“I Will Come Again” BY Malusi Skunyana

Read John 14:1-3 

JOHN 14:1. Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

JOHN 14:2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if [it were] not [so], I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

JOHN 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also.

The most precious Bible promise we have has got to be that of the Second Coming of Jesus to this world to take His children home to heaven. This is the hope of our hopes; a hope that gladdens our hearts. Jesus’ words, “I will come again,” give us a blessed assurance that this world is not our home, and that someday we are going to take a sweet journey home to heaven.

When Jesus made this promise to His disciples, they were still troubled by the fact that He had told them at the Passover supper that one of them would betray Him, and that He would be handed over to the authorities to be put to death. It must have been very painful for the disciples to learn that one of them was a traitor, more so to learn that this betrayal would lead to Jesus’ death. Even though Jesus had been preparing His disciples for that trying hour throughout His three and a half years ministry, but the disciples still could neither understand nor accept that Jesus had to die. They had believed Him to be the long-awaited Messiah, and they just could not understand why, instead of sitting as king on David’s throne, Jesus had to die. So they were much sorrowful as they thought what would befall them if Jesus were to die. His death, it seemed, would have been the end of their brightest hopes. But understanding their difficulty, Jesus sought to cheer their sorrowful hearts by giving them a promise more precious than the hope of having Him become an earthly king, the promise of His Second Coming to take His own to heaven with Him where He was going to have an everlasting kingdom, and all the believers in Him would have a place in that heavenly kingdom.

Jesus appealed to His disciples to believe in Him just as they believed in His Father, for He was going to the Father in heaven to prepare a place for them. He assured them that in His Father’s house there are many mansions, and He was going to prepare a place for those who believe in Him, and would return to take them home with Him so that they may abide with Him forever. This dearest of all promises was designed to comfort the disciples in their affliction as Jesus would be dying for the sins of the world, to help them through their greatest disappointment.

Dear friend, we can thank God that this wonderful promise is recurrent throughout the Bible, for that gives us the assurance that it will surely be fulfilled, just as the other recurrent Bible promise was fulfilled – that of the death of the Son of God who died for our sins that we might receive eternal life. Just as certainly as the prophecy of Jesus’ first coming and His death were fulfilled, so will the promise of His Second Coming be fulfilled. In a world where there is no certainty about the future, we can rejoice that we have the hope of the return of Jesus. When one looks at all the pain and suffering that plagues our world, one question in particular comes to mind, “If God is good, why is there so much suffering in the world?” But my friend our God answered that question at the cross of Calvary, when He gave His only Son to die a cruel death of shame – the innocent dying for the guilty, in order to save men from the deadly cancer known as sin. But that was just part one of God’s answer to this very pertinent question. Someday very soon, God will give us part two of His answer when His Son will come to this world again, but this time not to die for sinners, but finally to destroy sin and its author, and to deliver His children from sin and suffering. 

Today the world is in turmoil, the wickedness that prevails is beyond description. Everywhere we see suffering, loss and disappointment; people are without hope – there is no certainty about what the future holds. But we can rejoice that Jesus has promised to come again. This world is not our home; this world is not our resting place. We are but strangers and pilgrims in the world, and we are longing for our heavenly home. There there shall be no more pain, and no more suffering, for the former things will have passed away. Jesus is coming again! This is the blessed hope! Hold on dear friend, it will not be long, and we shall see the King of kings coming to take us home. May God bless you! Amen!