Thoughts on Jesus' return?!

[LordDuncanBurneWilke]

Thanks all. Got my answers. Appreciate the responses. Peace to all.

 

[redleghunter]

Hey all.

What do you think about the return of Jesus? Why is it taking so long? I can't help but notice as I read the NT that it seems like it should have happened in that setting. Even old Paul seemed sure his return was imminent. Plus there is that verse about the current generation not passing before his return. Honestly it's a big hurdle, especially with all the end time nuts making endless predictions that never come to pass.

Curious what some of the good Christians in this sub-forum think?

Thanks!

Good afternoon (at least where I am ).

Yes you are correct the imminent return of Messiah is all throughout the NT. To be thorough, I would extend that to the OT (TaNaKh) as well.

Setting is important but not the entire picture. We should overlay the imminent return of the King with the revelation God is patient and longsuffering that no one should perish:

2 Peter 3: New King James Version (NKJV)


3 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

 

[LivingWordUnity]

Jesus said that the gospel would be preached "throughout the whole world" before his return (see Mt 24:14). And St. Paul said Jesus' return would not happen before the rebellion (see 2 Thess 2:3). I think it's clear that the gospel has been preached to all nations and that we are now in the time of the rebellion. "This generation" in Mt 24:34 can be taken as "the generation of those who seek him" (see Ps 24:6), which seems to be the time when the gospel was spread before the modern rebellion. Also, I think it may be significant that we are in the third millennium or third "day" (see 2 Pt 3:8; Hos 6:2).

 

[LordDuncanBurneWilke]

Alrighty. Good answers. I suppose those do help bring a bit of sense to the Gospels mentioning of Jesus return as well as some of Paul's letter. I appreciate your posts.

 

[rob_aston]

Why is it taking so long

are u still unsure bud?

 

[Ladyghosthunter]

I hope Jesus hurries up. I can't stand this place anymore.

 

[LordDuncanBurneWilke]

are u still unsure bud?

Always!

 

[LordDuncanBurneWilke]

I hope Jesus hurries up. I can't stand this place anymore.

Really? I am in no rush. Life's pretty good.

 

[Ladyghosthunter]

I have PTSD and have been put through Hell all of my life. It's time for me to leave.

 

[rob_aston]

Always

i wondered too, things like "in the same gen." then i gave up saying whatever...then i just trusted that He will do whatever, whenever

 

[LordDuncanBurneWilke]

I have PTSD and have been put through Hell all of my life. It's time for me to leave.

Sorry to hear that. Hope things get better for you soon!

 

[Ladyghosthunter]

I doubt they will. I wonder if the saints ever went through what I went through. I miss Padre Pio.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Well, Revelation 1 says He is 'Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending', 'the first and the last'. So it is all in His good hands as His purposes are being worked out while the Gospel is still going forth.

 

[redleghunter]

I have PTSD and have been put through Hell all of my life. It's time for me to leave.

Lady G, I just completed a prayer for you.

My hope and prayer is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ brings you times of refreshing and His Grace and Peace on you.

I have not experienced your trials. Best I can muster is the day I was informed my 10 year old son had cancer. A terrible day that lasted three years and watching what he endured. To make matters worse I was also diagnosed with cancer a year into his treatments. Again not even close to what you are enduring.

I learned to look at the glory of Christ seated at the Right Hand of the Father. Reminded of what St Paul wrote to the Roman church :

Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

God Bless.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Lady G, I just completed a prayer for you.

My hope and prayer is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ brings you times of refreshing and His Grace and Peace on you.

I have not experienced your trials. Best I can muster is the day I was informed my 10 year old son had cancer. A terrible day that lasted three years and watching what he endured. To make matters worse I was also diagnosed with cancer a year into his treatments. Again not even close to what you are enduring.

I learned to look at the glory of Christ seated at the Right Hand of the Father. Reminded of what St Paul wrote to the Roman church :

Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

God Bless.

This is a wonderful verse in a moving, doctrinally profound chapter, which must be especially strong for believers going through tremendous trials.

 

[redleghunter]

This is a wonderful verse in a moving, doctrinally profound chapter, which must be especially strong for believers going through tremendous trials.

I have to thank a pastor I met at the children's oncology wing for reminding me of the following :

Psalm 40:1-3 King James Version (KJV)
40 I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. (KJV).

It was meant to be instructive as we were just starting our trial. For us carbon based life forms we expect immediate answers to prayers not knowing the designer of the master tapestry is delicately weaving much more than we can see or fathom.

 

[faroukfarouk]

I have to thank a pastor I met at the children's oncology wing for reminding me of the following :

Psalm 40:1-3 King James Version (KJV)
40 I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. (KJV).

It was meant to be instructive as we were just starting our trial. For us carbon based life forms we expect immediate answers to prayers not knowing the designer of the master tapestry is delicately weaving much more than we can see or fathom.

The Psalms, too, have indeed been wonderful friends to the pilgrim servants of the Lord down the centuries.

 

[Serving Zion]

Hey all.

What do you think about the return of Jesus? Why is it taking so long? I can't help but notice as I read the NT that it seems like it should have happened in that setting. Even old Paul seemed sure his return was imminent. Plus there is that verse about the current generation not passing before his return. Honestly it's a big hurdle, especially with all the end time nuts making endless predictions that never come to pass.

Curious what some of the good Christians in this sub-forum think?

Thanks!

Hello there Duncan, wow I love this question! Thanks!! I wrote all this response this morning, then took some time to see it with fresh eyes, by that time you'd already got the answers anyway - still, I think this is worth posting, there is details here that might be useful to someone.

