Christ Not Coming Back Again (Part 5) - By Danilo T. Nacua

The Misinterpreted Passages:

Revelation 1:7 (TEV)
“Look, he is coming on the clouds! Every one will see him, including those who pierced him. All peoples on earth will mourn over him. So shall it be!”

I don’t deny that this is a promise of his coming. But if you’ll take a look at the prevailing circumstances of the promise you’ll realize that the phrase ‘including those who pierced him” will stop you in your tracks. Would you be so naive so as to assume that until now those “who pierced Christ” are still alive, since they will also see his coming? That information alone raises more questions than answers. The next question is: how else was the coming of Jesus described?

Revelation 22:12,20 (TEV), “Listen”, says Jesus. “I am coming soon! I will bring my rewards with me, to give each one according to what he has done. I am the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” He who gives his testimony to all this says, “Yes, indeed! I am coming soon.”

Other versions render “soon” as “quickly” (NIV). Before going further let’s simplify the phrase “coming soon”. How soon is “coming soon”? Two days? Two years? Two centuries? Any respectable dictionary such as Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines the word “soon” as promptly or immediately, not a long time passing.

Revelation 22 is not the whole Bible. Searching answers for questions like these must be done accordingly within Biblical principles. Paul advised 1 Corinthians 4:6 (NIV) that, “Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying ‘Do not go beyond what is written’...”

Beyond what is written will be conjectures and is subject to errors. The only way to stay within what is written is to search the scriptures or the Bible. Isaiah 28:10,13 (RSV) gives the procedure as, “...precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little...therefore, the word of the Lord will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little; that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.”

To prove with a concrete example of staying within the limits of what is written, by taking precepts, lines, and lessons (take them and join them together), let’s take another promise of the same nature using the word “soon” to determine its duration, whether it will be so long as to last up to our present times.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 4:19 (RSV) promised that, “...I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power.” This can be construed as of the same futuristic promise given by Jesus. But didn’t Paul reach Corinth until this present time? If he didn’t then we can surely hope for Paul to appear in Corinth anytime now, if that promise has not been fulfilled yet! That is, if we don’t go to other books in the Bible to search if Paul didn’t really go to Corinth to fulfill his promise. But remember that the promise was not ambiguous but specifically given to the members in Corinth.

Well, Acts 18:1 (NIV) tell us that, “After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.” This confirms that the word “soon” connotes short period of time interval between the promise and the fulfillment. The above text establishes the fact that Paul fulfilled his promise to go to Corinth!

Now let’s go back to the main issue concerning Christ promise of “coming soon”. The logical questions would be: how long or how soon is his “coming soon” and what’s the time limit that defines this phrase “coming soon” to signify his return?

Matthew 10:5-6,23 (The Living Bible, Illustrated Catholic Edition) renders this as, “Jesus sent them out with these instructions: ‘Don’t go to the Gentiles, or to the Samaritans. But only to the people of Israel - God’s lost sheep...When you are persecuted in one city, flee to the next. I will return before you have reached them all’.”

Okay, the time limit is that before all the cities of Israel were covered by the apostles of Jesus Christ, he has returned already. Would you say that until now his apostles have not yet finished preaching to the people of Israel? My goodness, it would be utterly stupidity to assume so! And also the apostles were prohibited to go to the Gentiles before his return. Would you also dare to say that the apostles haven’t reached the Gentiles until now?

Again it would plain idiocy to believe so. Ephesians 2:11-13 (NIV) proves the fact that the apostles have reached the Gentiles in their preaching works. The Gentiles were lucky to be included as members of the people of God because in Acts 15:13-14 (RSV) they were also selected to become so and Romans 16:4 (RSV) proves the existence of Gentile churches at that time.

