Yes, Jesus Is REALLY Coming Back Someday!
What an experience my wife and I had this past weekend!
This Summer, my wife and daughter have been babysitting a friend's kids a couple of days a week when her and her husband are working.
It's a full day but we've treated them as our own which means they get to go along for the ride to wherever my family's headed and they get to have fun and enjoy any special treats along the one.
One "treat" for me personally as a Christian and someone who still works from home was when the 8-year-old boy randomly came into my office one morning and said, "I saw a church sign the other day that said Jesus is coming back..."
You can imagine how such a truth out of the mouth of babes warmed my heart, especially since it was unsolicited too! I mean, it wasn't like anyone else in the house was talking about our faith either!
"That's right! Isn't that exciting?" I asked.
"When is he coming back though?"
"Oh we don't know when He's coming back. The Bible only promises that He will come back some day but it also tells us that no one can know the day or the hour when that will be."
That was the end of that conversation and topic (or so I thought!).
A few days went by and me and my family were driving to go camping when this boy's mom texted my wife and said, "What did you say to my kids!?! They're both crying over here saying that you and Jeff told them Jesus was coming back TODAY and now they think they're gonna die!"
Never mind how hurt we were that a so-called "friend" started a conversation this way or that they should know us well enough by now to know we wouldn't have done something like that, but it saddened us that these two Elementary School age children who have been in a Private Lutheran School their entire lives and who have Christian parents reacted this way to the thought of Jesus' Second Coming.
Matthew 24:36 says plainly, "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only." An important interpretive key for everything Jesus says about the end times is that NO ONE can decipher the day or even the year of His return in glory.
Even so, we should be taught to look forward to and to welcome this coming day even if it's not likely to happen in our own lifetime. I addition, we should "always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15).
So, parents, teach your kids to look forward to the coming of the Lord with joy and peace.
So, Lutheran Schools, teach your students to look forward to the coming of the Lord with joy and peace.
NOTE: Please understand that I'm not a called and ordained minister of God's Word and Sacraments. I'm a layman or just your average everyday Christian, Corporate Healthcare Recruiting Manager, Husband, Father, Friend who lives in the "City of Good Neighbors" here on the East Coast in Buffalo, NY. As another Christian Blogger once wrote, "Please do not see this blog as me attempting to 'publicly teach' the faith, but view it as 'an informal Public Journal of sorts' about my own experiences and journey." So if any of my notes here help you in any way at all, then I say, "Praise the Lord! Thanks be to God!" but please do double check them against the Word of God and with your own Pastor at all times. Trust, but always verify. To be more specific, and relevant to the point I want to make with this lengthy disclaimer/note, please understand that I'm a relatively new convert to "Confessional Lutheranism" and one who recently escaped an American-Evangelical-Non-Denominational mindset a little more than 7 years ago now despite being a Christian my whole life. That being said, please contact me ASAP if you're a Lifelong Lutheran who believes that any of my "old beliefs" seem to have crept their way back into any of the material you see published here, and especially if any of the content is inconsistent with the Bible, our Confessions, and Lutheran doctrine in general (in other words, if it's not consistent with God's Word, which our Confessions merely summarize and repeatedly point us back to over and over again) so that I can not only correct those errors immediately and not lead any of His little ones astray (James 3:1), but so that I can also repent of my sin and learn the whole truth myself. With that in mind, please be aware that you might also discover that some of the earlier/older pieces I wrote for this blog back in 2013 definitely fall into that "Old Evangelical Adam" category (and they don't have a disclaimer like this) since I was a "Lutheran-In-Name-Only" at the time and was completely oblivious to the fact that a Christian "Book of Concord" even existed (Small/Large Catechism? What's that!?!). This knowledge of the Lutheran B-A-S-I-C-S was completely foreign to me even though I was baptized, confirmed, and married in an LCMS church! So, there are some entries that are a little more "out there" so-to-speak since the