🏠 He’s Returning: To Judge and Bring us Home

In the previous post, we saw that Jesus rules everything and will continue to rule forever. But if Jesus already rules everything, why is the world still such a mess? Why is there still so much evil? Why doesn’t Jesus return immediately and take us home? And when he does, what will home look like? What else will happen?

1. The problem

🚪 Abandonment

I reckon that the worst part of the story of Adam and Eve comes in Genesis 3:23:

So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden...

Adam had been in the very presence of the living God, walking and talking with him in the garden. Now he is banished. Adam abandoned God, so God abandoned Adam. Adam is removed from God’s presence. Whether he lives or dies physically, his time in God’s presence is done. 

Like Adam, we’ve all chosen to abandon God. We’ve chosen to do things our own way. And the consequence is pretty predictable. If we choose not to be in God’s presence, God will give us what we want. He will allow us to leave his presence. Or, in other words, he will banish us.

If you look at it like that, therefore, it would seem as if God has chosen to abandon us.

Of course, we know that Jesus has come to rescue us. But it’s been nearly 2000 years since he went to be with God in heaven. Has he forgotten us, thereby abandoning us in another way?

2.      God’s solution

🚪God hasn’t abandoned us ❌

No. God hasn’t abandoned us. He hasn’t forgotten us, either. In Peter 3:8–9a we read:

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.

God has not forgotten us, nor is he slow in keeping his promises. We have a different sense of time to God. For him, a day seems like a thousand years, and a thousand years seem like a day. He sits both inside of time and outside of time. It may seem to us like it’s been two thousand years since Jesus ascended to the Father, but from God’s perspective, it’s just two days—or 730 million days (2000 x 365 x 1000).

 God hasn’t forgotten us, and he hasn’t abandoned us either.

But if that’s the case, why hasn’t Jesus returned yet? This question becomes even more pointed when we remember that suffering, evil, and pain won’t finish up until Jesus returns. Why hasn’t he returned?

🚧 Jesus’ return has been delayed for our salvation

While this may not be the full answer to a huge question, we are indeed given an answer to the question just raised: Jesus’ return has been delayed for our salvation.

In 2 Peter 3:9, we read:

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Jesus returned his delay to give people an opportunity to repent. That is (at least part of) the reason he hasn’t yet returned: for our salvation.

🥷 Jesus will return suddenly and obviously 🎺

However, we can say this with certainty: Jesus will return. He will do so suddenly and obviously. In 2 Peter 3:10, we read:

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.

Jesus’ return will come.

His return will be sudden, like a thief rocking up in the middle of the night. We don’t know when Jesus will return, just like a homeowner doesn’t know when a thief will show up (you’d have to be a pretty stupid burglar if you turned up while your burglee was expecting you). We don’t know when Jesus will return, but we know that he will return and that he will do so suddenly.

 It will also be very obvious when Jesus returns. It would be hard to miss the sky roaring, the elements of the earth burning, and everything else being laid bare. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17, we’re told that there will be an archangel shouting and a trumpet blast unlike anything we’ve ever heard:

16 The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

You won’t be able to miss it. It will be very obvious. Jesus will return. And it’s at this point that physically dead people (specifically, those who are “in Christ” or, in other words, those who are “Christians”) will be physically raised. Following that, those who are alive when Jesus returns will be sent off to be with the Lord forevermore. Here’s the sequence:

1️⃣  👋 Jesus returns (and it’s very obvious)
2️⃣  💀 Jesus physically raises physically dead Christians
3️⃣  😲 Jesus sends the currently living Christians to be with him

And where will Jesus send the physically raised Christians and those currently living Christians?

🧑‍⚖️ Jesus will judge the world 🌍

Before we get to this, we mustn’t skip over what happens first—Jesus will judge the world.

2 Peter 3:10 tells us that the day of the Lord will come, the day when Jesus returns. On this day, Jesus will judge.

Jesus will judge.

The Father has appointed the Son to judge the world (John 5:22-27). Acts 17:31 tells us that the resurrection testifies to this reality:

He [God] has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.

The day of judgment will certainly come. God proved this by raising Jesus from the dead.

Jesus will judge justly.

In the above verse, we see that Jesus will judge with justice (see also Psalm 9:8; 96:13; 98:9, 2 Timothy 4:8). Nobody will be able to come away from Jesus’ judgment and wonder whether or not it was fair. He will give us what we wanted. If we wanted to be with Jesus, he will welcome us to be with him. If we wanted not to be with him, that is what he will give us.

Jesus will judge justly on his glorious throne.

