Article 21
Most believers understand
that no man knows the day and hour of Christ's Second Coming. It will
be as a thief in the night. So it appears useless to be watching and worrying
over an event with such unknown factors.
What does the Bible
say?
Would you be surprised
to find that the Bible gives an exact opposite view? We fallen, finite,
fallible human beings, who see through a glass darkly, are sometimes mistaken.
To err is human.
WATCH
Christ's followers are commanded to WATCH! Why? Because they do not know the day or hour. WATCH! Why ... because He comes as a thief in the night.
Notice that in the
following scriptures believers are commanded eight times to WATCH. Why...?
Because they do not know the time, therefore, they are to WATCH.
WATCH therefore: [Why]
For ye know not what hour your Lord cloth come. Matthew 24:42. WATCH therefore:
[Why] For ye know neither the day nor the hour where in the Son of Man
cometh. Matthew 25:1
But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which
are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, WATCH and
pray [why]: For ye know not when the time is.
For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to WATCH.
WATCH ye therefore [why]: For ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing or in the morning: lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, WATCH. Mark 13:32-37
And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and so that the day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. WATCH ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. Luke 21:34-36.
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
BUT YE, BRETHREN, ARE NOT IN DARKNESS, THAT DAY SHOULD OVERTAKE YOU AS A THIEF
Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: We are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep, as do others; but let us WATCH and be sober. 1 Thessalonians 5:2 - 6
HOW SHOULD CHRISTIANS
LIVE IN THIS PRESENT WORLD?
The text in Thessalonians
says that believers should not be overtaken by that day as a thief. And
that day will not overtake them as a thief. .. if they live in this present
world as they should.
And how is that?
For the grace of God
that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and
godly, in this present world; LOOKING FOR THAT BLESSED HOPE, AND THE GLORIOUS
APPEARING OF THE GREAT
GOD AND OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. Titus 2:11-13
But 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, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of person ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness.
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? Nevertheless we, according to his promise,
LOOK FOR NEW HEAVENS
AND A NEW EARTH
wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye
LOOK FOR SUCH THINGS,
be diligent, that ye may be found of him, in peace, without spot, and blameless. II Peter 3:10-14.
According to these
scriptures believers are not only to live looking for the Second Coming
of Christ but are to hasten ["speed," NIV] the coming of the
day of God.
It is obvious that
at the beginning of the Christian era there were those who were eagerly
anticipating His soon return, but that was almost 2,000 years ago. Surely
after so long a period believers should not still be watching, should
they?
Some sincere Christians
have noted the text, "Be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye
think not the Son of Man cometh," and contend that the main thing
is to be ready ...and this is the way we watch. Certainly we should all
strive to "be ready," but to equate "being ready"
to "watching" is to do serious damage to the English language.
'
Is not the Second Coming the time when He comes for you, as some believe? No, the literal, physical, visible, audible coming of Christ is a cardinal doctrine of the Christian Church. However, because it has been so long, and because since the 1700's some preachers, who were sincere, predicted the end of the world would take place in the first half of the 1800's, today those who advocate a soon return of Christ are looked upon as extremists, as a little over zealous.
What comfort can those
who believe the end is near find in the Bible? The Apostle Paul tells
us that all these things that happened unto them [the Children of Israel]
are for examples unto us on whom the end of the world has come. I Corinthians
10. What can we learn from them?
THE PROMISE
God promised Abraham
that through his seed all the nations would be blessed [through the Messiah].
His descendants, the Children of Israel, became God's visible church on
earth. Yet God's true church on earth, Israel, four hundred thirty years
later [Galatians 3:16, 17] was in Egypt, in darkness, in confusion, in
slavery.
Moses, who was a figure, a type of Christ [Deuteronomy 18:17-19; Acts 3:22] delivered God's people from Egyptian bondage which prefigured Christ delivering His people from sin.
While God's true church on earth continued to hold to the promise of a deliverer, they continued to fail. The Assyrians destroyed the northern ten tribes and the two southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin, were taken captive to Babylon [Babel, that is confusion] losing their last king, Zedekiah. Seventy years later they were returned to Jerusalem. The last revelation from God in Old Testament times came through the Prophet Malachi [397B.C. Ussher s chronology]. When Jesus' life of 33 years ended on Calvary's cross it had been a period of four hundred thirty years since Malachi. God's visible church on earth was in darkness and confusion, once again.
For how long had Israel been looking for the PROMISED ONE? Two thousand years! That's right, TWO THOUSAND YEARS.
Had God been slack concerning His promise? No. Peter tells us that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day. 2 Peter 3. How long has it been since Christ promised to return? Two thousand years!
Isn't it amazing that the Jews held on to the promise for so long. But somehow from the time of Malachi to the coming of Christ they had become confused They were looking for the Second Advent at the time of the First Advent. They looked for one who would restore the kingdom to Israel, make their enemies His footstool, rule the nations with an iron rod, and bring peace to His people.
CONDEMNING THE JEWS
Today we have a tendency to look back and think, "Those Jews were not very smart:" However, by condemning the Jews, we condemn ourselves for the history of the Jews is the history of human nature.
Those Hebrews who did accept Jesus at the First Advent had to give up things they had believed all their lives; things they had learned at their parents knee; things they had learned in the Synagogue from the Rabbi; things they had !earned at the Temple from the priests and other religious leaders. Things they had learned in God's true church on earth.
DECEPTION?
Now if God's visible church on earth, Israel, was confused at the First Advent, is it possible that God's visible church on earth today, Christianity, could be confused at the time of the Second Advent? This questions needs to be asked again.
IS IT POSSIBLE THAT
GOD'S VISIBLE CHURCH ON EARTH TODAY, CHRISTIANITY, COULD BE CONFUSED AT
THE TIME OF THE SECOND ADVENT?
Jesus warned that
if possible the very elect would be deceived, Matthew 24: 24
Is it possible that
today's Christians will need to give up things that we have believed all
our lives; things we learned from our parents; things we learned in Sunday
School; things we learned at church, from preachers, teachers, and seminary
professors? Would we be willing to do this?
Who crucified Christ? It was God's visible church on earth. Instead of looking without for deceptions, evil conspiracies, signs and lying wonders, should we be looking within ...within God's visible church on earth? Will history be repeated, He came unto His own and His own received Him not? In the persons of His elect will He be again rejected? Has human nature greatly changed since Christ's day?
Should not we be WATCHING?
Should not we be looking? Should not we be hoping? Should not we be longing
for that new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness?
It is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of roan, the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him, I Corinthians 2.9.
If most of us have not understood the clear biblical admonition to WATCH, maybe there are other things important things that we do not understand.