subject matter was also heavily influenced by those old beliefs of mine. I know that now and I'm still learning. Anyway, I decided to leave those published posts up on this website and in cyberspace only because they are not blasphemous/heretical demanding I correct them or take them down entirely, but because I now have this disclaimer, and only to demonstrate the continuing and sanctifying work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in my life from then until now (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6). Most importantly, please know that any time I engage in commenting on and/or interpreting a specific portion of the Holy Scriptures, it will always closely follow the verse-by-verse footnotes from my own Lutheran Study Bible and/or include references to the Book of Concord unless otherwise noted. Typically, I will defer to what other Lutheran Pastors both past and present have already preached and taught about such passages too since they are the called and ordained under-shepherds of our souls here on earth. Finally, I'm going to apologize ahead of time for the length of most entries (this disclaimer/note is a perfect example of what I mean by that! haha). I'm well aware that blogs should be short, sweet, and to the point, but I've never been one to follow the rules when it comes to writing. Besides, this website is more like a "Christian Dude's Diary" in the sense that everything I write about and share publicly isn't always what's "popular" or "#Trending" at the time, but is about all the things that I'm studying or thinking about myself at the moment instead. For better or for worse, these posts tend to be much longer than most blog entries you'll find elsewhere only because I try to pack as much info as possible into a single piece so that I can refer to it again and again over time if I need to (and so that it can be a valuable resource for others -- if possible, a "One-Stop-Shop" of sorts where I've done all the research for you already to help save you valuable time). Thank you for stopping by and thank you in advance for your time, help, and understanding. Feel free to comment/email me at any time. Grace and peace to you and yours!
This Summer, my wife and daughter have been babysitting a friend's kids a couple of days a week when her and her husband are working.
It's a full day but we've treated them as our own which means they get to go along for the ride to wherever my family's headed and they get to have fun and enjoy any special treats along the one.
One "treat" for me personally as a Christian and someone who still works from home was when the 8-year-old boy randomly came into my office one morning and said, "I saw a church sign the other day that said Jesus is coming back..."
You can imagine how such a truth out of the mouth of babes warmed my heart, especially since it was unsolicited too! I mean, it wasn't like anyone else in the house was talking about our faith either!
"That's right! Isn't that exciting?" I asked.
"When is he coming back though?"
"Oh we don't know when He's coming back. The Bible only promises that He will come back some day but it also tells us that no one can know the day or the hour when that will be."
At this point, I noticed a little concern on the poor boy's face, so I added, "But don't worry! It's been over 2,000 years and He hasn't come back yet and you and me and all of us will be ok when He does because He'll keep us safe because we're Christians."
That was the end of that conversation and topic (or so I thought!).
A few days went by and me and my family were driving to go camping when this boy's mom texted my wife and said, "What did you say to my kids!?! They're both crying over here saying that you and Jeff told them Jesus was coming back TODAY and now they think they're gonna die!"
Never mind how hurt we were that a so-called "friend" started a conversation this way or that they should know us well enough by now to know we wouldn't have done something like that, but it saddened us that these two Elementary School age children who have been in a Private Lutheran School their entire lives and who have Christian parents reacted this way to the thought of Jesus' Second Coming.
Matthew 24:36 says plainly, "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only." An important interpretive key for everything Jesus says about the end times is that NO ONE can decipher the day or even the year of His return in glory.
Even so, we should be taught to look forward to and to welcome this coming day even if it's not likely to happen in our own lifetime. I addition, we should "always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15).
So, parents, teach your kids to look forward to the coming of the Lord with joy and peace.
So, Lutheran Schools, teach your students to look forward to the coming of the Lord with joy and peace.
