Jesus is coming again, not as he came the first time as a tiny, vulnerable baby but on a cloud with power and great glory. I believe he is coming soon.

He asks us to look at the signs of the times. “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.”

We have a climate crisis and one of the signs of this is the melting of our ice caps. Islands are disappearing and many nations, including Britain are seeing an increase in flooding.

We can expect to see signs in the sun, moon and stars. There is much human debris which has been sent into space. This week’s rocket sent into space was to see if we would be able to combat and alter the trajectory of an asteroid heading for earth.

There is much distress at the state of our planet. Humans have polluted what God has given us to enjoy but we are unable to reach a consensus as to what we can do about it.

COP 26 showed us that the world’s biggest nations, China, India and Australia are not going to reduce their use of fossil fuels. Unless there is change we cannot stop the earth from getting hotter.

Jesus says that when these things begin to take place, we are to stand up and raise our heads, because our redemption is drawing near.

Jesus is coming to bring the justice and mercy which we cannot bring about through our own efforts. He is coming to save us.

However awful our situation gets he doesn’t want us to be alarmed but to stand alert, looking and longing for him.

For the last two thousand years the prayer of the church has been “Maranatha, come Lord Jesus.” Muslims also look for the coming of Jesus at the end of the age.

He will come in glory to judge the living and the dead. He will bring with him his saints, the people of God throughout the ages.

Jesus, in Luke 21, spoke about different disasters and times. The chapter began with Jesus talking about the total destruction of the temple and Jerusalem which came to pass less than forty years later in 70 CE and ushered in the times of the Gentiles.

Jesus said Jerusalem would be trampled on by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles was fulfilled. Almost two thousand years after the destruction of Jerusalem in 1948, Israel became a nation again.

Could it be that the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled and drawing to a close? Is Israel the fig tree that is sprouting leaves? Does this mean that summer is coming and the Kingdom of God is near? Will we soon have a time of peace when the lion will lie down with the lamb and all men and women see themselves as brothers and sisters?

Even though most Jewish people do not recognise Jesus as their King, he is coming to redeem them. Jerusalem will never be destroyed by Gentiles again.

Jesus is also coming to rescue those persecuted for following him. In 2020 a massive 260 million Christians faced high or extreme levels of persecution in the fifty countries where Christians are persecuted the most. In 2019, 2,983 Christians were killed for their faith.

Persecution of Christians today is the worst it has ever been. Lord come and save your suffering church!

We may not remain on earth when Jesus comes but we still need him to come for us.

Jesus promises to take home every person who has died trusting in him. In John 14 he promises he will come and take us to himself.

Because God usually calls us out of catastrophes through death Christ’s return may not seem relevant. Jesus’ disciples believed he would return in their lifetime, and they would see him come as they had seen him go because Jesus told them their generation would not pass away until these things have taken place. It was the reason they sold their possessions and many didn’t get married. They didn’t see the need to procreate. It was more important to preach Jesus so as many as possible would be ready.

We have always been distressed by many natural calamities. They are unpredictable but they are written into the economy of God. Paul in Romans 8 calls them creation’s labour pains bringing about the time when Jesus will come and the children of God will be revealed.

In any earthly disaster that causes us to fear, we are to, “Stand up and raise your heads, because our redemption is drawing near.”

The response to fear and lack of control in our lives is often to give up, hide and become apathetic and depressed, to avoid being noticed so we are not in the firing line.

Instead we are to stand up for Jesus and what we believe in.

Thessalonians suggests we are to counteract fear and evil in three ways.

a) By increasing and abounding in love for one another and for all, even our enemies, so our hearts and wills are focused on showing God loving compassion rather than on self preservation. Perfect love according to 1 John casts out fear.

b) By seeking and allowing God to strengthen us in holiness. We are set apart for Jesus. Holiness is more than being on our guard so our hearts are not weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the worries of this life, as Jesus commands us in Luke. It is about being the temple of the Lord, being full of him and recognizing we are set apart to worship him.

c) Through prayer. Jesus said, “Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Jesus will redeem us.

In one sense Christians have already been redeemed. The imagery is of being bought from the slave market. When Jesus died on the cross for us he paid the price for our sin. He bought us back from the control of evil and rescued us from the penalty of sin and death.

When we invited Jesus into our lives and repented, we accepted that redemption. We were made clean and became children of God and inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven.

But we are still living in a sinful world. Dark Satanic forces are at work. People willingly do evil things. We suffer because we are living here and part of this system.

It is not always going to be like this. The Kingdom of this world will become the Kingdom of our God. Everyone will accept Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Whether Jesus comes and takes us home through our deaths or whether we meet him when he comes to reign, the whole of our beings will be redeemed from the affects of sin and death.

We look forward to that day with joy and longing.