TEXT: Revelation 22:20

SUBJECT: Follow the Lamb #13: Live Waiting for Your Lord

Tonight, we will move on in our study of Follow the Lamb, by the Scottish pastor from the Nineteenth Century, Horatius Bonar. The title of the book is also its goal. It aims to make us better followers of the Lamb, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Before we get to chapter 12, I’ve got a question for you: What have you been doing with the first eleven chapters? I know you’ve been listening to them, and some of you have said nice things about them. But is that all you’re doing? If it is, both Bonar and I have failed. He didn’t write—and I’m not teaching—in order to fill time or impart information. You need to be doers of the Word, and not hearers only.

Last week, we looked at the chapter titled, Do Something for God. Have you been doing this? Have you done more for God the last seven days than in the previous week? A month ago (or thereabouts), the topic was Study the Bible. Have you been doing that? Not, have you read a chapter a day (or ten chapters), but have you been studying the Bible? Reading it with an alert mind and with a will ready to believe what it teaches and obey what it commands?

Theory is good, but practice is better. To obey is better than sacrifice. And this is what we need to do: to do what the Lord teaches and not just think about it, talk about it, pray about it, listen to sermons about it, or preach about it.

The topic for tonight is Live Waiting for Your Lord. The chapter is short enough to be read in a minute or two, and that’s what I’m going to do: read it aloud, and then try to explain and apply it. So, here’s Chapter 13 in the book, Follow the Lamb.

The Second Coming of Christ is near. It was near in the 1^st Century, it is near in the 21^st Century, and if we have an 51^st Century, it will be near then as well. This seems to be a rather flexible use of the word, ‘near’, but it is precisely what the Bible teaches.

What must occur before the Lord comes again? Three things: the exaltation of Christ, the worldwide preaching of the Gospel, and the great falling away. All of these things were present in the Early Church, and are present now. Thus, there are no signs still to come. A famous preacher got it right:

Many verses teach this: I Peter 4:7: The end of all things is at hand; James 5:9: Behold the judge stands at the door. Revelation 22:20: Surely I come quickly.

Jesus Christ may come back at any time—including tonight. We need to live as though He will. No student has ever been too ready for a pop quiz. But many students have been not ready enough!

Some of the parables teach this. In one, the Lord compares His Second Coming to a surprise wedding. (That sounds funny to us, but it was common in His day). The groom shows up in the middle of the night; the bridesmaids are called, but some of them have got no oil in the lamps—and they have no time to buy any more. They are locked out of the wedding! In another, a butler is left in charge of a rich man’s estate. He figures the master will be gone a long, long time. He breaks into the liquor cabinet and starts flogging the maids and gardeners. And then the boss shows up. And he’s plenty mad!

The two parables (and others like them) teach the same lesson: Watch for the Second Coming. We don’t do that by speculating, setting dates and being lunatics, but by living as though the Lord were coming back tonight.

THE JOY OF THE SECOND COMING

The Return of Christ is serious business, of course, but this is not what our chapter has in mind. It sees the Second Coming—not as a terrifying judgment—but as a honeymoon!

A man and woman deeply love each other, but they’re separated at the moment. Maybe he’s in the army or the navy. They send letters every day and read the other’s with a tender love. But reading her letter is not the same as kissing her! Seeing his picture is not as good as seeing the man. Dreaming about a honeymoon is worse than going on one!

In the same way, praying and reading the Bible are good things. Fellowship with Christ by faith is very dear to us. But fellowship with Christ in Person is far better! Heaven on earth is good, heaven in heaven is better!

This is what the Second Coming of Christ is. It is meeting the One you love and finding that He’s far better than you thought He was. Peter says we love an unseen Christ, and in Him, rejoice with a joy unspeakable and full of glory. But the joy we feel for Him now is disgust and hatred in comparison to the joy and love we will have for Him when we see Him face to face.

Jesus Christ is our lover, friend, brother, father, and king all rolled into one. And then some. We have inklings of what He is now. At the Second Coming, we’ll see our biggest wishes were way too small and our most exaggerated fantasies were not exaggerated enough.

You look forward to other days: to birthdays, to Christmas, to summer vacation, to time off work, to your wedding, maybe even to the day you retire. Some of these days are not what you hoped they would be.

But the Second Coming of Christ will be what you hoped it would be. And more. It will be so wonderful that it will wipe away every tear. Not by making you forget you were once sick or that a loved one died or that you never got married. But by being so great that all the losses and pains of life will seem like nothing in comparison to it.

The Lord will come again and it will be a happy day when He does. These are true doctrines, but what effect do they have on our lives before He comes? In other words, what does it mean to Live waiting for your Lord?

Surely, it means more than believing He will come again. But what is that more? I suppose any number of good things could be said here, but three of them occurred to me. I’ll just list them and let you work out most of the details.

If the Lord is coming soon, we cannot live for material things. Don’t get me wrong: material things are good. God made them for our enjoyment and we ought to enjoy them. But we must not live for them; we must not idolize the gifts of God—not even the best of them.

But why not? Because the Lord is coming again. When He does, All these things shall be dissolved (II Peter 3:11). We need to pay close attention to what he says—and what he means by it. John says, the world and the lusts thereof are passing away, but Peter isn’t talking about sinful things melting in the heat of the Second Coming. No, he means all material things, including the most innocent.

This means our books are our cars, our homes and our furniture, our gardens and our lawns, our golf clubs and our record collections, our computers and TVs cannot be lived for. Enjoy them, by all means. Take care of them, sure. But make sure you remember: one day they’re going to melt.

If the Lord is coming soon, we can suffer with patience. The believer’s suffering will not last long. Even it goes on his whole life, the Lord is coming soon to set things right. Few men have had more problems than Paul. But he calls them a light affliction, which is but for a moment.

You won’t be sick much longer; your family problems won’t go on forever; you won’t be poor or unemployed or bored by your job for long. Even your worst problems—the ones caused by your own sin—will soon be fixed.

Pain is a complex thing, but it seems to me that the worst part of it is fear. Fear, however, does not live in the past or in the present, but in the future. In the short-run, the Christian’s future may be bleak—No hope says the doctor. But in the long run, the believer'’ future is nothing but hope! Not because he’s going to die and get away from it all, but because the Lord is coming again to fix broken bodies and broken hearts.

The tunnel you’re in right now may be dark and scary. But there's light at the end of it. The light of the Second Coming of Christ.

If the Lord’s Return may be at any minute, we ought to be holy in every minute. Please remember that ‘holy’ does not mean ‘religious’. It includes prayer and Bible reading, hearing sermons and sitting at the Lord’s Table, but holiness is far more than that. It is doing everything—working, sleeping, laughing, kissing, you name it—doing everything for the glory of God!

This is what our Lord was getting at in the parables I cited a few minutes ago. And Peter, too, What manner of persons ought you to be in all godly conduct and holiness? What would you do tonight if you knew the Lord were coming at 10:30? Whatever it is, do it because who’s to say He’s not?

The Lord’s Return promotes holiness in two ways: If He’s coming as a judge, you want to be doing the right thing when He gets here. If He’s hosting a traveling party, you want to be dressed for it when He shows up. The Second Coming stirs the best it us. It makes us reverent and joyful; serious and full of hope.

Surely I come quickly. Even so, come Lord Jesus.