3. Why was the fact of our Lords Return presented in the language of Imminency and the exact date withheld?
At first sight it may appear strange that our
Lord has not made known to us the precise date of His appearing. He has caused
many details concerning the Blessed Hope to be recorded in the Word. He has
made known many things which are to transpire at His second advent, and in view
of the fact that so much has been revealed it may strike us as peculiar
that the very point upon which human curiosity most desires enlightenment
should have been left undefined. We need hardly say that it was not
ignorance on our Lord's part which caused Him to leave the hour of His
second coming un-determined, though some of His enemies have dared to charge
this against Him, basing their evil indictment upon Mark 13:32 - "But of that
day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven,
neither the Son, but the Father." These words need occasion no difficulty if
we pay due attention to the particular Gospel in which they are found, namely,
Mark's - the Gospel of the Servant of Jehovah. The purpose of Mark's
Gospel is to present the Lord Jesus as the perfect Servant, the obedient
Servant, the Servant whose meat it was to do the will of Him that sent Him, and
"the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth" (John 15:15). Mark 13:32 does
not call into question our Lord's omniscience but asserts that, as a Servant,
He waited Another's will. A little reflection will reveal the perfect wisdom
of our Lord in concealing the exact date of His Return. One reason was that He
desired to keep His people on the very tiptoe of expectation, continually
looking for Him.
Again; this question needs to be pondered in the
light of the Unity of Christ's church. The tendency with all of us is
to regard believers as so many detached individuals, instead of viewing the
saints as "one body" (1 Cor. 12:13) "members one of another" (Rom. 12:5). The
church is not an organization, it is a living organism, a "body" of which
Christ is the "head." Hence, the Imminency of the Redeemer's return is to one
member precisely what it is to all the members. and therefore it is that
first century believers were just as truly and just as much interested
in the appearing of the Saviour as are believers now living in the twentieth
century. The object of hope then is the object of hope now, for the Body is
one, and conversely, the object of hope now must necessarily have been the
object of hope then. Consequently, the early Christians, by virtue of the
Unity of the saints, were exhorted to walk in the light and blessing of a hope
which is common to the entire church.
The Return of our Lord might not have been
revealed at all, but in that case a most powerful dynamic to godly living would
have been withheld from the church. The Imminency of the Redeemer's second
advent was revealed as an incentive to watchfulness and
preparedness. If then the fact of our Lord's return had not been presented in
the New Testament as something which might occur at any time, but,
instead, had been expressly postponed and fixed to happen in some particular
and distant century, then all believers who lived in the centuries preceding
that one would have been robbed of the comfort which is to be found in the
assurance that Christ may return at any hour and would have lost the purifying
effects which such a prospect is calculated to produce. As it has been well
remarked, "It is not that He desires each succeeding generation to believe that
He will certainly return in their time, for He does not desire our faith and
our practice to be founded on an error, as, in that case, the faith and
practice of all generations except the last would be. But it is a necessary
element of the doctrine concerning the second coming of Christ, that it should
be possible at any time, that no generation should consider it improbable in
theirs" (Archbishop Trench).
Here then is the simple but sufficient answer to
our question. The second coming of Christ is presented in the language of
imminency because of the far-reaching effects it is designed to exert on those
who lay hold of the promise, "Surely I come quickly." The imminent return of
the Redeemer is a practical hope. It is the commanding motive of the
New Testament. The Holy Spirit has linked it with every precept and practice
of Christian character and conduct. As another has so well expressed it: "It
arms admonitions, it points appeals, it strengthens arguments, it enforces
commands, it intensifies entreaties, it arouses courage, it rebukes fear, it
quickens affection, it kindles hope, it inflames zeal, it separates from the
world, it consecrates to God, it drys tears, it conquers death" (Brookes). To
amplify this statement in detail -
The hope of our Lord's second advent produces
loyalty and faithfulness to Christ. "Who then is that faithful and wise
steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over His household, to give them their
portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when He
cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth, I say unto you, that He will make him
ruler over all that He hath. But and if that servant say in his heart, My Lord
delayeth His coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and
to eat and drink, and to be drunken; The Lord of that Servant will come in a
day when he looketh not for Him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will
cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers" (Luke
12:42-46). The moral purpose of this parable (see context of above quotation)
is apparent. While the steward maintained an attitude of watchfulness he was
faithful and sober, but when he said in his heart "my Lord delayeth His
coming" he began to beat his fellow-servants and to eat and drink and be
drunken. Watching for the Lord then is an incentive to loyalty and fidelity,
while unwatchfulness results in worldliness of heart, carelessness of walk and
carnality of life.
