WHEN DOES CHRIST RETURN?
Part 1
Part 2
THE TIMING OF THE RETURN OF CHRIST:
We know Jesus Christ came nearly 2000
years ago as the promised Messiah. After
His death and resurrection, He returned to his Father in heaven. After His departure, the leadership of the
developing Christian community continually taught that Christ was going to
return. The return of Christ was seen as
an event which was near at hand. The return of Jesus Christ was viewed as an
event to occur in their life time.
The expected immanency of Christ’s
return is clearly shown by the multiple dozens of time frame statements that
are found throughout the New Testament narrative. In the letter to the Jewish Christians, the
writer makes the following clear and concise statement:
Hebrews 10:36-37: You need to persevere so that when you have
done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very
little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay.
The Greek here is very emphatic.
Bullinger, in the Companion Bible, shows the Greek phrase mikron hoson hoson to
mean: "in a very, very little while." This statement was made nearly
2000 years ago to Jewish Christians who are being told to persevere so they
will receive what was promised at a near to occur return of Jesus Christ. The
return of Christ is viewed as an event that will take place in a very little
while and without delay. The writer had
already told these first century Christians not to abandon meeting together as
they saw the day approaching (Hebrews 10:25).
Apostle Paul made numerous statements
that show an anticipated return of Christ within the generation that he was
addressing at the time. To the
Corinthian and
1 Corinthians 1:7-8: Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift
as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you
strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Philippians 3:20-21: But 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.
Paul speaks of eagerly awaiting the
return of Christ. You don’t eagerly
await something that isn’t going to happen for thousands of years into the
future. Paul’s use of the word eagerly
shows us that there was expectation of a soon to occur return of Christ. Paul
provides further attestation of this in two additional statements he made in
his letters to these two churches.
I Corinthians 7:29: What I mean,
brothers, is that the time is short.
Philippians 4:5: Let your gentleness be
evident to all. The Lord is near.
Paul is writing from the viewpoint that
the time is short and the return of Christ is near at hand. In his letter to
the
1 Thessalonians 1:8-10: They tell how
you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for
his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from
the coming wrath.
Paul’s continues to show the first
century context of the issues he is addressing by telling the Thessalonian’s to
not only have their spirit and soul but also their body kept blameless at the
return of Christ. If the return of Christ was to be thousands of years into the
future, the instruction to keep their bodies blameless at His return would have
made no sense.
1 Thessalonians 5:23: May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify
you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ?
Apostle James exhorted his readers to be
patient because the coming of Christ was near. Such exhortation would have been
meaningless to these first century Christians if Christ’s coming was to be
thousands of years into the future.
James 5:7-8: 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.
Apostle John taught first century
Christians that many antichrists had come and it was because of this that they
knew they were living in the last hour.
John then exhorts his readers to continue in Christ so they will be
confident and have nothing to be ashamed of at Christ’s coming.
1 John 2:18: 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 John 2:28: And now, dear children, continue in him, so
that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.
The writer to the Hebrew Christians
shows the time they were living in as the “last days” by identifying these days
with the appearance of Christ in the first century. Apostle Peter does the same by associating
the events on Pentecost with the “last days.”
Hebrews 1:1-2: In the past God spoke to our forefathers
through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days
he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and
through whom he made the universe.
Acts 2:17: In the last days, God says, I
will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
The question we must address is this: How long were these “last days” to be and
what do they represent? We must also ask
and answer the Question: Did such words as “soon” and “near” mean the same
thing to people two thousand years ago as these words mean to us today?
The Revelation given to John by Christ
begins and ends with statements that show the events discussed were about to
take place. These events included the
return of Christ. Remember, this prophesies was written nearly 2000 years ago.
Revelation 1:1: The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God
gave him to show his servants what, must soon take place.
Revelation 1:3: Blessed is the one who reads 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.
Revelation 22:6: The angel said to me,
"These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of
the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon
take place."
Revelation 22:7: "Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he
who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book."
Revelation 22:10: Then he told me,
"Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time
is near.
Revelation 22:12: "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is
with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.
Revelation 22:20: He who testifies to these
says, "Yes, I am coming soon."
It is significant to note that John is
told not to seal up the words of this prophecy because the time is near. This is in stark contrast to the prophet
Daniel who was told to seal up the words of the prophecies given to him because
they are seen as being fulfilled in the distant future.
