Subject: What was the Lord's expectation? |
Bible Note: JOH 21:21 Peter therefore seeing him said to Jesus, "Lord, and what about this man?" JOH 21:22 Jesus said to him, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!" JOH 21:23 This saying therefore went out among the brethren that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?" NASB A broad interpretation of the passage is that our Lord says to Peter. "It is none of you're business what I do with John." "Follow Me!" The passage does prove a few things. 1) The Lord is coming. 2)The Lord has the power to let John remain until His coming. 3)If the Lord had chosen for John to remain until His coming, John would still be with us today. The passage really does not hinder or support an "imminent return". You had quoted the following passage as a support of apostolic belief of the imminent return of our Lord. I would be careful doing that. REV 22:20 He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. If John had interpreted that as teaching the "imminent return" as meaning that Lord could come back any day now, John's interpretation would be incorrect. We have 2000 years plus or minus of proof that Jesus' coming could not have occurred to date, because He did not come. Is the Lord coming quickly, Yes, but in His time. Why, because He is not slack in His promises. The Lord will return when the Father sends Him. There is not one iota of chance that He will come before or after that point. I believe the Lord will come, I yearn for His coming. I yearn for the day that I will see Him face to face. I yearn for the day that I can bow on my face before Him and worship Him without any carnality in my being. Do I watch the times in which we now live? Yes. Do I want to be ashamed at His coming? NO!!! Do I teach the imminent return of Christ? No. It does not matter to me whether He comes today, or whether He comes 10,000,000 years from now. As Christians we have no excuse to not be watchful. Do we need to watch for spring leaves on the fig tree? Yes. The imminent return idea does not fly, nor is it needed. Lord Bless Mike Piles |