#020: Betting On Jesus

📱 TL;DR

True preparation for Christ's return isn't about tracking timelines—it's about being ready when eternity breaks into time. You can actively anticipate without anxiously speculating.

Welcome, Family

The internet has officially lost its mind.

On Polymarket, a decentralized prediction platform, nearly a million dollars has been wagered on whether Jesus Christ will literally return by December 31, 2025.

About 1% of participants believe the Second Coming will occur this year, with trading volume exceeding $953,000.

Let that sink in: People are literally betting cryptocurrency on the return of the One who said, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only" (Matthew 24:36, NKJV).

We've turned sacred anticipation into market speculation.

But here's what's more disturbing than the betting itself: We live in a generation that demands real-time tracking for everything.

Bus apps tell us exactly when public transit will arrive. Food delivery apps show us our driver's location to the minute. We've lost the ability to wait without constant updates.

And we're bringing that same anxiety to eternity.

If you've been wrestling with questions about the Second Coming—when it will happen, how to be ready, whether your anticipation is healthy or obsessive—you need to be in the room this Friday.

We're diving deep into what it means to actively wait without anxiously speculating. Join us.

🍞 This Week's Bread

• ⏳ The Sign: Why betting markets reveal our cultural anxiety about divine timing

• 📖 The Word: What Paul actually meant by "the blessed hope"

• 🌍 The Witness: How the Great Chicago Fire separated the prepared from the panicked

• 🔥 The Work: Three diagnostic questions about holy anticipation vs. anxious speculation

• ⚡ Midweek Power: Wednesday night prayer for those longing for His appearing

• 🙏 Prayer Corner: Intercession for hearts that ache for eternity

📚 This Week's (Virtual) Bible Study

Friday, September 12th (8-10 PM ET):

[🔗 Join Live Study] | [📱 Request Replay Link]

Can't make it live? We'll send you the recording!

⏳ The Sign

The "odds" of Jesus returning are currently trading at 1% on prediction markets, with almost a million dollars in cryptocurrency bets placed by thousands of participants.

Think about that for a moment: We've created a financial instrument to speculate on the Second Coming of Christ.

This isn't just quirky internet culture—it's a symptom of something deeper. We live in a generation that has outsourced waiting to technology. 

We expect real-time updates for everything: where our food is, when our ride will arrive, whether our package has shipped.

We've lost the spiritual muscle of anticipation without information.

But here's what the betting markets reveal: Deep down, people sense something is coming. There's a collective intuition that history is building toward something. 

The problem isn't the anticipation—it's that we're treating divine timing like a delivery app.

The same culture that created bus tracker apps is now trying to track the return of the King of Kings. And in doing so, we're missing the entire point of biblical anticipation.

True preparation isn't about predicting His timeline—it's about being ready regardless of His timing.

When Jesus spoke about His return, He didn't give us a tracking number. He gave us a character test. He didn't provide arrival notifications. He called us to active readiness.

The difference between holy anticipation and anxious speculation isn't what we believe about when He's coming—it's how we live while we're waiting.

📖 The Word

Paul calls Christ's return "the blessed hope." Not "the blessed prediction." Not "the blessed timeline." The blessed hope.

Hope is different from speculation. Speculation tries to control outcomes through information. Hope trusts outcomes to character—God's character.

Notice what Paul doesn't say: He doesn't say, "Look for the signs so you can calculate the time." He says, "Look for the blessed hope so you can live with purpose."

The Greek word for "looking" (prosdechomai) doesn't mean passively waiting. It means actively receiving, eagerly welcoming, preparing to embrace. It's the word you'd use for a bride preparing for her wedding or a soldier preparing for his commander's inspection.

Paul's audience wasn't sitting around creating prediction markets. They were "zealous for good works" because they lived in the light of His coming.

Here's what 1 Thessalonians 5 reveals: The unprepared are caught off guard not because they don't know the time, but because they're not living like children of light.

Look at Revelation 6:12-17: When cosmic signs appear, the unprepared cry out, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!" 

They're not surprised by the timing—they're terrified by their condition.

The prepared, meanwhile, have been living as "sons of light and sons of the day." They don't need advance notice because they've been ready all along.

Biblical anticipation isn't about tracking His arrival—it's about being found faithful when He arrives.

You can't download an app for that. You can only develop a heart for it.

🌍 The Witness

October 8, 1871. The Great Chicago Fire began in the evening and would rage for three days, consuming over 2,000 acres and leaving more than 100,000 people homeless.

Of Chicago's 324,000 inhabitants, 90,000 residents were left homeless, with the fire claiming about 300 lives and destroying 17,450 buildings.

But here's what the historical accounts reveal: The fire separated people into two distinct categories—the prepared and the panicked.

Eyewitness accounts describe desperate citizens attempting to save their belongings as flames claimed Chicago's distinguished buildings. Some had evacuation plans. Others had emergency supplies stored. Many had mentally prepared for disaster.

But the majority? They panicked.

