I’m not sure what you happen to think about the Second Coming, but if you are like most folks, you probably don’t think about it all that much. Every Sunday that we affirm the Nicene Creed, we state our belief that Jesus Christ “shall come again to judge both the living and the dead.” But let’s face it—we’re not exactly rearranging our vacation plans this summer because of that belief!

Actually, the Bible never uses the phrase “Second Coming,” and to be honest, I’ve always been a little uncomfortable with it, because it seems to suggest that Christ is only returning one more time—at some point in the distant (or not-so-distant) future. Until then, he’s sitting idly backstage waiting for the final curtain call. Obviously, though, nothing could be further from the truth. Christ is very much with us even now. Whenever people gather together in his name, our risen Savior is present.

However, as Christians, we also believe that, at the end of history, he will arrive again triumphantly, and every knee will bend in heaven and on earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God. What this belief is getting at is that, despite all appearances to the contrary, the world is not just stumbling blinding along, or spinning wildly out of control. There is a heavenly purpose that God is working out here on earth. Just as the universe had a definite beginning, it will also have a definite and intentional end. The creator of all things will become the completer of all things.

Of course, part of the problem with dwelling on the Second Coming is that not many of us are eager to be associated with those placard-carrying prophets-of-doom, who are forever announcing that the world is going to end on such-and-such date. We may affirm that Christ is returning at the end of history, but we’re not inclined to pour over the pages of our Bibles with a calculator, trying to pin God down to a specific timetable. After all, it’s supposed to be a journey of faith, not a scavenger hunt! Jesus himself said, “About that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

At a deeper level, however, the problem with waiting in eager anticipation for the Second Coming is that the church has already been waiting for some two thousand years now. The image of it occurring like a thief breaking into your house would seem to imply that we must be ready for it at any time. But it is pretty near impossible to be on a high state of alert twenty-four, seven. You can only stand on tiptoe searching the horizon for so long, before you grow weary of looking toward a future that, frankly, seems to be taking its sweet time getting here.

Simply put, the church has always wrestled with the question of what we should be doing in the meantime. And according to the Apostle Paul, the answer is that we are to keep working. In other words, waiting for the Second Coming is not like sitting in a concert hall, casually passing the time until the house lights are lowered and the conductor takes the stage. It is more like waiting for an honored guest to arrive at our home. There is much to do, because everything must be made ready.

Far from lifting the church out of the world, the belief that our risen Lord will surely come again ought to send the church back into the world with renewed confidence and conviction. To live in hopeful expectation of the future arrival of Christ does not mean that we give up on the present world. On the contrary, the reason Christians work so hard to rid this present world of sin and suffering is because we know that the same One who will finally vanquish the powers of darkness at the end of time is already moving in mighty strength against them even now!