CHAPTER FIVE
Christ Coming in Vengeance
—Collected References
2 THESSALONIANS 1:7-10. verse 7:
“And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.”
How was Christ to be revealed and to whom was he being revealed? Verse 8 tells us:
“In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This was not a beneficent Christ coming back to the disciples who were anxiously desiring to see him, but rather a Christ who was coming in vengeance upon those of his former people who did not accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah.1 These were the people:
“Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.”
[Verse 9]This verse tells us what the punishment and destruction is. Much more than the physical terrors of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem and the enslavement of the Jewish nation, the true destruction was the banishment of these people from the presence of God. This is the definition of spiritual death. To those people who made the decision to follow Christ, however, this coming was one of joy and vindication, as verse 10 conveys:
“When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”
The saints (that is, the Christian disciples) were glorified here because they were victorious through
Christ’s actions against the old Jewish nation. “That day” was the “Day of the Lord” when Christ came against the unrepentant Jews in A.D. 70.
MATTHEW 16:27
(Parallel verses: MARK 8:38, and LUKE 9:26)
“For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.”
[NIV]In these parallel references (different author’s accounts of the same event or words), we read of a coming event and also find a reference to a specific judgment that should occur at the time of that coming. Is this passage referring to a yet future coming of Christ (and, therefore, a future judgment event)? We only have to read the next verse to see that it cannot be so. Verse 28 says:
“I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste of death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
[NIV]This is a plain statement by Jesus. In saying this, he places a distinct time frame on the prophecy of his coming – the life spans of those disciples he was speaking to. The phrase “some standing here is not allegorical or figurative. Christ meant exactly what he said. If none of the disciples who heard Jesus speak these words lived to see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom, then Jesus lied to them and the words of the Bible cannot be trusted.
To see that these verses are also speaking of the spiritual coming of Christ against the persecuting enemies, it is helpful to read Mark’s version in Mark 8:38-9:1 –
“‘If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.’ And he said to them, ‘I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.”’
[NIV]It was to that very generation of sinful people that God was coming. The words “sinful” and “adulterous” are key words that let us know that the subjects of God’s actions here are the unbelieving Jews. Only those who had the Law could be judged by it (and so be found sinful). It was the Jewish nation, once holy and set apart from all other human cultures, that had acted as a religious prostitute in accepting outside cultures, religious influences, and business practices, and by becoming entangled in legalism and worldliness, losing the heart of their religion.
This is why Jerusalem is pictured as a prostitute or harlot in the 17th and 18th chapters of Revelation. The great city (representing the entire nation) is pictured or symbolized as a woman who is:
“Full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication...the mother of harlots... drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus…”
[Revelation 17:4-6]The formal Jewish religion had become nothing but an empty and decaying shell of the glorious thing it once was, and it was persecuting and murdering God’s true people, the followers of Christ. God was going to bring about its destruction within the lifetimes of some of those disciples that Jesus spoke with. Revelation 18:8 –
“Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.”
Now it is made plain to us what Jesus meant by “rewarding every man according to his works” at the time of this coming. All those whose works consisted of choosing not to believe in the Christ would perish in the war and they would be eternally lost to God. (Tentmaker Ministries believes this view is in error. No one is “eternally lost.” The Greek word “aionios” an adjective of “aion” means a period of time in which the end is not in view, it does not mean eternally.) Those who chose to follow Jesus would be aware of the warning signs of the coming conflict and so escape it. Revelation 18:4 –
“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”
The judgment that was to be delivered was also a part and parcel of this prophecy. Christ promised to enact this judgment when he came in his kingdom.
If the kingdom has come, then so has the judgment! In 1 Peter 4:17, Peter states:
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God, and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”
This judgment is, of course, not limited to the Jewish nation of the first century. It is a “general” judgment on all human beings that continues today for us. Christ began immediately to reward men for their works – specifically, their works of accepting and obeying Christ in the first place as opposed to denying him and returning to the Judaism or paganism from whence they came. If their works in this regard were positive, they were – and are – rewarded with eternal life and contact with God (1 John 5:13).
