The Second Coming of Christ
There are few
topics in the New Testament which appear more prominently than the second
coming of Christ. It was on the lips of
our Savior on many occasions. I shall
give you just one example. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself; that where I am there you may be also” (John 14:3). The apostles also referred either implicitly
or explicitly to Christ’s second coming in many speeches and writings. Paul told the Thessalonians: “For the Lord
himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first”
(1 Thess.
Christ’s return at the end of the age has been the hope of all who accept the New Testament as God’s final revelation to man. Bible believers have understood that if Christ is not coming back for his own, life is without meaning and there is no hope of eternal life. If Christ were not returning for his children, then we Christians would of all men be most miserable. There would be no motivation for living righteously, soberly and godly in this present world. The second coming provides great inspiration for Christians to live as God wants us to live.
You cannot be
unaware of the great number of controversies surrounding our Lord’s second
coming. The controversies are often
bitter and angry, but none of this should take away from the significance of
Christ’s return at the end of the age.
We must not allow differences over the rapture, the battle of
Armageddon, the great tribulation and the final return of the Jews to
Tragically, many
modernistic theologians have cast serious doubt on the New Testament’s teaching
concerning our Lord’s second coming.
According to Rhena Schweitzer Miller, Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s daughter
from
There are many
biblical passages which have a strong bearing on our Lord’s second coming, but
I shall concentrate in this lesson on 2 Peter 3. Our discussion will
focus on three important truths.
According to the apostle Peter, Jesus is coming again (2 Pet.
3:1-7). But the time of his coming
cannot be known (2 Pet. 3:8-13). The
really important truth about the time of his second coming is that we must be
ready for him when he comes (2 Pet.
The apostle Peter makes reference to scoffers who will question the Lord’s return. “The second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior: knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Pet. 3:1-4).
In spite of what Christ and his apostles taught about the second coming, there were scoffers who made light of that great truth. The scoffers were to raise doubts “in the last days” about the second coming. The expression, “in the last days,” does not refer to the end of the Christian era, but to the Christian era itself. So many preachers speak of the “last days” as if that phrase meant the last days of the last days. But the term is used in the New Testament of the Christian age--the age which began on the day of Pentecost and will continue until our Lord’s return.
The scoffers or mockers were probably not questioning the fact of Christ’s return because they had some intellectual objection to it. They had moral problems with Christ’s second coming. They did not want him to return because they knew what their eternal destiny would be. Since they were walking after their own lusts, they did not want to face the consequences of their ungodly behavior. From the viewpoint of the scoffers, it would be better for the Lord not to come at all.
The scoffers were asking: “Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation” (2 Pet. 3:4). The scoffers of 2 Peter 3 are not specifically identified, but they probably were atheists, agnostics, secular humanists and liberal theologians, such as John Shelby Spong and Leslie Weatherhead. The scoffers belonged to a school which is identified in modern times by the title “uniformitarianism.” In fact, it would be difficult to find a better definition of the evolutionary doctrine of uniformitarianism than these words: “All things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” According to the theory of uniformitarianism, the world has always operated in a uniform manner. There have never been any catastrophes--no giant leaps forward. This doctrine leaves no room for miracles, which, by definition, refer to God’s intervention in the affairs of men.
The scoffers were reasoning somewhat as follows: Christ promised to return. He has not returned; therefore he will not return. You would think that no one would be so far off in his reasoning--not even a child. But there are many in our day who are just as far off in their attitudes toward Christ’s second coming and other fundamental doctrines of New Testament Christianity. Incidentally, if Christ and the apostles had given a time for Christ’s return and he had not returned at that time, we would have some very serious problems.
Peter forcefully answered the scoffer’s objections to the Bible’s teaching on Christ’s second coming by reminding his readers of the universal flood of Noah’s day. How does the flood relate to our Lord’s second coming? Please remember that the scoffers were saying: Christ said he was coming, but all things have continued as they were from the beginning of the creation. In other words, there have been no catastrophic events since the beginning of the world. Christ’s second coming would be a catastrophic event. Therefore, it will not take place. Strange reasoning--if one can qualify such mental gymnastics as reasoning.
Peter wrote concerning the scoffers: “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Pet. 3:5-7). Two major ideas need to be stressed briefly in passing. The evolutionary doctrine of uniformitarianism is false. Everything has not continued as it was from the beginning of creation. The flood proves conclusively that catastrophes have occurred and are possible--regardless of the vain imaginations of the scoffers--whether ancient or modern. The return of Christ is guaranteed by the words of Christ and the assurance of our heavenly Father. When Christ does return, the world will not be destroyed by water, but by fire.