Jesus will judge from a position of power on his glorious throne. Matthew 25:31 we read:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.

It will be an amazing scene when Jesus comes in glory on his glorious throne. Regardless of what they thought before this day, everyone will see Jesus for who he truly is, in his glory, and they will all acknowledge that Jesus is Lord (Philippians 2:11).

Jesus will judge all peoples justly on his glorious throne.

Next up, Jesus will judge all nations and peoples. In Revelation 20:11-12, we’re given a dramatic depiction of what this judgment scene will be like:

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.

All peoples will come before his throne, whether dead, great or small. And they will be judged according to what they have done, as written in the books.

In Matthew 25:32-33 we read:

32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Jesus will judge all peoples, from every nation and every time period, whether they trusted in him or not. Those on his right will receive an everlasting inheritance (Matthew 25:34), while those on his left will enter “into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). For those on the left, the day will be unbearable (Matthew 10:15).

Totally avoidable.

It’s important to remember that this day is totally avoidable through Jesus (John 3:36). Those who end up under God’s judgment have chosen their judgment by rejecting Jesus. If they wanted to be with Jesus, they just had to ask, and he would have allowed them to be with him forever. But if they choose not to be with him forever, he gives them exactly what they choose. To use the language of Romans 1:24-28, he “hands them over” to what they want.

A day is coming when everyone will realise that Jesus is Lord. But it will be too late for those who have rejected Jesus. There is no hope of post-mortem redemption.

☁️ God will establish a new heaven and a new earth 🌍

In 2 Peter 3:13, we read that Jesus will establish a new heaven and a new earth, and this is where God’s people will go:

13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

God will recreate heaven and earth. This is where we’ll go. And it will be very good. Righteousness dwells there. I take it that this means “the way of righteousness”, which we read of in 2 Peter 2:21. It’s a place characterised by God’s good and righteous ways.

We’re given a similar picture of this new heaven and new earth in Revelation 21:1–4:

1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Here are some features of this new creation:

1️⃣ 🌊 No chaos. In the ancient world, the sea is basically an emoji for chaos. Surfers sometimes get worried when they see no sea in verse 1, but it’s more of a symbolic point. The point is that there will be no chaos.

2️⃣ 🏕️ God with us. Will we be able to fly in heaven? Will there be an endless supply of lollies? Revelation 21:3 answers us with a question of its own: who cares when we get to be with God and he with us? Not only does the way of righteousness dwell there—God himself dwells there with us, and we with him. This is the best thing about the new creation. God makes his dwelling with us.

3️⃣😭 No suffering. There will be no sadness, crying or pain. Sin is eradicated. God will personally grab his own divinely created heated, moist towel and wipe away whatever tears remain on our faces from the life before.

4️⃣ 🪦 No death. With sin and suffering removed, there will be no death. Life will continue forever. The old order of things is done. In Revelation 22, the Garden of Eden is restored. There’s a “river of the water of life” flowing through the garden (Revelation 22:1), and there’s a “tree of life” on either side of the river (Revelation 22:2; see also Genesis 2:9). In the absence of death, this life will continue forevermore.

3. Why this matters

God hasn’t abandoned us. Although Jesus’ return has been delayed, it will happen. When he returns, he will judge the world and establish the new creation.

Why does this matter?

🏠 We are going home!

Answer: we who trust in Jesus get to go home! 

We’re no longer banished from God’s presence like Adam and Eve. The curse has been reversed (Revelation 22:3). We get to be with God in his new creation forever and ever. This is really, really good!

4. How we should respond

How do we respond to this news?

Just after we read of Jesus’ return in 2 Peter 3:13, we’re given two instructions. 

💪 Make every effort: spotless, blameless, at peace

First, we’re told in verse 14 to make every effort to be spotless, blameless and at peace.  

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.

The place where we are going will be spotless (like Jesus, the “spotless lamb” in 1 Peter 1:19), blameless (living lives that are beyond reproach) and at peace (knowing that we have peace with God, we seek to have peace with others; Romans 5:1, 12:18). Our behaviour in the present should match our location in the future. We should make every effort now to live according to the “way of righteousness”. 

😲 Remember: God’s patience means salvation 🛟

And as we do this, we must remember that God’s patience means salvation. In 2 Peter 3:15, we read:

Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation.

As we yearn for Jesus to return, we need to remember that his patience in delaying his return allows other people to be saved. In this way, the fact that Jesus hasn’t returned is a good thing. We need to capitalise on this opportunity.

How? By sharing the news of salvation with those around us, that Jesus came, lived, died, roses, rules and is returning. Their response to this message will have eternal consequences.