Limapela Education Project
Faith in Action
This project aims to provide quality education to children in Zambia's Copperbelt Province.
Much popular end-time teaching is speculative and date-setting, when Jesus warned against this very approach - which breeds disillusionment and cynicism. Instead, Jesus' own teaching about how to prepare for his coming is surprisingly practical, teaching us, essentially, to 'occupy till he comes.' In this practical emphasis, Jesus shows himself one with the great Hebrew prophets before him. Rob Yule preached this final message in his series on biblical prophecy at Greyfriars' Classical service on 5 July 2009.
Many people have been turned off the subject of Jesus' second coming by the speculations of 'end-times' teachers. Speculative charts of future events, erroneous setting of dates - this has discredited the Bible's teaching about the return of Jesus and the end of the age.
Jesus' own teaching about his coming is in striking contrast. It isn't speculative, but highly practical; not pie in the sky, but very down to earth. He doesn't pander to idle curiosity about the future, but gives us incentives to practical action in the present.
There is, however, a genuine difficulty to be addressed in Jesus' teaching about his return. It presents us with a paradox. A paradox is a genuine reality presenting itself as an apparent contradiction. Physicists understand light as either waves or particles. They cannot resolve this apparent contradiction. Light cannot be understood as one or the other, but only as both together.
The same is true of Jesus' teaching about his coming again. On the one hand he says there will be signs which indicate when his coming is approaching. On the other he warns that no one knows the time of his coming and that it will be sudden and unexpected. The two apparently opposite things must be held together. Just as a magnetic field is the product of two opposed magnetic poles, so the Christian hope exists in this tension between signs and suddenness. Both aspects must be taken seriously.
When the buds of a fig tree begin to swell, it indicates that summer is near and the harvest is not far away. Similarly, says Jesus, when various events begin to happen, it will be a sign that his coming is near, 'right at the door' (Matthew 24:33). David Pawson memorably summarises what these events will be in his book When Jesus Returns (London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1995, pp. 20-28):
Disasters in the world - immense social upheavals brought about by wars, earthquakes, famines and other natural calamites (Matthew 24:4-8).
Deserters in the church - an increase of persecution, causing the love of many to grow cold, and leading many to fall away from their faith (Matthew 24:9-14).
Dictator in the Middle East - a lawless and godless totalitarian world ruler who will deceive many and persecute believers (Matthew 24:15-28).
Darkness in the sky - all natural sources of light (the sun, moon and stars) will be subdued; rather like the house lights being turned off before the performance begins (Matthew 24:29-31).
Jesus compares these signs to 'birth pains' (Matthew 24:8). This pregnant image indicates a progressively intensifying period of global suffering before the universe gives birth to the new order, the 'new heaven and a new earth' (Revelation 21:1), that will usher in Jesus' return.
For many these events will be the cause confusion and fear. For believers they should be a source of confidence and hope. 'When these things begin to take place,' says Jesus, 'stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.' (Luke 21:28). The world will view these events as the destruction of familiar boundaries and the death rattle of civilisation. Christians will see these events as the labour pains of the new creation and the fulfilment of all our hopes.
On the other side of the paradox Jesus tells us that his coming will be sudden and unexpected. It will be like a 'thief in the night', taking us unawares, like a household burglary (Matthew 24:43-44). We need to be ready and expectant, for we don't know the exact time when he will come again. 'No one knows about that day and hour' says Jesus, 'not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.' (Matthew 24:36).
This is a most important statement, ignored by countless date-setters throughout Christian history and in more recent times (see Pawson's list on page 29). Martin Luther calculated that Jesus would return in 1636, John Wesley in 1874 - both well after their death! William Miller, founder of the Seventh Day Adventists, worked out it would be in 1844, and many of his followers went out into the countryside to see it. Charles Russell, founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses, opted for 1914. There was a recent rash of predictions for 1988, the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel. All have been wrong.
Jesus couldn't have told us in clearer language that the date and time of his coming is unknown. If it is known only by the Father, then it is not known by any human beings, nor by angels, not even by Jesus himself. Not even the Holy Spirit knows, nor anyone claiming to speak prophetically under the inspiration of the Spirit. The Bible tells us that only God the Father knows the times and dates associated with his ordering of world history (Acts 1:7; 17:26). Numerous errors of date setting, much presumption and many disappointments, would have been avoided if people had heeded Jesus' words.
So how do we hold together this paradox of signs and suddenness?
The answer is that Jesus is coming, ready or not!
There are two groups of people in the world. To one group, unbelievers, Jesus' coming will be a complete shock. For them he will appear like a 'thief' who takes away all they have lived and worked for. To another group, believers, it will be a consummation of all our hopes, granting us our inheritance and vindication.
