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NASB | 2 Peter 3:4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Peter 3:4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming [what has become of it]? For ever since the fathers fell asleep [in death], all things have continued [exactly] as they did from the beginning of creation." |
Subject: Where do I go from here? |
Bible Note: 2nd Coming? Yes, no, or maybe? continuing from the previous post... Why are Paul, Peter, John and the author of Revelations so convinced that the time of the 2nd Coming is at hand? Obviously there had to be a seed, or seeds, planted for this belief (or feeling) to grow to the proportions that it seemed to have grown. And isolating the sowing is not too difficult a task. It begins with Jesus: The Kingdom of heaven (The Good News) is near. And it stays with Jesus. He tells his disciples, point-blank, that some of them will live to see his return. When he commissions them, sending them out into the countryside, he reiterates the message: “…announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” He tells the disciples to expect trouble, but tells them that if they endure to the end they shall be saved. He tells them that when persecuted, to flee to the next city, and the next. Then He tells them that before they reach all of the cities, before there are no other places to go, He will return. In context, he must be speaking of His return in the disciples' lifetime. In the Sermon on the Mount of Olives, Jesus echoes his previous statements concerning the End. Note the very personal interest of the disciples in wanting to know about the “signs”. Jesus is specific when he addresses the disciples with the pronoun, “you”. “You (the disciples) will be tortured…" “…many of you (the disciples) will fall back…” “…when you (the disciples) see the horrible thing standing in the temple…” “…when you (the disciples) see all these things, you (the disciples) can know that my return is near, even at the doors…” Many Christians who yearn for the return of Jesus will always point to the passage that says to be prepared because no one knows the day and hour, only God knows. This is the main tool that is used to somehow by-pass all the declarations of “soon”. And it may be a good tool. In my view, however, it is weak, extraordinarily weak when placed against the people in the NT who believe that Jesus will be returning within their own lifetime. In fact, a strong case exists, when taken in the context of the whole, the “…no one knows…” fits in quite nicely. Would the disciples want to know the exact day? You bet. Would they want the exact hour? Of course, they would. Is it logical that Jesus can give them a ballpark figure as to when they might expect his return? Sure. But that logic breaks down considerably when a day or hour is asked for. In summation: will Jesus return, as promised? Yes? Maybe? No? In the final analysis, it is up to the individual jury that resides in each of us. As for me, personally, I hope that no one accuses me of an “agenda”. I have none, other than wanting to sift through the bits and pieces, weigh them, measure them, sniff them, gather their DNA. As I previously posted, I was once a Baptist before I began to read the Bible. Although that may sound rather odd, I was one of those Christians who had never really read the Bible but just accepted what others told me about it. I have heard estimates that as much as 70 percent of Christians may fit into this category—but I don’t know. I know I did. Then someone challenged me to read it, really read it from stem to stern; to come to it with an opened mind. Pretend, he said, that you are an alien, and you are opening this Holy Book of these Christian Creatures for the first time…and see what happens. Currently, I am still reading….Treadway :) always good thoughts. |