Have you ever made travel plans that demand an early wake-up time? You carefully set your alarm clock and double-check to make sure it is correctly set. You know, not p.m., but a.m.! You keep on staring at that "on" button as if it is going to turn itself off. And then, just in case, you set another alarm for the ultimate fail-safe scenario.
Why this familiar ritual? You realize that you have an early morning rendezvous with a jet that isn't going to sit on the tarmac waiting for your grand entry. If you miss that flight, you will have a lot of disappointed family members or business colleagues on the other end.
But most of the time you don't need to go through such precautions. It seems our body clock has an internal alarm system that goes off even earlier, and then we spend those restless moments tossing to and fro before the alarm does its thing. But why is this? We are "restless" because timing is essential, and we have a responsibility to fulfill our obligations to others.
Is God asleep?
Have you ever considered we are not alone in being restless before such encounters that demand specific timing? Perhaps you have never considered that God is also restless toward a needed future event. It doesn't involve a takeoff. It involves a landing. The arrival runway is right here on planet earth. It's called "the second coming."
Unfortunately, people have come to the conclusion that Christ missed His flight; that He is running late or is not returning at all. This thought has been around a long time.
Nearly 2,000 years ago, the apostle Peter commented on this idea: "Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that 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'" (2 Peter 3:1-4).