On a ongoing basis, then, this judgment requires that all Christians must continue in works of righteousness rather than evil in order to stay in contact with God and remain in his Kingdom (1 John 3:9-10;5:18). Our acts of righteousness could never, of course, bring about our salvation. Christ’s sacrifice for sin did that. Our acts of sin, however, certainly do judge us, and this is an ongoing judgment that began with Christ’s spiritual return (for he is the High Priest and Judge in his Kingdom). Fortunately for us, our Judge is a merciful and loving one, and he will listen to our true repentance and will forgive us if we fail (1 John 2:1).
Matthew said that the event the disciples would live to see was Christ “coming in his Kingdom,” and Mark said “till they have seen the Kingdom of God come with power.” Does this mean that the Kingdom itself did not come into being until that event in A.D. 70? No, all the verses after the gospels that speak of the Kingdom, speak of it as established – something that all the Christian brethren were a part of. As we have seen, it had been completely established on the Day of Pentecost.
In these verses, Jesus did not say that he was coming to bring his Kingdom, instead, he was coming in his Kingdom. God and the Kingdom of God (which is God and all his peoples, and which represents all of his power) was coming in vengeance against the common enemy to destroy that enemy.
This is why, in Mark, he speaks of coming “with his angels,” and coming “with power” and “in the glory of his Father.” These terms are typical symbolic words found in all of the similar prophecies of the destruction of Judea, and their use here by Jesus shows us that this is the subject of this “coming.”
1 CORINTHIANS 15:22-26. verses 22-24:
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end…”
Here is the great promise and hope of Christianity – the gift of eternal life with God. In this passage, Paul states the order of events. First, Christ gained eternal life when he took up his own life and returned, spiritually, to God the Father at the ascension. Second, “they that are Christ’s” – the Christian disciples – received eternal life when they were baptized after Christ’s coming to them on Pentecost. Then, says Paul, “comes the end.” The end of what?
It was the end of the legal, religious, and social world that they all were living under–the world of the Jewish Law.
Paul goes on to say in verse 25:
“For he must reign, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet….”
This tells us plainly the purpose of this event. Christ was to put all his enemies – who were also the enemies of his Bride, the Church – under his feet, which is to say he would defeat them and they would have no power or dominion over him or his people, the Christian disciples. The actions of the destruction of the Jewish world in A.D. 70. were, in fact, the predetermined effect of what happened nearly 40 years earlier in the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In verse 26, which we touched on earlier, we have another indicator of when these events were to take place. Let us look at it again:
“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”
Has death been destroyed by Jesus Christ? In the very next verse, Paul affirms it:
“For he hath put all things under his feet…”
Christ destroyed death by overcoming it when he rejoined the Father at his ascension. This “death” that is called the last enemy was not physical death, for that had been overcome before, as in the raising of Lazarus. No one today is promised eternal physical life. The death that was overcome was spiritual death – the separation from God that caused Christ to cry out from the cross, “Why have you forsaken me?”. It was spiritual death which Christ overcame when he went back to the Father in Acts 1, and he was the first being to accomplish this.
Jesus, the Word, had left the Father and Spirit and had gone into the Hadean realm, but he was given the power to take his life up again as he tells us in John 10:18 –
“...I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
He did this as his beloved disciples watched–experiencing the Vision of him ascending in that spiritual state to rejoin the Godhead. The last enemy was destroyed. It is only because of his victory in this regard that we have the opportunity to receive eternal spiritual life. If Christ has not yet accomplished the destruction of the last enemy, then we cannot claim to have eternal life. Do we have it? John tells us in 1 John 5:13 –
“These things have I written unto you…That ye may know that ye have eternal life.”
Because of his victory over physical and spiritual death, Christ reigns as the supreme King over all life. Certainly, he came as he promised to his disciples and just as certainly, he came in destructive retribution to those who would be enemies of his people. He destroyed death and began his reign by the actions of the cross, resurrection, and ascension, but the final destructive actions against the Jewish nation did not occur for some 40 years. Why the delay? Simply because God was still yearning for his people to repent and find the new way of reconciliation to him through Christ. He provided this time for Christianity to be taught throughout the Jewish world and for the Jews (and, of course, the Gentiles as well) to respond to it. Those who chose not to respond to Christ were destroyed in the great “Day of the Lord.”
