Will Jesus Find Faith When He Returns?

Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8)

How can this be?  There are churches everywhere, many with thousands of believers in their congregations.  Preachers on television are reaching millions of people worldwide.  Walk into a mainstream bookstore and you will see multiple shelves of books under the section “Religion — Christianity.”  

So what is this lack of faith Jesus is talking about? 

Jesus cannot be speaking of faith that He is our Lord and Saviour because more and more people are professing this every day.  I believe that Jesus is talking about having faith that He will return to earth again, this time as our King when He establishes His Millennial Kingdom.

“We are not to concern ourselves with the day or the hour,” “Why study prophecy when we have so much to accomplish here and now?”, and “His kingdom is already here in the hearts of believers” are just a few objections you may hear if you ask the question: “Why do we hear so little about the second coming of Christ from the pulpit?”

Jesus scolded the Pharisees and the Sadducees because they should have known that He was their Messiah based upon their knowledge of Scripture:

O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? (Matthew 16:3)

Will Jesus rebuke Christians in the same way when He returns?  Unlike the Pharisees and the Sadducees we have all of Scripture to study, which refers to Christ’s Second Advent more times than His first (some write that there are 2,400 such verses, eight times more than the verses that point to Jesus’ First Advent).

Here are just a handful of the many verses in the New Testament that make His second coming — and His purpose for coming — crystal clear:

• For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. (Matthew 16:27)
• Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. (1 Corinthians 4:5)
• ²³But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.  ²⁴Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. (1 Corinthians 15:23-24)
• ¹I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;  ²Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. (2 Timothy 4:1-2)
• To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. (1 Thessalonians 3:13)
• And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
• Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:8)
• So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:28)
• ¹⁴And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,  ¹⁵To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 1:14-15)
• Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. (Revelation 1:7)
• Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. (Revelation 16:15)
• And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. (Revelation 22:12)

 And lest we forget the last verse of Scripture:

²⁰He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.  ²¹The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. (Revelation 22:20-21)

Jesus has promised to return — a truth that is our blessed hope!  We also need to prepare ourselves for His final judgment.  If man tells you otherwise, I pray that you will put your faith in Him.