As the Son of God, Jesus Christ was given a huge task. He must live in perfect obedience to his Father at all times and, in so doing, he would show humankind how life was meant to be lived. Then, after he had taught and demonstrated the care and love that God has for us, he was to surrender his life as a perfect sacrifice in order to open the way back to God for those who believe in him: ‘In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them’
(2 Corinthians 5:19).
Teaching in the Synagogue
At the start of Jesus’ ministry we see him in Nazareth, where he grew up. He was in the synagogue. He read from the scroll of Isaiah:
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour’ (Luke 4:18-19).
His listeners wanted him to perform miracles, but instead he explained to them the purpose of the ministry he was about to commence. He was reading the beginning of Isaiah 61, but he did not complete the reading. Isaiah continues: ‘to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified’ (Isaiah 61:3).
Jesus closed the scroll before reading this third verse of the chapter, because the rest of the prophecy concerned a different time, a time when he will have returned from heaven to rule God’s Kingdom from Zion. He had not come to do this the first time he was present on the earth. The first time he came was to prepare a people for the Kingdom. The Gospels and letters of the Bible’s New Testament show us what we must do in order to be people ready for the Kingdom.
Sent to the Lost Sheep
Jesus’ ministry was focused on the Jews. He said, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel’ (Matthew 15:24)—those Jews who had gone astray from God, and yet were contrite and humble enough to recognise they needed the help and salvation that Jesus offered them. Many sick, disabled and mentally ill (‘possessed of demons’) came to Jesus to be healed, and his fame went far and wide in the land of Israel and beyond.
As he told the congregation in the Nazareth Synagogue, he came ‘to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind’ (Luke 4:18). This he did, and his marvellous acts confirmed him to be the Messiah, the Son of God (Luke 7:18–22).
Message of Salvation
However, healing the sick was not the whole story. A large portion of his message has yet to be fulfilled. He had unfinished business.
When he went preaching, he spoke of the Gospel and the things concerning the Kingdom of God. ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel’ (Mark 1:15). He told how those who believe in him can receive eternal life, if they do what he tells them.
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. (John 15:13–14).
We must believe in him, confess our faith, be baptised, and live a changed life, with our priorities set on the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). In this new life we strive to emulate Jesus and follow God
(Ephesians 5:1–2).
The Lord Jesus and later the Apostles taught this. Jesus made it clear that he was to go away and then return at some unknown time in the future, to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. For example in this parable:
As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. He said therefore, “A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come…’” (Luke 19:11–13).
In this parable, ten servants were each given a sum of money whilst the nobleman was away. The good and faithful servants traded and invested with the gifts they had been given, in preparation for his return.
Be Ready
Jesus told his followers that they must be ready for his return at any time, ensuring that they were serving diligently as they waited:
Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect (Luke 12:35–40).
This parable and others like it showed that Jesus did not know when he would return to the earth.
He explained to his disciples that he first had to die in Jerusalem, rise again and be taken away (Mark 8:31). He had more work to accomplish afterwards, but an important part of his message was telling people he must first die as the sacrifice for sin.
The Kingdom of God
He taught that, at some time in the future he will return as an immortal ruler who will establish God’s Kingdom on earth. The prophet Daniel describes this Kingdom: ‘In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand for ever’ (Daniel 2:44).
After Jesus had been crucified and raised back to life, his disciples asked him about the kingdom.
When they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority” (Acts 1:6–7).
Jesus ascended to heaven, the Jewish nation was destroyed as he had prophesied(Luke 21:24), and now it has been re-established—again, in fulfilment of Bible prophecy (Ezekiel 36:24).
The signs of the times show us that the return of the Lord Jesus is near. He will come to finish his unfinished business.
At His Return
The Apostle Paul gave us a picture of what will happen when Jesus returns. ‘For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep… For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night’
(1 Thessalonians 4:14, 5:2).
He will return at a time when many will not be expecting him. When he returns, he will return for his followers first: ‘For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first’ (4:16).
Then his return will eventually be seen by the world: ‘For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day’
(Luke 17:24).
At this time there will be a war against the armies of a northern aggressor who will invade the land of Israel and Jerusalem (Ezekiel 38:1–12), but they will be defeated by the Lord Jesus and his armies.
(Zechariah 14:1–3, 9). This also is the Lord’s unfinished business.
The Finish of the Business
The Bible describes how Jesus Christ’s business will finally and gloriously be accomplished, with a marriage feast—his own marriage to his bride, the multitude of his faithful servants. The Apostle John writes:
Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God” (Revelation 19:6–9).
Grahame A Cooper