watchfulness and faithfulness, not calculation.
Matthew 24:36 — no one knows the day or the hour. Matthew 25 — the proper response is oil in the lamp (readiness), talents invested (fruitfulness), and the poor served (faithfulness). Jesus consistently refuses to give a timeline and consistently commands present faithfulness. The people who spend energy calculating when Jesus will return tend to be less faithful in the present. The people who live as though he could return at any moment tend to be the most engaged.
Write a paragraph: how does the certainty of Jesus' return change how you think about your suffering, your work, and your engagement with injustice right now?
Submit your paragraph and your journal answer about whether his return makes you eager or anxious.
A: Final judgment, the resurrection of the dead, the defeat of evil and death, and the renewal of all creation.
A: Watchfulness, faithfulness, and engagement — not calculation of dates but present obedience.
A: Because Revelation 21 describes God coming to dwell on a renewed earth — the renewal of creation, not its abandonment.
Lord Jesus, come. And while I wait, let me live as one who expects you — watchful, faithful, and engaged in what you are building. Amen.