Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
There's something that Jesus said that stumps Bible-believing Christians who for over 150 years have been telling the world that "Jesus is coming soon." He promised that the people who first recognized the "signs" that meant His coming was near were a "generation [that] will by no means pass away" until He should come the second time (Mark 13:30). Why the delay? Unless some reasonable explanation can be given, we can't blame young people for walking away.
The context is clear. Jesus has been describing the "signs" to come in the heavens that tell the world His coming is near ("dark day, 1780), "falling of the stars" (1833; vss. 24-26), and then He is to come. Jesus wants to come the second time!
We must not overlook the fact that in becoming "Emanuel, God with us" He has become one of us for all eternity. He is a Bridegroom eager (as any loving bridegroom is) for His Wedding! He wants to gather to Himself His own--which is why He wants to come the second time. This important aspect of the second coming eludes many sincere people who think only of their own salvation, and not of His happiness.
The heavenly Bridegroom's Bride-to-be has selfishly delayed to "make herself ready" for "the marriage of the Lamb" (Rev. 19:7, 8). There has not been that eager response to His wooing that He longs for. It's outside her door, not inside, where He stands "knocking, knocking" (Rev. 3:20; Song of Solomon 5:2, 3, from where Christ quoted that expression in the Greek Old Testament, LXX).
Scripture assumes that a change will take place in the very heart of that Bride-to-be. All Heaven awaits it; so does Jesus.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 5, 2005.
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