What we find as we look into this issue (the failure of Christianity to yet achieve it's full objective) is that Jesus did not fail, nor did His disciples fail, but those taking His name for vain purposes, (self-serving Christians and the world at large), has failed to repent and fully embrace Christianity to the extent that can overcome evil.

In the scriptures of The New Testament, we see evidence that within the churches were people rising to leadership and teaching positions, that were doing so for selfish reasons. In other words, their preaching was not because their heart was fully in service to God, but because they enjoyed the recognition/benefits of being esteemed as an authority in the church, and they found that they had some talent that made them particularly successful to that end. We observe this even in the modern days.

For example: 2 Peter 2:1-3, Jude 1:1-25, Acts 20:29.

Jesus taught about this too (Luke 19:14, Matthew 13:24-30).

In St. Paul's writings, he frequently addresses them "to the holy ones in the congregation" - explicitly stating that not all of the congregation can be addressed as holy ones. Even in the church today, we see that congregations contain mixtures of people holy and unholy, .. the ratios vary of course, but it is my firm commitment to say that this has observably lessened over the recent years. The cause is easily attributed to media influences - a noticeable absence of Holy Spirit in public Television and Music, has groomed social attitudes to be more inclined toward sexual immorality, more obsessed with consumerism, more interested in gadgets and fun, to the detriment of our relationships with God and the people around us. These media influences have taken the primary place in our lives, so God has been relegated to mealtime prayers and an hour on Sunday. Subsequently, there has been a gradual lessening of love, respect, compassion, ethics in society, because of our increasing tendency to self-gratification (Matthew 24:12).

So, the earth as a collective entity, still has not overcome the enemy, and the enemy is advancing upon it. The enemy is sin. The enemy is purely and deeply evil, it's heart ultimately desires destruction and death. It creeps into our lives with cunning - appearing at first to be harmless and good, gradually taking hold of us until we are outright rejecting and opposing righteousness, also rejecting and opposing The Holy Spirit of Truth.

Our enemy has strength against us because of our selfish ambitions. We all have weaknesses, that is true; we are all human, and humans have common, natural desires (comforts/pleasures, ego etc - 1 Corinthians 10:13). The particular nature of the people around us, the experiences we have, the way we learn to cope with them, the way others demonstrate survival to us - life just causes us to be more or less inclined to those desires in our own unique way. The enemy, being a personal enemy to us, observes and learns of our weaknesses so that it might have mastery over us for it's own purposes (Genesis 4:6-7).

Yet the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ states that if we surrender our life for Jesus' sake, we will receive life abundantly; and conversely, the one who desires to keep his life for himself, will ultimately lose it. Furthermore, we are obligated - not merely asked - to pick up our own cross and follow Jesus. This is an ultimatum: will we stand up for the truth and for Jesus' vindication; or will we allow the enemy to prevail against us and to use us as an instrument of destruction in His name? The gospel is more than an evangelical sales pitch.

To be a successful ambassador for Christ, we must be righteous. We must be able to stand against all accusations without blame, so that God will be pleased to defend us (Proverbs 18:10). We don't have righteousness of our own accord, because our past has sin. Yet, because Jesus has purchased us from sin with His own blood (1 Corinthians 7:23), the burden of that past belongs to Him, and we are graciously gifted with a good conscience (2 Corinthians 5:17). But, as Hebrews 10:26-29 explains, there no longer remains any sacrifice for sins after that. We must repent perfectly for the rest of our days, in order to maintain our confidence of righteous standing. Our righteousness does not come from being able to demonstrate to our fellow man that we comply with a law, rather, we know in our own conscience that God is pleased with the way we are living (Romans 3:28-30).

Righteousness is paramount, because it is power to condemn the sinner (Matthew 5:20, Isaiah 54:17).

The true disciples who first carried the gospel, certainly understood this well (it is visible in their writings). Yet they also saw that the flesh is weak, and the most appealing influence within the congregations was of a sinful persuasion. They saw that the enemy was continuing it's assault upon The Kingdom of God. St. Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 2 "The day of The Father will not come until the great apostasy comes first". And so, we do see signs of this in the present age: churches have compromised the standards of holiness, in order that they make it a welcoming place for sinners, who fill their seats and pay the bills.

You asked "why is it taking so long for Jesus to return?". This is it, really. God needs us to rise up and speak these truths on His behalf, but we have largely become impotent, lukewarm. Also, the lost sheep of Israel are still lost. The Kingdom of God can only be complete, and their faith can only have full power, when they accept that Jesus is Messiah. They cannot easily see Messiah in Christianity when all they can see is that Christians are slaves to sin, calling "holy", things that are not holy, and saying that God's law is not relevant (because they are lawless).

.. and briefly about the word "generation" - it most generally describes the lifespan of an offspring that comes and goes. It doesn't necessarily mean a fixed period of years. When you read Matthew 24:34, also read Mark 8:38, and Matthew 17:17. The context that Jesus is using the term "generation", seems to describe the period of earth's history after the fall and before the restoration, the period during which sin reigns (Genesis 3:15 until Revelation 21:3-4).

 

[Catherineanne]

Hey all.

What do you think about the return of Jesus? Why is it taking so long? I can't help but notice as I read the NT that it seems like it should have happened in that setting. Even old Paul seemed sure his return was imminent. Plus there is that verse about the current generation not passing before his return. Honestly it's a big hurdle, especially with all the end time nuts making endless predictions that never come to pass.

Curious what some of the good Christians in this sub-forum think?

Thanks!

To the Lord a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day.

Meanwhile the Lord is waiting for the harvest to be ready; there is no point harvesting before then.

 

[Catherineanne]

I hope Jesus hurries up. I can't stand this place anymore.

He will come when the time is right and not a single moment sooner.