It's a troublesome text, and if it hasn't troubled you it's because you haven't thought about it. For many serious-minded people, it threatens the belief that the second coming of Jesus is imminent. In Matthew 24:33, 34, Jesus says to those who live in the last days, "When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."
The problem is that for more than 150 years Adventists have believed that the coming of Jesus is so near that it is "even at the doors," and the stalwarts who pioneered what is known as the Great Second Advent Movement steadfastly believed that the "thousand years" of Revelation 20 would for certain be the next millennium. God's people who are ready for Jesus' coming would spend it in heaven. But now the world seems set on spending it here on earth.
The problem with the disturbing words of Jesus is this: What are those "all these things" that "this generation" sees? The answer is clear: the "signs" in the heavens, the end of "the tribulation of those days" when "the sun shall be darkened," "the stars shall fall from heaven," and "upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity ... men's hearts failing them for fear" (Matt. 24:29; Luke 21:25, 26). The last of "the signs in the heavens" was the falling of the stars of 1833, and the generation that saw that has for over a century been sleeping in their graves.
There has to be an answer, or for thoughtful young people, the idea of imminence will crumble away. The answer is: the unbelief of God's people has delayed the Lord's coming, even as that of Israel delayed their entrance into the Promised Land. But there is Good News, for the solution is repentance; and repentance is a gift of the Holy Spirit that CAN be accepted!
Jesus also told us to pray, "Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." Let's stop hindering the fulfillment of that "will."
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 14, 1999.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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