His coming would be before the
Apostle John's death.
John 21:23;
"Then this saying went out
among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not
say to him that he would not die, but, "If I will that he remain till
I come, what is that to you?"
His coming would be before the
Apostles' work would be finished in the area of
Palestine.
Matthew 10:23;
"When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For
assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of
Israel before
the Son of Man comes."
Jesus told the High Priest
that was examining him, that he would see him coming on the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 26:63-64; Mark 14:62)
It would be immediately after
the destruction of the Jewish capital.
Matthew 24:29-31;
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon
will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers
of the heavens will be shaken.
30
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the
tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory.
31 And He will send His angels with a
great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds,
from one end of heaven to the other."
All these statements of Jesus
are both accurate and happened as he said they would before that
generation died out - a space of about 40-60 years; either that or
Jesus, the Son of God, was not just mistaken, but deceived the people. Or, a
third possibility is that Jesus didn't mean what he appears to be
saying and words don't mean what they say.
Sadly, this latter ad hoc
position has been the untenable refuge of many Bible students for the
last 100 years. Before that time there were very few who held the
Futurist view of the Book of Revelation. Frederic W. Farrar said, "The second of these
schools - the Futurists - has always been numerically small, and at
present may be said to be non-existent." [The Early Days of
Christianity: 1882 - London] So all of the present day hype about
"Left Behind" and Jesus' "Second Coming" is a fairly recent and new
doctrine. It's development in the U.S. is parallel to our recent
dumbing-down of scholarship in our schools in the last 100 years.
The word
"generation" that Jesus used for his time indicator means all the people who are members of
a contemporary
age group who are living during their average life span. "This
generation" could only mean the one then present, the Jewish
contemporaries of Jesus.
(Matthew 24:30-34; Mark 13:30; Luke 21:31-32) That would make "the end"
happen
in the first century somewhere between about AD 30, when Jesus spoke,
to about AD 100, when John, the last Apostle, died.
What those who heard Jesus believed.
The Apostles and those who
believed their testimony, in turn looked for the end to be in their
life-time. They confidently entertained this expectation on the
authority of Jesus. They used expressions indicating something
imminent, “coming quickly”, “standing at the door”, and “at hand”,
which means so close as to be able to touch it.
They were expecting the end
of their age and the beginning of another.
1Corinthians 10:11;
11"Now all these things happened to them as examples,
and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the fulfillment
of the ages has come."
They were expecting Jesus to come before some of
them had died, just as he said he would.
1Corinthians 15:51-52;
"Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but
we shall all be changed-- 52 in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the
dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
Again, they expected some of their number to be
alive and remaining on the earth when Jesus came.
1Thessalonians 4:15-18;
15 "For this we say to you
by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord
will by no means precede those who are asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the
dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall
be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we
shall always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore comfort one another with
these words."
They let the near approach of Jesus' coming
determine their behavior.
Philippians 4:5; "Let your forbearance
be known to all men. The Lord is at hand."
James 5:8; "You also be patient.
Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand."
1Peter 4:7;
"But the fulfillment of all things
is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers."
They had already seen the antichrists come in
their day in the first century and knew that the time was short.
1John 2:18;
"Little children, it is the last
hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even
now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last
hour."
They knew that the Apocalypse of John was close
to being fulfilled.
Revelation 1:3;
"Blessed is he who reads and those who
hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are
written in it; for the time is near."
Jesus consistently says the same thing
throughout the scriptures, that he was coming soon.
Revelation 22:7, 10, 12;
7 "Behold, I am coming
quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this
book."
10
And he said to me, "Do not seal the words
of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand.
12 "And behold, I am coming
quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to every one according
to his work."
Then, where does that leave us?
The teaching today about "The Second Coming" of
Jesus in A.D. 2012 and the "End of the World" at that time, is simply more doomsday
blather and 666 hysterics from people who did not get their
information from the scriptures. It is just not going to happen -
because it already happened. The Zionists are not God's people,
and there are many more reasons to realize that than what I am
presenting here.
