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Jesus is coming soon. Are you ready?

This was one of the rallying cries of the in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But, you know, it’s been a while since I’ve heard anyone say it, much less boldly proclaim it.

Some things, however, are worth repeating — as Paul once quipped, “To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you” (Philippians 3:1).

That Christian disciples should expect Jesus to return at any moment is the clear teaching of the New Testament. For example:

Jesus: “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming … you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Matthew 24:42, 44).

Paul: “The Lord is at hand” (Philippians 4:5).

Paul again: “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven … And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Author of Hebrews: “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay” (Hebrews 10:37; cf. Habakkuk 2:3).

James: “The coming of the Lord is at hand” (James 5:8).

Jesus again: “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me” (Revelation 22:12; cf. 3:11).

But someone might legitimately ask: how can we reconcile these scriptures with the fact that it’s been a very long time since Jesus and his followers spoke/wrote these words? It’s been two thousand years, after all! How can we say that Jesus is coming soon and sincerely expect that he could return at any moment?

Here are three perspectives that might help:

1. Prophetic perspective: Throughout the Bible, when a prophet receives a message about the future from God, he can see aspects of what is coming. But only on rare occasions does God give the prophet any details about the timing. Jesus himself made clear that the Father had not told him the day and hour when he was to return (Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32). Nevertheless, Jesus still expected his disciples to live with the expectation that he could return at any moment.

I once saw a diagram that helped clarify this prophetic perspective. (I do not know where I learned this; if anyone knows the original source, please send me a note.)

The prophet can see the mountain closest to him and the upper parts of the further-away mountain, but from his perspective, he cannot see the (potentially large) gap of time between the mountains.

2. The Greek words used in these passages: When we hear the words “soon,” “at hand,” or “near” in the English translations of the verses above, we typically hear chronological time. But the Greek words found in these passages are not quite so focused on chronology as are our English words. They are a bit more flexible and depend upon the contexts in which they are found. That is, these words possess some ambiguity.

• For example, the word ταχύ in Revelation 22:12 (often translated as “soon” or “quickly” in English) frequently veers in the direction of “suddenly” — as in whenever it happens, it will happen decisively and quickly. (Compare Matthew 24:44 where Jesus says “at an hour you do not expect”).

• When James says that the coming of the Lord “is at hand” (5:8), he is using a verb (ἤγγικεν) that more literally can be translated as “has come near,” which could just be a way of saying that you need to be ready when it starts to happen. This word, depending on its context, can be used for either spatial proximity or chronological nearness.

• The word ἐγγύς (“near”) in Philippians 4:5 can also refer either to spatial proximity or to chronological nearness. It depends on the context — and you can feel the ambiguity when you read this verse in Philippians 4:5 (“the Lord is at hand”).

Summary of #2: These expressions can be used to denote chronological nearness, but an original Greek speaker would also have sensed ambiguity in the terms used — far more easily than we can hear when we encounter our English word “soon.” It’s even possible that the ambiguity may have been intentional on the part of the original biblical speakers/authors.

3. A Different Way of Looking at Time: Peter clarifies in 2 Peter 3:8-9 that “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise.” Peter has already explained in the previous verse that “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Peter wrote this to keep his readers from becoming overly worried about the time-delay of the return of the Lord. Not long ago, I conducted a thought experiment about Peter’s thousand-years-as-one-day comment in 2 Peter 3:8-9 (cf. Psalm 90:4) in which I took these non-literal expressions literally. I ended my article with: “At the very least, Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8 should bolster our confidence that the concerns we have about extended lengths of time are not real concerns for God. The simple fact that God is not bound to our timetable should bring us encouragement to persevere no matter how long our waiting seems to be.” (That thought experiment is .)

What if we started to live in expectation that the coming of the Lord could happen at any time? When Jesus returns, his return will be decisive and swift. We need to get ready for it. We need to proclaim that Jesus is coming back. Let’s live each day remembering and proclaiming that: Jesus is Coming Soon.

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Notes

Extra note: After posting, Fred Sanders made a note about the diagram on X. He wrote: “On your question for the source of the diagram, it’s diagram #2 in Clarence Larkin’s big book of charts from 1920. It comes with several hard dispensational details baked in, but the simpler version is helpful for everybody.”

You can see the chart here: . Thanks for the source, Fred!

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