Are we to believe that Jesus Christ will soon come to execute judgment?
Christians do not know when the Son of God will return in his glory; therefore, we should live so as to be always ready: “Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming… you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Mat 24:42, 44). Not only do we not know the time of the Lord’s return, we do not even know the hour our own life will end (Luk 12:20).
It was the Father’s will to keep the knowledge of the Second Coming as his own prerogative, so that every generation would live in this blessed hope: “It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has set by his own authority” (Act 1:6–7; see Q414). The Lord even said to his Apostles: “But no one knows that day or that hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time is” (Mrk 13:32–33), words which the Fathers understand of the Son in his humanity and his saving economy, for as God he searches all things (cf. Joh 21:17; St John of Damascus, Exact Exposition, III.21; see Q358, Q011).
This unknown span of time between the Ascension and the Second Coming is itself a blessing, allowing many generations to be born, not only in the flesh but in the Spirit, unto eternal life through repentance: “The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night…” (2Pe 3:9–10; see Q383).
