When we set out to find something, there is often great anticipation in the end result.  The same is true, I believe, with Jesus’ second coming.  You see, He is coming, and He will gather up His church and they will join Him in that place He has prepared for them.  What exactly is Jesus looking for when He returns?  The answer is found in Luke 18:8, where we see a question posed by our Lord when He asked, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”

Clearly, when Jesus returns, He will be seeking to find those holding to, and exhibiting true faith.  A rare commodity, I must say, in the times of His first visit, apparently in our current times, and I fear will be in His last.  In view of scripture accounts, the faith of men and women 2000 years ago appears to have been limited within God’s people.  In fact, the greatest faith seems best manifested in the examples of a Roman centurion (Matthew 8:10) and a Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:28), both of whom were considered to be outside the family of God.  The Canaanite woman was described as having “great faith”, while the centurion held a faith “the likes of which was not seen in all of Israel!”  What does this say to us who claim to be “religious” and “churched”?

In our lesson this past weekend several variations of the question posed by Jesus were examined with one of them being, “Will the Son of Man find faith in the Church?”  This was posed from the world’s viewpoint of what the church is, for indeed, the church is the only place the Son of Man will find saving faith.  The questions that beg to be answered are, “Will we be a part of His church?”  Will Jesus find faith in us when He returns?  Will we be some of the “few that find the way to eternal life (Matthew 7:14)?  Have we “become obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which we were committed, having been freed from sin, become slaves of righteousness (Romans 6:17-18)?  If so, we may look forward to Jesus’ coming with confidence, hope and comfort.

Copyright © 2006, Nolan P. Rutter