Saturday July 13, 2024

Matthew 24:30
“Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes
of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming
on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

As far back as 3500 BC, a touchstone was used to measure the quality of gold or silver. A nugget of supposedly pure gold or silver would be scratched on a touchstone of either slate or basalt. Then a mark from a known pure sample would be scratched next to the original, and the two scratches were compared. From that beginning, the word touchstone can now refer to anything that is used as a test of genuineness.

In that sense, the second coming of Jesus Christ is a touchstone for New Testament theology. Any doctrine about Christ that does not allow for His imminent, bodily return to earth must be held suspect as to its biblical foundation. So central was Christ’s return in His own teaching (Matthew 24; John 14:1-4) that it must be considered necessary and non-optional. Any Christian not living with a moment-by-moment awareness of the possibility of Christ’s return is living with a marginal view of who He was and is. Does your understanding of Christ keep you looking and listening for His glorious appearing?

The prospect of seeing a dearly loved one in the future keeps hope alive in the present.

I wish [Jesus] would come in my lifetime so that I
could take off my crown and lay it at His feet.
QUEEN VICTORIA

David Jeremiah, Turning Points with God: 365 Daily Devotions (Tyndale, 2014)
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.