Evidences

After waiting so long, how can we be sure Jesus is coming again?

Over nineteen centuries have passed since Jesus promised His disciples, troubled at the thought of His departure from this world, “I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (Jn 14:3). The hope of Jesus’ return has been enshrined in the hearts of His followers ever since, and is even expressed in the so-called Apostles’ Creed, which includes the statement, “I believe in Jesus Christ who . . . shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” When the pain and problems of this present life have seemed unbearable, many Christians have prayed, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev 22:20). Some have even cried, like the martyrs of Revelation 6:10, “How long, O Lord?”

With the twenty-first century fast approaching, we may ask, “Is it still rationally possible to believe, to proclaim, and to live in the certainty of Christ’s soon return?” Many professing Christians, from liberal Protestants to Roman Catholics, feel that such a belief is no longer tenable and consequently have chosen either to neglect or to reject the hope of the soon-coming Savior.

Other Christians show by their lifestyle that the advent hope is hardly present in their consciousness. Their frantic efforts to acquire and enjoy the goods and gadgets of this world suggest that they view this world not as a waiting room to the world Christ will usher in at His coming, but as a living room in which to live as though Christ may never come. Someone has observed that twentieth-century Christians are the best disguised set of pilgrims this world has ever seen.

In the face of such widespread abandonment of the hope of Jesus’ CERTAINTY OF THE ADVENT

Central Teaching.
Among the teachings of the Bible the promise of Christ’s return stands out for its clarity, centrality, and certainty—providing a firm basis for the Christian to believe in the second advent. In a sense Biblical history is the story of the advent, the story of God who came down: to create, to redeem, and who will ultimately come down again to restore this world and His people. The Old Testament speaks of the Lord who is to come and the New Testament of the Lord who has come and will come again.

In the Old Testament the advent hope grew in content, scope and expectation. From an indefinite hope of victory in Genesis 3:15, the hope in the coming of the Lord was progressively described as the coming of a prophet like Moses (Deut 13:15–18), a king like David (2 Sam 7:12–16), a Child-deliverer (Isa 7:14; 9:6; 11:1–5), a suffering servant (Isa 52:13–15; 53), a heavenly Son of man (Dan 7:13–14)—highlighting the uniqueness and richness of His life and ministry.

The New Testament expresses the advent hope as already fulfilled by Christ’s first advent and as yet to be consummated at His second advent. The first advent inaugurates and anticipates the final age to be consummated at the second advent. The New Testament gives impressive coverage to the return of Christ. The gospels report numerous sayings, two long speeches, and several parables of Christ in which He presents His future coming as glorious, visible, imminent, sudden and personal. It has been estimated that one out of every twenty-five New Testament verses refers to the second advent.

First Advent as Guarantee.
A second reason for believing in the certainty of the second advent is the fact that Christ has already come the first time and won a decisive victory over Satan. Since we know that “he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself,” then we have reason to believe that Christ “will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Heb 9:26, 28). Our certainty of the final victory at the second advent is nourished by the unshakable assurance that the decisive battle was already won by Christ at His first advent, when He “disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them” (Col 2:15).

Ministry of the Holy Spirit.
A third reason for believing in the certainty of Christ’s return is the ministry of the Holy Spirit, which helps us to experience a foretaste of the greater blessing we will receive at the second advent. The fruit of the the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22–23)—these things are what the Bible calls the “first fruits of the Spirit” (Rom 8:23), harbingers of the great advent harvest to come. Through the Spirit we taste “the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come” (Heb 6:5).

Christ’s Present Ministry

Christ’s present work in heaven to bring to consummation the redemption for which He came to earth is a fourth reason for believing in the certainty of His return. He said He was going to prepare a place for us and that He would return to take us there (Jn 14:2–3). Further, the New Testament describes a heavenly ministry of Jesus on behalf of His people, using such terms as “priest” (Heb 2:17; 3:1; 4:14; 9:11), “high priest” (Heb 2:17; 3:1; 4:14; 9:11), “mediator” (1 Tim 2:5; Heb 8:6; 9:15), “intercessor” (Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25), and “advocate” (1 Jn 2:1). In the ancient Day of Atonement service, when the high priest completed his work he came out and blessed the people and sent the scapegoat away into the wilderness; likewise when Jesus has completed His high priestly work, He will come to bless His people and banish sin forever.

When I left my fiancée in Italy and came to study in the U.S.A., I promised her that I would work and study hard to finish my education so that we could be together again as soon as possible. The thought that I was working hard to bring our dream to fulfillment sustained her during the eighteen months of our separation. In the same way, the time between the first and second advents of Jesus is shortened by our confidence that He is presently working to bring to consummation the redemption He purchased with His own blood on earth. But if our belief in the heavenly ministry of Jesus falters, then the link that joins together the first and second advents is broken, and it is hardly possible to keep alive one’s faith and hope in a soon-coming Savior.