What can be the proper conclusion from the above premises? Simple. Jesus Christ has already fulfilled his promised “second coming” during the lifetimes of the apostles and those who pierced him. His promise to give gifts to men has likewise been fulfilled as stated in Ephesians 4:8 (The Living Bible, Catholic Illustrated Edition), “However, Christ has given each of us special abilities - whatever he wants us to have out of his rich storehouse of gifts. The Psalmist tells about this, for he says that when Christ returned triumphantly to heaven after his resurrection and victory over Satan, he gave generous gifts to men.”

No wonder all the self proclaimed Christians who are hoping today for Christ’s supposedly second coming are subjected to dismay every time their religious leaders tried to guess the time of his arrival. They have not understood well what the Bible wants us to understand that Christ’s second coming have passed and they have nothing to do with it because the promise was specific only to his disciples and church members at that time - even to his enemies!
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Acts 17:31(RSV)
“…because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead.”

And as to who is this man appointed by God by raising him from the dead, Romans 10:9 (RSV) clarified that, “because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Therefore, Jesus Christ was the one appointed by God to judge the world and John 5:27 (RSV) further explained the reason for this appointment that God, “...has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man” and 2 Corinthians 5:10 (RSV) further affirmed that, “...we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done.”

So, if Jesus Christ must judge the world, then he must come back again (his supposedly second coming) to fulfill job!

Well, so far so good, i.e., if we will not search the Bible, then we are compelled to accept such argument. But, as we said before, the cited text is not the whole Bible. We must search the whole Bible to exhaust all means if there other passages that would further shed light to certain issues, before jumping to conclusions. If there are none, then, that would be the time to render final conclusions.

The argument presented above is only a partial exposition to the whole issue of the second coming. The truth of the matter is partially hidden behind the argument. To expose the whole truth then we must again apply the procedure emphasized in the Bible that we take a precept here, and a line there, and a lesson there, and then join them together! (Isaiah 28:1013, RSV)

Okay, let’s start asking questions to dig the truth of the issue. Who else is present on the court of Christ during judgment?

1 Timothy 4:1 (RSV), “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom.”

So, Christ is with God on the court during judgment. But, will Christ accept this appointment as the judge? John 8:15-16 (NIV), “You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me.” So, it would seem to come out now that there would be two judges - the Father and Son!

Wait a minute! See, the point of argument here? God did appoint Jesus Christ as the judge of the world, but (and it’s a big but), he refuses to judge no one! The phrase “if I do judge” indicates condition whether he would accept or not the appointment as judge! But let’s give this statement the benefit of a doubt. Did Christ really accept or refuse?

Final refusal was expressed by Christ in John 8:50 (NIV) when he said that, “I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge.”

Now, we seem to be in a quandary. God wanted Christ to judge the world but he refused and instead pointed somebody else. Did Christ restore judgment to the hands of his Father who gave him the authority? Let’s see.

Christ said in John 5:22 (NIV) that, “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.” Wow! Now this is really something to think about. Although Christ refused the job, he did not restore the authority to his Father! So, who is going to judge the world now if the Father and Christ are no longer interested in the job?

We can only solve this problem if we will ask Christ himself to clarify the issue. So, let’s ask him. “Lord (Jesus Christ), who is this one you said above will judge, if you and your Father are no longer interested in judging us?”

Hey, since Christ cannot answer us personally we will just have to rely on his spoken statements recorded in the Bible. But rest assured that his statement was meant to be to clarify this issue.

In John 12:48 (NIV) Christ pre-declared that, “There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.”

He revealed in John 14:15-17, 25-27 (TEV) that the ‘very word’ he spoke is the Holy Spirit that he promised.

Will the Holy Spirit judge the world as indicated by Christ? Yes! In John 16:7-10, 28-30 (NIV) he definitely and plainly proclaimed that “...I tell you the truth: It is for your own good that I go away. Unless I go away, the Counselor (Holy Spirit - John 14:26) will not come to you; but If I go, I will send him to you. When he (the Holy Spirit) comes, he will convict (judge) the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer.” (parenthesis mine)

May 27 at 1:04pm