Daniel 8:26: "The vision of the evenings and mornings
that has been given you is true, but seal up the vision, for it concerns the
distant future."
Daniel 12:9: Go your way, Daniel,
because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.
Later in this series we will deal with Daniel’s prophecies and see how
they relate to the Revelation given to John.
We will now take a look at words such as soon and near and determine
whether such words meant the same to people living in the first century as they
do to us living in the twenty-first century
THE MEANING OF THE WORD SOON:
If I were to tell you that I was coming
over to visit you soon, you would understand me to mean in a short time I would
be coming to see you. You would understand
my use of the word soon to mean something that was going to occur in a short
period of time. Is this the way people
2000 years ago used and understood the word soon? Let’s take a look.
Luke 7:11: Soon afterward, Jesus went to
a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him.
Acts 19:29: Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The
people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions from
Acts 25:4-5: Festus answered, "Paul is being held at
1 Corinthians 4:19: But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord
is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are
talking, but what power they have.
Philippians 2:19: I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to
you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you.
1 Peter 1:13-14: I think it is right to refresh your memory as
long as I live in the tent of this body,
because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ
has made clear to me.
It should be clear from the context of
the foregoing scriptures that when the writers used the word soon in their
language, it was to communicate the idea that what they were writing about was
going to take place in a short period of time. When the word soon is used in
reference to the return of Jesus Christ, it doesn’t suddenly lose its normal
meaning of something that is about to occur.
The English word soon is translated from
the basic Greek word takos. In its
various tenses, ( taku, takeos, takinos, takion, takus, takista) this word appears 39 times in the Greek
scriptures and by context can be seen to always refer to something that is soon
to take place. The word always means
with speed, quickness, swiftness and haste.
Any Greek dictionary will show this.
It is these Greek words that are used in the passages sited above,
including all the scriptures in Revelation that reference the return of
Christ.
The Greek scholar, Kurt Aland, in his
comments on Revelation 22:12, says: “In the original text, the Greek word used
is tachu, and does not mean ‘soon,’ in the sense of ‘sometime,’ but rather
‘now,’ immediately.” It would appear
that when someone heard the apostles speak the word takos in its various tenses,
they understood it to mean something about to occur in a short time.
Where this word is used in reference to
the coming of Christ, is there any linguistic reason to believe that it means
something other than a soon to occur event in the first century? Is it logical to stretch soon into a period
of nearly 2000 years and counting?
Some have suggested that where this word
is associated with the return of Christ, it is referring to the manner in which
Christ will return and means when Christ comes He will come quickly. “Soon” is felt to be descriptive of the
manner in which Christ will return and not the time frame of His return. Translators at times do translate takos as
quickly in the New Testament narrative.
Does such usage change the meaning of the word to refer to the manner in
which an event occurs as opposed to the time frame of its occurrence? Let’s look at two such passages in the NIV.
Matthew 28:7-8: “Then go quickly and
tell his disciples: `He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into
Luke 14:21: "The servant came back and reported this
to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his
servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in
the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ ”
In both these passages we see that
someone is being told to go and do something immediately. Is the manner of doing different from the
time frame? By context it is clear that
what is to be done is expected to be done in a short time frame. There is nothing here to suggest that what is
to be done can be done far into the future but that when it is done it must be
done quickly. There simply is no
credence to the idea that this word can mean the manner in which something
occurs irrespective of the time frame.
Whether you translate takos and its tenses as “soon” or as “quickly,” it
means something that is about to occur.
There simply is no
grammatical/linguistic/contextual reason to view this word as referring to the
manner in which something is done irrespective of the time frame.
If I told you I was coming over to your
house quickly, you would not conclude that the manner of my coming over would
be different from the time frame of my coming over. You would not conclude that
when I came I would come quickly as opposed to slowly. You would simply expect me to arrive in a
short period of time.
Some, in their effort to avoid the
obvious, have concluded that such terms as soon, short and near are relative
terms and can mean one thing to one person and another thing to another
person. Is this a reasonable
conclusion? Look up every occurrence of
the Greek words translated soon, short,
and quickly. You will find by context
these words mean exactly what they mean in our communication today. They simply mean something that is soon to
take place.
