Coming Soon Near You!

Behold! I am coming soon.¹

With the celebration of our Lord Jesus Christ’s birth, we might consider pondering His return, His Parousia. His arrival in Bethlehem marked the down payment for His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension—all for our benefit—and the promise of His return. Before His crucifixion, Jesus told His disciples on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24:30–31; cf. Luke 21:27):

24:₃₀ …And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in the sky, and all the tribes/people of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. ₃₁ And He will send His angels/messengers with a great trumpet, and He will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

This will be in fulfillment of words by the Prophet Daniel (7:13): In the night vision I continued watching—Behold! Upon the clouds of the sky: one like a son of man coming! The phrase “son of man” is from the Hebrew idiom “son of Adam”, which means simply human.² Daniel was describing a human-like figure, which can only be our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Daniel may have seen Jesus garbed in the same manner in which John the Revelator saw one like a son of man (1:13–16):

1:₁₃ …and in the midst of the candlesticks, like a son of man, in a foot-length robe and girded with a golden wrap around his chest, ₁₄ his head and hair white like wool—white as snow—and his eyes like flames of fire, ₁₅ his feet similar to fine bronze polished in a furnace, and his voice as vibrant as voluminous waters. ₁₆ In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth a sharp double-edged sword proceeds. His face shines like the sun in its full force.

John was apparently terrified in seeing such a figure, but then the Person identified Himself (1:17–18): Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last and the Living One. I was dead, yet behold! I am alive forever and ever!

22:₁₂ Behold! I am coming soon. And with Me is My rewards, to repay each one according to his own work. ₁₃ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. ₁₄ Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have their right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.³

Be blessed!

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¹ Revelation 22:7/22:12.
² See The Son of God Given Authority to Judge Because He is ‘Human’: A Study in John 5:27, pt 2 and the rest of the series.
³ Revelation 22:12–14.