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Christ will suddenly,
physically return and be
visible to all, and as
believers, we should eagerly
await His return. When He
does so, He will judge all.
With respect to the time of
Christ's return, we see that
no-one may know the day of
the hour, yet there is much
debate as to whether certain
signs must be fulfilled
before He can return and
therefore a question of
whether He could in fact
return imminently.
The Bible is clear on many
issues, and those who
respect the authority of the
Bible will be undivided on
these. The timing of the
return of Christ, however,
will legitimately divide
Bible believers, due to the
mass of information which
can be legitimately
interpreted in various ways.
While it is clear that no
one may know the "day or the
hour", some argue that the
presence of events that must
occur first indicates that
until these have been
completed, Christ cannot
come. Others look to the
past or present and see the
events in question having
been or currently being
fulfilled and therefore
believing that Christ could
literally return at any
second. Again, this issue is
one which should be viewed
as one of second-importance,
as there appears to be no
conclusive argument for any
particular point of view
above another.
The Biblical Teaching:
What is known:
Christ will suddenly,
physically return and be
visible to all
-
"You also must be ready,
because the Son of Man
will come at an hour
when you do not expect
him." (Luke 12:40)
-
"...This same Jesus, who
has been taken from you
into heaven, will come
back in the same way you
have seen him go into
heaven." (Acts 1:11)
-
"For the Lord himself
will come down from
heaven, with a loud
command, with the voice
of the archangel and
with the trumpet call of
God..." (1 Thess. 4:16)
-
See also Dan.
7:13, Matt. 24:44, 1
Tim. 6:14, Heb. 9:28,
James 5:8, 2 Pet. 3:10,
1 John 3:2, Jude 14,
Rev. 22:20 et
al.)
When Christ returns, He
will judge all
-
"In the presence of God
and of Christ Jesus, who
will judge the living
and the dead, and in
view of his appearing
and his kingdom, I give
you this charge..." (2
Tim. 4:1).
-
"See, the Lord is coming
with thousands upon
thousands of his holy
ones to judge everyone,
and to convict all the
ungodly of all the
ungodly acts they have
done in the ungodly way,
and of all the harsh
words ungodly sinners
have spoken against
him." (Jude 14-15)
-
Jesus said, "Behold, I
am coming soon! My
reward is with me, and I
will give to everyone
according to what he has
done." (Rev. 22:12)
-
See also the study: The
Final Judgement
We should eagerly await
Christ's return
At the end of Revelation,
John cried "Come Lord Jesus"
(Rev.
22:20)
in response to Jesus'
promise to return.
Similarly, the return of
Christ should bring hope and
delight to the hearts of all
believers, as with His
return Christ will be
rightly glorified by all and
all things will be set to
God's liking. Grudem rightly
points out that an
indication of the maturity
of a believer is the amount
of their desire for the
return of Christ, as the
more a believer is enjoying
the things of this world and
neglecting their
relationship with God, the
less they would desire the
full coming of the Kingdom;
and conversely, the less
attached to things of this
world and the more in-tune
with their relationship with
God, the more likely a
believer is to be desperate
for the return of Christ (Grudem
pp.1092-3).
-
"...our citizenship is
in heaven. And we
eagerly await a Savior
from there, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who, by
the power that enables
him to bring everything
under his control, will
transform our lowly
bodies so that they will
be like his glorious
body." (Phil 3:20-21)
-
"For the grace of God
that brings salvation
has appeared to all men.
It teaches us to say
"No" to ungodliness and
worldly passions, and to
live self-controlled,
upright and godly lives
in this present age,
while we wait for the
blessed hope - the
glorious appearing of
our great God and
Savior, Jesus Christ."
(Tit. 2:11-13)
The time of Christ's
Return:
The fact that Christ will
return "suddenly" (see
above, Christ
will suddenly, physically
return and be visible to all)
indicates that no-one will
legitimately expect Him.
However, there is much
debate of whether Christ,
according to the Scriptures,
could return now
("imminently"). This debate
arises from events or signs
described in the Bible which
appear to be a
"prerequisite" to Christ's
coming. Below, verses are
listed that indicate the
possibility of the imminent
return of Christ, followed
by a list of each of the
"prerequisite signs", then a
discussion of the possible
interpretations.
Verses that indicate the
possibility of imminent
return
-
"Be patient, then,
brothers, until the
Lord's coming. See how
the farmer waits for the
land to yield its
valuable crop and how
patient he is for the
autumn and spring rains.
You too, be patient and
stand firm, because the
Lord's coming is near.