To say that “soon” can mean something to occur hundreds or
thousands of years into the future is an oxymoron, a contradiction. Therefore, when we see statements made to
people living nearly 2000 years ago saying
Christ is coming soon, we have to believe that those who heard or read
such statements understood them to mean Christ was going to return in a short
period of time from when such statements were made.
A careful review of the scriptures
speaking of Christ coming soon (quickly in the King James Version) will show
that the focus is on the time frame of His return and not on the manner of His
return. The context is the determining factor as to how takos, in its various
tenses, is to be understood. In the Revelation, Christ told John that He was
coming soon. Christ did not say to John that when He returns He would return in
a quick manner. It would go without saying that when Christ returned, His
manner of return would be quickly. He wouldn’t return slowly. There is no
reason to conclude that “soon” is addressing the manner of His return. The
manner of His return is addressed in the first chapter of Revelation where
Christ is seen coming with the clouds. Christ’s coming in the clouds will be
discussed later in this series.
Furthermore, it should be noted that in
Revelation 1:1-3, Christ says that the revelation given to Him by God was for
the purpose of showing His servants what must soon (takos) take place. The
readers of this revelation are instructed to take it to heart because the time
is near. The context should be obvious. Christ is speaking of events that were
about to take place. He is not speaking
of the manner in which they will take place once they begin to take place.
It must also be noted that the
revelation is addressed to seven churches existing in the province of
THE MEANING OF THE WORD NEAR:
The English word near is translated from
the Greek word engus. This word, in its various tenses, generally means near or
closes and is so translated in many New Testament passages. Here are a few
examples of how engus is translated:
Matthew 26:18: He replied, ‘Go
into the city to a certain man and tell him,
The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the
Passover with my disciples at your house.
John 7:2-3: But when the Jewish Feast
of Tabernacles was near, Jesus' brothers said to him, ‘You ought to leave here
and go to
Acts 9:38: Lydda was near Joppa; so when
the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged
him, ‘Please come at once!’
The context of the above scriptural
passages shows how the Greek word engus was commonly used in the first-century.
It should be apparent that this Greek word meant “near” to first century
Christians in the same manner as it means near to us today. It simply means something
close at hand.
As with the Greek word takos, the
context will dictate how engus is to be understood. In the epistle written by
James, the apostle is addressing the twelve tribes scattered among the nations
(James 1:1). In chapter 5 he speaks of the last days and exhorts his readers to
be patient and stand firm because the Lord’s coming is near (James 5:7-9). He
concludes this section of his letter by saying “the judge is standing at the
door."
Some have suggested that James is saying
that the coming of the Lord is certain or guaranteed as certainty is a meaning
associated with certain tenses of the Greek engus. The context of this letter
does not support such a conclusion. The context of this letter is obvious from
the start. James is addressing the twelve tribes of
CONCLUSION OF PART ONE:
When we read the letters that are found
in the New Testament, we are in essence reading someone else’s mail. The
letters written by the apostles were addressed to first century congregations
of the Christian Church. When Paul wrote to the Christians attending the Church
at
The last book of the Bible contains a
revelation of future events. The question that we must ask is how future were
these events to be? The apostle John was
instructed to write about what he was soon to see, and direct this information
to seven churches that Church history shows physically existed at the time this
message was given. The instruction given in association with this revelation is
that those who read it should take it to heart because the time is near.
Revelation 1:4: John, to the seven
churches in the province of
Revelation 1:10-11: On the
Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a
trumpet, which said: ‘Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven
churches: to
Revelation 1:1-3: The revelation of
Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what, must soon take
place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies
to everything he saw that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus
Christ. Blessed is the one who reads 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.
It should be evident from the context
that John was sending the message of the revelation to his contemporaries who
made up the congregations of seven different
The revelation given to John is filled
with a great deal of apocalyptic symbolism. That is why this message is often
referred to as the Apocalypse. Apocalyptic language uses symbols to represent
the real thing. This method of writing is found throughout the prophetic
scriptures. We find Christ using this method of speaking in what is commonly
referred to as the Olivet Discourse as found recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13
and Luke 21. It is here in this discourse that we will discover what time is
being referred to in the above quoted passages. In part two of this series we
will examine the Olivet Discourse as recorded in the 24th chapter of Matthew.