"Fear not!" Jesus says. These are the same words spoken by the angels to the Bethlehem shepherds on the occasion of his first coming. Now they are used to speak of his second coming. The reason why we need not fear is because God's good pleasure is to give us the kingdom. We cannot earn it. We cannot build it. It is a gift of grace. Despite all the evidence to the contrary and all attempts to oppose it, the promise has been made. The kingdom of God is on the way. We are to wait for it and be ready.

The second coming has fascinated believers from the beginning, wondering when, where, how it will take place. Speculations and predictions abound. Over-anxious belivers have worked out all manner of time tables - all of them wrong, of course - but nevertheless purporting to read the signs of the …