Tag: second coming

The Bible in a Year – 10 November

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10 November. Mark chapters 12-13

Mark chapter 13 is one of the strangest in the Gospels, or at least the hardest to interpret.  It concerns prophecies about the future that Jesus made a few days before his death.  In commenting on Matthew’s version of this  I explained that the prime meaning seems to be aimed at the  early Church which certainly suffered persecution and wars in its first few centuries, but that Christians have always understood a second meaning of an eventual “end of time” or “second coming” when we, the followers of Christ, will be saved from the final destruction that will come upon humanity. Once again, this is too big a subject to explore in depth here but I will offer a thought.

Jesus was, of course addressing Jews, and his intention seems to have been primarily renew their faith for the future by replacing the sacrificial system of the Temple with his own sacrifice for redemption and reconciliation.  That is why he told a scribe who agreed that loving God and neighbour was more important than burnt-offerings and sacrifices that he was ‘not far from the kingdom of God’ (12:34).  Without denying that Jesus’ death and resurrection were effective also for Gentiles, that seems to be secondary in his teaching.  Therefore we should think of the Jews first in interpreting these prophecies.

So when Jesus speaks of a time of persecution and hardship such as there has never been or will be again, to be followed by a “gathering of the elect” (13:14-26), it is not surprising that some people see the events of the mid-20th century when the persecution of Jews under Stalin and Hitler was followed by the re-creation of the state of Israel with millions making Aliyah (a pilgrimage of return to the holy land).  That is quite different from the traditional Protestant Christian understanding of a bodily return of Jesus to separate believers from non-believers. That’s not to say they might not both be true and valid interpretations of the prophecy, as well as the immediate one for the people of Jerusalem in Jesus’ time and for his followers in the next few generations.  History has a habit of repeating itself, and the mystery of God and his saving acts reappears in many forms.

At the end of this passage Jesus gives a clear warning that we must not lose sight of: whichever interpretation we might put on this, we may well be wrong, and be caught out suddenly when either persecution or salvation comes suddenly.  “Keep awake” is the message of Jesus, and the theme of Advent, which is fast approaching.

 

The Bible in a Year – 2 November

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2 November. Matthew chapters 23-24

Much of the teaching of Jesus about the Kingdom has, until this point, been positive: stories and examples of how living his way, loving one’s neighbour and being generous, will bring peace and joy.  But now it suddenly takes a much darker tone.

Following the conflict with the Pharisees and Sadducees in chapter 21 (yesterday’s reading) Jesus knows that his time is short and they are set against him.  So he drops all restraint and, in chapter 23, lets loose a series of devastating public criticisms, labelling them hypocrites, fools, blind guides and “whitewashed tombs” (clean looking on the outside but with untouchable death within). Their teaching was supposed to draw people into the covenant relationship with God, but instead only drew them into their own brand of legalism.

Following that confrontation, Jesus leaves the Temple – surely in a mood of anger, not peace – and starts telling his disciples just how bad the early years of the Church would be for them.  Not only would there be ongoing persecution right from the start, but wars, revolutions, famines and earthquakes – all the events that make societies unstable and life uncertain.  Before long these would usher in the “last day”. Jesus describes this in apocalyptic terms of darkness, fear, fleeing quickly with few possessions, when “the desolating sacrilege stands in the holy place” (24:15).  This latter reference is usually taken to refer to the destruction of the Temple in AD70, a generation after the Resurrection of Jesus, when the Jewish people would be forced out of the Promised Land for a second time, for what would turn out to be nearly two thousand years.  Christians, though, have always had a parallel understanding of an eventual “second coming”, or “rapture”, when the followers of Christ would be saved from the final destruction that will come upon humanity. This is too big a subject to explore in depth here.

The one glimmer of light in all this is that during this time of persecution and war, “this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations” (24:14).  So the purpose of the church is not to being about peace on earth, which we will never have more than fleetingly among what is generally a violent society and a dangerous world, but to proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven as the good news that there is an alternative to earthly suffering and certain death, and Jesus is the key to it.  No wonder the refrain of Advent is “Come quickly, Lord Jesus!”

The Bible in a Year – 11 October

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11 October. 2 Thessalonians chapters 1-3

I wrote yesterday that Paul’s message to the believers in Thessalonica was essentially one of encouragement – to continue living in the good ways that they had already established, and to remain faithful to the gospel in difficult times.

This time, the overall theme as expressed at the beginning and end is much the same.  But there is a darker and more urgent theme in the middle section.  In the first letter, the difficulties mentioned were local persecution, opposition from Jews, and the normal temptations of worldliness.  In chapter 2 of the second letter, Paul appears to be setting out an apocalyptic vision of an imminent time just before the second coming of Jesus when a mysterious figure described as the “man of lawlessness” sent by Satan would set himself up as a god, by implication persecuting those who believe in the true God, and deceiving people with false teaching and false miracles.

Following that time of general persecution, Jesus would return.  This is definitely not the Jesus of the Gospels, not even where he tells his disciples that he would return again. The vision of Jesus here is of one all-powerful, coming “with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel” (1:7-8). This Christ figure is probably derived from Paul’s own vision on the Damascus road when Jesus appeared in a blaze of glory, blinding Saul (as he then was) and condemning Saul’s persecution of Christians, before then appointing him as an apostle.

As with all such apocalyptic, it is pointless to try to identify the “man of lawlessness” with any one historic person, although there was certainly a general persecution of Christians by various Roman emperors in the following few centuries. What matters is the effect this would have had on the readers.  If you believe that life will go on more or less the same into the future, there is no pressure to spread the faith or to repent personally.  But if you believe that some time very soon (for the early Christians believed this would happen in their lifetimes) society would be turned upside down by the presence of evil, leading to a final judgement for heaven or hell, then you will be highly motivated to be on the right side by repenting and joining in the fight against evil, and to do so now.

That is also why Paul warns in chapter 3 against the sin of idleness.  If everything is about to fall apart, there is no place for slackers, just as if a ship is in distress every able-bodied person is expected to help save it.  “Comfortable Christianity” has no place in Paul’s theology – you are either fighting against evil and heresy, or you will be overcome by them.

The Bible in a Year – 25 June

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25 June. Zechariah chapters 8-14.

In the first couple of chapters of this section, Zechariah’s prophecy follows the now familiar pattern of promising to restore Israel’s fortunes with Jerusalem as its capital, and judgement on their enemies.  It is within the latter – the triumph of the Jews over the surrounding nations – that there come perhaps the most-quoted  verses of this book of the Old Testament: “your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey …  he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth” (9:9-10).  That is because Jesus was seen to fulfil them, probably quite deliberately, when he entered the city the week before he was crucified.  Those who thought of the whole context of Zechariah’s message may have been encouraged to think in terms of military strength, but these verses are actually about God’s ultimate purpose of achieving peace on earth.

 

Earlier, we read the following: “Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their great age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets” (8:4-5).  Again, this is a vision of a peaceful city, one in which its most vulnerable citizens (the old and the young) can live without fear.  Even in our societies today we are far from achieving that. It is more common for the old to live in “sheltered” accommodation as much for their safety as for the nursing care they may need, and for children to be kept indoors for fear of assault or abduction, than for them to be able to sit or play unsupervised in the street.

 

So was the prophecy a false one?  No, but it has always been the understanding of the Christian church that only when Jesus comes a second time in glory will true peace be established.  Zechariah seems to have foreseen that too, for in the last chapter his prophecy becomes ever more apocalyptic (telling of the last days), when the mountains near Jerusalem would split in two to allow the citizens to escape from a coming disaster, after which “the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him … And the Lord will become king over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one and his name one.” (14:5,9).