WHEN DOES CHRIST RETURN?
Part 1
Part 2
THE COMING OF ELIJAH:
We have shown that the historical events
of the first century correlate well with the Olivet prophecy. In Malachi 4:5 it
is stated that the prophet Elijah would be sent before the great and dreadful
day of the Lord comes. The context of the fourth chapter of Malachi shows this
to be a time of spiritual renewal and a time of judgment.
Malachi 4:1-6: Surely the day is coming;
it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be
stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the LORD
Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere
my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you
will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. Then you will trample
down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day
when I do these things,” says the LORD Almighty. “Remember the law of my
servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb
for all
Malachi is speaking prophetically to
show that a time of great judgment was coming against those who failed to
revere God’s name and respond to His will. Prior to this judgment’s occurring,
Elijah would bring a message of spiritual renewal. When was this going to take
place?
In Luke’s gospel we find the angel
Gabriel speaking to Zacharias and telling him the following about his son, John
the Baptist.
Luke 1:14-17: He will be a joy and
delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be
great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented
drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the
people of
Here we find the words of Malachi being
applied to John the Baptist. We also see that the man Elijah was not going to
be resurrected and literally appear. Malachi was speaking of someone coming in
the spirit and power of Elijah. This person would do what Elijah had done. A
review of the ministry of Elijah in the Old Testament reveals that he brought
ancient
Matthew 11:13-14: For all the Prophets
and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is
the Elijah who was to come.
Matthew 17:10-13: The disciples asked
him, ‘Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?’
Jesus replied, ‘To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I
tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have
done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to
suffer at their hands.’ Then the disciples understood that he was talking to
them about John the Baptist.
When did John the Baptist appear? John
appeared two-thousand years ago. What was to follow that appearance? The great
and dreadful day of the Lord would follow. Are we still waiting two-thousand
years later for the “day of the Lord” to appear? It appears from a reading of
the entire book of Malachi that Elijah would come as a messenger to proclaim
coming judgment upon
John asks the Pharisees and Sadducees,
“Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” (Matthew 3:7). What wrath is
John referring to? The apostle Paul reflected on how the Thessalonian
brethren were waiting for Christ to appear to deliver them from the coming
wrath (1 Thessalonians 1:10). Is this the same “coming wrath” that John is
speaking about? Are the Thessalonians still waiting for Christ to deliver them
from the coming wrath? John speaks of Christ being ready to harvest the wheat
and burn the chaff. John said, “The ax is already at the root of the trees”
(Matthew 3:10-12). In Matthew 13:36-50, as shown earlier, a similar picture is
drawn of the time of the end. In Matthew 23:29-36, Christ reveals what would
come upon the generation he was addressing at the time. Now let’s look at what
Peter said. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, associates the manifestation of the
Holy Spirit with the prophecy of Joel and said,
Acts 2:16-21: This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.
‘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. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my
spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven
above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The
sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the
great and glorious day of the Lord. And anyone who calls on the name of the
Lord shall be saved.’
Here Peter identifies the manifestation
of the Spirit with what was to take place in the last days. In so doing, Peter
is identifying his time as the last days. He also shows this to be a time of
judgment and the coming of the Lord. In quoting Joel, Peter uses the same
apocalyptic language that Christ used in the Olivet prophecy where Christ said,
“The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light” (Matthew
24:29). Christ, like Peter, identifies these events with their generation when
He says, “I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away
until all these things have happened” (Matthew 24:34).
In Acts 2:40, it’s recorded that Peter,
with many other words, warned them and pleaded with them to save themselves
from the corrupt generation they were living in. Acts 2:37 states that the
people were, “cut to the heart,” when they heard these things from Peter, and
three thousand were added to their number that day.
