The Contemporary Church Has a Giant Blind Spot to the Return of Christ

The Bible

Jul 8

When I say the contemporary church has a giant blind spot to the return of Christ, I’m not just pointing the finger at other churches. Recently, I did a deep dive into all the lyrics of all the songs we sing on Sundays, and I wrote about how rarely our church sings about Christ’s return.

The reality of our blind spot hit me again last week in a different context. I’ll explain.

Our church evaluates potential members for our pastor-elder team through several steps, one of which is an extensive theological examination. The test consists of almost seventy questions that cover a variety of topics, ranging from classic trinitarianism and the age of the earth to the practice of spiritual gifts and Reformed soteriology. We also ask about contemporary issues such as marriage, sexuality, and systemic racism. Some of the questions have what we consider to be right and wrong answers, as when we ask about the inerrancy of the Scriptures. Other questions tend to fall into the category of philosophy of ministry, which help us assess ministry alignment and, therefore, are less about right and wrong and more about wisdom and passion.

Anyway, as I spoke with another staff member about a potential pastor-elder joining our team, the conversation arose about his particular view of the end times, which, from the top of our minds, we didn’t know. “Oh,” I said, “I have his theological survey right here. Let’s check that to see.”

So we did. We read all the questions and all his answers. And we still had no idea of his views on the end times from our theological survey, because, apparently, we didn’t consider it necessary to include a question on that topic.

And my oversight is even worse than it sounds. Not only did we not ask a single question, but neither of us even realized that we hadn’t asked. After a decade of using the theological survey, I hadn’t even noticed.

This is what I mean when I say we, not just the contemporary church, have a giant blind spot to the return of Christ. We tend to think so little of the end times that we don’t even ask a single question about it on a theological exam ostensibly created to explore important topics and surface potential disagreements. Perhaps because many of us grew up in a culture of end-times excess we have subconsciously swung the pendulum the other way.

My anecdote isn’t to complain or shame. One of my best friends wrote the original draft of the theological exam, and I talked about this with him before writing. My hope in this post is to be part of the solution. Rather than the return of Christ remaining in our blind spot, I want the blazingly bright promise of the victorious rider on the white horse to become one of our guiding lights along the path of obedience. Certainly other lights guide our way too, but without the return of Christ, the path of obedience will only be darker and more precarious. And I know I need all the resources God offers. You probably do too.

I recently submitted a book manuscript to a publisher about the return of Christ. It won’t be released until the summer of 2026, so this is not a promotion for the book. I simply bring up the writing context to say that during the process I spent over a year ransacking the Bible for all the passages that discuss the end times in general and the return of Christ specifically. The final iteration of my list of end-times passages had nearly seven thousand words. I printed the list despite the size, and many mornings before my daily prayer and Bible reading, I’d spend a few minutes reading a page from the list and pondering the truths.

A list of verses that long could seem a bit overwhelming, so I refined it, aiming to make the list as focused as possible on those passages that seem to have the most direct encouragement. I’ve put the list of forty-nine Bible passages below.

I also compiled the verses into a short ebook, so that you can easily have them in one place. If you’d like a copy, sign up below, and I’ll send it to you. I’m calling the booklet Lord, Haste the Day: 49 Bible Passages to Fill You with Hope about the Return of Christ.

As you and I store up truth about the return of Christ in our hearts, God will strengthen our faith and equip us for every good work as we await that glorious day.

Obedience always demands effort. But following God gets more hopeful and less precarious when additional light shines on our path.

“Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).