Jesus Is Coming – Soon

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“He’s coming soon, He’s coming soon; with joy we welcome His returning;

It may be morn, it may be night or noon – we know He’s coming soon.”

This simple chorus, sung to the tune of “Aloha Oe”, in my early days as a believer in the 1950s greatly encouraged me as a Christian. We were taught that “Jesus is coming again – soon”; only the timing of His coming is not certain. The Apostle Peter when teaching about Jesus’ Second Coming, pointed out that there will be evil scoffers saying: “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation” (2 Pet. 3:4). His answer then was: “Do not forget this one thing … the Lord is not slow in keeping His promise … the day of the Lord will come like a thief” (2 Pet. 3:8-10).

Can I sing this chorus today, in May 2010, with the same confidence as I did in the 1950s? The answer – Yes. Jesus taught his disciples that only God the Father knows when this “Second Coming” will take place: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority” (Acts1:7). At the ascension of Jesus recorded in Acts 1 the “two men dressed in white” told His disciples, who were viewing the departure of Jesus into heaven: “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

Since the time of Jesus’ promise that He will return for the believers and the teaching of the early Apostles that “Jesus is coming – soon” there continues to be evil scoffers to this day. Our task as Christians is simply to believe the Bible that repeatedly teaches us of the certainty of His coming again for us. Jesus told us that: “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (Jn. 14:3). We who believe that “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3, 4) can certainly also believe and sing with absolute confidence that:

“He’s coming soon, He’s coming soon; with joy we welcome His returning;
It may be morn, it may be night or noon – we know He’s coming soon.”