It’s apparent that with the
manifestation of the Spirit, and this being tied to the coming judgment upon
The ministry of John the Baptist was a
fulfillment of what Malachi had prophesied. Malachi shows this ministry
preceding the coming of the Lord in judgment. Malachi associates a burning by
fire with this judgment. John the Baptist associates fire with the coming
judgment upon
Matthew 3:1-12: In those days John the
Baptist came, preaching in the
This passage of scripture shows John the
Baptist addressing members of the Pharisee and Sadducee religious sects of his
day. He is telling them what is happening and what is about to happen. This
message was being directed to first-century
SOME WOULD BE ALIVE AT CHRIST’S
RETURN:
In Matthew 16, Christ addresses His
disciples about the sacrifices they must make to follow Him, saying their
reward would be according to what they do. Mark also records this saying in Mark
8 and 9. In Mark’s account, it is shown that Christ was speaking to a crowd of
people in addition to His disciples.
Matthew 16:27-28: For the Son of man
is going to come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will reward
each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some standing
here will not taste of death before they see the Son of Man coming in His
kingdom.
Mark 8:34: Then he called the crowd
to him along with his disciples and said: ‘If anyone would come after me, he
must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’ Mark 9:1, ‘I tell you
the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the
Here we see Christ dating his return. If
the coming of Christ and the Kingdom are still future, then there are some
2,000 plus year-old people still living and waiting to experience that coming.
Some say that the transfiguration six
days later fulfills Christ’s statement about some of that generation seeing Him
coming in power and in His Kingdom. Does this square with the facts? Christ
said that not all of them would “taste of death” before He came in His Kingdom.
The obvious implication is that some of them would be dead when He returned.
Since he was addressing a crowd of people, when He said that some would not
die, there is reason to conclude that a large number would be dead. The
transfiguration occurred six days later. The chances that any of those that
Christ had addressed just six days earlier had died, let alone a multiple
number of individuals, just doesn’t appear to be probable. We know none of the
Apostles died during that time frame.
In the transfiguration narrative, we
find that while Christ was praying, “the appearance of His face changed and His
clothes became as bright as a flash of lighting.” Moses and Elijah appeared in
“glorious splendor, talking with Jesus” (Luke 9:29-31). A bright cloud
enveloped Peter, James and John and they heard a voice come from the cloud
saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to
Him!” (Matthew 17:5).
The context of Matthew 16:27-28, is
Christ’s coming in glory to reward his followers for what they have done. The
transfiguration account does not deal with rewards. Both Matthew’s and Luke’s
(Luke 9:26-27) accounts of this event show angels are involved. There are no
angels involved in the transfiguration. There is no mention of the Kingdom in
the transfiguration account. I therefore submit that the transfiguration does
not relate to what Christ said about some not tasting of death before He would
return in His Kingdom. The transfiguration appears to have occurred to give
evidence to Christ’s being the Son of God. The presence of Moses and Elijah
when Christ is identified as the Son of God gives evidence to Christ’s being
greater than Moses and Elijah and it is therefore Christ who is the one the
disciples are told to listen to. Since Moses and Elijah represented the Old
Covenant system and Christ came to introduce the New Covenant system, the
events of the transfiguration signified the transition that was in the process
of taking place.
Some have used Peter’s reference to the
transfiguration in 2nd Peter chapter one as evidence that this event pictured
the return of Christ and thus fulfilled the requirements of what Christ said in
reference to some not tasting death before seeing Christ come in his Kingdom.
Is the return of Christ what Peter sees in the transfiguration?
2 Peter 1:16-18: We did not follow
cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received
honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the
Majestic Glory, saying,” ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well
pleased.’ “We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were
with him on the sacred mountain.
Peter did not say the event they
experienced was representative of the return of Christ. Peter said they did not
invent a story about the power and coming of Christ and that the evidence for
this was their personal witnessing of the majesty of Christ. Peter was saying
that because they had witnessed the majesty of Christ on the sacred mountain,
they were able to affirmatively speak of the power and coming of Christ. Peter
was here showing how God had affirmed the divinity of Christ and therefore his
readers could rest assured that what was said about the power and coming of
Christ was the truth.
