Whats taking Jesus so long?

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Long/Short in time is relative

He’s not taking “so long”…

Suppose He returned before you were born?
 
This is a favorite song of mine. Always makes me cry, while nodding in affirmation. 4 days late, but still on time!
 
DaveBj said:
My impression, backed up by nothing other than my own thoughts, is that He is waiting until there is something on Earth worth coming back for.
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I don’t think so…the Great Tribulation will not be something “pretty” for Him to come back to.

2 Thessalonians 2:8 “And then shall that wicked one [the antichrist] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming“

He will come back to destroy the antichrist with the splendor of His coming, and He will return to an earth full of people having gone through the Great Tribulation. As Jesus says,
“I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
 
“Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’

and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
 
Jesus is always with us in the Eucharist. God’s time is God’s time.
 
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come.

New American Bible. (2011). (Revised Edition, Mt 24:14). Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Let’s get the gospel declared well among all nations. That’s been the mission for the Church since around 33 A.D. There’s more to be done. Then, it says that the end will come.
 
Catechism of the Catholic Church

283 The question about the origins of the world and of man has been the object of many scientific studies which have splendidly enriched our knowledge of the age and dimensions of the cosmos, the development of life-forms and the appearance of man. These discoveries invite us to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator, prompting us to give him thanks for all his works and for the understanding and wisdom he gives to scholars and researchers. With Solomon they can say: “It is he who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists, to know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements. . . for wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me.”
 
6000 … 6 Zillion … It has so little to do with the price of eggs.

Seeking Faith in Jesus which leads to Salvation does…
 
@David_Catholic:

In 1950, Pope Pius XII promulgated the encyclical “Humani Generis.” In it, he approved of research into the area of evolution. (See Section 36.)

You can find a broader article on this topic at Catholic Exchange.

Because the topic is about the Second Coming, I fear I’m going of course. But I did want to provide you some source material for your consideration.
 
I think about this a lot, and what St. Peter wrote about a “thousand years is like one day” — I think to calm the widespread belief in Christ’s imminent return at the time (it’s interesting that our first Pope was given that insight).

Sometimes my mind drifts into superstitious conjecture: like, if Christ was raised on the third day, and a day is “like a thousand years” does that mean He will return sometime in the third millennium (which just started)? Or, if Christ is the renewal of creation, does that mean He will return on the seventh “day” or the seventh millennium (sometime after the year 6000)? I forget where I read it but that kind of day/thousand year wondering was also around in medieval times. We know that at some point, our human story will end, and that is when the Everlasting Man will return.
  • I just thought of another: Christ ascended 40 days after the Resurrection: so maybe He’ll return after 40,000 years! I think that would be difficult to reconcile with His promise to return “soon” though (the second to last verse in the Bible), given that’s a large timescale for human history.
 
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Interesting, my interpretation of Pope Leo XIII’s vision is that it encompassed the 20th Century. Satan obviously failed, but the damage was immense. “Christendom” is destroyed and for all we know probably will not return, but God will bring good out of it somehow.
 
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Neithan said:
I think about this a lot, and what St. Peter wrote about a “thousand years is like one day”
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In the same verse he also said that with the Lord, a day is like a thousand years. He was not giving mathematical formulas; he was showing how God, who exists outside time, can be flexible where time is concerned. By analogy, to an ant walking along the back of a church pew, it seems interminable; all he can see is the next grain of wood. But I am not stuck on the back of the pew. I can put my eye so close to it that it seems to be a mile long, or I can back away until it seems to be only a millimeter in size. God can do the same thing where time is concerned.

D
 
Thank you, that does emphasize that we should be ready every day, and every hour.
 
Neithan said:
I think that would be difficult to reconcile with His promise to return “soon” though (the second to last verse in the Bible), given that’s a large timescale for human history.
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In Revelation 22:12, Jesus says, “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.”

And Revelation 22:20 “He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Other translations say “quickly.” The word “soon” is the Greek word “ταχὺ” meaning quick, fleet, swift. It is not referring to the time scale being soon in that there is not much more time until He comes, but that when He does come, it will be without delay, swift, at once, inescapable, “like a thief in the night.” (1 Thessalonians 5:2)

However, 1 John 2:18 says “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.”

So we are in the last hour, but our scale of time is not God’s time (2 Peter 3:8 “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”) So we cannot predict, by our own knowledge of time, how “soon” His day may come. However He has warned us of the signs in scripture, so as Matthew 25:13 says, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”
 
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The Church losing its status as a land-owing power is a good thing. Popes no longer have to deal with local politics but can now focus on their spiritual ministry. It, in a sense, restored spiritual and theological progress which had been hampered by too many popes and bishops focusing on wealth and politics over the centuries.

However, a lasting fallout that we are still dealing with is the sexual revolution. How many soul have been damaged by sexual exploitation and use in the last century? How many faithful Catholics have been scandalized by the sexual abuse crisis that we face? The devil is certainly still trying his best. It’s a good thing that God is still in control. Better Him than us!
 
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