The Hope, Pt. 2

Jesus has promised to return, and yet, here we are, over two thousand years later, still waiting for the second coming of our Lord and Savior. This has been a year of evil and violence. For some of us, this has been a year with many hardships. It is hard to not get discouraged at times and wonder when Christ is coming back.

But take heart my brothers and sisters, Jesus will fulfill his promise. The writer of Hebrews says this in Hebrews 10:36-39, “For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised. For yet in a very little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith; and if he draws back I have no pleasure in him. But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and are saved.”

There are three things to note that the writer of Hebrews says we need to do - have endurance, do God’s will, live by faith in righteousness. He begins with endurance because it takes endurance to do God’s will and live by faith in righteousness. As believers and followers of Christ, we are to endure faithfully in doing God’s will and living by faith in righteousness until Christ’s return.

As we wait for the return of Christ, we are to endure in preaching the gospel and fulfilling the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20. We are to faithfully endure keeping the unity of the church as in John 17:20-23. God’s word tells us his will and how we are to faithfully live within his will until Christ’s return. If we want to faithfully endure in God’s will, we need to faithfully spend time in His word.

But we are also to endure in faith and righteousness as we wait for Christ’s return. James says in James 2:18, “But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works.” Faith and righteousness go hand in hand; if we want to endure in righteousness, then we must endure in faith until Christ’s return.

The Advent season is designed to prepare the faithful for Jesus’ second-coming. Trust him, he is coming, so let’s be ready for his return!