When Will the End Come?

Luke 17:20-21- Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

People have been anxious to know when the world would end for about as long as there has been a world. I was 23 years old when the book, Eighty-Eight Reasons Why Jesus Christ Will Return in 1988, came out. The author was confident in his predictions that all the signs pointed to Jesus’ return at the Feast of Tabernacles, which was to take place on September 10^th that year. However, my marriage to Keira was set for September 17, 1988. As a devout young believer, but still a man, I prayed, “Lord, I am ready and eager for your return whenever it will come, but if you want to wait a week, I would be fine with that.” Obviously, Keira and I got married, and we are all still here. One more well-intentioned prediction failed to come true.

The Pharisees’ question in Luke 17:20, “When will the Kingdom of God come?”, has been echoed through the centuries. We want to understand the signs. We want it to be definite. Yet, Jesus answers their question by saying they are asking the wrong thing. The Kingdom is here and among us. The more important question is, “Are you a part of the Kingdom? Is God your King?”

Jesus is not saying he will not return in a physical way at a set point in time. In fact, he follows this statement in verses 22-37 with a detailed explanation of his return. However, his main point is that we cannot know exactly when Jesus will return. What we can know is what kind of people Jesus will return for. If we are not careful, we can get so focused on the question “When will Jesus return?” that we fail to ask, “Who should I be whenever he comes?” Make Jesus your King today.