The coming of Jesus Christ is the great event of all of history. The first coming of Jesus Christ was the object of the longing of the saints of the Old Testament. Likewise, the second coming of Jesus Christ is the object of the longing of the saints of the New Testament. With Christ’s ascension into heaven, there was also the promise of his coming. As the disciples saw him go, so he will return on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And surely, he comes quickly. It seems that he lingers. Yet he comes. He comes in all the events of New Testament history. So soon as he was received into glory, he immediately began his coming again. And he shall appear! It will surely and certainly be. He is coming, and he will arrive at the appointed hour on the clouds of heaven. Every eye shall see him, even those who pierced him. Then he will arraign the world of men, angels, and devils before him and conduct the final judgment—that great theodicy—in which God will be justified and all things will be revealed in the light of God’s judgment over them. Then shall we ever be with the Lord.

Thus the church, longing for the presence of Christ, prays too, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”

Such a weighty prayer! He is coming. Let him come! That is a prayer for the coming of wars and rumors of wars. It is a prayer for the social and political upheaval of the nations. And so it is a prayer that our lives be interrupted and disturbed. It is a prayer that famine and pestilence come and ravage the world. And so it is a prayer that perhaps some of our loved ones die. It is a prayer that in the church there comes a great falling away. So also, then, it is a prayer that the sword of the gospel divides among our families and acquaintances. It is a prayer for the coming of antichrist, one-world government, and one-world religion and thus a prayer for the coming of a terrible persecution on the church. It is a prayer that all the things that Christ testified will come to pass do come to pass. Let the horses run from the book of him who sits on the throne, and let destruction follow in their wake! Let the trumpets sound in history to announce the coming of Christ! Let the vials of God’s wrath be poured out in the final destruction of the world! Let judgment come. And let Christ come!

Except the end of all these things will be the coming of Christ, we would never pray, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Come exactly as you have testified that you will come. Come quickly!”

No, we are so carnal and so earthly. The prayer of the church is very often, “Come, Lord Jesus, but not yet, not in this way, and not in this place.” When Christ comes, war, famine, pestilence, and apostasy come; then we shrink from his coming and lose sight of him who comes through those events.

So Christ gives his solemn word that all the things that must come to pass shall come to pass. He gives his word that in the happenings of those things, he is coming. He gives his word that he shall come and that through all those terrible events, he will at last arrive, so that where he is we will be also. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.