ARE WE EAGERLY WAITING?

One of our readers, Larry Miles of Norwood, Ohio, dropped us a card recently in which he was commending my history book that he had read. As welcome as the commendation was, there was something else in the brief communication that impressed me more. He began by saying Greeting in the Blessed Hope, and closed with Let us be looking for His coming. I was impressed that this brother would be all that conscious of the coming of the Lord. Let’s face it, with most of us in Churches of Christ, if not most churches, there is not all that much of an expectation of the second coming of Christ.

Larry is a premillennialist and is associated with those Churches of Christ of the premillennial persuasion, a beautiful cluster of about 125 congregations. Through the years I have had considerable contact with these churches, and I have always been impressed with their continual awareness of “the promise of his coming.” It is only in these churches that I hear prayers of the Maranatha (Come, Lord Jesus) variety. Whether in teaching, sermons, or prayers, the typical Church of Christ manifests no particular concern for this cardinal doctrine of the Christian faith.

I am persuaded that Satan has led us away from “the blessed hope” by making us fearful of millennial theories. We have been sold a bill of goods by the old Deceiver himself in that most of our eschatological concern has been to expose the fallacies of premillennialism. I recall attending a mass gathering of our folk in Dallas, one of Jimmy Allen’s big meetings. With thousands gathered in the civic auditorium, Jimmy spent his time declaiming premillennialism. It would have been a good time to have spoken positively on “the blessed hope,” as set forth by the apostles themselves: “awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Tit. 2:13)

R. H. Boll, the father of the premill persuasion among our folk, predicted that this neglect of the second coming would occur. As one of the editors of the Gospel Advocate in the 1930’s he began to write extensively upon prophetic themes, which became very popular with the readers. While he was not factious, he was nonetheless in time very much opposed and even maligned for the positions he held. The premill churches were eventually isolated or “withdrawn from” and premillennialism was made a test of fellowship, not by those who believed the doctrine but by those who opposed it.

Amidst all the furor, brother Boll, always a gentle man (he would not debate the issue with those who opposed him), warned that the opposition toward his teaching would cause the Church of Christ to over-react and thus come to neglect the great doctrine of the second coming, which is the basis of “the blessed hope.” For whatever reason, our churches appear to be deprived of the great hope that motivated the early church: “We know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope purifies himself, even as he is pure” (1 In. 3:2-3). This is one reason why they prayed in their assemblies, Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus! (1 Cor. 16:22)

There is one passage about the second coming of our Lord that especially impresses me, causing me to search my own heart: “Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Heb. 9:28). The Greek word (actually three words in one) for waiting or eagerly waiting indicates earnest expectation, as in Rom. 8:19, or as Thayer suggests, “to wait it out,” as if to keep waiting until the expected finally appears.

Do we impress you as people who are “waiting for their master to come” (Lk. 12:36), people eagerly waiting for the Lord? This does not necessarily mean that we look for him momentarily. We might be persuaded by the Scriptures that certain things will happen before he comes, such as the rise of the anti-Christ or the man of sin, or the great tribulation, but still we long for his coming and we “wait it out,” whenever it occurs. The risk we take in our carnal minded world, steeped in humanism, is that ideas like the second coming may be among those things we theoretically embrace, but it has no vital application to our daily lives. It should be a part of our constant awareness and expectation that the Christ is not through with this world, that he is coming back to it, to save us who have been waiting it out.

The great truth of Heb. 9:28 should prove helpful to those who suppose the Lord will come secretly (the second coming) to rapture the church, then still again (the third coming) a few years afterwards to set up his kingdom. Whatever may be said of a future kingdom on this earth, the Scriptures do not teach that Jesus will come secretly to furtively steal away his disciples from an unsuspecting world. I recall one sister’s story of how she feared her husband had been raptured when she saw his house slippers beside his chair at the breakfast table, leaving her behind, when he had only gone to the toilet. Others warn us that their car might suddenly be unmanned on the highway, leaving us to wonder what happened to the driver. Indeed, we are told that the missing persons bureau will be swamped with calls inquiring about those that have been raptured by a secret coming of Jesus. This theory, rather popular these days in fundamentalist circles, is sometimes called pretribulationism or dispensationalism.

But Heb. 9:28 refers to the second coming as if that is it. Jesus is not to come again and again, and besides we are assured that when he comes every eye will see him (Rev. 1:7) and that it will be with a cry and the sound of the trumpet of God. (1 Thess. 4:16). It will hardly be secret. When he comes the world will know it all too well. Rev. 1:7 assures us that even those that crucified him will be among those that see him coming in the clouds, and Matt. 24:27 tells us that his coming will be “as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west.” We agree with one commentator who concludes from this passage that “The whole world will see him in the brilliance of his heavenly glory” (Lenski).

That same Matt. 24 teaches us that we are to hasten the Lord’s coming by evangelizing the world. Verse 14 reads: “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come.” There we have the sign of his coming. Once the church has preached the gospel to all the world, then the Lord will come. If we conclude that the church cannot do this until the Lord’s prayer for its unity has been realized, then it is apparent that we have our job cut out for us. It is certainly no time for lethargy.

However the timetable may be, we can all heed the words of the apostle: “Gird up your minds, be sober, set your hope fully upon the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:13). --- the Editor

An open mind is all very well in its way, but it ought not to be so open that there is no keeping anything in or out of it. It should be capable of shutting its doors sometimes, or it may be found a little draughty. --- Samuel Butler