Come, Lord Jesus

For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and ‘will then repay every man according to his deeds’ (Matthew 16:27).

Jesus referred to Himself as the ‘Son of Man’ more than any other designation. While some believe it emphasizes His humanity, which it does (i.e. as the ‘Son of God’ emphasizes His deity), the title is Messianic - it refers to the One whom the Lord God has appointed to rule over His Kingdom. The expression dates back to the days of Daniel in the land of Babylon. I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His Kingdom is one which will not be destroyed (Daniel 7:13-14).

Daniel spoke of that time that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 16:27-28. Just as Peter was an encouragement to Jesus and the disciples by declaring Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16), Jesus was now encouraging the disciples by telling them He was indeed the Son of Man, the true Messiah of God.

In this statement Jesus revealed that He would not fulfill their expectation of a military Messiah that would conquer Rome and free the Jews. Instead, He would fulfill God’s appointment as the true Messiah of all who would believe in and receive Him as Lord and Savior. His Kingdom would not be what the Jews wanted (where they would reign in Palestine for countless future generations), rather His Kingdom would be as the Father ordained where He would reign over the earth for 1,000 years.

When will that Kingdom come? Spiritually speaking it has already come, but not in its fullness. Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or, 'There it is!' For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst” (Luke 17:20-21). 

There is coming a day, however, when the Kingdom of Christ will come on earth in all of its fullness (Revelation 20:1-6). That 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ on earth will occur after the rapture of the Christian church and the 7 years of Tribulation (Revelation 6 - 19). Scripture does not disclose the day or the hour, but we do have ‘signs of the times’ that indicate that time is near.

“Lord Jesus, thank You for the promise of Your coming Kingdom. Thank You that we have a foretaste of that Kingdom within us as Christians. I pray with the Apostle John that You will come soon. Come, Lord Jesus, for we long for Your appearing. To Your honor and glory I ask, Amen.”

Pastor