Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Did the early apostles expect the second coming of Christ in their lifetime, as we expect it today? If the answer is "Yes," then how can we be sure that our "blessed hope" in His soon return is not another 2000 years too early, as was theirs?
Paul's First Letter to the Thessalonians gives the impression that he expected Christ's return in his lifetime. And that's what the people got from it. But Paul immediately writes back to straighten them out. No, he says, he didn't mean that; they misunderstood him (Paul did not apologize for misleading them!). He made himself clear in his Second Letter: "We ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or be troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come" (2 Thess. 2:1, 2). Thank God we have his reply to them, so it can straighten us out, too.
Paul goes on to tell them that Christ cannot return until the prophecies of Daniel have been fulfilled in history when "the man of sin" (Daniel's little horn) has done his evil work. He reminds them that when he was with them he had taught them about that "man of sin." This does not mean that Paul had a clear understanding of all of Daniel's prophecies; but he knew that the great controversy between Christ and Satan must run its course, or the end could not come. A far-off mountain on a very clear day looks close.
The second coming of Christ is the only hope the world has ever had. Only then can the dead be resurrected to eternal life. Naturally, God's people through the ages have always cherished this "blessed hope." But now we know that the prophecies about the 1260 and the 2300 years, and many details, have been fulfilled. The signs of Christ's soon return have almost been fulfilled. Thus we know that His return is "at the very doors" (Matt. 24:33, 34). "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" But not for our sakes alone--many are suffering.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 9, 2002.
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