Deuteronomy 18:14-22
A Prophet to Come
14 The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so.15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”
17 The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. 19 I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name. 20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.”
21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.
2 Peter 3:1-18
The Day of the LORD
1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
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. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
Revelation 3:3
The Day of the LORD
3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.
Luke 12:35-40
Keep Watch
35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes.Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Luke 18:1-8
The Parable of the Persistent Widow
1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Acts 1:1-11
Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Matthew 24:36
The Hour and the Day Unknown
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
Moses describes a Great Prophet was to come to Israel in the future...And most believed this to be the One to Come, our Great Messiah, a Great Prophet...And so this Prophet that Moses wrote about did come to Israel and taught the people with His Great Teachings, while He walked the earth...For approximately thirty three years Jesus was born, lived, died on a cross, and resurrected...After His resurrection He taught His Disciples for another forty days and then He ascended into heaven...This same Jesus, who was taken from His Disciples and ascended into heaven, will come back in the same way the Disciples saw Him go into heaven...And so He lives...And He will come again back to earth...
Many of these words and verses that describes Jesus Second Coming or His Second Advent say that He will arrive like a thief...The time of His Second Coming will be like a sneaky, clever thief...St. Peter says the Day of the LORD will come like a thief...The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare...St. John tells us in Revelation that Jesus' Second Coming will come unexpectedly and that we are to remember, what we have received and heard from Scripture; hold on to it fast, and repent...But if you do not wake up, He will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time He will come to us...So let us stay faithful and be alert and ready for Him...
And then Jesus tells us this about His Second Advent, “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their Master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when He comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for Him...It will be good for those servants whose Master finds them watching when He comes...Truly I tell you, He will dress Himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them...It will be good for those servants whose Master finds them ready, even if He comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak...But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into...You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him...
And a question that Jesus asks is "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"...What an interesting question...Is man losing his faith?...
These are words on the Second Coming of Jesus and how He will arrive...And even though the term "thief" is used, the description is to me like a clever, sneaky thief who sneaks in at the most unsuspecting of times...And at this time of His coming, we are to be aware, be prepared, and be on guard...We are to be ready for Him...I might think this Second Coming compares somewhat to His first arrival...All those who studied the Old Testament Scripture knew that a Messiah was coming...Moses even wrote about it...But what is surprising is how He came and how He will come again...Should we be surprised that the Messiah would be a Baby and be born in the small and quiet town of Bethlehem, and even be placed in a manger -the first time He came?...It seems that of all the world of those who knew that one day a Messiah was to come only three men knew that He was the Baby Messiah and had been born in Bethlehem...And thus these three men, would be called wise men, to know of such things...We normally do not associate a Newborn Baby with the word thief, but Jesus did quietly sneak into Bethlehem...The LORD came and the world did not recognize Him...Being a Baby and growing up in Galilee and Nazareth made it hard to openly say that He was and is our Messiah...Maybe with so many seeing Him grow up and knowing Him, that this made it harder to say that this Young Man is our Savior...After all, those in His hometown knew Him and His family and would have seen Him grow up among them...And we know that He was rejected as a Prophet and the Messiah in His hometown...And when think about Jesus' first arrival many, maybe with the exception of the wise men, did not know He was coming...
I think that this being born in a family and those neighbors seeing Him regularly, made it easy to overlook that He was and is our Messiah...I often wonder when He comes in His Second Advent if we will have the same or different types of trouble in recognizing Him?...Will the world leaders, and our worldly religious leaders know that He has arrived?...Will there be much confusion around Him like there was the first time He came?...Will He be surrounded by controversy when He comes again?...Let us be prepared for Him and ready for Him...The best question is when we see Him, will we believe that yes, that is Jesus?...Let us pray that we will recognize Him and have faith in Him...
The world sometimes seems like a cold hard place as we read our daily headlines...And born into this sometimes cold bleak world was a Baby named Jesus...Hope was born the day He was born...
There will be people who will believe that He will return, and there are others who will believe He never will return...Above all, we must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires...St. Peter said that the non-believer will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ He promised?...Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”...But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water...By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed...By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly...
Let us hope that there is still faith on earth when the Son of Man returns, as Jesus asks us in the Parable of the widow...He will come when the world needs Him the most...The only One who knows the time the Son will come back is the Father...The day or hour that the Second Advent will happen -no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father...He will arrive at the Perfect Time...He always is right on time, and at the right time...