Don't grumble against
each other, brothers, or
you will be judged. The
Judge is standing at the
door!" (James 5:7-9)
-
"He who testifies to
these things says, 'Yes,
I am coming soon.' Amen.
Come, Lord Jesus." (Rev.
22:20)
-
See also (Matt.
24:42-49, 24:50, 25:13;
Mark 13:32-33, 13:34-37;
Luke 12:40; 1 Thess.
5:2; Heb. 10:25; 1 Pet.
4:7; 2 Pet. 3:10; Rev.
1:3
Events or signs that
appear to precede Christ's
return
The "man of
lawlessness"
The "man of lawlessness"
(who is probably also the
"antichrist") must appear,
then Christ will destroy him
at His second coming.
-
"Concerning the coming
of our Lord Jesus
Christ... that day will
not come until the
rebellion occurs and the
man of lawlessness is
revealed, the man doomed
to destruction. He will
oppose and will exalt
himself over everything
that is called God or is
worshiped, so that he
sets himself up in God's
temple, proclaiming
himself to be God...And
now you know what is
holding him back, so
that he may be revealed
at the proper time. For
the secret power of
lawlessness is already
at work; but the one who
now holds it back will
continue to do so till
he is taken out of the
way. And then the
lawless one will be
revealed, whom the Lord
Jesus will overthrow
with the breath of his
mouth and destroy by the
splendor of his coming.
The coming of the
lawless one will be in
accordance with the work
of Satan displayed in
all kinds of counterfeit
miracles, signs and
wonders, and in every
sort of evil that
deceives those who are
perishing." (2
Thess. 2:1-10)
-
"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
John 2:18)
-
The antichrist is also
sometimes associated
with the beast in Rev.
13.
The Gospel preached to
all nations
-
"And the gospel must
first be preached to all
nations." (Mark 13:10).
A time of great
tribulation
That is, a time of severe
upheaval or trial.
-
"When you hear of wars
and rumors of wars, do
not be alarmed. Such
things must happen, but
the end is still to
come. Nation will rise
against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom.
There will be
earthquakes in various
places, and famines.
These are the beginning
of birth pains." (Mark
13:7-8 cf. Matt.
24:15-22; Luke 21:20-24)
-
"Pray that this will not
take place in winter,
because those will be
days of distress
unequaled from the
beginning, when God
created the world, until
now - and never to be
equaled again. If the
Lord had not cut short
those days, no one would
survive. But for the
sake of the elect, whom
he has chosen, he has
shortened them." (Mark
13:18-20)
The coming of false
prophets showing signs and
wonders
False prophets will work
great signs and wonders
hoping to lead people away
from God; and it will only
be by the (quite real) power
of demons working in the
world that they can do so.
-
"For false Christs and
false prophets will
appear and perform signs
and miracles to deceive
the elect - if that were
possible." (Mark 13:22
cf.Matt.
24:23-24).
Great wonders in the
heavens
-
"But in those days,
following that distress,
"`the sun will be
darkened, and the moon
will not give its light;
the stars will fall from
the sky, and the
heavenly bodies will be
shaken.'" (Mark 13:24-25
cf. Matt
24:19-30; Luke 21:25-27)
It is also important to note
here, that "great wonders in
the heavens", unlike other
signs, could occur in a
relatively short time-frame,
and as such impacts less on
our discussion of the
'timeframe' for Christ's
return.
The salvation of
Israel
In his letter to the Romans,
Paul discusses the salvation
of the Jews and indicates
that they (or at least a
large number of them) would
be saved at some point in
the future.
-
"I do not want you to be
ignorant of this
mystery, brothers, so
that you may not be
conceited: Israel has
experienced a hardening
in part until the full
number of the Gentiles
has come in. And so all
Israel will be saved, as
it is written..." (Rom.
11:25-26 cf Rom.
11:12)
The "Millennium" issue
The "Millennium" is a term
applied to the time period
implied by the multiple
references to a/the
"thousand years" in
Revelation 20:1-7:
"And I saw an angel
coming down out of
heaven, having the key
to the Abyss and holding
in his hand a great
chain. He seized the
dragon, that ancient
serpent, who is the
devil, or Satan, and
bound him for a
thousand years. He
threw him into the
Abyss, and locked and
sealed it over him, to
keep him from deceiving
the nations anymore
until the
thousand years were
ended. After that, he
must be set free for a
short time."
