"Is
He Coming Again or is He Not?"
If the Second Coming of Jesus was imminent and soon, over 2000
years ago, can it still be imminent and soon in our time? I spent 30
years of my life believing this contradiction to be true. I taught it was
true. I hoped it was true. However, it was and is not true.
To the point. Every scripture in the New Testament about the
immediate return of Jesus was written to and for those people 2000 years ago.
Not one scripture , comment, encouragement and declaration about the return of
Jesus to make the world all right again was meant for the future. It was
not meant for us. In fact, while meant for those who lived in and around
the time of Jesus life and death, it turned out not to be true for them either.
We today read an awfully lot into the Bible texts about the Second
Coming of Jesus. I did it sincerely for decades. There is this magical
feeling that whenever the scripture says "to you it is given," or
"you will see..." or "we shall be changed.." it is
talking to us today or even to me specifically. Of course, it is not. It
was spoken to "them" and not us. We can make it all dualistic
or type and fulfillment all we want, but in fact, no scripture on this topic is
speaking to me or you in this day.
When Jesus is made to say in Matthew 23:34 "Behold I
say unto YOU, THIS GENERATION shall not pass until all these things be
fulfilled," he meant it. He didn't mean this generation who sees all
the signs for every generation has any number of same things going on to
"see" as the sign of his coming. Jesus was talking to THEM and
to THEIR generation. Frankly, it was a failed piece of non-truth for them
as well.
Matthew 24 was never meant for us today and it was all about the
experience they were having 2000 years ago under the Roman boot in Judea.
Matthew 26:64
64 You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.
The YOU was them, not us.
Matthew 10:23
23" When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes."
The YOU was them, not us.
Revelation 1:3
3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
"Time is near," or as Revelation 1:1 notes, "to
show unto his servants the things that must shortly come to pass," was for
them , not us. It was their "shortly," not ours.
Revelation 1:7
This plainly tells the audience of that time that EVEN
THOSE or that Roman soldier who pierced Jesus would live to see him
return. And no, not in the future resurrection, but soon.
Revelation 22:66 These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.
Revelation nicely wraps up and reiterates that it was soon for
them, not us. Just as we tend to take the word "you" in the
Bible as meaning us today, so "his servants" are now long dead ones
and not those who today define themselves as still "his servants."
Revelation 22:7, 12 and 20 remind the reader of that time and that
generation, "behold I come quickly..." It meant to the
author what he meant it to mean...soon.
Whoever, and it was not Paul, wrote Hebrews 1:1-2 told that
audience that in those last days then, God is now speaking to them through his
son and not by the ancient prophets. "These last days" meant
exactly what the author meant it to mean for them, not us.
1 John 2:18 goes even further to clarify that it is not just the last days, but they then were in 'the last hour." Their last hour, not ours.
18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
1 Corinthians 10:11
11 "These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.
All the warnings derived from the past history of Israel were written for them to warn them upon whom the end of the age (not world) had come. Paul never for a moment, until he had no choice, believed it was not him and them. If we simply think Paul just didn't know it was a much bigger "YOU" or "US", then at least we have to admit that Paul mislead many, lied and didn't know what he was talking about. Telling people then that they should be encouraged that soon means at least 2000 more years is not encouraging and no one would bother with such a teaching.
1 Peter 4:7
7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.
Read it at face value. The end was near for them, not us.
I Cor 7:29
Brethren, the time is short...
1 Corinthians 7:25-28
25" Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26 Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is. 27 Are you pledged to a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from such a commitment? Do not look for a wife. 28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this."
Paul was sure of the shortness of time that he made up rules for "time is short," behaviors . He didn't forbid marriage, but he did discourage it. How sad that some ministers today do the same thing thinking "YOU" means "THEM." How many relationships did the Apostle Paul screw up being wrong about his vision of soon?