The initial fire department response was quick, but due to an error by Watchman Matthias Schaffer, firefighters were sent to the wrong location, allowing the fire to grow unchecked. Even the systems designed to provide warning failed.

The prepared didn't need perfect information to survive. They had prepared hearts and practical readiness that sustained them when information systems failed.

The unprepared waited for official announcements, better information, clearer signs. By the time they realized the danger was real, it was too late to prepare.

Here's the parallel: When Christ returns, there won't be time to download the "spiritual readiness app." There won't be a final warning notification. There won't be a grace period to get your heart right.

The prepared will have been living as children of light all along. The unprepared will realize too late that they spent their time tracking timelines instead of transforming character.

The Great Chicago Fire didn't give advanced notice. Neither will the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord.

But both separate the same two groups: those who prepared and those who procrastinated.

🔥 The Work

Before you dismiss this as fear-mongering or get overwhelmed by spiritual performance anxiety, let's get honest with three diagnostic questions about holy anticipation:

1. Am I preparing or just predicting?

Are you studying prophecy to become more like Christ, or to feel intellectually superior about end times? Are you reading Revelation to transform your character, or to win theological debates?

Preparation looks like practical holiness: "Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1 John 3:3, NKJV). Prediction looks like obsessing over timelines while ignoring character.

If Jesus returned tomorrow, would He find you faithful in the small things He's already given you? Or would He find you distracted by speculation about the big things He hasn't revealed?

2. Does my anticipation create anxiety or peace?

Biblical hope produces peace, not panic. If your focus on Christ's return is making you anxious, fearful, or obsessive, you've crossed from anticipation into speculation.

Paul said believers are "not in darkness, so that this day should overtake you as a thief." Children of light don't live in fear of their Father's return—they live in joyful expectation.

If the thought of Jesus returning tomorrow fills you with dread instead of delight, that's not a timeline problem—that's a relationship problem.

3. Am I living like He's coming soon or like He's not coming at all?

Both extremes are dangerous. Some people live in such constant "He's coming any minute" mode that they neglect practical responsibilities. Others live like eternity will never break into time.

Biblical balance looks like this: Live each day so purposefully that you'd be ready if He came today, but plan so responsibly that you'd be faithful if He doesn't come for decades.

Plant trees you may never see mature. Invest in relationships that may outlast your lifetime. Pursue calling with eternal perspective but practical wisdom.

Active anticipation doesn't abandon earthly responsibility—it infuses it with heavenly purpose.

⚡ Midweek Power

This Wednesday night (September 10th, 8-9 PM ET), we're praying specifically for hearts that long for His appearing—the kind of anticipation that purifies instead of panics.

We're also interceding for this generation that's lost the ability to wait without tracking apps. For believers who've confused speculation with preparation. For hearts that have grown cold waiting for His return.

📅 Remember to Set a Reminder for Prayer Night!

Come ready to pray for:

• Blessed hope that transforms daily living

• Peace in the mystery of divine timing

• Hearts prepared for eternity, not just informed about prophecy

• This generation to rediscover sacred anticipation

🙏 PRAYER CORNER

We're interceding for:

• Believers caught up in end-times anxiety instead of end-times anticipation

• Hearts that have grown weary waiting for His return

• Those who've replaced relationship with speculation

• Young adults who feel overwhelmed by prophetic complexity

• Anyone who's lost hope because predictions have failed

"Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20)

📅 What's Next

Friday, September 12th (8-10 PM ET): Virtual Bible Study
[🔗 Join Live Study] | [📱 Request Replay Link]

📣 Take Action:

• Forward this to someone obsessing over end-times predictions instead of present-day faithfulness

• Follow @mogakaeventsministry on Instagram for for blessed hope reminders

• Join our Groupme for midweek encouragement about living in the light of His coming

✝️ Final Word

Here's what we need to settle: Biblical anticipation isn't about knowing when—it's about being ready regardless.

The prediction markets will resolve by December 31, 2025, 11:59 PM ET. But your readiness for Christ's return shouldn't depend on market predictions or timeline speculation.

Paul could write about "the blessed hope" because his hope wasn't anchored in timing—it was anchored in character. God's character to keep His promises. His own character to be found faithful.

You don't need a spiritual tracking app. You need a transformed heart.

You don't need to know the hour. You need to be ready for any hour.

You don't need to predict the timeline. You need to prepare for the eternal.

📹 Before you go: Watch this powerful message that ties everything together - it's exactly what your heart needs to hear about living in the light of His coming.

That word "looking" means actively, eagerly, expectantly preparing. Not passively waiting for better information.

The difference between the prepared and the unprepared isn't what they know about when He's coming—it's how they live while they're waiting.

Stop trying to track His timeline. Start transforming your character.

The blessed hope isn't a prediction—it's a preparation.

In His Love,
Mogaka Events Ministry

Come As You Are is a Spirit-led devotional for young adults hungry for God's presence. Written by Ravi Patel and Chris Mogaka.