Webster’s Dictionary defines this noun as:
- a: a prior action that takes into account or forestalls a later action
- b: the act of looking forward, especially: pleasurable expectation[1]
So that’s exactly how my last several days have been. For that matter, that’s how my last several months have been. I’ve been living in anticipation of August 2026… looking forward to what was to come. Preparing for this blessed event. So, what have I been anticipating? I’m glad you asked!
Back in December, my oldest son called with news that I was going to be a grandfather in August. Wow, what exciting news! I still remember calling my dad 28 years ago and giving him that same news. Elton John sang about the Circle of Life in The Lion King, and for the past several months I have been anticipating my firstborn son with his Mufasa moment of holding his firstborn son up for all the world to see. Exciting times for all to see.
On Wednesday, I packed a suitcase; Marcia had been packing for 2 weeks or more in anticipation of the call that we would need to travel for the birth of our grandson. That call came last Friday. They would be going to the hospital on Wednesday, and the little man would be coming shortly afterward. Well, I’ve been sitting at the hospital for 2 days in anticipation of his arrival, and the anticipation continues because HE STILL ISN’T HERE (I hope he doesn’t make me wait this long when I want to take him to a Braves Game, an Auburn Game, Deer Hunting, or Fishing). The phone has been ringing, text messages have been coming in, and Social Media message notifications have been dinging, all because people from throughout my life are living in anticipation of this precious baby boy’s arrival.
I must admit that over the past few days, the anticipation has been getting the best of me far more than I ever thought it might. For the most part, I try to hide my emotions, but this week they have been all over the place. I thought about holding my little boys; I thought about my dad holding my sons, my dad holding his first grandson, like I will be holding my soon-to-be-born grandson. I can’t imagine what must have gone through his mind when I called him to tell him Marcia was in labor. I have looked at pictures of my dad holding my boys as babies, my mother holding them, and Marcia’s mother holding them. My mother is the only one still on this side of heaven, and I am honored to give her updates on the arrival of her first great-grandchild. You see, as I sit in great anticipation, my mom is at home, 79 years young, in great anticipation of her first great-grandchild coming into this world. If I don’t call or text her every so often, she calls me to ask what is going on. That is what anticipation is all about! Here is the interesting thing: I can wish that little man would hurry up and get her, but there is nothing I can do about it. I cannot make it happen any sooner; I cannot make time go by any faster, nor can I change the process. The miracle of life is just that, a miracle. It is a gift from God Almighty. When I think about the blessings God gives each of us, I think about how the Bible even calls children a heritage/gift from the Lord in Psalm 137:3. It’s wild; we wait in anticipation for a gift from the Lord, and then years later, we wait for that gift to give us another gift through another child. Wow! ANTICIPATION!
Now, that has me thinking. Anticipation is real. I have felt it so much over the past few weeks, especially in the past few days. For some, like me, it’s the anticipation of a child or grandchild’s birth. For others, I might be in this group as well; it’s the anticipation of COLLEGE FOOTBALL kicking off, the anticipation of Deer Season, the return of the new fall television shows so you can see how that cliffhanger turns out, the return of the McRib sandwich at McDonald’s at one point in my life, or fill in your own blank here! We all live in ANTICIPATION of something. So, here’s the preacher in me coming out. If we will live in ANTICIPATION OF ALL THESE THINGS, WHY DO WE FIND IT SO DIFFICULT TO LIVE IN ANTICIPATION FOR THE RETURN OF THE LORD? The Bible is very clear that it is all true. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that all Scripture is given from God. It is also very clear that all Scripture is true because the very nature of God is truth. Christian website gotquestions.org, which is a site I trust, states:
To say that God is truth is to acknowledge that truth itself proceeds from the nature of God. While many things can have the truth, only one thing can be the truth, with that one thing being God Himself.
Scripture refers to this fact about God directly in a number of places. For example, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), and He called the Holy Spirit “the Spirit of truth” (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13). A more indirect affirmation that God is truth is Hebrews 6:18, which says that “it is impossible for God to lie.”[i]
So, the Scriptures bear witness throughout that God is truth. We live in ANTICIPATION of all kinds of things, but yet 1stThessalonians 4: 16-17:
“16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” Reveal to us that the Lord IS coming again. Revelation 1:7, “7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.” Is very clear that He (Jesus) is coming in the clouds one day and EVERY EYE will see HIM! Even those who crucified him will see him and wail(cry) because of Him.
Then there is the famous passage in John 14 that ends with verse six where Jesus declares that He is “THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE…” In verses 2-3, Jesus declares that He is going away, but if He goes away, He WILL come again and receive us. That’s not a might, a maybe, a possibility! That’s a promise. We know that He did go away, so since He did go away, we must realize that He is coming AGAIN!
So, if we will live in such anticipation of the birth of a child, hunting season, football season, our favorite television show, or even a fake rib meat sandwich at McDonald’s, why is it so difficult for us to live in Anticipation for the Return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? I feel that if we truly were living in anticipation of the return of Jesus Christ, our lives would be more Christlike in how we love others. We would share the gospel of Jesus Christ with those around us and do all we can to bring as many people as possible to Heaven. It’s like the four men in Mark 2. They took their sick friend to Jesus in Anticipation of his being healed, because they knew what Jesus could do for their friend. If we were truly living in Anticipation of His return, we would be doing way more to get our friends to Jesus for the healing from sin so that one day the mansion in glory, whether it’s a studio apartment or a 24,000 square foot castle, might belong to the person we helped show the way to the streets of gold, walls of jasper, and most importantly, the place where God resides.
So, it’s with Anticipation that I patiently await my Grandson to be born. It’s with Anticipation that I await the day I get to have a conversation with him about Jesus. It’s with Anticipation that I get to hang out with him at ballgames, in the deer woods, on the creekbank or in a bass boat if his grandmother will ever let me get one (IYKYK), but most importantly, I patiently await to see my friends and loved ones come to know Jesus Christ, share Jesus Christ with their friends and loved ones and let’s see a revival break out across Tennessee because while we might wait with Anticipation the return of Christ, we can be assured that one day, just like the birth of my grandson WILL HAPPEN this weekend, there is coming a day that the LORD WILL RETURN…ARE YOU LIVING IN ANTICIPATION OF HIS RETURN!!!!!!
[1] Inc Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003).
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