"Return"

Way beyond tomorrow,

And all that is to come,

We stand upon the promise,

Of God’s begotten Son,

That He who came and died for us,

And then rose from the dead,

Will one day return again,

These words are what He said.

He said there would be many signs,

But one prediction sure,

The gospel of the Kingdom,

Offered as the nations’ cure.

And when the world has heard the news,

The Lord will come again,

Every knee will bow to Him,

And all confess His name.

I’m a simple cowboy preacher,

But I know this much is true,

We should live expectantly,

No matter what we do.

And encourage one another,

When we speak of Christ’s return,

And try to build each other up,

From the Holy Spirit learn,

To look forward to His coming,

When everyone will see,

That Jesus is the Lord of all,

And reign eternally.

“Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18, NLT)

Jesus is coming again. It is one of the Lord’s most powerful promises, and is a theme that runs throughout the New Testament. The most significant sign of His coming will be when every people group on earth has heard the Good News of God’s Kingdom. We are not very far from this being fulfilled. Should that give us cause for alarm? No! We should encourage one another, Paul wrote, when we speak of His coming. It is our blessed hope and confident belief. Jesus died for us, was raised from the dead, and is coming again!

Lord, help us to live with great expectation of Your coming, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Tim Cox, timcox.com. Used by permission. Thanks, TIm, and God bless you.