"I saw thrones on which
were seated those who
had been given authority
to judge. And I saw the
souls of those who had
been beheaded because of
their testimony for
Jesus and because of the
word of God. They had
not worshiped the beast
or his image and had not
received his mark on
their foreheads or their
hands. They came to life
and reigned with Christ a
thousand years. (The
rest of the dead did not
come to life until the
thousand yearswere
ended.) This is the
first resurrection.
Blessed and holy are
those who have part in
the first resurrection.
The second death has no
power over them, but
they will be priests of
God and of Christ and
will reign with him for a
thousand years."
"When the
thousand years are
over, Satan will be
released from his
prison..." (Rev 20:1-7,
emphasis added)
The "millennium issue"
impacts upon our study of
the time of the return of
Christ, as we are not
exactly certain when the
millennium will occur, has
occurred, is occurring, or
if it is even something
specific about which to be
concerned. However, the
return of Christ is often
said to be at either the
beginning or the end of "the
millennium" and it is
therefore important to
consider "the Millennium" in
brief.
There are three main
interpretations on the issue
of the millennium:
Amillennialism,
Premillennialism and
Postmillennialism.
Amillennialism
According to this view, the thousand
years refers
to the church age in which
we are now living. The
"thousand years" merely
implies a long time period
(of indefinite length) where
Satan's power has been
diminished to the point
where the gospel can spread
to all nations of the world,
and those who 'reign with
Christ' are those who have
already died in Him.
Obviously the reign is a
spiritual reign along the
lines of Matthew 28:18 when
Jesus said: "All authority
in heaven and on earth has
been given to me." Following
the "thousand years", Christ
will return to earth:
believers will be glorified and
non-believers will be
judged.
This view is called "Amillennialism"
as it holds that there is no
future millennium yet to
come.
Postmillennilism
According to this view the
current church age will
develop into a physical
Kingdom of God, where His
will is more truly done, as
the world is transformed
more and more by the gospel.
Following the "thousand
years" (meaning an
unspecific long time) Christ
will return, believers and
non-believers will be
raised, judgement will occur
and there will be a new
heaven and a new earth
followed by eternity.
This view is called
"Postmillennialism" as the
prefix "post" means "after",
and the view teaches that
Christ will return after "the
Millennium".
Premillennialism
There are two main version
of premillennialism:
"Classic" and "Pretribulational".
These views are called "Premillennialism"
as they teach that Christ
will return previous to the
period known as "the
Millennium".
Classic Premillennialism
According to the Classic (or
historic) view, the present
church age will continue
until a time of great
tribulation occurs.
Following this time of
suffering on the earth,
Christ will return. At the
time of His coming,
believers who have died will
have their bodies restored
to their souls and will
reign with Him on earth for
the duration of the
Millennium (some hold this
to be a literal thousand
years). At the end of the
thousand years, Satan will
be loosed, will gather an
army of followers and will
try to attack Christ, but
will be decisively defeated.
Following this, the bodies
of all unbelievers who have
died throughout history will
be raised and judged; and
believers will enter into
the eternal state.
Pretribulational
Premillennialism
This view is very similar to
the classic view above,
except that Christ is
expected to return
"secretly" before the "Great
Tribulation", collect
believers and take them with
Him to heaven for a period
of seven years. During this
seven year period, the time
of tribulation will occur as
will many other of the signs
(especially also the
conversion of many Jews).
Following the seven year
period, Christ will return
with believers to reign for
the duration of the
millennium as above (in the
classic view); and following
the millennium, the bodies
of all unbelievers who have
died throughout history will
be raised and judged; and
believers will enter into
the eternal state.
Remarks concerning
"the Millennium issue"
The above listings are meant
only as a summary of various
interpretations of "the
Millennium issue". Arguments
for and against each of
these views are beyond the
scope of this page, however,
I will note that problems
exist in all views listed
above, and reconciling
scriptural passages on this
topic inevitably results in
the reader deciding which of
two (or more)
interpretations of a passage
seems most correct or least
incorrect based on the
limited existing knowledge -
that is, the Bible is not
clear on this issue and as
such it should not divide
Christians in any sort of
meaningful way.
For the record, Wayne Grudem
(in his Systematic
Theology)
came down on the side of the
classic premillennialist
view; and Louis Berkhof (in
hisSystematic
Theology) didn't
explicitly state his view,
but rather came to the
conclusion that both
premillennialism and
postmillennialism fail to
align with the Bible, and
indicated that he finds no
fault with an Amillennialism
that pays little attention
to a formal millennial
period.
