“The divine coming which sets the world of the angels in motion, fills the devil’s empire with alarm, yes, even causes Satan to fall from heaven, permeates and transmits itself in everything and in all who are touched by it . . . It confronts man with the necessity of making all-important decisions that will rule his whole existence.” – Ridderbos, The Coming of the Kingdom, p.27.
This quote changed my way of teaching students. I used to focus on fighting against the culture my students were growing up in, but for over a decade now, I teach students from the perspective of God’s coming Kingdom. God’s coming Kingdom “permeates” my teaching because I have focused my life on what is to come, and I have watched over time the growth in character of students who have focused their lives on the coming Kingdom. When we look toward the reality that Christ is returning, it changes us because Christ changes us as “the things of this world grow strangely deem” in the light of what has been done for us and what will be fully accomplished at Christ’s return when he brings to fruition the Kingdom he brought to this earth at his birth.
I would love to be living on this earth when Christ returns mainly because it would mean the absolute end to sin, evil, brokenness, and pain was very near, but regardless of the time of his return, we have a mission.
I was teaching about the Ascension this week and was reminded of our mission. In Acts 1, the apostles watched as Jesus was lifted up, “and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’ ”
The two angels were basically saying, “What are you doing? Get going. Christ has put the gospel message in your hands. Go! Get it into the hands of the world. Share it, teach it, live it!” Christ sitting at the right hand of God the Father Almighty means he is ruling in his rightful position as he has entrusted his message of rescue and redemption to his followers. If you are a follower of Jesus, Go! The one who was taken up is returning, and we have work to do as we declare the message of being saved by faith alone. We get to be a part of advancing his kingdom here on earth as we await the completed Kingdom he will fully establish at his return. Why do you stand looking? Go!