SIGNS OF THE ADVENT

Recognizable signs are needed to nourish our hope to reach the destination. This is true whether we travel by car on the highway or by faith on the Christian way to the kingdom. Throughout the centuries Christians have looked for the fulfillment of the advent signs in the events of their time.

Jesus knew our need for signs to nourish our hope while awaiting His return. In His lengthy Olivet Discourse, He gave several specific signs foreshadowing His second coming. Though other Bible writers also provided signs of Jesus’ return, we shall look specifically at some of the signs Jesus gave in this familiar and important discourse, ...as recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21.

The signs presented in these chapters are familiar to Seventh-day Adventists. Among them are such things as false Christs, wars, earthquakes, famines, worldwide gospel proclamation, and tribulation. When we think about them, we realize that signs of this type cannot be attached to precise dates or fixed events. Rather, they find a degree of fulfillment in every age. In this sense they can be described as generic.

Jesus’ reason for giving such signs is not difficult to imagine. Believers in every age need to see the advent signs in order to have reassurance of the certainty and nearness of Christ’s return. Yet to acknowledge the existence of the advent signs throughout Christian history in no way denies their intensification before Christ’s return. The Bible teaches that the conflict between the forces of God and the forces of Satan will intensify as we draw closer to the second advent. Apostasy, lawlessness, and rebellion will increase; suffering and persecution culminate in a “great tribulation.” The gospel will be preached as a testimony to all the nations. The intensifying of these and other advent signs offers believers the assurance that “the end of all things is at hand” (1 Pet 4:7). It is this intensification that we will note here.

False Christs.
In listing the end-time signs, Jesus twice mentioned false Christs (Mt 24:4–5, 23–24). He spoke of them not only in connection with the destruction of Jerusalem (see Mt 24:15–22) but also in the context of the second coming (v. 27). Other scriptures predict an increased manifestation of antichrist forces before the end (see 2 Thess 2:3; Rev 13).

Today so many self-appointed “messiahs” have appeared, pretending to offer new ways of salvation to their followers, that Christianity Today has called it “a reality that has staggered our imaginations.”
Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church; Moses David, leader of the Children of God; Paul Wievielle, of The Way; Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of The Age of Enlightenment; the late Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology—all these and others have become part of a cult of false messiahs that is equally pervasive under different names and forms in various parts of the world.

Secular ideologies also fulfill a messianic role for many today. Such impersonal “messiahs” as technology, materialism, communism, and secular humanism are enshrined in the hearts of many as offering the same kind of hope for a better ...tomorrow usually associated with messiah figures.

Wars and Rumors.

“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom . . . : all this is but the beginning of the sufferings” (Mt 24:6–8). Certainly the first century church and the Jewish nation witnessed the fulfillment of this sign, and wars have plagued mankind’s history. But never before this century have they been so global and destructive.

World War I engaged almost thirty nations and claimed an estimated fourteen million lives.² A generation later, World War II involved fifty countries and fifty-five million deaths.³ Since World War II more than 150 conflicts have destroyed in excess of ten million people. Though today the risk of world war seems reduced, the “nuclear club” continues to grow, and with it the danger to world stability and peace. Increasing social and political tensions coupled with resurgent ethnic rivalries could easily drag our world deeper into the maelstrom of war.

Disasters.

“There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences” (Lk 21:11). Again the pace seems to be quickening. Australian seismologist G. A. Eiby reports that nearly twice as many major earthquakes (magnitude 8.0 or greater) were recorded between 1903 and 1975 as had been recorded in the previous four centuries combined.⁴ Even allowing for more complete records in the twentieth century, the figures are startling.

Never before has mankind had one billion persons suffering from starvation and malnutrition. Widespread starvation exists in many developing countries, and the outlook for the future doesn’t seem encouraging, especially in light of the population explosion of this century, which continues unabated, particularly in developing countries where food crises already exist. In 1830 the world population reached its first billion; one hundred years later, in 1930, it reached two billion. But by the year 2000, it is expected to be seven billion! For future generations, if time should last, the symbol of death may well be not war, but starvation.

Interrelated with famine is the advent sign of pestilence. Despite such medical triumphs of our time as antibiotics and vaccines, infectious and contagious diseases persist, reaching epidemic levels in many parts of the world. According to United Nations figures, intestinal roundworms victimize 650 million people; hookworms inhabit the small intestine of 450 million; amoebic dysentery affects 350 million people and kills at least 6 million children annually.⁵ One of the greatest concerns today is AIDS, against whose fatal effects there is no cure; its incidence is doubling every year.

