Can Jesus Return Anytime And Without Any Warning?

As a young believer, one of my greatest fears was that of Jesus coming back unexpectedly and catching me right smack in the middle of some sin. With my hand in the cookie jar so to speak. Oh what a tragedy it would be to miss heaven by a whisker, I'd think. Often times this would send me into a frenzy, desperately trying to catch all my sins lest I be caught unawares by the Master's untimely return.

But does the Bible actually teach that Jesus can return anytime and without any warning, or is this the traditional church narrative we have come to subscribe to because it's been hammered into us for so long?

You see, many times the interpretation we’ve been fed our entire lives tends to overrides what is actually on the pages of the Bible and we are nonaccommodative of any other interpretation that challenges what we've always believed.

But truth is not truth by how long it's been taught a certain way, truth is truth by what the Bible actually says and means.

No man is infallible and therefore, no man is a custodian of Bible interpretation.

Each and everyone of us should read the Bible for themselves through the leading of the Holy Spirit and not through a lens of conventional church interpretation.

We should allow the Holy Spirit to confirm or refute what we've always believed to be true.

Now one of the verses that is commonly used to support the doctrine of "Jesus can return anytime and without any warning" is 1 Thessalonians 5:3 which says:

“For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.”

Often people interpret this to mean He can return anytime and without any warning.

But you need to keep reading to get the point Paul is trying to make. We do ourselves a ton of injustice when we read verses in isolation. We need to also read the surrounding verses to get the full picture.

Paul goes on to say in verse 3 and 4:

“For when they say,“Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.”

When Paul speaks of sudden destruction, he is not speaking of sudden in the sense that it will be unexpected or without warning, but sudden in the sense that it will catch those who are oblivious by surprise.

A pregnant woman knows the labor pains are eminent as her terms draws near. She knows they're coming. They don't catch her by surprise, even though they come suddenly.

Jesus' return, whenever that will be, will catch those who have placed their hope in this life and the things of this life by surprise, not because He will come unexpectedly without any warning, but because they will be oblivious to it. For them, it will be business as usual until it's not.

In verse 5 and 6 he goes on to say,

“You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.”

Paul continues to say that as sons of light and sons of the day (believers) we should not be caught unawares, but we should watch and be sober which echoes the same thing Jesus told His disciples; to watch and pray, which begs the question, watch what?

Well, watch for all the signs He gave us of His second coming and by doing so, we shall not be caught off guard as believers.

Only those who are not watching out for the signs will be caught unawares.

This is actually quite similar to the flood in Noah's day that caught everyone unawares, save for Noah and His family.

Jesus actually compares Noah's flood to His second coming.

In Matthew 24:37-39, He says:

But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Now Jesus is not saying the flood came unexpectedly and so will His coming but that it will catch many by surprise, speaking of those who ignore the signs.

We know from Scripture that God had given them clear signs that the flood was coming but for the rest of the then known world, who were not watching out for these signs, the flood came like a thief in the night, caught them unawares and they perished.

Jesus says, "so will the coming of the Son of Man be."

Those who ignore the signs of His coming will be caught unawares and will perish forever.

God appointed a date for the flood and waited until that date.

Infact, according to the Bible He actually waited 969 years for these guys to repent 120 of which Noah was busy building the ark and telling them the flood was coming and to repent.

But they wouldn't give him the time of day and probably dismissed him as a mad man (until the rain started pounding).

To these folks, the flood came like a thief in the night.

Likewise, God has appointed a date for the Lord's return and has given us clear signs to watch out for and blessed is he who watches. (see Revelation 16:15)

To the unbeliever and to the sleeping believer, this day will come upon them like a thief in the night.

It will come as a surprise to them.

But this should not be taken to mean that Jesus can come back at anytime.

He will not.

Infact, He is not coming back anytime soon, judging by the fact that they are some signs He gave us that are yet to come true.

In two of His parables, Jesus speaks of a master being away for a long time and a groom taking long to arrive.

This is actually why Jesus was very vocal on faithful service, giving one parable after another on the same.

You see, when Jesus comes back, He is going to be less concerned with what you will be doing at that exact time and more concerned with what you have been doing all the while He was away.

People panic when they think Jesus can come suddenly and find them in some mess but they should actually be more concerned about what they are doing right now while He is away.

This is what Jesus will be more concerned with. What have you been doing all the time He has been away?

Back in boarding school, we had these sleeping dorm inspections every Thursdays and it goes without saying that these were the days the students put their best foot forward. No one wanted to be caught lacking.

We ensured our rooms were clean, our beds were neatly made and we were smartly dressed but it was all an act to fool or appease the teachers and as soon as the inspections were over, we went back to living like hobos.

This is the opposite of what Jesus is looking for and we can fool people, but we can't fool Him.

The real test for the believer is not what you are doing when you know Jesus is returning tomorrow, but what you are doing when you know He is not returning anytime soon.

What Jesus wants to find is faithful servants not panicked servants.

He wants to be able to say, “Well done good and faithful servant. Even though I took long to come you kept at it. You kept going. You endured. You were faithful.”

You see, the problem with being good out of panic is it doesn’t last.

If Jesus doesn’t return tomorrow as expected, we quickly go back to living carelessly like before since we were just putting on a show.

Our motivation to live right as believers should not be fear of what Jesus will say or do to us if He returns and finds us lacking, but the confidence of what He will say or do to us when He sees how faithful we have been all the while He was away.

Will He find you faithful?

Will you be one of the faithful servants or one of the evil ones?

Will you be part of the wise virgins or part of the foolish ones?

My challenge to you, beloved, is whether Jesus returns today or next Tuesday or 20 years from now or He never returns in your lifetime, may you be found faithful.