When Will He Get Here?

Throughout the Old Testament there are Scriptures which ask When Oh Lord.. How Long Oh Lord... the Israelites were anxious for their king to arrive with His might and power to rule and reign.  I find it interesting that God tells them through prophecy where He will arrive and even details of how, but He never says when.

Micah 5:2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

Isa. 7:14 "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."

We know Jesus did come... born of a virgin in the City of David, Bethlehem. And we know He is coming back. That is our Advent. And like the first coming, God tells us some of the details, but not when... at least not exactly,

You can read the books of Revelation and passages likes Matthew 24 and learn a great deal about the Second Coming of our Lord, but no time stamp is given. We know He will not return until the Time of the Gentiles is fulfilled (Luke 21:24)... Jesus made it clear that He did not know the time, that the angels do not know.. only God the Father knows... 

Matt. 24:36 "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only."

But we do know one thing about the time.. it is SOON.. Jesus says so in the last chapter of the last book of the Bible.. in fact, the last words in red.. the last recorded spoken words of Jesus... say He is coming back soon.

Rev. 22:7 “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.”

Rev. 22:12 "Look, I am coming soon!"

Rev. 22:20 "He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am coming soon.'"

Now that soon is translated quickly in some versions of the Bible and there are those who think it indicates that when Jesus comes it will be quick. After studying the book of Revelation and other end time prophecy, I would agree with that. But I also think Soon fits. I believe that from Gods perspective the time is short.. Jesus will return soon.. no matter how long it might be to us. Keep in mind that "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." (2 Peter 3:8)  God's perspective on time is grander than ours. He sees ALL of eternity... we see a small finite piece.  

No matter how you view it, we are to be watching and waiting and to be ready!  (We will talk about that more tomorrow.)

Lord, Ready our hearts... give us eternal eyes to see that the time is short... may we focus on You and live in the expectation of Your return. Even now, Lord, with all the hustle and bustle in our lives... with all we "have" to do... may our hearts be draw more and more to you so that we can say with all our hearts, not just our lips, "Amen, Lord Jesus, Come!"