Christ said that some would not die
before they see the
We have another interesting narrative
related to the return of Christ recorded in the gospel of John:
John 21:20-23: Peter turned and saw that
the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had
leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, ‘Lord, who is going to
betray you?’) When Peter saw him, he asked, ‘Lord, what about him?’ Jesus
answered, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?
You must follow me.’ Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that
this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he
only said, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?’
While this passage does not say that
John would be alive at Christ’s return, the very fact that Christ indicated it
was a possibility, shows the first-century context of His return. It would have
made no sense for Christ to make such a statement if His return were to be
hundreds or thousands of years in the future. Christ wasn’t suggesting that
John could live physically for thousands of years. The context is the return of
Christ. The rumor among the brothers was that John would not die. The context
shows that the rumor was that John would be alive at the return of Christ.
There is no reason to believe that the brothers were thinking in terms of
John’s living for thousands of years. It is reasonable to conclude that the
brothers were anticipating a return of Christ within a normal lifetime. As it
turns out, all indications are that John did live to see Christ come in
judgment against
The scriptural passages we have covered
so far provide strong scriptural evidence for a first-century coming of Christ
in judgment and to establish His everlasting Kingdom. When we add the
historical documentation from the first century, it gives considerable strength
to this position. The scriptural evidence strongly indicates that it was the
generation that was living during the time of Christ’s ministry that lived to
experience the events Christ prophesied. A spiritual return of Christ in judgment,
through the vehicle of human armies, is not out of line with other similar
events in Scriptural history. The Old Testament is full of accounts of God’s
coming in various ways to bring judgment upon nations. Did God physically
appear in these events? No, He didn’t. Instead, He appeared through human
armies and other natural phenomena to accomplish His purpose.
Every disciple whose writings make up
the New Testament addressed their audiences from the perspective that Christ
would return during their lifetime. They believed and taught this because of
what Christ taught them. The written record of Christ’s teachings strongly
point to a first-century return and establishment of the Kingdom. This return
was not a physical return. It was a spiritual return whereby Christ facilitated
His purpose through the Roman armies. That purpose was to bring judgment upon
those refusing to accept Jesus Christ as Messiah and the New Covenant system
that He came to establish.
THE EVIDENCE FROM THE REVELATION:
Let’s return to the book of Revelation
and see how what is recorded there corresponds to what we have thus far
identified as a first-century fulfillment of the return of Christ and all
accompanying events. We already noted earlier, in discussing the letters to the
seven churches, that the emphasis was on soon to occur
events.
The basic focus of the Revelation is
set forth at the beginning of this prophecy as seen in verse seven of the first
chapter. “Look, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him, even
those who pierced him; and all the people of the earth will mourn because of
him.” The phrase, “even those who pierced him,” further identifies the time
period as the first century. It was in the first century that Christ was
crucified and was physically pierced by a Roman soldier and spiritually pierced
by His enemies (See Acts 2:23,36; 3:15; 5:30; 7:52; 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15).
This passage in the Revelation
corresponds very closely with what Christ said in Matthew 24:30, “At that time
the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the
earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of the sky,
with power and great glory.” Christ then said in Matthew 24:34, “This
generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.”
Here Christ dates the fulfilling of the Olivet prophecy to the generation He is
addressing in the first century. Since the statement in Revelation 1:7 about
coming in the clouds and the nations mourning is essentially the same as in the
Olivet prophecy, it is apparent that the same event is being discussed.
