The Sixth of an On-going
Series
The Imminent Return of Christ (a)
(Matthew 24:33;Mark
13:29; compare Romans 16:20; also see 1 Thessalonians 4:17,
5:10; 1 Corinthians 15:51; Hebrews 10:37; James 5:8; 1 Peter 4:7; Revelation
1:1)
KINGDOM DYNAMICS
The
Imminent Return of Christ
Just as the New Testament’s concept of the Parousia as
a whole defies the folly of arguing a provable "systematization"
or charted guarantee of know-it-all-ism, so does its vision of an imminent
Second Advent discourage arrogant date-setting.
Yet the early church left on record in the New testament a clear and
unmistakable witness that Christ is coming soon.
The early church’s free
and unsystematic proclamation of Jesus’ teaching about His return is consistent
through-out. New Testament believers lived on the paradoxical cutting edge of
fulfillment and hope, of "already" and "not yet,"
of being in Christ already, yet expecting Christ to come. They did their work and waged their campaign
with one eye, as it were, strained on heaven, the other focused clearly on the
earthly embodiments of principalities and powers – the nations of the
Earth. A balancing tension drew the
church forward in both ways, to witness of christ, while looking for Him to
return, expecting the Parousia any moment.
The imminent "any moment" expectation is an unmistakable
element in the New Testaming – in the Synoptic Gospels, and in the writings of
Paul, Peter, and John. Over the centuries – particularly in the twentieth
century – there have been various attempts to explain this expectation in the
light of the nearly two thousand years that have passed since the New Testament
period. Often, explanations result in claiming to know more than justified by
solid biblical evidence,
Humility before this truth is recommended. Throughout the New
Testament the purpose of apostolic teaching concerning Jesus’ Second Coming is
to stimulate us all to a "moment-by-moment" readiness and
vigilance, never to encourage calculations of exactly how near the moment of
His return might be. The New Testament writers did not manipulate their
readers, playing off a remote expectation against an immediate one. For
example, Paul’s two epistles to the Thessalonians are specifically designed:
1.
to calm their
apprehensions about the link between Christ’s resurrection and our own ( 1
Thess. 2:12, 19:3-13; 5:23), and…
2.
to remind them of
the obligations we have to live an upright and industrious life in the interim
(1Thess. 4:11, 12; also see 2 Thess. 3:6-12)
At times Paul seems to
suggest that he himself might survive to behold the Lord’s return in his
lifetime (2 Thess. 4:15, 17; also see 1 Thess. 5:22, 3, 9, 10). At other times he suggests that the Paarousia
is far off (Phil. 3:20, 21). G.C. Berkouwer in his The Return
of Christ and Oscar Cullmann in his Christ and Time have
taken great pains to demonstrate that the early church focused attention on the
central message of the concept of imminence – be alert,
be wakeful, for you do not know when the moment comes (Matt. 24:44; Mark 13:33; 1 Thess. 4:2, 2 Peter 3:10).
Be prepared,
Playwright Janet Irene Thomas
Founder/President/CEO
Bible Stories Theatre of
Fine & Performing Arts
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