The Return of our Lord is presented as a motive
to brotherly love - "And the Lord made you to increase and abound in
love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: To the
end He may stablish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God, even our
Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints" (1 Thess.
3:12,13). In view of the fact that our Lord may return at any hour, how awful
are divisions between the Lord's own people. Soon shall each of us appear
before the Bema of Christ where every wrong will be righted and every
misunderstanding cleared up. The Lord is at hand, therefore let us sink
our petty differences, forgive one another even as God hath for Christ's sake
forgiven us, and increase and abound in love one toward another.
The perennial hope of Christ's second advent is
used as a call to a godly walk - "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 Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:11-13). How clear it is from these
words that the Blessed Hope is intended to check the spirit of self-pleasing
and self-seeking in the believer and to promote holiness in the daily life. As
says the apostle John, "He that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself
even as He is pure" (1 John 3:3).
The return of our Lord is designed to
comfort bereaved hearts - "For I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others
which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so
them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto
you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming
of the Lord shall not prevent (go before) them which are asleep. For the Lord
Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in
the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thess. 4:13-18).
Those to whom the apostle was writing were sorrowing over the loss of loved
ones. But observe, he does not seek to solace by telling them that shortly
they would die and join the departed in heaven. No; he held up before them the
prospect of a returning Saviour who would bring back the sleeping saints with
Him.
The promise of the Redeemer's return is
calculated to develop the grace of patience - "Be patient therefore,
brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the
precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive
the early and the latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts:
for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh" (Jas. 5:7,8). These words were
addressed to saints who were poor in this world's goods and who were groaning
beneath the oppression of unrighteous employers. How timely is this word of
exhortation to many a twentieth-century saint! How many of God's poor are now
crying unto the Lord for deliverance from pecuniary difficulties, from tyranny
and injustice! These cries have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts, and
just as He intervened of old on behalf of Israel in Egypt, so will He speedily
come and remove His people from their present cruel task-masters. In the
meantime, the word is, "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the
Lord."
The hope of our Lord's return is the antidote
for worry - "Let your forbearance be known unto all men. The Lord is at
hand, In nothing be anxious" (Phil. 4:5,6,R.V.). Brethren in Christ,
why be so fearful about meeting next year's liabilities? Why be anxiously
scheming and fretting about the future? Why be worrying about the morrow?
Tomorrow you may be in heaven. Before tomorrow dawns the assembling Shout may
be given. At any hour thy Saviour may come.The Lord is at hand and His
appearing will mean the end of all your trials and troubles. Look not then at
your dangers and difficulties, but for your Redeemer. In nothing be
anxious.
The prospect of a speedily returning Saviour is
employed to stimulate sobriety and vigilance - "Knowing the time, that
now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than
when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us
therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of
light" (Rom. 13:11,12). As we have shown in a previous chapter the
"salvation" here spoken of is that mentioned in Heb. 9:28 ("unto them that look
for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation") which
salvation is brought to us at Christ's second advent. Note, particularly, that
this salvation is not presented as a distant hope, to be realized at some
remote period, but is set forth as that which is nigh at hand.
Ere closing this chapter one other question
claims our attention -