REVELATION 1:7 –
“Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him…”
In this verse, one of the most well known passages concerning a coming of Christ, we see him coming “with clouds.” To many, this scene may seem unprecedented – a new phenomena that will occur at the end of the world. The careful Bible student, however, will recognize this type of manifestation from earlier passages. For instance in Isaiah 19:1, the prophet warns:
“…See, the Lord rides on a swift cloud, and is coming to Egypt....”
[NIV]Here we have the same imagery – God coming with or upon a cloud. In both of these passages, we have an identical situation. In Isaiah, God is coming to take vengeance upon the Egyptians – not in a direct supernatural way, but by causing other human armies to come against them. In the Revelation passage, it is the Jewish nation that has sinned, and God is causing the Roman army to come against them. In Jeremiah we can see the same kind of situation and the same imagery aimed at Judah. In chapter 4:6, God, speaking through the prophet, warns the people of Judah:
“…For I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.”
God would use the Assyrian army to destroy the nation of Judah if they would not repent. In verse 13, Jeremiah describes God taking this action in this way:
“Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! For we are spoiled.”
We should note how the horses and chariots of the
pagan human armies are spoken of as God’s horses and chariots.
We are familiar with the idea of God being associated with a cloud in a more literal way from the accounts of Exodus and Numbers, but this usage is different. We are examining passages of prophecy here and, again, symbolic language is being used. The likening of God to a cloud or having him come in or with clouds simply means that God was coming in a spiritual manner, rather than directly, for we know that God is a spiritual being whom “no man hath seen .. .at any time” (1 John 4:12).
In the passage in Revelation we see a similar situation, and John is looking for the same sort of thing to happen to the Jews. God would come against Judea and the persecuting Jewish authorities, but his coming would be spiritual in nature, taking the form of the actions of the pagan Roman army.
That this is the proper interpretation becomes obvious when we examine the phrase, “and every eye shall see him, and they also who pierced him.” Although a Roman soldier literally pierced Jesus as he hung on the cross, it was the Jewish nation who murdered Christ and to whom was assessed the responsibility for and the consequences of that act. This is made very plain in several New Testament
passages, including Acts 2:22-23;36 –
“Men of Israel...this man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross... Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
[NIV]and Acts 7:52 –
“…And now you have betrayed and murdered him....”
[NIV]Every Jewish eye would see the coming of God in the events of the Roman invasion. In the last part of
Revelation 1:7, we read:
“…and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.”
In the last part of Matthew 24, we saw how the symbols “heaven” and “earth” were used to represent the Jewish authorities and the people under their authority. This is a consistent use of the symbol earth” throughout the scriptures. When used in a prophecy, the word earth means the nation or people subject to the prophecy. It does not mean the entire planet earth in our modern scientific sense.
This prophecy is all about the land of Palestine and the people who live there at that time. Who were the “kindreds” of Palestine? Obviously, they were the twelve tribes of Israel, who were especially kindred in their fierce religious isolation from other peoples.
Why were the Jews wailing? As we have determined, it was because every eye (that is, everyone subject to the prophecy) would see the actions that represented Christ’s spiritual coming in vengeance and realize that this coming was against them and it would destroy them as a nation and as a society set aside from the rest of mankind. The Jews had rejected God for the last time – they were his people no longer.
2 THESSALONIANS 2:1-12. verses 1-2:
“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.”
For anyone studying the prophecies of the New Testament who is not aware of the nature of symbols and the conventions of the timing of Hebrew prophecy, this passage can create great confusion. It has been used by many to assert that the prophecies are still unfulfilled in our time. In many places in the New Testament these events are described as “coming soon” or “at hand.” Here, however, Paul warns that the Day of Christ is not just at hand. What can we make of this and the strange verses that follow it?
