LBC College SS Lesson 10/4/09. This post is based partly on Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem.
Could Christ come back at any time? Is his return imminent, or is He refrained from returning until the prophecies have been fulfilled. This question is significant to both our theological understanding of eschatology and our notion for daily living. This issue is not crystal clear. There are numerous verses that warn to be prepared because Christ could return at any moment. On the other hand, there are various prophecies outlining the signs that will be fulfilled before His return. In Mark 13, Jesus speaks of these signs that will precede His return. Then in Mark 13:32-37 He warns to be prepared because it will occur at an unexpected time. Jesus taught both of these truths in the same discourse. There was no controversy or disconnect for Him. I feel it is import to attempt to understand the tension that holds these two doctrines.
The following are a sampling of verses which predict the sudden and unexpected coming of Christ.
42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. (Matthew 24:42-44, New King James Version)
50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, (Matthew 24:50, New King James Version)
32 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. (Mark 13:32-33, New King James Version)
40 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
(Luke 12:40, New King James Version)
2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. (1 Thessalonians 5:2, New King James Version)
7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
9 Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! (James 5:7-9, New King James Version)
7 But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. (1 Peter 4:7, New King James Version)
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10, New King James Version)
12 “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. (Revelation 22:12, New King James Version)
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.”
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
(Revelation 22:20, New King James Version)
What are we to conclude from these verses? If the passages about the signs did not exist, then we would conclude from these verses that Jesus could come back at any moment. Indeed these verses testify to the imminent coming of Christ.
However, there are several signs that precede Christ’s return.
The preaching of the gospel to all nations (Mark 13:10)
The great tribulation Mark 13: 7-8)
False prophets working signs and wonders (Mark 13:22)
Signs in the heavens (Mark 13:24-25)
Man of lawlessness (2 Thess. 2:1-10)
These passages have led many to believe that Jesus simply cannot return at any moment. Before He returns, these prophesies must be fulfilled. Is there a contradiction in this doctrine? Can both sides of the argument be true? How can we reconcile the passages that seem to warn that Christ may suddenly return at any moment with the passages that proclaim several visible events must first take place?
Grudem offers four possible solutions. The first solution is that Christ could not coma at any time. The difficulty with this view is that it nullifies the force of Jesus’ warnings to watch and be ready. Also, this solution uses the intent of the signs differently. The signs are not given to make us think that Jesus can’t return yet. The signs are meant to ensure Christians that God foresaw (and ordained) these dramatic events and to keep them from following false messiahs that do not return in the way scripture outlines (Mark 13:5, 21).
The second possible solution is to say that Christ will return two, distinct times. This view is associated with dispensational premillennialism. This theory teaches that Christ will return once to rapture the church and then again seven years later to rule and judge the world. The signs will be fulfilled during the gap between. The weaknesses of this view are that it is hard to derive two separate returns from a straight-forward reading of the scriptures. A logical leap is required to derive the conclusion. The other weakness is that this theory has only been around since the mid 1800s.
The third possible solution is that all of the signs have already been fulfilled and therefore, Christ can return at any time. Many theologians cite events in the first century as fulfilling these prophecies. For example, many believe that Nero may have been the man of lawlessness, and that the war leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD may have been the great tribulation. Obviously the great signs in the sky, if taken literally, have not occurred, but would only take minutes or seconds to occur. This solution does make sense in the context of Mark chapter 13. In Mark 13:1- Jesus makes a prediction about Jerusalem being destroyed. This seems to have been fulfilled in 70 AD. Therefore it does make sense that the other prophecies made in that discourses could be fulfilled in the same timeframe. However, Mark 13:30 states that the generation that witnesses these events will see the end also. The weakness of this solution is that it is nothing more than a string of educated guesses. There is no way to conclusively determine that the events were indeed the fulfillment. Also, Scripture seems to point to much larger events than those which occurred in the first century.
The fourth solution proposed by Grudem is that it is possible, though unlikely, that the signs have been fulfilled. This solution is more attractive because it considers both the required fulfillments and the warnings to be ready. Also, this humble approach recognizes the inability to be absolutely certain about the fulfillment of the signs. The weakness to this argument is that it is somewhat wishy-washy and ambiguous.
The last possible solution is what I like to call the “poof” factor. I believe that the signs could be fulfilled miraculously in the blink of an eye. Throughout the Old and New Testaments God used His mighty power to fulfill His sovereign plan. I fell that we must not neglect this possibility.
In conclusion, it is evident that Christ’s return we be unexpected. Certain sign will precede His return, but we cannot be certain of their exact timing and fulfillment. Both of these truths work together in God’s plan for the end times. We should be watchful for the signs, but we should not neglect the call to be prepared and to be eagerly waiting for His triumphant return.
28 Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” (Luke 21:28, New King James Version)
for His glory,
DJ
PRETRIB RAPTURE – HIDDEN FACTS !
