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A lot of people wonder that Jesus didn't tells us the exact day and hour of His return. I believe the reason lies in the nature of the human heart. If we knew the exact time, we would ignore His counsels about how we should live. Then a few hours before His scheduled appearance we would hurriedly try to get ready. He Himself said: "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone".
Some time ago I spoke with a person who knew nothing about the Bible. As we rode together in an airplane the conversation turned to spiritual questions. We shared the concept each of us had about life. I told him I believed in the return of Christ and the establishment of His eternal kingdom.
"I prefer to live in the present reality", he told me. "Heaven is to abstract, and it's in a distant future. I don't know if I'll even be alive when that day comes".
A typical person of our time, the man thought only of the here and now. As far as he was concerned, it was not worth while trying to think about heaven while interesting things where constantly happening here on earth.
"Life is short", he told me in a conclusion", and we can't waste it on utopian dreams. We need to be realistic".
We need to be realistic? Then, borrowing an illustration from another writer, allow me to reason with you. Suppose we live 100 years and come to an end of our days. And we discover that the man who spoke with me that day was right. Heaven does not exist. The coming of Christ is a utopian dream. There is no eternal life. Nothing. Then what will I have lost if there is nothing. But let's suppose at the end of our days we discover that the Bible was right. Heaven is real, eternal life is a reality, and Christ does come back to take with Him those who are ready. Well, then, my friend in the plane will have lost everything. It's that simple. But it is also real and true.
Very soon the day is approaching when human beings will awake, just as they always have, to go about their daily round of activities. In factories employees will be carrying out their assigned duties. The clubs and entertainment centers will be filled. People will be doing good or evil, chasing as they always have after their dreams. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing different. Just as it was in the days of Noah.
Suddenly, in the midst of the sky, will appear a small cloud. It will grow larger by the second. The earth will shake to the very foundations. John described the scene this way. "I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree cast its unripe figs when shaken by great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand'?
While some people running around terrified, those who believed in the Second Coming and prepared themselves for that day will raise their arms and exclaim: "Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is our Lord for whom we have waited; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation".
One cold morning in the concentration camp during 1942 a young man looked through the barbed-wire fence and saw a girl that he thought of as beautiful as the sunlight itself. The young woman spotted him, too, and her heart leaped up. Wanting to express her feelings, she threw a red apple over the fence. Somehow the apple brought him life, hope, and love. As the boy picked it up a ray of sunshine illuminated his dark world. The angelic face and the timid smile of that young woman lingered in his mind.
The next day he was eager to see her again. When he approached the fence, to his delight there she was. Waiting for the arrival of the young man who had touched her heart, she stood there with another red apple in her hand.
It was extremely cold and the freezing wind moaned sadly. Despite that, two hearts were warmed by love as the apple crossed the fence.
The incidence repeated itself for several days. Two young people , on opposites side of a fence, briefly looked for one another. Only for an instant each day. The encounter was a little more than a flickering flame.
One day the young man announced with a sad expression, "Don't bring me the apple tomorrow. I won't be here any more. They are sending me to another concentration camp".
That afternoon the boy left with a broken heart. From that day on the beautiful image of the girl would fill his mind during moments of sorrow. Her eyes, the few words they had exchanged, the red apple. For him it was a spark of joy in the midst of unending sadness. His family perished in the war and his life was nearly destroyed, but even in the darkest hours of the image of the girl with the timid smile brought him joy, courage, and hope.
Years passed. One day in the United States two adults met by chance in a restaurant and began to talk about their lives. "Where were you during the war"? the woman asked.
"I was in concentration camp in Germany", he answered.
"I remember throwing apples over the fence to a young man who was also in the concentration camp," she recalled.
With his heart in his throat, the man stammered: "And did that young man say to you one day: "Tomorrow don't bring me the apple, because they are sending me to another concentration camp""?
"Yes, but how could you have know that"?
Looking into her eyes, as if he was gazing at a star, he said, "I was that young man".
A moment of silence. So many memories, so much nostalgia, such joy at seeing her again. The words almost refused to come out, but he went on: "They separated me from you that day, but I never lost the hope of seeing you again. Will you marry me"?
As he held her close she whispered in his ear, "Yes, yes, a thousand times yes".
The world is a ripe fruit, ready to be harvested. Christ is coming back to put an end to the long sad history of sin. He is coming to take you home, coming to tell you that He never lost the hope of seeing you safe with Him for all eternity. There is a place in heaven for you, and it will never be the same without your presence. You are the most precious thing that Jesus has on earth. Just as you are, with your joys and sorrows, with your struggles and conflicts, with your good points and mistakes you are important to Jesus. So important that He came to die for you on the cross of Calvary, and is returning to take you home again with Him. Are you ready?
The answer is your alone.
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