The author of 2 Peter 3:3-10 was beginning to suspect the game was running into overtime, people were dropping out and scoffers were getting antsy and vocal over all these promises of "soon." We all know that feeling don't we... So, like a Ron Weinland, who must realize it is simply not going to happen in their lifetime, the author of 2 Peter spiritualizes what was literally true to date and says "well...you gotta understand, a day with the Lord is as 1000 years..." In other words, time is spiiiiiiiiritual and "you people," have misunderstood.
1 Timothy 6:13-14
13 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ...
Paul was telling Timothy to hang in there until Jesus came back soon in his time. He was not telling him to hang in there, die and see you Tim in the resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:51-52
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed — 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
"We" means them, not us. The dead spoken of were those believers who had died in the past few years not having received the promise, but not so late in the game that Paul had not given up on it meaning HIM and those that still were alive THEN. Paul went on in I Thessalonians 4 to address the disappointment and sorrow THEY for those dying before this all took place. It started to inject doubt, scoffing and loss of hope for THEM, not us. When Paul said..."we who are alive and remain..." he meant himself and them, not us.
2 Thessalonians was written to reinject hope even more with time grinding on and still no "soon" occurring. The hope of soon has faded and not it is a matter of faith that no matter what, THEY win and the bad people who bother THEM will get the axe from Jesus.
James 5:7-9
7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. 9 Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
James
suspects time is not all that short after all. People have grumbling and
discouraged. Waiting is now more important than ever since the Judge is
"standing at the door." But he was standing at their
door, not ours. Now the Second Coming is like planting a crop and waiting
for the good harvest. In other words...."Ok, we understand that we may be
wrong about this soon and shortly business."
Hebrews 10:37
37 For, In just a little while,
he who is coming will come
and will not delay.
The sense of delay is now palpable in the church. Short has now become , "in just a little while," and "yes we understand it feels like it is delayed, but hang in there." (When things don't happen for Ron Weinland, he uses a form of the disappointment of delay by saying God is being ever so much more merciful than WE (read he) thought and WE (read I) have ever so much more time to do the work.)
Finally, time overtakes shortly and later overtakes sooner. The Apostle Paul gives it up and admits that he simply fought the good fight, kept the faith and will get his crown someday as will those that followed him. Time ran out and every one of those that used to be the WE and the US had to admit it was not so. Apologetic took over and the We and US of the New Testament became every last person over the next 2000 years that read the Book. We now read end time scripture meant for THEM as now meant for US today. We are probably just as wrong and will relive this old lesson in life.
Finally, and perhaps someone slipped this one in later when it was obvious...
Matthew 24:36
36 But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[a] but only the Father.
...well and Ron Weinland and thousands of other ministers of the
Gospel and zealous believers.
I don't like seeing things as I do. But it is more important
to me to see things as they are than to teach people that which is not
so. We do live in both the best of times and the worst of times. As
a kid I always wondered why Jesus had to come back if when, after a life lived,
we all just die and go to heaven? Why all the political drama, plagues,
vials, wrath, blood, vengeance, rods of iron and confusion?
Dare we say that even Jesus himself, as portrayed in the Gospels,
was mistaken about himself, soon and shortly? While we have an apologetic
for "my God, my God, why have you forsaken me..", could not Jesus
have finally realized he was wrong too and all that followed in the forming of
the NT scriptures was designed to keep moving and keep the Church alive with
the eternal carrot of the Second Coming?
Perhaps we have to discard this religious idea of a Second Coming
to go inside ourselves for a personal spirituality that does not lend itself to
such disappointments. If we wait and live long enough, we won't care if
Jesus came back in our lifetime anyway. We won't be here.
That is up to each of us to figure out for ourselves I suppose...
I'd like to credit and thank Glenn L. Hill author of Christianity's
Great Dilemma- Is Jesus Coming Again or Is He Not? for his own personal
honesty as a former Pastor and his book clearly showing the context of the
hopes and dreams that Jesus would return to those who knew him 2000 years ago
and how we got to our misunderstandings of it all today.
Dennis C. Diehl
DenniscDiehl@aol.com
DenniscDiehl@aol.com