Gospel Proclamation.

Of all the signs of the end, the gospel proclamamation to the world is uniquely related to the time of Jesus’ coming. “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world,” Jesus said, “and then the end will come” (Mt 24:14). This proclamation is to be “a testimony to all nations.” Jesus specified a witness to the gospel in every part of the world. And in our day, for the first time in Christian history, the gospel is being proclaimed in some manner to practically “every nation and tribe and tongue and people” (Rev 14:6). On the basis of current trends (apart from an unusual working of the Holy Spirit), some projections hold that by the year 2000 eighty to ninety percent of the world’s population will have been made aware of the Christian gospel.⁶

During our day Christianity has become truly a world religion. In 1900 eighty-five percent of Christians lived in Western countries. By 1980, only 32.8 percent, less than one-third, lived in western countries.⁷ The trend toward global, even third-world Christianity is reflected in the Adventist church, which now has only around fifteen percent of its membership in North America and Europe, the places of its beginnings and early expansion. Bibles or Scripture portions are now available in more than 800 languages representing some 96 percent of the world’s population; annual distribution of Bibles or Bible portions had risen to almost 500 million by 1985.⁸

We rejoice over new opportunities to present the gospel in formerly communist countries, and we thrill to their response. The gospel and the Adventist proclamation of the three angels’ messages seem poised for a mighty moving of the Holy Spirit in these spiritually repressed countries, as well as in other places around the world.

The human and technical resources available to us today, under the guidance and blessing of the Holy Spirit, make the evangelization of the world a realistic possibility in our time.

Other Signs.
Space has not permitted us to consider other signs spoken of by Jesus and the Bible writers, such as the coming of times similar to those of Noah’s and Lot’s days, characterized by crime, misery, careless overindulgence and sexual obsession (Mt 24:37–39; Luke 17:26–30); social upheaval and labor strife (James 5:1–6); deteriorating moral conditions (2 Tim 3:1–5); apostasy (Mt 24:10; 2 Thess 2:1–12); tribulation (Mt 24:9, 21–22); and signs in the heavens (Mt 24:29; Rev 6:12–13). All these signs and more tell us that it is time to “look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Lk 21:28).

SLOWNESS OF THE ADVENT

Has the advent seemed long in coming? Do some people become discouraged because Christians have expected Jesus to come “soon” ever since He left? After having proclaimed the nearness of Christ’s return since the 1840s, should Adventists now feel embarrassed to speak of Jesus coming back soon?

In chronological terms, the wait has been long. But Jesus’ promise to come “soon” is an expression of His love, and we need to see it in terms of “lover’s time,” which is measured not by the clock but by love and faith. In the world of love time is real, but it “flies.” The Bible says of Jacob that he “served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her” (Gen 29:20).

I am reminded again of the separation my fiancée and I experienced when I went to the U.S.A. to study. Before I left Italy, we bade farewell to one another saying, “Time is going to pass quickly. Soon we are going to be together again.” We knew that we would be separated for at least a year, but we were measuring time not by the calendar, but rather by our love and faith. Since our lives were illuminated by the certainty of our future reunion, we chose to live in the awareness not of the long months of waiting but of the imminent reunion. Thus “soon” for us meant fundamentally a certain reunion.

When a love relationship exists between the believer and Christ, living in the joyful expectation of His imminent return becomes a natural necessity. To accept the present salvation that Christ offers us without believing in His imminent return would be like becoming engaged without ever hoping to get married (see Titus 2:11–13).

In view of the Biblical certainty of the return of Jesus, and in view of the fulfilled and fulfilling signs that His coming is near, this is no time to lose hope! Our beloved Lord and Savior is coming back! Now more than ever before, as we are “awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13), we can say with confidence, “For yet a little while, and the coming one shall come and shall not tarry” (Heb 10:37).

NOTES

1. Rodney Clapp, “Cults: A Reality That Has Staggered Our Imaginations,” Christianity Today, Jan. 1, 1982, p.50.

2. J. David Singer and Melvin Small, The Wages of War: 1816–1965. A Statistical Handbook (New York, 1972), p. 65.

3. World War II, World Book Encyclopedia.

4. G. A. Eiby, Earthquakes (New York City, 1980), pp. 187–193.

5. “World Society 1982,” UN Chronicle, Nov. 1982, p. 39.

6. David B. Barrett, ed., World Christian Encyclopedia: A Comparative Study of Churches and Religions in the Modern World A.D. 1900–2000 (Oxford, 1982), p. 18; see also global table 10.

7. Ibid., p. 6.

8. Ibid., p. 13; see also global tables 12 and 31.