Daily Devotional For December 24, 2025
Let the one who is unrighteous remain unrighteous, let the one who is filthy remain filthy, let the one who is righteous continue to do righteousness, and let the one who is holy remain holy. Behold, I am coming soon! And my reward is with me, to pay back everyone according to his work. Rev 22:11-12.
When I was nine years old, someone convinced my mother that Jesus was coming back in the year 1964. He noted the text, “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be when the Son of Man comes,” and reckoned that the days of Noah had lasted 120 years (the time it took Noah to build the ark). He added that period to the year 1844, which was significant to him for other reasons, and concluded that Jesus would return in the year 1964. I was impressed enough to decide that I would have fun until around 1962 and would then get ready to meet Jesus!
In the year 1975, a pair of brothers held some studies in which they argued that Jesus would return in 1981. I was studying at the Seminary then and these men urged several of us to quit Seminary and get down to the business of warning the world. Had I taken these men seriously I might have done so, but I had already been through this once before. I had learned that one has to balance one’s belief in the soon return of Jesus with an awareness that God wants us to prepare thoroughly for future service.
First century Christians tended to read texts like the above in a similar fashion. As time went on they were tempted to think that the Lord was becoming slack in the performance of His promises (2 Pet 3:9). But Peter pointed out that the seeming delay of the Advent was due to God’s desire that all would come to repentance. The time between Christ’s first and second comings is an extension of His grace. God’s desire to save is so great that even those who scoff against the reality of His coming receive an extended opportunity to repent.1
Those who have genuine faith, however, will find that their faith gets stronger and stronger as the delay gets longer and longer. The key to this text is not the timing of Jesus’ return but the identity of the One who is returning. Those who are waiting for the return of a great friend find their anticipation growing as the time of separation increases. When I am traveling away from my wife, she gets more beautiful by the day, and my desire to be with her increases with time.
It is out of a living relationship with Jesus that confidence in His soon return is maintained. While we live each day as if it were our last one on earth, delay will not destroy that relationship. For each day of our lives the word is, “He is coming soon!”
Lord, I thank You that the constant barrage of date-setting that we once experienced has faded. Help me to keep my focus on knowing You, which will make me ready for Your return.
1 Paragraph based in part on Leslie N. Pollard, “The Lord Is Not Slack,” Adventist Review, January, 2004, 45.