Click for more info. They should not be countenanced or listened to by
anyone. The Hasidic Jews come close to the truth on this matter when
they freely admit that God has destroyed their Temple and acknowledge
the severity of what that means. But like Paul the Apostle said, if
they will turn to the Lord the veil will be taken way from their eyes.
(2Corinthians 3:12-18) Not surprisingly, these Hasidic Jews are
suffering persecution from their power hungry Zionist brothers.
Most religious
people do not believe or teach what the Bible actually says, for that
would mean that the writers did not know what they were talking about,
since it was not fulfilled and
Jesus did not come again in the first century, or so they think.
The answer to this
confusion is in the way you view the scriptures and indeed your whole
world. Either the nature
of Christ's coming in his kingdom determines the time that he comes,
or the time that he comes determines the nature of his coming
and his kingdom.
If you think
carnally, and you think that
Jesus will come physically back to Earth and reign on a physical
throne in a rebuilt temple in Palestinian
Jerusalem, then it could not and did not happen
in the first century as Jesus and his Apostles all predicted it would.
So, people will swallow the embarrassment and contradiction they think
they see
in the scriptures and conclude that it must be for a different
time and therefore look for another physical fulfillment in the
future. Then they will do everything in their power to make that happen, like
calling the
European
Commonwealth the
reestablishment of the Roman Empire, or shipping some red heifers from
Texas to
Palestine for sacrifices
or supporting the power-crazed Zionists in their plans of
world domination; because they think that God will redeem his
chosen people which they mistake to be physical Israel.
But if you believe
the words of the Son of God about the time, and believe the revelation
of the truth delivered by his Apostles, then Christ's coming did
indeed happen in the first century just as they said it would and the
nature of Christ's return and his kingdom is spiritual and eternal.
Then suddenly all the scriptures start fitting together.
There was a
dispensational resurrection of the dead out of Hades around the time
of the end just like Daniel
said there would be. (Dan. 12) The "End" in that context is referring
to the last day of the nation of Israel and the Age coming to a close. Jesus did
indeed come on the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory and destroyed all those Jews who would not
have him as a ruler over them. (Luke 19:11-27) He did that in the year
AD 70. The kingdom is here now and has been for the last 1900 years.
(Colossians 1:13) The dawn has risen and the true light now shines.
(1John 1:8) The day star has risen in our hearts and we can now see
God face to face. (2Peter 1:19) Those who believe now have eternal
life and will never die. (John 11:26) The physical nation of Israel is
not God's children or chosen and have not been since he rejected the
physical nation in AD 70, and told his faithful children to come out
of her. (Revelation 18:4; Luke 21:20-24) The
Israel which is
of God is everyone who obtains spiritual life in Christ, both Jew and
Gentile - and "so all Israel will be saved". (Romans 2:28-29; 11:26) We now live in the new heavens and the new
earth.
(Hebrews 12:26-29)
Those who are of
the flesh, both carnally and physically minded, cannot please God.
(Romans 8:7-8) As that was
true for the Israelites who did not turn to the Spirit and who
rejected Christ in the first century, so it is still true for all
those who reject his word today both Jew and Gentile, for with God
there is no difference between them. God has brought his spiritual kingdom to the
world through the promises made to Abraham and has offered it to
anyone on the planet who has faith, coming to God through a spiritual
relationship with Jesus Christ. (Romans 4)
What Christians expected in the first century did indeed
happen in their lifetime in the first century and is still our
inheritance today - which many do not understand or enjoy because they
believe it has not yet come to pass or been fulfilled. But
there is ample evidence from the Lord and those who heard him that all
that he promised then has already been fulfilled and we can now
appreciate the results in his eternal kingdom which is a reality
today.
“Old things are passed away, behold, all things
are become new.”
LW
For more information on the developing
resurgence of believers who understand the truth according to the Præterist view of the
scriptures, please click Præterist Central or
do the search on the Web for a whole library of study materials for those who seek to
understand what the Bible actually says.
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