First, let us identify for certain the word that was translated as “at hand” in this passage. In the Greek, it is the word “enistemi” which has the meaning of something now present or just now coming into being3. This verse makes it obvious that the Thessalonians thought the prophesied Day of Christ was impending immediately at the time Paul wrote this letter. In fact, the congregation in Thessalonica had apparently received a forged letter (a letter “as from us”) which promoted the idea that the Day was upon them right then. This had disturbed many of these Christians, perhaps even panicked some who did not understand the interpretation of the prophecy’s symbols. Paul wrote this letter to calm their fears (“that ye not be... shaken…or be troubled”), and then to explain to them what some of the events would be that would lead up to the Day of Christ so that they could understand and react rationally to it.
Paul wrote this letter in A.D. 52 or 53, about 17-18 years before the destruction of Jerusalem. We should recall that all the apostles had special gifts bestowed on them by the Holy Spirit and that one of these was the gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians, chs. 12-14). In the form of prophetic vision, Paul was able to see what was coming. He began to describe to the Thessalonians the events that were going to happen before Christ would come against the persecutors in the great Day of Christ. In verse 3 he begins:
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.”
(2 Thessalonians 2:3)In this first verse of his prophecy, Paul states two things that would have to occur before the Day of Christ. The first is that there would be a “falling away.” If we recall our earlier discussion of Matthew 24, we will note that this is one of the events that Jesus also prophesied would occur during this time between the cross and the Day of the Lord. In Matthew 24:11-12, he said:
“And many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.”
[NIV]As we learned in that study, many new Christians fell away under the duress of the tribulations and the pressures from family and long religious tradition. This fits naturally with the difficult and dangerous conditions surrounding the new congregations of Christians. With the increase in persecutions and martyrdom of Christians, many who initially claimed that name “grew cold” and denounced Christ to save themselves from physical torture and death.
The second thing Paul prophecies is that the “man of sin, son of perdition” would be “revealed.” The next few verses contain a description of this event – one that many assume is still to happen in our future. Just who is this “man of sin”? Does this in any way fit the history of the times when Paul was writing this letter?
If we look down to verse 7 for a moment, we hear paul say:
“For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way.”
[2 Thes.2:7 NIV]Here we understand that the first part of this mysterious event is underway even then, during the time that Paul was writing this letter to the Thessalonians.
To understand what Paul is referring to, we must realize that these prophecies concern Christ coming in vengeance against his enemies. The enemies can be generally categorized as any and all persecutors of his people on earth. We have seen how God used the Roman army to come against the Jewish state and
destroy it, but the pagan Romans were also persecutors of Christianity and were also included as subjects of the “coming in vengeance” of Christ.
This is one passage where this understanding is the key to the proper interpretation of the prophetic language. In verse 7, Paul was referring to the current state of the Roman authorities, and he gives us, prior to the fact, an accurate description of what would occur between the time he wrote this letter and the events of AD. 70. Let us see how this interpretation works.
First, in verse 7, we hear that the “secret power of lawlessness” is already at work. What is this power? Any time we are studying a Bible prophecy that has as part of its subject matter the concepts of “law” or “lawlessness,” we can be certain that it is referring to only one thing – the law, the Law of Moses. Here, the power of lawlessness is simply that power in the world of the prophecy that is not subject to the Law. In this case, that power is Rome. It is called the “secret” power because this is a prophecy and Rome was not yet at war with Judea at the time Paul was saying this. Since the power 5 not yet being revealed against them, it is referred to as “secret.” This lawless power – the Gentile, human power of the Roman Empire – would be unleashed against the rebelling Jews, but not until certain things happened. Paul goes on to describe this:
“…But the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way…”
With the Roman Empire as the subject, it makes sense to look to the Roman authorities to see who this “one” is. At the time Paul wrote this letter in A.D. 52 or 53, the emperor Claudius was on the throne. He was succeeded one or two years later in A.D. 54 by Nero Caesar.
If we apply this to the prophecy, we see that Claudius is the “one who now holds it back” – that is, the prophesied events will not occur while Claudius is on the throne. He will “continue to do so” – that is, to restrain the events from occurring – until “he is taken out of the way. In 54, he is removed and Nero comes to the throne. Now let us see how the prophecy characterizes this new Roman ruler. Verse 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.”
