Finding Jesus in the Bible…So We Can Follow Him in Life
Bible Reading Plans
- Plan One: New Testament Only
- Plan Two: New Testament + Psalms
- Plan Three: New Testament + History
- Plan Four: The Entire Bible – Year 1 of 3, Year 2 of 3, Year 3 of 3
Don’t know which plan? Go to A Christ-Centered Bible Reading Plan: Quick Start.
Extras
Verse of the Day, Audio Capsule, and Video Minute
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(Today’s Reading)
The Biblical Case for the Second Coming as Accomplished Fact
(Book Installment 25)
Part Two – The Timing of the Second Coming
Chapter 4 – What the Epistles Say
What Paul Says About Timing
In Romans, written nearer the end of his ministry than the beginning, Paul says to those believers,
Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near… Romans 13:11-12
In 1 Corinthians 2:6 Paul says “the rulers of this age…are passing away” and in 1 Corinthians 4:5 to wait “until the Lord comes.” This is strange language if the timing was elastic enough to include the 21st Century and beyond as possible dates. In 1 Corinthians 10:11 Paul refers to he and his contemporaries as the generation “upon whom the ends of the ages have
come.” How then can we say that the ends of the ages are yet future? In 1 Corinthians 15:51 he says “we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.” “Sleep” in this context, of course, is a euphemism for death. Therefore, he is simply paraphrasing Jesus: “We will not all sleep” = “some shall not taste death” = “this generation will not pass away until…” If Jesus did not come,
then they did all sleep and Paul’s words would have been a lie, a false prophecy. It makes far more sense for us to believe that Paul was right about the timing of Christ’s Second Coming than to believe he was wrong, doesn’t it?
In Philippians 1:6 Paul tells the believers of that city that God will perfect the work He began in them “until the day of Christ Jesus.” If the day of Christ Jesus has not yet come then Paul’s words to this flock are empty. If the day of Christ Jesus has not yet come then the perfecting or maturing process was interrupted, for we have no reports of any Philippians still walking the earth today being perfected according to Paul’s promises. On the contrary, Paul seemed to believe that his assurance was meant for that generation.
1 Thessalonians repeatedly mentions the coming of the Lord – a big mistake if its approach was not something he wanted them to seriously consider. Paul also resolves a concern that had developed about the Thessalonians who “tasted death” before Christ’s coming. Paul assured the living Thessalonians that they who were “alive and remain until the coming of the Lord” wouldn’t precede those who had “fallen asleep.” Paul then urges the living to a life of
alertness so they won’t miss the day. Apparently, some of them got overly alert because he had to write 2 Thessalonians very soon thereafter, correcting their impression that the day of the Lord had already come (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2). Paul takes pains to remind them of what he taught them while present: that false Christs and false prophets, even with signs and wonders, must arise before the end. Paul uses the terms “man of lawlessness,” “son of destruction,” signs and false wonders,” and “the deception of wickedness,” but the conformity to Jesus’ Matthew 24-25 timetable is unmistakable.
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