Jesus compared the time of his coming to the days of Noah before the flood. Human beings were going about life as usual, 'feeding and breeding' (in Pawson's memorable phrase, p. 19), blissfully unaware of the impending calamity about to overwhelm the earth. Only Noah and seven others believed God's word and had the faith to build a supertanker as a practical precaution (Matthew 24:37-39).
This should be cause for deep heart-searching. In the words of New Zealand poet, James K. Baxter (Autumn Testament, p. 30):
'There were eight souls, they say, with father Noah;
Neither you nor I might have made it to the gangplank.'
So Jesus is very clear about the attitude of self-awareness we should have as we await his coming. His teaching is also surprisingly practical. He expects us to remain faithful to our calling, to 'occupy till he comes' as the King James version puts it (Luke 19:13).
The practical nature of Jesus' teaching is in marked contrast to the extravagant speculations of the Jewish apocalyptic writers of his day, and the Christian end-time preachers of ours. He told four vivid parables describing how we should live in preparation for his return:
The parable of the good and bad servants emphasises that we are like stewards responsible to an absentee householder for the care of his household. Stewards, Jesus teaches, should act responsibly, care for members of the household, and 'give them their food at the proper time.'
In modern terms this is like being given responsibility for a local branch of an international corporation. Jesus' has gone away, and given us a responsibility to discharge in the time period till he returns. We're to look after his 'household', the church. We're to manage our branch of his business in a trustworthy and responsible manner, ready to provide an account of our activity when the Chief Executive returns.
We are like young women in a bridal party waiting for the groom. The parable of the wise and foolish teenage girls in the bridal party at a wedding emphasises the importance of being ready whatever happens, whether Jesus is delayed, or comes unexpectedly.
Ancient Jewish wedding customs help us to appreciate the vividness of Jesus' parable. In first century Jewish society it was customary for wedding feasts to be held at night, because of the heat. The groom would come to the bride's house before the wedding, and would often be delayed by prolonged negotiations with the bride's family about the value of the gifts due to them in return for letting her go (G. R. Beasley-Murray, Jesus and the Kingdom of God, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Eerdmans, 1986, p. 214).
There's a disturbing possibility suggested in this parable. Does oil for the lamps signify the Holy Spirit? If so, the story underlines the shocking possibility that fully half those who were awaiting Jesus' coming - not just the indifferent who are not expecting him - will be unprepared because they have neglected to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Bible teaches us to 'be filled with the Spirit' (Ephesians 5:18), to 'be alert' and 'pray in the Spirit on all occasions' (Ephesians 6:18). If we let our lamp go out, if we neglect our life in the Spirit, it could have fateful consequences when Jesus returns.
The parable of the talents encourages us to put everything that God has given us to active use in his service, till Jesus returns and asks us to give an account of our stewardship. We are responsible for using our God-given talents.
A talent was worth more than fifteen years' wages of a manual labourer - the value of half a lifetime's toil. Our God-given talents are very precious.
How is it that some people achieve so much with their lives, and others so little? This parable tells us. Not all people develop their personal talents, their God-given gifts and abilities. Many simply bury them, conserve them, do nothing constructive with them.
We're to be entrepreneurs, not hoarders. Jesus shows us that our talents are an investment to be ventured and put to work, in a creative or entrepreneurial manner, rather than simply conserved, hoarded or held back. 'The crucial point of the parable', says John McClure: 'Risk all to build the church.' ('Jesus' Prophecy of the Last Things,' in John Wimber Conference Manual, The Kingdom of God and the Last Days, Anaheim, California, Vineyard Ministries International, 1988).
The parable of the sheep and goats vividly describes the criterion by which we will be judged at the last judgment, when Jesus returns. Just as a Middle-Eastern shepherd separated the sheep and goats from each other at night when they were brought back from grazing to their walled enclosure, so Jesus will separate people from one another at the nightfall of the age according to whether or not they have cared for poor and needy brethren.
Who are the people Jesus calls the 'least of these brothers and sisters of mine'? David Pawson says, 'To say they are Jesus' fellow-countrymen, the Jews, is too narrow. To say that they are his fellow-humans, the whole race, is too broad. The title is consistently applied to his disciples . . .' (p. 71). So we will be judged, at Jesus' return, by whether we have cared for our fellow-Christians. Jesus sees our treatment of our fellow-members in the Body of Christ, as how we have treated him.
So Jesus calls us to prepare for his coming by being productively employed in his service. He gives us practical tasks to do, not theoretical issues to speculate about. We're to be faithful managers of his business, to cultivate our life in his Spirit, to develop our God-given gifts, and care for our Christian brothers and sisters. If you want to be ready for 'that day and hour', start serving God here and now.
Rob Yule, 5 July 2009
© 2009, Greyfriars Presbyterian Church