However, as regards the time
of the return of Christ the
views do little to impact
our study, as 1)
Amillennialism and Classic
Premillennialsim teach that
Christ may return at any
time and then institute "the
Millennium"; 2)
Postmillennialism holds a
somewhat different view of
the millennium than does the
other views as it sees it as
arising gradually from the
current church period, being
a time of Christ's reign
from heaven and therefore
Christ could still return at
any time; and finally 3)
Pretribulational
Premillennialism simply
holds that the events and
signs listed above will
occur following Christ's
initial return, again
allowing Him to come at any
time. Therefore, we must see
that "the Millennium issue"
has little impact in the
discussion of the timing of
the return of Christ.
For further reading on the
issue of the Millennium, I
recommend Berkhof'sSystematic
Theology,
pp.708-719, and Grudem's Systematic
Theology,
pp.1109-1139.
Conclusion to time issue
It seems clear that these
events (excluding the
"Millennium") seemingly have
to occur before Christ can
return (otherwise the Bible
would be untrue). The
question then becomes: "have
these events happened
already, or can they happen
in such a way that Christ
may literally come at any
moment?"
Four prominent views are
offered to this question:
The view that Christ
cannot come at any moment as
these signs have clearly not
all occurred
The first is a view
supported by many biblical
scholars (including Berkhof),
and believes that at least
one of these signs or events
has clearly not occurred and
therefore Christ cannot yet
come. Difficulties with this
view arise when Jesus'
warnings about His future
coming are taken into
consideration - He told His
hearers to 'watch and be
ready, for He would come at
an unexpected hour' - but it
is a rather pointless
warning if his hearers know
that he cannot return for at
least several years.
Grudem also points out that
when Jesus told of these
signs, He did so to increase
the urgency of anticipation
of His hearers - not to
allow them to attempt to
gauge the time of His
return. He said "There will
be signs in the sun, moon
and stars. On the earth,
nations will be in anguish
and perplexity at the
roaring and tossing of the
sea. Men will faint from
terror, apprehensive of what
is coming on the world, for
the heavenly bodies will be
shaken. At that time they
will see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power
and great glory. When these
things begin to take place,
stand up and lift up your
heads, because your
redemption is drawing near."
(Lk. 21:28)
The view that Christ
could come at any moment as
the signs will occur between
this and another coming of
Christ
The second is a much more
recent view (first proposed
by John Darby in the 1800s),
where Christ could come at
any moment, collect those
faithful to Him, allow the
signs (especially the 'Great
Tribulation') to occur on
the earth while none of the
faithful are there, then
return after seven years
with the faithful to reign
over the earth (this view is
also known as
"pretribulational
premillennialism", discussed
above).
The view that Christ
could come at any moment as
these signs have already
occurred
It is not too hard to see
the fulfillment of these
signs in some way in church
history - even in events
found solely in the 1st
Century. For example, the
Great Tribulation may have
been the time of persecution
under Roman Emperors, and
the "man of lawlessness" may
have been the Emperor Nero.
Similarly, the gospel was
certainly 'preached to all
the nations' in a
metaphorical way, and there
were false prophets to one
extent or another.
Whether these are the actual
signs represented in
Scripture is unknown -
however, it seems that often
the Scriptural account seems
to indicate much more
cataclysmic or obvious
events than those suggested
above or others from
history.
The view that Christ
could come at any moment as
these signs may have already
occurred
This view seems to be the
most sensible. Recognising
that we do not know for sure
one way or the other whether
the signs have occurred
already, the stipulation
that the signs may have
been fulfilled in past
events allows the scope
needed when dealing with
such uncertainties, while
also allowing for the
possibility that Christ
could return at any time,
and for the future
fulfilment of these signs in
the event that they have not
yet been fulfilled; all the
while encouraging us (as the
passages intend) to look
forward to, and prepare for,
the return of Christ without
allowing us to think that it
impossible that He would
return today.
Conclusion
While studying this topic,
many are led astray into
attempting to predict the
time of the coming of our
Lord and Saviour, Jesus
Christ. However, the richest
statements in the Bible
concerning His return warn
that no-one knows the day or
the hour, and instead lead
discerning readers to wait
expectantly for Christ, who
will come "like a thief in
the night" (See for example, Mark
13:34-37).
The purpose of this is to
surely focus the believer on
serving Christ faithfully,
with the constant
encouragement of knowing
that He will return, every
knee will bow to Him, and
God's will will be done. Let
us then live with our eyes
"on the Kingdom": focused on
God's will and His purposes,
and praying for the
fulfillment of His will here
on earth |
