What We Hope and Wait For Is the Second Coming of Jesus!

What We Hope and Wait For Is the Second Coming of Jesus!

“The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ.”(Luke 3:15, NIV)
[“Because the people were eagerly looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, everyone was wondering inwardly whether John might be the one.” — The Korean Living Bible]

 

Let us meditate on this verse and receive the lesson it gives us:

(1) When I meditated on this passage, I realized that the One whom “the people were hoping and waiting for” was the Messiah (Luke 3:15, Korean Living Bible).
It struck me that they were so eagerly longing for the Messiah that they even wondered in their hearts whether John the Baptist might be the Messiah himself.

(a) As I reflected on this, I remembered what I had learned from Professor Seyoon Kim at Fuller Theological Seminary about the three aspects of Jewish Messianic expectation:

1. Political freedom,

2. Economic prosperity, and

3. Social justice.

(i) When John the Baptist went throughout the region around the Jordan, preaching “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:3, Korean Living Bible), the Jews believed and eagerly expected that when the Messiah came, He would deliver them from the Roman government that ruled over them, bring them economic abundance, and establish social justice.  That is why “the people were eagerly waiting for the Messiah” (Luke 3:15, Korean Living Bible).

• But was the reason the Jews so earnestly awaited the Messiah biblically valid?
  Absolutely not!

• The purpose for which Christ—the Messiah, Jesus—came into this world was to set us free from sin, to deliver us from the kingdom of Satan, and to bring us into the kingdom of God so that we might enjoy eternal life and blessings.
  He did not come merely to bring political liberation, economic prosperity, or social justice.

(b) When I think about the Jews’ Messianic expectations, I am reminded that we must have a Christ-centered, biblically grounded expectation.
That biblical, Christ-centered expectation is to respond in faith when Jesus says,

“Yes, I am coming soon.” (Revelation 22:20) by saying,
“Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”

It means preparing for His coming with earnest hope and readiness.

(i) We must prepare like the five wise virgins who made themselves ready to meet the bridegroom—with faith and fullness of the Holy Spirit (see Matthew 25:1–10).\

As the Lord, the Head of the Church, sanctifies us to be “a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:27, Korean Living Bible),
may we, when He comes again, meet Him in the air and live with Him forever in heaven (see 1 Thessalonians 4:17, Korean Living Bible).