Why are we still waiting for Jesus?

How long will we wait for Jesus to return? We can only wonder. Jesus is redeeming and purifying for himself a people who will belong to him, a people who are zealous for good works. He will not return until his eternal family is complete.

People have speculated about the return of Christ since his ascension to heaven. So far, everyone who has predicted the imminent return of Christ has been mistaken. We are still waiting for our blessed hope. But we aren’t waiting to hope. Every Christian lives with a certainty. We don’t know when Christ will return, but we know that he will. 

Jesus never promised we would know when he would return. In fact, he promised he would come at a time we weren’t expecting him. Our hope is promised, not predicted. We look at the sinful directions we see the culture going and imagine Christ’s return is soon. So did our grandparents and great-grandparents. Every generation has had reasons to suspect Christ would step back into the world for the final time.

Yet, we are still waiting. There are still people Jesus plans to redeem and purify for himself. The family isn’t complete. There is still time, and the great need is for God’s children to be “zealous for good works.”

The word zealous usually describes someone who seems out of control. Spiritually zealous means submitting our right to control our lives to the One who can control our lives rightly. Jesus wants us to be zealous for good works, those works that lead to faith and righteousness with God.

Jesus has given us the time, energy, and zeal we need to serve him. He still has family out there who haven’t come to faith. He died for all of them and won’t leave them behind. One day, the last member of our eternal family will be born again. One generation will be the last generation of Christians. One generation will witness the glory of the returning Christ.

Jesus wants to complete his family. Jesus is the model for our own faith and the pathway for our eternal relationship with God. There is an eternal path to God and, one day, his last child will take that path. Until then we are called to serve Christ with zealous commitment and good works.