Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
It's a troublesome text, and 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 you see all these things, know that it is near, at the very doors. Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things are fulfilled."
The problem is that for well over 150 years Seventh-day Adventists have believed that the coming of Jesus is so near that it is "at the very 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 will be darkened," "the stars will fall from heaven," and "on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, ... men's hearts failing them from 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 it has for well 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 canbe accepted!
Jesus also told us to pray, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10). Let's stop hindering the fulfillment of that "will."
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 14, 1999.
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