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COME, LORD JESUS: Meditations on the Second Coming of Christ
JOHN PIPER
Bestselling Author John Piper Examines End-Times Theology and Scripture’s Command to Love the Second Coming of Christ
Many people are curious about the second coming of Christ—what it will be like, when it will happen, and what signs will come first. In his latest book, Come, Lord Jesus, John Piper addresses all these issues, but stresses that those who love the second coming of Christ will receive a crown of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:6–8).
Piper examines key biblical texts around the second coming while encouraging readers toward a Spirit-awakened affection for Jesus’s return. He also explores important questions such as, Could Jesus come at any moment, or must certain events happen first?; What does it mean to “Watch, for you know neither the day nor the hour”?; and What should we be doing when he comes? With a special focus on the teachings of Jesus, Paul, and Peter, Come, Lord Jesus portrays not only the glory of the revealed Savior, but also the glorification of the resurrected saints.
THE PRELUDE TO PART 1: The Miracle We Seek: Love
"The aim of this book is to help you love the second coming of Jesus Christ. The contents and title were inspired partly by the biblical prayers “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20), and “Our Lord, come!” (1 Cor. 16:22). But mainly the book was inspired by the heart affection beneath these prayers, which Paul expressed in 2 Timothy 4:8:
'There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.'
A crown of righteousness is promised to those who love the second coming of Christ. We pray for his appearing, because we love his appearing. The prayer “Come, Lord Jesus” is rooted in something deeper: “I love your appearing!”
This book is about the reality that awakens such love and how that awakening happens. This love involves desiring, longing, and hoping. It is not an action of the body. It is a spiritual affection of the heart. By spiritual, I mean brought into being and formed by the Holy Spirit. It is not surprising that the Holy Spirit would bring into being the heart’s love for the coming of Christ, for the Spirit’s most essential work in the human heart is to glorify Jesus. Jesus says of the Spirit, “He will glorify me” (John 16:14).
Therefore, our Spirit-awakened love for the second coming is not a Christ-neglecting fascination with an event. It is a Christ-enthralled longing for his presence and glory. It is an extension of our love for Christ—the kind of love Jesus was seeking in Matthew 10:37: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Any love for the second coming that is not an extension of this supreme affection for Jesus himself is not the Christ-exalting work of the Holy Spirit. It is not the love to which Paul promised a crown. It is not what I am aiming at.
Therefore, this book aims at a miracle that the book alone cannot achieve—namely, Spirit-created affections. But that aim is no different from all Christian teaching and preaching and counseling and serving, which seek to build faith in Jesus, and rescue people from divine judgment, and stir up Christ-exalting righteousness. All such faith and rescue and righteousness are works of the Spirit of God (Rom. 5:9; Eph. 2:8; Phil. 1:29; 2 Thess. 1:11). Human means—like books—are not decisive. God is.
But human means are divinely appointed. When God intends to open the eyes of the spiritually blind to see the glory of Christ and his coming, he sends a human messenger and says, “I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light” (Acts 26:17–18). That’s how God awakens love for the second coming. He opens the eyes of the blind to see the greatness, the glory, and the worth of Christ’s coming. He does it through the biblical truth about Christ’s coming and through human teachers who point to that truth. That’s what I aim to do in this book."
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART 1: REASONS TO LOVE CHRIST’S APPEARING
Prelude to Part 1: The Miracle We Seek: Love
1. All Who Have Loved His Appearing
2. How Can a Book Awaken Love for Christ’s Appearing?
3. The Glory of Christ as the Primary Reality of His Coming: The Heart of the Matter, Part 1
4. Experiencing the Glory of Christ with Joyful Amazement: The Heart of the Matter, Part 2
5. The Grace Being Brought to You at the Revelation of Christ
6. Will We Be Blameless at the Coming of Christ?
7. We Will Be Perfected Mind, Heart, and Body
8. Jesus Will Deliver Us from the Wrath of Jesus
9. In Flaming Fire, with Vengeance and Relief
10. Repaying Each for What He Has Done
11. Rejoicing in the Hope of Receiving Different Rewards
12. The Joy of Personal Fellowship with the Sovereign Servant
PART 2: THE TIME OF HIS APPEARING
Prelude to Part 2: The Time and the Love of Christ’s Appearing
13. Did Jesus Teach That He Would Return within One Generation?
14. What Does the New Testament Mean That Jesus Will Come Soon?
15. Is There an Any-Moment Rapture before the Second Coming?
16. Jesus and Paul: A Common Vision of Christ’s Coming
17. What Must Happen before the Lord’s Appearing?
PART 3: HOW THEN SHALL WE LIVE?
Prelude to Part 3: Living between the Two Appearings of Christ
18. End-Time Alertness and Love for Christ’s Appearing
19. Patient, Joyful, Not Deceived, Not Alarmed
20. Coming Justice, Present Gentleness
21. Go to Work, Go to Church
22. End-Time Praying, for Yourself and the Mission
O Come, Lord Jesus, Come: A Hymn to Christ
General Index
Scripture Index
Desiring God Note on Resources
ENDORSEMENTS
“Readers should not neglect this important book on the coming of the Lord Jesus and the last times. We are stirred to love Jesus’s appearing and to live now in light of the last day, in light of the return of the King. Certainly there are disagreements about the end times, but no one will be able to dispute that Piper argues carefully and extensively from the Scriptures. I found this book to be fuel for the mind and the heart, one that is full of biblical and practical wisdom.” -Thomas R. Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
“In Come, Lord Jesus, John Piper anticipates our questions about the last things, clarifies and improves those questions, then delivers trustworthy answers from the Scriptures. More than that, he stokes our longing for Jesus’s return. This is a truly ‘Christian Hedonist’ eschatology: robustly biblical, radically hope-giving, and relentlessly focused on our eternal enjoyment of the glorious triune God.” -Stephen Witmer, Lead Pastor, Pepperell Christian Fellowship, Pepperell, Massachusetts; author, Eternity Changes Everything and A Big Gospel in Small Places
“Of all of John Piper’s books, this may be the one I’m most glad he wrote. In our commitment to gospel-centrality we must find ways to more fully and more regularly celebrate the grand consummation of God’s redemptive purposes, and this book helps us do just that. Piper addresses and helpfully answers many of our questions about the second coming, but the great contribution of this book is its stirring of our hearts with the truth of God’s word. In so doing, Piper charges our eagerness and our joy as we anticipate that day when Christ will come in all his glory. Even so, come Lord Jesus!” -Mike Bullmore, Senior Pastor, CrossWay Community Church, Bristol, Wisconsin
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