ReplyDeleteHow can the “rapture” be “imminent”? Acts 3:21 says that Jesus “must” stay in heaven (He is now there with the Father) “until the times of restitution of all things” which includes, says Scofield, “the restoration of the theocracy under David’s Son” which obviously can’t begin before or during Antichrist’s reign. Since Jesus must personally participate in the rapture, and since He can’t even leave heaven before the tribulation ends, the rapture therefore cannot take place before the end of the trib! Paul explains the “times and the seasons” (I Thess. 5:1) of the catching up (I Thess. 4:17) as the “day of the Lord” (5:2) (which FOLLOWS the posttrib sun/moon darkening – Matt. 24:29; Acts 2:20) WHEN “sudden destruction” (5:3) of the wicked occurs! (If the wicked are destroyed before or during the trib, who would be left alive to serve the Antichrist?) Paul also ties the change-into-immortality “rapture” (I Cor. 15:52) to the posttrib end of “death” (15:54)! (Will death be ended before or during the trib?) If anyone wonders how long pretrib rapturism has been taught, he or she can Google “Pretrib Rapture Diehards.” Many are unaware that before 1830 all Christians had always viewed I Thess. 4’s “catching up” as an integral part of the final second coming to earth. In 1830 it was stretched forward and turned into a separate coming of Christ. To further strengthen their novel view, which the mass of evangelical scholars rejected throughout the 1800s, pretrib teachers in the early 1900s began to stretch forward the “day of the Lord” (what Darby and Scofield never dared to do) and hook it up with their already-stretched-forward “rapture.” Many leading evangelical scholars still weren’t convinced of pretrib, so pretrib teachers then began teaching that the “falling away” of II Thess. 2:3 is really a pretrib rapture (the same as saying that the “rapture” in 2:3 must happen before the “rapture” ["gathering"] in 2:1 can happen – the height of desperation!). Other Google articles throwing light on long-covered-up facts about the 178-year-old pretrib rapture view include “Famous Rapture Watchers,” “X-Raying Margaret,” “Revisers of Pretrib Rapture History,” “Thomas Ice (Bloopers),” “Wily Jeffrey,” “The Rapture Index (Mad Theology),” “America’s Pretrib Rapture Traffickers,” “Roots of (Warlike) Christian Zionism,” “Scholars Weigh My Research,” “Pretrib Hypocrisy,” “Pretrib Rapture Desperados” and “Deceiving and Being Deceived” – all by the author of the bestselling book “The Rapture Plot” which is available at Armageddon Books online. Just my two cents’ worth.
Irv, thanks for commenting. I always appreciate feedback, as I am by no means an expert on the subject. These are important questions that deserve diligent study and thought. I am always grateful for fellow brothers in Christ who are willing and eager to tackle the touph subjects.
ReplyDeleteI agree that one of the main weaknesses of the pretrib rapture is its relative newness. As Phil Johnson says, if its new, then it probably isn’t true. There are several weaknesses with the doctrine of the pretrib rapture. Immanency, however, is not one of them. (Also please note that imminence is not secondarily equivalent to pretrib).
Your arguments, while informed and logical, seem to be based on a specific ordering of eschatological events. The precise order, timing, and fulfillment of these events are based on interpretive assumptions. They are Biblically referenced and logical assumptions, but they are none the less uncertain. These issues are simply not clear-cut and precise. Therefore we must be diligently careful in our hermeneutic and interpretation. We must weigh these prophetic passages with the passages which speak of Christ’s return as being sudden and surprising.
It is also worthwhile to look at the intent of the end time prophecies. For example, Paul wrote to the Thessalonians so that they would not be shaken or alarmed if someone says the Lord has already returned. Paul was reassuring them that Christ hasn’t already returned, not that He can’t return. Similarly, the prophecies in Matt. 24 were given to ensure that Believers are not led astray by false teachers and false messiahs.
Nowhere in scripture are we instructed to be watchful for the tribulation, or the antichrist, or any of the other prophetic events. Instead we are commanded to be ready, watchful, and eager for Christ. The emphasis of the NT is on Christ and His return, not the preceding (and following) signs.
Nowhere in Scripture are we instructed to be indifferent and unprepared because Christ cannot yet return. On the contrary, the Bible warns believers to be ready, to be prepared, and to watch because Christ shall return suddenly, like a thief in the night. The judge is standing at the door. Therefore we are to be ready like the five wise virgins who were prepared for the arrival of the bridegroom. We are to be like the faithful servant, working diligently until the return of our master.
It is prideful to say that Christ is prohibited from returning until certain events and signs first take place. It is presumptuous to assume and insist that we have total understanding of this complex and unclear doctrine. The truth is there are lots of unkowns and lots of variables. The Jews missed Christ first coming because they were too caught up in their own theological systems. We should humbly and joyfully await the sudden, unexpected, surprising, unknown, unaware, and imminent return of Christ Jesus our Lord.
-DJ