The Second Coming Of Christ

Are You Ready?

January 1, 2009 - People ask me, “Do you really believe that Jesus Christ is going to come back to this earth again?” Yes, I do. The Bible teaches that Jesus is coming again. And I don’t see any other hope, because we’re heading toward a catastrophe in our world.

By Billy Graham

The Bible says, “Scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:3-7).

In other words, there’s going to come a judgment on this earth, and it will be a judgment of fire.

The Word of God speaks of the certainties of the end of the world. Jesus said, “As the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:37). What were the days of Noah like? And is there a parallel now?

One word that is used to describe the days of Noah is wickedness. The people were wicked: “Every imagination of their thoughts was evil” (Cf. Genesis 6:5). It seems as if they stayed awake at night thinking up new ways to do evil. It was a world in which marriage was abused. The people were corrupt and violent. It was a world in which violence prevailed: murders, wars, insurrections.

It was a world in which there was a lot of religion, but it was a decadent religion. They were preoccupied with things, and they were taken up with their everyday living. They didn’t have time for God.

It was a world that was threatened by the judgment of God. But in the middle of all that, there stood one man. God had said that with all the sin and violence and corruption, He was going to destroy the whole world. But He didn’t do it because of one man who was going against the tide of that day. His name was Noah. In all that corruption Noah dared to walk with God. Noah believed in God, and true faith determined how Noah lived.

And true faith determines how you live. Do you worship God in your home? Do you have Bible reading and prayer?

The Bible says, “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark” (Hebrews 11:7). God told Noah to build an ark, or ship, out in the desert. Noah had no place to sail the ship, but he was to build it. God told him that he would save Noah and his family when the destruction came.

So Noah started out, and judgment eventually came. God spoke to Noah again and said, “Noah, I’m going to give the world seven more days, and then the flood will come” (Cf. Genesis 7:4).

Today the only bright spot on the horizon of this world is the promise of the coming again of Christ, the Messiah. We can’t go on much longer morally. We can’t go on much longer scientifically. The technology that was supposed to save us is ready to destroy us. New weapons are being made all the time, including chemical and biological weapons.

In Isaiah 66 we read that “the Lord will come with fire and with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury” (Isaiah 66:15). In the New Testament we read that Christ said, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3).

Jesus promised that He is coming back, and we are to comfort one another with these words. We’re not to wait in terror, because as believers we have the hope of the coming again of Christ.

When Jesus was getting ready to go back to the Father, some of the disciples and His friends from Galilee were watching and waiting. Two angels said, “Why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). That is God’s promise to you and me.

It has been 2,000 years since then. Why hasn’t He come? The disciples asked the same thing, and Jesus said, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority” (Acts 1:7). He also said, “of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only” (Matthew 24:36).

Don’t guess or speculate. We don’t know. It may be a thousand years from now, or it may be tomorrow.

Regardless, the end of the world is coming for you the moment you die, and that could be at any time for any of us. We never know. What have you done to prepare for that moment when your heart stops beating?

How will Christ come? “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).

If that happens today, are you ready? God said, “Prepare to meet your God” (Amos 4:12). The Bible says, “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). We’re going to go as believers and meet Him.

A man came forward at a meeting and gave his life to Christ. Then he said, “Now I’m ready to meet God.”

Another man, who had been in jail, attended a Crusade, and he went forward to receive Christ as his Savior. Now the man has been given new life in Christ, and he said, “I’m a totally different man.” And he is.

God is giving you the same opportunity that He gave to that man. The Bible says, “You must be born again” (John 3:7). You need to make a commitment to Christ today. This is your moment with God.

I’m going to ask you to open your heart and say, “Lord Jesus, come into my heart.”

You ask, “What do I have to do?”

First, you have to be willing to repent of your sins. You may not have the strength to change your way of living. Repentance means that you say to God, “I have sinned. I am sorry for my sin. I am willing to change my way of living. But You have to help me change: I can’t do it alone.”

You need to make a commitment to Jesus Christ, and let Him come into your heart. I’m going to ask you to do that.

Second, you come by faith. What does faith mean? Faith means that you put your trust in Him and say, “Lord, I give myself to You.”

You may have been baptized, you may have been confirmed, you may be a member of a church, you may be a good person, you may help other people. You may do all the good that you can think of, but all of that isn’t enough. You must come in childlike faith to Jesus, who died on the cross for you, who rose again, who is waiting for you to make that commitment. Do it today.