In both these passages Christ speaks of
the people of the earth mourning. The Greek word translated people and nations respectively in these two passages, is phule. This word is translated as tribes throughout most of
the New Testament and is shown to have tribes as its basic meaning in Greek
lexicons. (See The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament and The
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.) It also appears that this statement
by Christ is taken from Zechariah 12:10-14, where the prophet speaks of there
being a great weeping in
The 144,000
The statements dealing with the sealing
of the 144,000 as found in Revelation the ninth chapter; provide another
time/place indicator. “Then I heard the number of those who were sealed:
144,000 from all the tribes of
Who are the firstfruits
in Scripture? In the Old Testament, firstfruits
designated the first gatherings of the crops (See Exodus 23:19; Leviticus 2:14;
Nehemiah 10:35). James, in his letter addressed to the “twelve tribes scattered
among the nations,” says in verse 18, “He chose to give us birth through the
word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created” (James 1:1, 18). James is
addressing his contemporaries as the firstfruits. A
reading of the New Testament scriptures clearly shows that the first converts
to Christianity were from the tribes of
The 144,000, who are Israelites, are
called the firstfruits in the Revelation. Since the
concept of firstfruits appears to be identified with
those Israelites who became Christians in the first century, it would place the
144,000 in the first century. This would provide another time/place indicator
as to when the events that John wrote about were to take place. If the 144,000
are to first make their appearance in our future, they could hardly be
considered the “firstfruits.” There have been many
descendants of the tribes of
Some would define “firstfruits”
as all those who convert to Christianity from the first century to the time of
Christ’s return sometime yet in our future. Therefore, the firstfruits
are defined as spiritual Israelites. If the number of 144,000 is considered as
a literal representation of these converts, such a notion would be ludicrous as
there have been millions of Christian converts since the first century. If this
number is considered figurative, it still doesn’t square with the common usage
of firstfruits. To define firstfruits
as being gathered over a period of 2,000 years and counting, runs contrary to
any sensible understanding of the meaning of firstfruits.
In the Old Testament, firstfruits are associated with
the first pickings of the harvest. Scripture associates this usage with events
connected with conversion to Christianity. The initial converts to Christianity
were the firstfruits of the greater harvest that was
to come.
THE BEAST OF REVELATION 13:
Let us now examine the “beast” of
Revelation 13. Revelation 13:1-10 introduces the “beast,” and verse 18 asks the
reader to calculate the number of his name, which is
666. Since all the foregoing time/place statements point to a first-century
context for the events described in the Revelation, it would be prudent to
consider identifying the “beast” within that context as well, rather than
trying to place his appearance in our future. Many historians and theologians
identify the Roman Emperor Nero with the beast of Revelation 13:1-10. History
reveals that this man fit very well the description offered in “code” by John
in the Revelation.
John writes that the beast was given
authority for forty-two months and given power to make war against the saints
(Revelation 13: 5-7). It is interesting to note that the Neronic
persecution against the Christians began in November of A.D. 64, and continued
until June of A.D. 68. It was in June of A.D. 68 when Nero committed suicide.
The period of November A.D. 64 to June 68 is a period of forty-two months.
Nero (Emperor from A.D. 54 to 68) was
the sixth Caesar to govern the developing
The historian Suetonius (A.D. 70-160)
tells how Nero would disguise himself and prowl the streets and attack men,
stabbing them to death and dropping them down sewers. Suetonius described him
as “insolent, lustful, extravagant, greedy and cruel.” He had his travel paths
lined with temporary brothels staffed with married women. Suetonius speaks of
Nero as a torturer, a homosexual rapist and sodomist.
The Roman historian Tacitus (A.D.
55-117) tells of how Nero initiated the persecutions against the Christians
with horrible tortures, crucifixions, beheadings, burning them alive and using
them as human torches. Pliny the elder (A.D. 23-79) describes Nero as “the
destroyer of the human race,” and “the poison of the world.” The writer
“He so prostituted his own chastity
that after defiling almost every part of his body, he at last devised a kind of
game, in which, covered with the skin of some wild animal, he was let loose
from a cage and attacked the private parts of men and women, who were bound to
stakes, and when he had satiated his mad lust, was dispatched by his freeman Doryphorus.”
It is Nero who initiated the war against
the Jewish nation that led to the destruction of
The number 666 has been tied to various
individuals and entities throughout the centuries. If indeed Nero is the beast
of Revelation 13, the number 666 would have to relate to his name as the
Scripture demands in Revelation 13:18.
