When I was a kid, I remember the watch night services we would have every New Year’s Eve at the little church our family attended in Akron, Ohio. We would meet at 9pm and watch a Christian Movie followed by some refreshments in the Fellowship Hall downstairs in the basement of the church. Then, just before midnight, we would make a circle around the pews in the sanctuary where we would all join hands and pray in the New Year as we listened to the backdrop of firecrackers and fireworks outside. During that prayer time my dad would be one of those who prayed and he always ended his prayer the same way, by asking God to let this be the year that Jesus came back.
As a kid, I had mixed emotions when my dad would pray that prayer each New Year’s Eve in our church sanctuary. Part of me was very intrigued with the concept of the rapture and the idea of possibly never having to face death if the rapture would occur in my lifetime. But another part of me would always inwardly hope that God didn’t answer my dad’s prayer. After all, I was quite young and had a lot of things in life that I was looking forward to experiencing. Now, as an adult, I find myself praying the same prayer my dad prayed every New Year’s Eve. With each day it becomes more intense. “Lord, please let this be the year that Jesus comes back.”
It was Jesus who gave the first promise of His return in John 14:1-3. In this passage He stressed that His return was all about three things. First, it was all about a peace. He commanded His disciples to not let their hearts be troubled. The word “troubled” speaks of being stirred or agitated. An example of this is seen in the life of Mary, the sister of Lazarus, as she frantically tried to prepare a meal while her sister, Martha, sat at the feet of Jesus in John 11:33. It is also used to describe Jesus as He predicted His own betrayal in John 13:21.
This command to the disciples to not let their hearts be troubled came shortly after Jesus had made some very heavy predictions that left them baffled and dismayed. Jesus had just told them that He was going away and would soon be leaving them (John 7:34; 8:21; 12:8, 35; 13:33). He told them that He would die (John 12:32-33). He predicted that one of His own disciples would betray Him (John 13:21). And Jesus shocked everyone when He said that Peter, the spokesperson of the group, would deny Him, not once, not twice, but three times (13:38). As a result of all of these words, the disciples were shook to their core. It is to this reaction that Jesus commands them twice, in spite of their inner turmoil, to believe. The words literally are translated, “keep on believing.” Jesus is commanding them that as all of these things take place they need to keep on believing in Him.
But not only were these words all about a peace, they were also all about a place. Jesus now speaks of His Father’s house. He is speaking of heaven and He states that there are many dwelling places in heaven. Part of Jesus’ reason for leaving was to prepare dwelling places for us. If Jesus created the beauty of the earth in just 6 days, imagine the beauty of these dwelling places that he has been working on for us for over 2,000 years.
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