“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:11–13).

 

It is one thing to get ready for someone who is coming to visit and quite another to eagerly anticipate their arrival. As a boy, I remember when my great-aunt would come to our home for a visit. We spent a day getting ready for her arrival. We made sure the house was clean and in proper order. We went grocery shopping to make sure we had the foods she enjoyed eating. But I never really eagerly anticipated her visits. I always had to be on my best behavior. She was quite boring, and as I type these words, I can still smell the mustiness of her dresses. We got ready for her arrival, all right, but without much eager anticipation on my part.

But things changed during my college years when Susie, now my wife, would come on those visits from Austin to Fort Worth to spend weekends in my parents’ home. We spent considerable time getting ready for her. But words are useless for describing the anticipation, the eagerness that preceded those visits on my part. The hands on the clock never seemed to move slower than they did as I anxiously and eagerly awaited her arrival. 

The hope held deep in the hearts of the New Testament believers was similar to this. It carried with it not just a sense of the importance of being ready for Christ’s return but an eager anticipation of that moment. They lived with a constant longing, looking for the glorious appearing of their “blessed hope.”

 

A providential people

As days have turned into months, months into years, years into decades, and decades into centuries, believers today have lost much of this anticipation. Little do those who see no signs of His return today realize that they have become signs themselves. I have witnessed several of these signs of Jesus’ return with my own eyes. One Bible sign is to watch for a providential people, the Jews. Moses predicted that the Lord would “scatter [the Jews] among the peoples” and that they would have no “resting place” (Deuteronomy 4:27; 28:65). But Ezekiel saw the day when God would “gather [His people] out of all countries, and bring [them] back into [their] own land” (Ezekiel 36:24). We are watching this miracle happen in our own lifetimes.

 

A particular place

We are also called to keep our eyes on a particular place. Before Christ returns, the Bible says the little nation of Israel will once again become a major player on the world stage. After centuries of expulsion from their land, God has kept His promise to “bring back the captives of My people Israel” into their homeland once again (Amos 9:14). My own generation has witnessed the rebuilding of the state of Israel on the heels of the Holocaust when one out of every three Jews in the world were annihilated in Hitler’s gas chambers. For the first time in 2,500 years, since the days of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian captivity, the children of Israel are ruling their own country from their own capital of Jerusalem.

 

A polluted pulpit

We are also to watch for a polluted pulpit. One of the signs that our “blessed hope” is near is that “the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine… and they will turn their ears away from the truth” (2 Timothy 4:3–4). We live in such a day. Denominations are dying. Many pulpits no longer preach that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

 

These are but three of the many signs that Christ’s coming may be imminent. These signs should cause us, like our Christian forefathers of old, to be eagerly and earnestly anticipating His coming again.

All people are in need of hope, and Jesus is the personification of that hope. We find Him here in Titus. He is our “blessed hope.” And He is coming again to receive us unto Himself.

Taken from The Bible Code by O.S. Hawkins. Copyright © 2020 by Dr. O.S. Hawkins. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson. O. S. Hawkins is the chancellor of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has served pastorates, including the First Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, for more than 25 years. A native of Fort Worth, Texas, he has a BBA from Texas Christian University and his MDiv and Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. For almost a quarter of a century, he served as president of GuideStone Financial Resources, with assets under management of $20 billion, serving 250,000 pastors, church staff members, missionaries, doctors, university professors, and other workers in various Christian organizations with their investment, retirement and benefit service needs. He is the author of more than 40 books and regularly speaks to business groups and churches nationwide. All of the author’s royalties and proceeds from the Code series support Mission:Dignity. You can learn more about Mission:Dignity by visiting MissionDignity.org.

Read more articles by Dr. O.S. Hawkins at: https://www.goodnewsfl.org/author/o-s-hawkins/