In Latin, Greek, Hebrew and other older
languages, letters were used to represent numbers. John wrote in code to hide
the meaning from the enemies of first-century Christians. John was a Jew and
understood Hebrew and yet wrote the Revelation in Greek. To identify the beast
numerically in Greek would have been too easy to recognize by the enemies of
the Christians. What John apparently did was to identify Nero in Hebrew
letters, which he translated into Greek. The reader would have to know the
Hebrew equivalents to the Greek letters in order to arrive at the proper
meaning, the same way we have to know English equivalents to the Greek letters
in order to understand the meaning. That is why John writes in Revelation
13:18, “This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the
number of the beast.”
Nero’s full title name as Roman Emperor
was Nero Caesar. In Hebrew, translated into Greek, Nero Caesar is rendered (in
English characters) as: NRWN QSR. The numbers associated with these letters are
N=50, R=200, W=6, N=50, Q=100, S=60, R=200. Total, 666. What gives greater
evidence to Nero’s being the beast of Revelation 13 is that in several very
early copies of the Greek New Testament, the number 616 is given which is the
Latin numerical equivalent of the name Nero Caesar. What this tells us is that
the copiers knew that 666 in the Greek represented Nero and were simply using
the Latin numerical designation that they were well aware of.
It is also interesting to note that in
Revelation 17:9-10, seven kings are spoken of with five having fallen, one is,
and the other has not yet come. In actual history, five Roman emperors had come
and gone (Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar, Tiberius Caesar, Caligula, and
Claudius Caesar) with Nero being the sixth. If the “one is” statement of John
is to be applied to the Roman emperor who was on the throne at the time that
John wrote the Revelation, then Nero is again identified as the beast, seeing
how John refers to the king that “now is” as the beast.
It should be noted that when Nero killed
himself, it ended the bloodline of Caesars that had ruled over the
THE
Another strong indicator as to the time
frame involved in the events described in Revelation is the fact that John
speaks of the temple as still standing as part of his description (Revelation
11:1-2). We know that the temple was destroyed in A.D. 70. Therefore, it would
be logical to conclude that the events being prophesied by John were within the
time frame that included the temple that was still physically standing in
There simply is no scriptural evidence
to support a rebuilt temple. A rebuilt temple would imply a reestablishment of
sacrifices and other Old Covenant ordinances. Christ came to forever set aside
Old Covenant requirements. A rebuilt temple would have no significance relative
to salvation or the purposes of God. A future rebuilt temple is not the temple
of record in the Revelation.
As part of the prophecy relating to
measuring the temple, John is instructed not to measure the outer court because
it has been given to the gentiles and it is said “they will trample on the holy
city for 42 months” (Revelation 11:2). In the Olivet prophecy it is stated, “
The Revelation was written with a great
deal of symbolism. It appears that this narrative was largely written in code
in order to conceal the meaning from the enemies of Christianity. At the same time,
this narrative provided a warning to the Christians as to what was about to
take place. This allowed the Christian community to properly prepare themselves
and gain faith from knowing what the outcome would be. The outcome would
involve the return of Christ to facilitate judgment and resurrection, and
establish His everlasting Kingdom.
In the final chapter of the Revelation,
John is told, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because
the time is near” (Revelation 22:10). This is in stark contrast to what Daniel
was told relative to his prophecy regarding end time events. “But seal up the
vision, for it concerns the distant future” (Daniel 8:26). “Go your way,
Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end”
(Daniel 12:9).
Daniel wrote in the 6th century B.C.
Those portions of Daniel’s prophecy concerning end-time events were sealed and
didn’t materialize until nearly 500 years later in the first century A.D. John
was told not to seal up his prophecy because the time was near. It should be
clear that the events described in the Revelation were to take place soon after
John was given this prophecy and not thousands of years into the future.
In part five of this series, we will
identify who Babalon is in the Revelation given to
John and begin to look at the book of Daniel as it pertains to our discussion
in these essays.