Hastening the Coming of the Lord

Enoch B. Mnisi, DD2020 · Day 152 min read

Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
2 Peter 3:11–12 (NKJV)

In Genesis the Lord used the ark as an instrument of judgement, but also as a window of opportunity for men to repent while it was still being built. When the ark was completed, the patience of God also came to its fullness. It seems the Lord wanted the building of the ark to awaken something in the lives of the antediluvian generation, but it did not.

The Church today is akin to that ark. While God is still building it, His longsuffering over the world waits, but there will come a time when the waiting ends and judgement is executed. The days of Noah are being repeated.

The walk of the body of Christ is what will speed up or delay the coming of Jesus. Remember that God waited until the ark was built: the faster the ark was built, the sooner the judgement would come. The finishing of the ark determined the timing of the judgement.

Peter, by the Spirit, is saying that the holy and godly conduct of the Church is not only proof that we are looking and waiting for the coming of Jesus; it also hastens His coming.

On the other hand, if holiness and godliness do not become integral to the framework of the Church, the work of the Spirit within the Church will be hindered, and the coming of the Lord will be delayed through the various judgements that must take place in the Church.

When the Church mirrors the manner of persons the Bible says she ought to be, we will draw the great day near. We must remember, however, that God is not waiting for everyone in the body to attain that stature, but for the number of the remnant to be fulfilled. Only eight were saved in the days of Noah, and the pattern for the coming of the Son of Man is the same: only a few will be saved, considering the great falling away that will take place within the Church, those whom the Bible calls deviants from the faith, spots and blemishes in our love feasts. When the number of the remnant, as God reckons it, of those who will sanctify themselves to join the fold is complete, we will see a swift rise of the sons of God and of the glorious Church before the Lord comes.