Waiting for His second coming
David Ewert

I was in Russia five years ago to teach Baptist ministers. One evening, an elder proclaimed publicly that Christ would return in the year 2000. The next day, my students asked me whether I agreed with their elder. Having learned in 72 years that elders do not particularly enjoy contradiction, I had to answer cautiously.

Our calendar, I explained, was given to us by Julius Caesar and improved by Pope Gregory. It is a wonderful invention. It helps us count days, months and years. However, I added, our calendar is not God's calendar. It is a human invention, pure and simple. With God, a thousand years are like a day. I didn't need to say another word; the ministers all understood.

It is a great pity that Christians in North America keep falling for similar prognostications. Every attempt to fix a date for the end of the age so far has always proved to be wrong. Moreover, Jesus explicitly forbade this kind of speculation. As He said, no one knows the hour (Mark 13:32, KJV).

Those who venture to set dates--the Jack Van Impes and Hal Lindseys--do so on the basis of political, economic and societal developments. But these are in constant flux. History takes sudden twists and turns, such as the fall of communism, that throw all predictions out of kilter.

These popular prognosticators have all accepted a system of theology derived from Darby, Scofield and others. Although they claim to have discovered a detailed blueprint for coming events, their system throws the teachings of the New Testament on future things into confusion.

How should believers think about the second coming of our Lord? Let me briefly address a series of items that tend to draw so many away from the core teachings of Jesus and the apostles.

The Antichrist

Again and again I find believers who are waiting, not for Christ to appear at the end of the age, but for the Antichrist to emerge. When a notoriously evil person arises in history--and there are plenty of antichrists who serve as forerunners (I John 2:18)--the predictions begin. But nowhere are we told to wait for the Antichrist; we are told to wait for the Saviour, from heaven. Why then should we be constantly looking for candidates for "the Man of Lawlessness"?

Moreover, Paul assures us that when the Antichrist finally does emerge, the Lord Jesus will "destroy him with the breath of His mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of His coming" (II Thessalonians 2:8).

The number 666

Since Antichrist (and his forerunners) is called the Beast (Revelation 13) and has the number 666, people are constantly being scared by the appearance of this number. But assigning a number was a cryptic way of speaking of a person without giving the person's name. Since the letters of the alphabet were used for numbers, names had numerical value. Quite likely, John meant Nero, who had persecuted Roman Christians mercilessly. In Hebrew letters, "Caesar Nero" yields 616 (as some manuscripts have it); but the spelling "Caesar Neron" yields 666 (found more recently in that form in a document from Murabba'at). Whoever this beastly personage was, it would have been too dangerous to mention him by name. So John used a coverup. He and his readers, of course, knew who was meant.

The permanent message of Revelation 13 is that Christians must give their supreme loyalty to Jesus and not take on the beast's number. To take on the beast's number is simply a way of saying that people give him their hearts. The number 666 has no significance for believers living in the 20th century. It was simply John's code for the beastly first-century ruler who persecuted the church.

The 10-horned beas

t For many, the European Common Market (ECM) is connected to eschatology. Why this is so escapes me completely. Why focus on Europe? One-quarter of this world's population lives in China. When I taught in Africa, I was often embarrassed to find that commentaries and other theological literature were so oriented to Europe. As long as 10 European countries belonged to the ECM, one might find a shaky biblical basis for such an economic phenomenon in Revelation 17, where the Beast has 10 horns. Now that we have 13 countries in the ECM, and others applying, one can see through such shabby interpretation.

Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay are also working on a common market, and I wouldn't be surprised to find someone predicting that this is the beginning of the rule of the Antichrist. I also wouldn't be surprised if some North American believers interpret the North American Free Trade Agreement in the same way.

Harmagedon

Here's another topic that seems to fascinate date setters. "Harmagedon" (or Armageddon) occurs only once in the Bible (Revelation 16:16) to designate the final showdown between God and the forces of evil. The word is derived from the Hebrew word "mountain" (har) and the valley called "Megiddo", where many of the ancient battles were fought. And so the word becomes a symbolical name for the "last battle".

You will not find Harmagedon on any map; it is not a geographical term anymore. It is one of several designations of the victory of God over all evil forces. This coincides with the coming of our Lord at the end of the age and the destruction of the Antichrist and all his hosts.

What does this mean for us? For one thing, we should stop focussing on the land of Israel, where, according to dispensational theology, the last battle will take place. In the more recent past this battle was pictured as taking place between American and Soviet forces--a picture that was quickly revised during the Gulf War. Harmagedon is not a battle between human forces. It designates the final triumph of God over all the evil forces that oppose His rule.

The tribulation

Let it be stated unequivocally that Jesus predicted His followers would suffer for their faith. They have not suffered always and everywhere, and we are thankful for the freedom we presently enjoy. But suffering has been the lot of believers through every century and will continue to be the lot of believers right up to the end. It is, then, precarious to hold out hope to Christ's followers that they shall at some point be exempted from tribulation.

The notion that Christ will take away His church before seven years of tribulation breaks in on this world is a very popular one. But that demands that we divide Christ's coming into two parts, for which there are no good biblical grounds. It means we are interpreting the New Testament in the light of the Old Testament and not the other way around, as Jesus and the apostles taught us.

Where in the New Testament is there a single reference to a seven-year period of tribulation? Jesus and the apostles, who knew their Old Testament, have nothing to say about such a period. Rather, the saints whom John sees coming home to glory (Revelation 7) come out of tribulation, their garments made white by the blood of the Lamb.

Those who are constantly looking for signs that presumably signal the end of the age, forget that the signs of the times which Jesus mentions--wars, earthquakes, famines, etc.--were present already in the first century. They occur throughout this long interim between Christ's first coming and His second coming. They are always signals that call humankind to repentance, before the day dawns when God will shake not only the heavens but also the earth (Hebrews 12:26).

People whose minds are constantly on the end-times, tend to become very pessimistic about the present. Why should they try to make this world a better place in which to live when everything will go up in flames in just a little while? Some even appreciate the development of evil in our society. For them, it is a sign the end will come sooner. But that's not the kind of faith that has carried the Good News to the ends of the earth throughout the centuries.

To wait for the Lord's coming means to carry out our mission in the world. It means, to use biblical terminology, to have our loins girded and our lamps burning. It means to remain true to Jesus and His Word; to follow Him in daily life; to be repentant; to work while it is day.

What then are we really waiting for?

The gist of the blessed hope is this: We wait for the Saviour from heaven (Philippians 3:20). When He comes, He will transform our bodies and make them fit for the eternal kingdom. ~He will judge the living and the dead. For those who have put their faith in Him, there will be eternal glory; for those who reject the gospel, there is no such hope, but "the wrath of God abides upon them" (John 3:36).

While we wait for the Saviour, let us be joyfully about our Master's business, and leave managing the his~tory of this world in His hands.

David Ewert, professor emeritus of biblical studies at Concord College, now lives in Abbotsford, B.C. He is the author of the book And Then Comes the End (Herald Press). This article is reprinted, with permission, from The Christian Leader.