Around New Year, many Christians begin to turn their thoughts to the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus. I distinctly remember the palpable expectation many had in 2000 that, maybe, this was the year the Lord would return. Some even have Watch Night Services and sit, expectantly, waiting for Jesus to turn up on the stroke of midnight. Nevermind that the year 2000 only holds as significant if we function on the Gregorian calendar (which NT writers did not) nor that on the stroke of midnight in the UK much of the rest of the church worldwide would be in bed or just doing totally different things because of the time of day. As you can tell, things didn't transpire that way!
But these things belie a very narrow and myopic view of what Jesus will do rooted very specifically in our particular culture. More than a few of us, while we probably wouldn't voice it out loud, seem fairly convinced Jesus will definitely return when we're in church singing his praises or praying. Few seem to countenance that for every believer doing that somewhere in the world there is almost certainly another one at home in bed or, worse, on the toilet! These sort of assumptions seem to rest on the Biblical verses pointing towards the need to be ready and the belief that readiness necessarily means sitting in church at the point Jesus comes back.
But these kind of things seem to pay little attention to what the Bible says about these things. First, and usually well noted, is the fact that nobody knows the day or the hour, not even Jesus (Matt 24:36). It seems that those expecting Jesus to turn up on the stroke of midnight at a round number date on the calendar we invented long after the NT was completed while they're sitting in church forget that Jesus has said we don't know the specific hour he will come. If that is true, that necessarily means we're unlikely to be able to schedule the parousia to line up with British Watch Night Services on a year of our choosing.
But they also seem to forget that scripture DOES tell us when Jesus will return. Now, you may be thinking, haven't we just pointed to some verses that tell us we don't? Clearly, Jesus said we don't know the specific day or hour. So, we can't pinpoint his return to make sure we're all sat in church the very minute he shows up. In that sense, we don't know exactly when he's coming. Not least because we can't easily pinpoint exactly when the things he has told us will prompt his coming have exactly happened. But he has told us at least two related things that will happen and then he will come.
First, he has told us that the gospel will be preached in the nations and Jesus will not return before this has happened (Matthew 24:14). This makes some sense because the Bible tells us God's people will be drawn from every tribe, tongue and nation (Rev 7:9) and this evidently can't happen unless the gospel has been preached in all of them. Of course, we only have to read to the end of the book of Acts (or, perhaps, the first and last chapters) to read that Jesus sends his disciples to be his witnesses to Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth (cf. Acts 1:8) and that is viewed as fulfilled by the end of the chapter. There is an argument that the gospel has, therefore, gone out to the nations 2000 years ago. But, of course, by the end of Acts we don't get any sense that the gospel has reached Britain, the Americas or Oceania and so there is evidently an argument that says we have some way to go before Jesus' words about the gospel being preached to the nations is fulfilled.
But if Jesus will return when the gospel has been preached to the nations, and Acts suggests it has been (at least on some level), why is Jesus not back yet? Which leads us to the second thing Jesus tells us, which narrows in and is a bit more specific: he will return when the full number of the elect have been saved. This is what 2 Peter 3:9 tells us in the midst of speaking about Jesus' second coming. Jesus has delayed his coming so that 'all may come to repentance'. I similarly understand Romans 11:25 in this light. There is a partial hardening, inasmuch as the elect amongst the Jews continue to come into the kingdom, but the hardening of many has meant the gospel has gone to the whole world and, when the fullness of the elect from the Gentiles has come in (along with those who continue to believe from among the Jews) Jesus will return and all Israel i.e. The elect in its fullness will be saved. This points in the direction of what Peter tells us - Jesus will return when the elect, the total number of believing Jews and Gentiles from every tribe, tongue and nation, have come into the kingdom.
How does all this square with Jesus saying we don't know the day nor the hour? Clearly, the day the nations can be considered 'reached' and the day the last member of the elect has entered is beyond our ken. If it looked like the nations had been reached by the end of Acts, but Jesus is still not here and there are tribes and nations who haven't yet heard the gospel, we can surmise the nations have not yet been reached. Similarly, given scripture is clear that Jesus isn't delaying his return for no reason but so the full number of the elect can be saved, we can surmise that Jesus still has people that he wants to save, who will be saved and he is not going to return until they have entered the kingdom.
What does all that mean in practice for us? Certainly not that we should sit on our laurels because the nations and the fullness of the elect have not yet been reached. There is plenty in scripture that pushes us, in light of the return of Christ, to be watchful and ready. That is, readying ourselves by believing on the Lord Jesus and being about his business. That is principally what the parables following Matthew 24 are all about. The end is coming and here is how we get ready.
But even more specifically, if we want the Lord Jesus to return and consummate his kingdom and fulfil all the promises of scripture for us in their fullness, we know it won't happen until the nations have been reached and the the last member of the elect has been saved. So, as we look to 2024, we can resolve to be about Jesus' business of taking the gospel to the nations and finding that last member of the elect so that Jesus will return. Rather than 'watching and waiting' in some passive sense, we can be watching anf waiting for Jesus return by being active in his service. Though we cannot speed along his coming - the day and time have long been appointed - we may nevertheless be the means by which we reach that appointed day and time. We may be the ones who reach the last unreached nation (or help and support those who are doing just that) or may be the one who shares the gospel with the last member of the elect who believes. In any case, every person who believes the gospel, from whatever nation, takes us one step closer to the return of the Lord Jesus.
Many of us end our church services with the words 'come Lord Jesus, come quickly' (cf Rev 22;20). Those words are not a call to sit back and wait, but a call to arms. Jesus will come, and come quickly, when the fullness of the elect have been saved the world over. Let us resolve then, for Jesus to come quickly, that we would be about his business of taking the gospel to all men and women everywhere so that there would be no need for him to delay any longer because all whom he desires to be saved will have been saved. As we pray 'come, Lord Jesus' let us similarly think 'go, church, go'.
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