From a Christian’s viewpoint, there is no question of Christ’s second coming. But when is he coming and how can we know? It should be remembered in talking of our Lord’s second coming that men and God are not often on the same wavelength. “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day” (2 Pet. 3:8). As you know, human beings are limited by time and by experience. A hundred years would be a long time for most of us. I have problems in thinking in terms of a thousand years. But God sees the bigger picture. If Christ delays his coming for another two thousand or ten thousand years, nothing God has promised or the prophets predicted will be false or misleading.
But Jesus Christ
is coming again! “The day of the Lord
will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away
with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the
earth also and the works which are therein shall be burned up” (2 Pet.
3:10). The apostle Peter makes several
points we must not ignore if we are to understand the Lord’s second
coming. The expression, “the day of the
Lord,” means a day of judgment. That expression appears in the Old Testament (
The day of the
Lord will come as a thief in the night.
As you know from your reading of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus used the
same language which Peter used (Mt. 24:43; Mk. 13:35-37; Lk. 12:39-40). So did the apostle Paul (1 Thess. 5:2). If the Lord will come as a thief in the
night, what will be the so-called “signs of his coming?” If Christ or the apostles gave signs of his
coming, he will have to come when the signs are right or both he and the
apostles will prove to be false prophets.
According to God’s revelation to Moses, it is a serious matter to speak
presumptuously (Dt.
The book market has been flooded with books which purport to set a date for the Lord’s second coming. In 1979, Colin Hoyle Deal wrote a book which he called Christ Returns in 1988: 101 Reasons Why (Rutherford College, NC: Colin Deal). This book became a best-seller in some circles. Edgar Whisenant wrote a book with the title, 88 Reasons Why Christ Will Return in 88. All the reasons these two men gave for Christ’s return in 1988 were 100% wrong--all of them. Do their failed predictions make them false prophets? Can they not read plain English (or Greek): “The Lord will come as a thief in the night”? How can they miss these simple words from our Lord’s Olivet discourse: “But of that day and that hour no man knows” (Mt. 24:36)?
Hal Lindsey, one of the world’s best-selling authors, has written a number of popular books telling the time of Christ’s coming: The Late Great Planet Earth, Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth, and The Terminal Generation. What does the expression, “The Terminal Generation” mean? That book, incidentally, was written in 1976 and argues that Christ will come in this generation. What else can “terminal generation” mean? Please listen to these brief excerpts from Hal Lindsey’s book, The Terminal Generation: “We must conclude that it is most definitely the general time of the Rapture” (p. 178). Why must we conclude that, if Jesus meant that no one knows the time of his coming--if he is coming like a thief in the night? “With world events fitting into the precisely predicted pattern for the return of Jesus Christ, how much more should this Terminal Generation take to heart the passages of exhortation in the Bible?” (pp. 182-183), What does Hal Lindsey mean by the expression “precisely predicted pattern”? Hal Lindsey expresses strong convictions that this is the terminal generation (p. 173).
Some of the catastrophic events surrounding Christ’s return are mentioned in 2 Peter 3:10. “The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, the earth also and the works which are therein shall be burned up.” The Greek word for “elements” is stoicheia and means the fundamental elements, the building blocks, the ABC’s of the universe. The term “burned up” suggests that nothing will be left. More is said about this final conflagration in verse 12. “Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.”
The fact of
Christ’s second coming is fundamental to our faith, but the time of his coming
is of no consequence. In view of
Christ’s certain return--whether or not it occurs in our lifetime--we are to be
ready for his coming. “Seeing then that
all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in
all holy conversation and godliness?” (2 Pet. 3:11). We cannot determine when the Lord is coming
back; we cannot make it happen. But we
can and must be ready for him when he comes.
Peter tells us that our preparation for the Lord’s return is looking for
and hastening “unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless we, according to his promise,
look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness” (2 Pet.
The final point
Peter makes in his discussion of the Lord’s second coming is an expansion of
his exhortation for Christians to be ready when he comes. “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for
such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace, without spot,
and blameless” (2 Pet.
Peter makes it plain that the Lord’s delay is God’s gracious way of allowing men and women more time to obey the gospel. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance…And account that the longsuffering of the Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you” (2 Pet. 3:9, 15). God’s longsuffering, Peter says, is man’s salvation. God could simply wipe us off the face of the earth when we sin, but he continues to give us opportunities to repent and to turn to him for forgiveness of our sins.
The apostle
Peter warned his generation and ours not to be led astray by those who twist
the scriptures to their own benefit.
“You therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things, beware lest you
also being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own
steadfastness” (2 Pet.
Winford Claiborne
The International Gospel Hour
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