The Second Coming of Christ was much in the thoughts of the ancient church. Saint Paul was no exception, as his letters often indicate. Time was growing short and soon the present form of this world would be passing away. The expectation must have been both thrilling and somewhat ominous for Christ's people.

There is a particularity about the events coming soon after our Lord's Ascension and the Day of Pentecost. A single-mindedness is virtually demanded. It all has to do with a single God/man they knew was the one in whom they found their salvation. He had given them more than hope. He had given them assurances of heaven with him.

In one sense, nothing has changed during those twenty centuries. We are to be centered on the one and only certain Savior of humankind, that little Jewish boy…