When the Christ Comes
Max Lucado in his book When Christ Comes brings a new perspective to the final Christians’ experiences upon Christ’s return. The book tries to dispel the fear most Christians and non-Christians have about the second coming as a result of the Biblical perspective and popular images of separation and destruction. Other people are so anxious about Christ’s advent to the extent that they try to interpret the Bible to identify the exact date of the second coming. They want to be prepared in order to avoid the punishment and possible humiliation when Christ turns them away.
Writers used to portray the Day of the Lord as being dreadful with judgment. Lucado in this book gives hope to the Christians that Christ’s return will mark the beginning of all good things, a day of reckoning, rejuvenation, redemption, and rewards to the Christians. This, therefore, makes the Christians anticipate rewards at the coming of Christ as recorded in Revelation 3:11 and 22:12. He notes that many people do not understand the mystery surrounding Christ’s return based on different theories about it. The book emphasizes mercy and pardon to the Christians rather than judgment and condemnation. Lucado pegs his concept on John 14:1-3 where Christ assures disciples not to be troubled, but to trust in God and in Him. Christ states that after he prepares a place, he will come back and take them home, to the place where there will be no sorrows. This means that the coming of Christ marks the end of the troubles for the Christians and instead, the beginning of good life with Christ and God.[2] What is more important for the Christians is to be vigilant, patient, and ready at all times and position themselves for His return since His coming will be when no one expects as indicated in Matthew 24:44.
In order to make the Christians understand and anticipate Christ’s advent, Lucado further outlines the importance of Christ's resurrection to prove that during His return, the dead in Christ will be resurrected to eternal life. He also discusses the way judgment will be done and explains that instead of condemnation, Christians will find genuine joy through God's grace. It will eventually lead to the life without illness, sin, sorrow, and tribulation but an intimate life with God, as it was the original intention outlined in the Book of Genesis. This brings hope and assurance to the Christians and gives them a reason why they should anticipate Christ to begin a good life. On the contrary, the book depicts the purpose and attributes of the hell, which is awaiting the evildoers. It notes that the hell is not prepared for the Christians but to those who do not know God; and for this reason, those who wait in the Lord should not be worried about the fate of the evil.
The purpose of the book is to remove fear among the Christians and give encouragement. Lucado turns the dreadful end time events of the Book of Revelation to appear less distant and less frightening and instead asks Christians to be more peaceful while waiting for the beginning of the best life with Christ’s advent. He, in this case, succeeds to draw Christians’ attention from the technical interpretations of John’s revelation to focus on the joy they will receive at His return.
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