One of the questions a lot of people are asking is why the Second Coming of our Lord and Saviour is so neglected in our churches, in this day and age when the events preceding the Lords Second Coming are being fulfilled before our eyes, and the world wants to know. People say it is too controversial, or everyone interprets it differently, or it raises argument within the church. I think one of the major problems covering this subject, is that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and it is where error creeps in, and the majority of pastors don’t know enough about it to teach it. When I was young it was taught regularly from the pulpit by teachers who knew their Bible and loved the message of God’s promises. I would like today to look at possibly some of the reasons why it is neglected so today.
If we study the subject of the Lords return, the Bible is quite clear on the subject, and is as clear and plain as it was over the Lord’s first coming. We don’t know the day He will come, but we know as much detail as was prophesied about the Lord’s first coming. How he will come and how He will call us home are covered very clearly. What happens to those who are left behind are clearly described as is the Lords coming in glory and what will happen to His earthly people the Jews.
I think the future of the Jews is one of the problems. When The Roman Emperor Constantine became a Christian he was in fact just a babe in Christ. He was keen to have Christianity the universal religion of the Roman Empire but had to compromise with existing beliefs. These compromises became part of Christianity under Constantine, such as Madonna and Child replacing one of the common gods of the time and the priests having a fish-god mitre hat on his head as part of robes of office and so on. The Church was made into an organization with Rome being the head office, so to speak. The Jews created a problem. They were disliked by the Romans, who had removed them from the land of Palestine, when they rebelled, and Rome, under Titus, destroyed Jerusalem. The Roman authorities did not want to make Christianity an extension of the Jewish faith and did not want to admit Christ was born a Jew. Or that the Roman soldiers had crucified Him. So what to do? They made up a story that the Jews had been rejected as God’s chosen earthly people and who had they said, killed Christ when He came to earth. God had blamed them for the death and had removed all their promises and transferred these promises to the Church. Luther who originated the protestant movement, or the Reformation as we call it today, followed this belief that still holds in many main line Christian denominations. It’s a bit more involved than this but there is not room to go into it too deeply here.
Until the publication of the Bible, in the common language of the people, and the arrival of literacy of the general church going public, the truth was not generally known. This was, that Christ had died as a payment for our sins and that He offered himself up. The Jews did not murder Him against His will. The other truth is that the Jews are still Gods chosen earthly people and the promises made to them recorded in the Old Testament still hold. [Romans 11: 1-32]. Remember also that the Jews have not had a nation of their own for over 2000 years. In 1948 when Israel was formed into a nation with a government and prime minister, only Christians who had studied their Bibles and knew Romans 11, were prepared to accept that this was the restoration of Israel to their promised land as promised by God. These promises are described in many parts of the Bible [Ezek Ch 37] and many other Scriptures. The point is, if people take the promises to the Jews as being to the Church it alters the overall perspective completely. This means many prophecy’s in the Bible about the Second Coming of our Lord do not fit into a pre-tribulation pattern, and it alters the whole way of thinking. The belief that God doesn’t apparently keep His promises to the seed of Abraham is what these people believe. The point is if God does not keep His promises to His earthly people how does He keep His promises to us His Church?
There are too many made up interpretations of certain Scriptures which are interpreted as allegories or as other things from someone’s own interpretation. Scripture should be read as literal. Yes there are symbols in the book of Revelation but there is also instruction on correct interpretation [Rev 1:20]. As we go through Revelation the descriptions of what is to come are quite literal. Descriptions of the woman and the dragon are given on who they are, and if we tie in with the prophecies in Daniel it becomes quite clear. History will often repeat itself and in the case of the statue of the Beast being set up in the Temple it is a similar occurrence to the one set up by Antiochus Epiphanes [Dan 11] and then repeated by the Beast of Revelation. This occasioned people to think Daniels prophecy has already happened. There is a belief that Christianity will overcome the world, things will slowly improve and the world will be made right for the Lord to return to. Have you noticed the world getting better, or nicer or less violent? I think the believers in this way of thinking believe it’s all symbolic anyway and don’t believe what is written in black and white in the Bible. [Rev 20:1-6].
As you can see unless the Bible is treated as the inspired Word of God and is taken as it is written, not with a lot of made up ideas or interpretation. We will have a terrible jumble of ideas and beliefs which are not supported by deep Biblical study. As I said earlier “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing”. This is true about the whole Bible and particularly in connection with prophetic events. As prophetic Scriptures make up at least 25% of the Bible, as regards the second coming of Jesus, the Church should be instructed by those who study the Scriptures extensively and have particularly studied Prophecy.
Brian Papworth
PWMI Representative in the South Pacific