The 2nd Coming Of Our Lord Jesus Christ
January 30, 2022
As a devout Catholic, I know He (our Lord Jesus is coming, whether as described below or to each of us individually when we die is irrelevant because He is coming. Yet not a single human being knows or has ever known when Jesus will return. As Jesus Himself says in St. Matthew's Gospel, "If anyone says to you then, 'Look, here is the Messiah!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. False messiahs and false prophets will arise, and they will perform signs and wonders so great as to deceive, if that were possible, even the elect." (Matthew 24:23-24, NAB¹).
Remember the words of St. Paul to the Thessalonians, "Concerning times and seasons, brothers, you have no need for anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night." (1 Thessalonians 5:1-2).
No one is clearer than St. Matthew, who has Jesus saying, "Of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." (Matthew 24:36).
Why then do we think that we mere mortals can somehow figure it out?
I can't remember when or where I first saw this description of the Second Coming of Jesus, but I do remember that as I read it, my mind's eye was filled with incredibly beautiful images. I still see those images every time I read it. It's attributed to a Christian pastor in San Antonio, Texas and I have no reason to doubt that, though I have no evidence linking him to it.
I have read it many times and when I do, it always reminds me, it kind of asks me, "Are you ready?". I like the staccato style of the text, suggesting that it should be read slowly, each sentence savored. Frequent pauses to reflect and meditate are recommended. And please read it more than once!!
The Second Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ
By Max Lucado
"You are in your car driving home. Your thoughts wander to the upcoming football game or maybe the meal that’s waiting for you at home, when suddenly a sound unlike any you've ever heard fills the air. It startles you…
The sound is high above you.
Was that a trumpet? A choir? A choir of trumpets?
You don't know, but inexplicably, you want to know.
So you pull over, get out of your car, and look up. As you do, you see you aren't the only curious one. The roadside has become a parking lot.
Car doors are open, and people are staring at the sky. Shoppers are racing out of the stores.
The Little League baseball game across the street has come to a halt.
Everyone is searching the clouds. And what they see, what you see, has never been seen before...
As if the skies were a curtain, the drapes of the atmosphere part. A brilliant light spills onto the earth. There are no shadows anywhere. None.
From the source of light there begins to tumble a river of spiking color crystals of every hue that has ever been seen and millions more never before seen. Riding on this flow is an endless armada of angels. They pass through the curtain one countless throng at a time, until they occupy every square inch of the sky.
North.
South.
East.
West.
Tens of millions of silvery wings rise and fall in unison, and over the sound of the trumpets, you can hear the cherubim and seraphim chanting, “Holy, Holy, Holy”.
The final flank of angels is followed by twenty-four silver-bearded elders and a multitude of souls who join the angels in worship.
Suddenly, the movement stops and the trumpets are silent, leaving only the triumphant triplet: “Holy, Holy, Holy”. Between each word is a pause. Between each triplet, another pause, longer. With each word, a profound reverence. You hear your voice join in the chorus. You don't know why you say the words, but you know you must.
Suddenly, the heavens are quiet. All is quiet.
The angels turn, you turn, the entire world turns and there He is.
Jesus.
Through waves of shimmering light you see the silhouetted figure of Christ the King.
He is atop a great stallion, and the stallion is atop a billowing cloud.
He opens his mouth, and then, you are surrounded by His declaration:
”I am the Alpha and the Omega.”
The angels bow their heads.
The elders remove their crowns.
And before you is a Figure so all-consuming that you know, instantly you know:
Nothing else matters.
Forget stock markets and school reports, sales meetings and football games.
Nothing is newsworthy...
All that mattered, matters no more...
for Christ has come...
Love has come…"
- Max Lucado is a Christian author and preacher at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas.
I love what this photo represents. The circle of barbed wire as the crown of thorns that was placed on the head of our Lord Jesus and the shadow it casts are mesmerizing to say the least.
The truth is not subjective.
¹The New American Bible (from the USCCB)
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