Eschatologically speaking I frequently hear/read Christians say, "The event X is near to occurring." For example, I have read many books, many articles, many internet forum posts, and heard many times on the radio the assertion the time when the rapture will occur is near, or the building of another stone temple, or the mark of the beast is near. When I have the opportunity to engage that person (I've spoken to several noted teachers about this) and ask them "What do you mean by 'near'?" or "How near?" or "When you use the word "near,' what, specifically do you mean?" I rarely get and answer and on the rare occasion when I do get an answer the answers range from a in a week or a month to a few years or a few decades; sometimes even within this century" is the answer. To encourage an answer I even say, "Please be as specific as you feel comfortable being."
So, I would like to ask each of you all to simply answer that question. On the occasion when any of you say some eschatological event is "near" what, specifically, what exactly, do you mean when using the word "near"?
Nothing more.
Just something short and sweet, concise, succinct. Something like, "When I say the rapture is near, I mean the rapture will occur sometime in the next month," or "When I say the rapture is near, I mean the rapture will occur sometime in the next four years." For the purpose of this op there are no wrong answers. I'd simply like a sampling of members' personal views. Thanks
You're not going to get "sweet and concise" from me, because I've been studying this for decades, and I know that I'm speaking to a wall of misconceptions, particularly with the advent of modern Dispensationalism. For the record, I favor the emphasis in Dispensationalism towards belief in Israel's future restoration. But I strongly disagree with its emphasis on the Imminent Return of Christ, and Pretribulationism.
So "near" is, at its heart, a proximity. In this case it is the proximity of Christ's Kingdom to Christ's 1st Coming. The Kingdom is relatively "near" to arriving because Christ has already come. Jesus has done the work, and now the news simply has to be spread. Being that it is a large world, and being that God operates through slow human beings, the nearness of the Kingdom does not appear to be "near."
But I would attach this recent explanation I've given of the falseness of Imminency Doctrine. You don't have to read it, if you're satisfied with the above.
Respectfully, there's no Imminent Return of Christ "on any day" or "at any time!
What does it mean to "always be ready?" Does it mean that Jesus could come back at any time, that if we don't remain good Christians he may come back at an embarrassing moment?
Matthew 24.44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
I don't think so. I think we're always ready when 1) we get converted to Christ, 2) we live holy lives, and 3) we live obedient lives. But again, does this mean that Christ could return at any time, on any day?
I don't think so. When Jesus said this it was at a crossroads for Israel. They had not been living godly lives. Even though they had covered up their wickedness of heart with all kinds of religious displays they were soon to give up Jesus to death, to reject their Messiah, to reject God, to persecute Christians. They had covered up their wickedness with religiosity.
Matthew 24.1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
So Jesus predicted that they were soon to fall to the Romans. The Romans carried standards with eagle images that they worshiped. It was like vultures gathering to Jerusalem, to lay siege against them and to destroy the temple.
The thing Israel was immediately to be concerned with preparing for, with being ready for, was a Roman invasion. The warning of judgment should elicit repentance in Israel. And that's how Jesus was calling Israel to prepare for this--by repenting of their sins. If judgment was not to be for their own sins, individually, they would have to repent, regardless of whether they could avert the judgment or avoid it personally.
This event was so imminent that Jesus said with certainty that this would befall the very generation of his Apostles. All the more reason for Jewish believers to remain ready, because judgment was soon to fall on the country, indiscriminately. Jesus told his followers to be ready to flee when the Roman Army comes, or when news of it arrives.
Matt 24.15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains."
This "abomination of desolation" was mentioned in the book of Daniel, ch 9, where we are told that the people (army) of a coming ruler would bring destruction to Jerusalem and to the temple. This was fulfilled in Jesus' generation, in 70 AD--about 40 years later.
Dan 9.26 The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary... And at the temple he will set up an abomination [a pagan army] that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on it [Jerusalem].
So being "ready for Jesus' Coming" was actually preparing for a time of judgment for Israel. If his disciples wanted to be ready for the Kingdom of heaven, the litmus test was being ready for judgment. It determined whether a person would die under judgment or simply suffer as a righteous martyr or as collateral damage, a victim of "friendly fire." And getting ready was spurred on by the presence of gross national sins and by the signs of imminent Divine judgment.
Why do I say that Jesus cannot come back on any day? It is because we were told in Daniel that the Son of Man would return in the context of the coming of the Kingdom of God, when Antichrist would be destroyed (Dan 7). If he is coming on the last day of the present age, then he cannot come today!
Dan 7.13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man [Christ], coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed....
25 He [Antichrist] will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time [3.5 years].
26 “‘But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever [when the Son of Man comes].
We do not have to be threatened with Jesus coming back on any day to keep ourselves living right. It is enough to know judgment could arrive at our door on any day--we could die on any day. We could have a car accident on any day. We could have a heart attack on any day.
We should prepare for such possibilities and for such eventualities simply by living a good life. We don't have to worry about a sudden appearance of Christ, because as long as we're alive we have a job he wants us to do. He won't come back until our jobs are done.
Phil 1.4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
That Christ *cannot* come back in a preliminary secret Coming, as Dispensationalists allege, I need only point out that Christians are always directed towards expectation of Jesus' Coming to establish his Kingdom, and not to some preliminary event. A Pretrib Rapture is never mentioned in the Scriptures. But here it is explicitly stated that Christ cannot come for his Church unless the Antichrist comes 1st. And Christ is to come for the express purpose of destroying the Antichrist--not before...
2 Thes 2.1 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.... 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 