NOTE: Please understand that I'm not a called and ordained minister of God's Word and Sacraments. I'm a layman or just your average everyday Christian, Corporate Healthcare Recruiting Manager, Husband, Father, Friend who lives in the "City of Good Neighbors" here on the East Coast in Buffalo, NY. As another Christian Blogger once wrote, "Please do not see this blog as me attempting to 'publicly teach' the faith, but view it as 'an informal Public Journal of sorts' about my own experiences and journey." So if any of my notes here help you in any way at all, then I say, "Praise the Lord! Thanks be to God!" but please do double check them against the Word of God and with your own Pastor at all times. Trust, but always verify. To be more specific, and relevant to the point I want to make with this lengthy disclaimer/note, please understand that I'm a relatively new convert to "Confessional Lutheranism" and one who recently escaped an American-Evangelical-Non-Denominational mindset a little more than 7 years ago now despite being a Christian my whole life. That being said, please contact me ASAP if you're a Lifelong Lutheran who believes that any of my "old beliefs" seem to have crept their way back into any of the material you see published here, and especially if any of the content is inconsistent with the Bible, our Confessions, and Lutheran doctrine in general (in other words, if it's not consistent with God's Word, which our Confessions merely summarize and repeatedly point us back to over and over again) so that I can not only correct those errors immediately and not lead any of His little ones astray (James 3:1), but so that I can also repent of my sin and learn the whole truth myself. With that in mind, please be aware that you might also discover that some of the earlier/older pieces I wrote for this blog back in 2013 definitely fall into that "Old Evangelical Adam" category (and they don't have a disclaimer like this) since I was a "Lutheran-In-Name-Only" at the time and was completely oblivious to the fact that a Christian "Book of Concord" even existed (Small/Large Catechism? What's that!?!). This knowledge of the Lutheran B-A-S-I-C-S was completely foreign to me even though I was baptized, confirmed, and married in an LCMS church! So, there are some entries that are a little more "out there" so-to-speak since the subject matter was also heavily influenced by those old beliefs of mine. I know that now and I'm still learning. Anyway, I decided to leave those published posts up on this website and in cyberspace only because they are not blasphemous/heretical demanding I correct them or take them down entirely, but because I now have this disclaimer, and only to demonstrate the continuing and sanctifying work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in my life from then until now (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6). Most importantly, please know that any time I engage in commenting on and/or interpreting a specific portion of the Holy Scriptures, it will always closely follow the verse-by-verse footnotes from my own Lutheran Study Bible and/or include references to the Book of Concord unless otherwise noted. Typically, I will defer to what other Lutheran Pastors both past and present have already preached and taught about such passages too since they are the called and ordained under-shepherds of our souls here on earth. Finally, I'm going to apologize ahead of time for the length of most entries (this disclaimer/note is a perfect example of what I mean by that! haha). I'm well aware that blogs should be short, sweet, and to the point, but I've never been one to follow the rules when it comes to writing. Besides, this website is more like a "Christian Dude's Diary" in the sense that everything I write about and share publicly isn't always what's "popular" or "#Trending" at the time, but is about all the things that I'm studying or thinking about myself at the moment instead. For better or for worse, these posts tend to be much longer than most blog entries you'll find elsewhere only because I try to pack as much info as possible into a single piece so that I can refer to it again and again over time if I need to (and so that it can be a valuable resource for others -- if possible, a "One-Stop-Shop" of sorts where I've done all the research for you already to help save you valuable time). Thank you for stopping by and thank you in advance for your time, help, and understanding. Feel free to comment/email me at any time. Grace and peace to you and yours!
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Thank you for visiting A Lutheran Layman! Please feel free to leave a comment or a question since we do not exercise censorship. We've seen a similar policy with other blogs and it's worth repeating: Please act as if you're a guest in my home, and we'll get along just fine. I think anyone would agree that the kind of back-and-forth that is characteristic of blogs/chat forums and social media is becoming tiresome for all of us. Still, we should confess, edify, and love (and contend and defend when needed). Bottom line? Search the Scriptures! Apply Acts 17:11 to anything and everything you find here and, if you do happen to disagree with something you find here (which is certainly ok), or think I'm "irresponsible" and "wrong" for writing it, then please refute my position by supporting yours with Scripture and/or the Confessions. I don't think that's an unreasonable request, especially for those who identify themselves as "Christians" here, right? Besides, Proverbs 27:17 tells us "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another" and 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." If you have an opinion that's great, I welcome it, but try to support it using God's Word. I mean, if the goal here is to help us all arrive at the truth of God's Word (myself included), then it should be easy to follow through on this one simple request (I'm talking to all you "Anonymous" visitors out there). Grace and peace to you and yours!