(2 Thessalonians 2:8)In the person of Nero Caesar, we have an important subject of Bible symbols. Nero was a fully wicked tyrant and sadistic man who persecuted many people during his reign. As the head of the Roman Empire, he also represented the Roman authority during the time of the Jewish rebellion. He was the one who later declared the war against the Jews. Recall how verse 3 characterizes him as the “lawless one” who is the “son of destruction.”
When the prophecy speaks of Christ coming in vengeance against his enemies, those enemies are any and all peoples or powers who are persecuting Christ’s church. The Jewish authorities are the main persecutors, but they were by no means the only ones. The Romans, as well, began to persecute the Christian followers, and this persecution began with the reign of Nero Caesar!
Nero himself caused unspeakable tortures to be committed against the Christians who were in Rome, including having them impaled and set afire to be gruesome torchlights for his gardens
In verse 4, Paul describes the lawless one this way:
“He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.”
[2 Thessalonians 2:4 NIV]
We know that most of the Caesars, going back as far as Augustus, claimed divinity and were “deified” after their deaths by the Roman populace as a sign of respect. Some years earlier than Nero, the emperor Caligula had threatened to place his own statue in the Temple at Jerusalem. This was only averted by his timely death. Nero had a statue as large as the one of the god Mars placed in the temple of Mars, and some of his military officers bowed down before statues of him after victorious campaigns in the field.
In placing himself equal to Roman gods and over any foreign gods, the Roman Emperor placed himself over the Jewish God. The Romans were surprised when the Jews made such a big issue out of Emperor deification. It was just common practice to place the Emperor’s statue in the government buildings and temples of all the tributary nations, including Judea. Obviously, to the Jews the idea of Nero or anyone else placing his image, as a god, in the Jewish Temple was completely unthinkable and an abomination.
This aspect of the Roman Authority placing himself as equal or above God is one of the aspects of the persecuting authority that Paul is describing in his prophecy in verse 4.
In verse 8, Paul speaks of Jesus overthrowing and destroying the lawless one. Does this mean that Paul is looking for the usurpation of Nero from his throne by the events of Christ’s coming? No. Nero represents the Roman Empire – and thus any and all pagan powers. The Jewish society was to be literally destroyed by the events of Christ’s coming, but the pagan powers would be conquered in a different way. Revelation 20:3,7-8 tells of the beast or serpent that must be:
“…set free for a short time…loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog…”
“Gog and Magog” are symbolic names that represent the pagan races that were outside of the Roman Empire. If we include the Roman Empire and all other pagan peoples in one categorization, we have essentially all the forces of heathenism that were outside the Law of Moses – or in other words, the Powers of Lawlessness. These peoples were, according to these prophecies, to be allowed to go about their pagan ways for a period of time, some of them continuing to persecute Christians.
We know, however, that Christianity, suffering grievously at first, did not die out and did not remain small and of little influence in the pagan world. In fact, the vast and powerful Roman world became subject to the Christian faith as the Church grew and spread throughout the lands. Thus, we see Paul’s prophecy describe the ultimate destruction of these powers by the spiritual coming of Christ in vengeance against his enemies.
In verses 9-12, Paul finishes his prophecy:
“The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned [literally: judged] who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.”
[2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 NIV]This ties together the timing of the reign of Nero and the events leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem. Paul says that the coming of the lawless one will be “in accord with,” which simply means “at the same time with,” the false prophets, magicians, and so on that we saw were common during these years.
Here is the cause of the “falling away” of verse 3. In 1 Timothy 2:1, Paul calls these false prophets “seducing spirits” teaching “doctrines of devils,” and says that because of these people, “some shall depart from the faith.”
For the Christians, it was a warning and a test – the same that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24:24 –
“For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”
For the Jews, it was the choice to follow the Messiah, Jesus Christ, into a spiritual kingdom that was victorious over all its enemies, or follow the Zealots in a futile and deadly military battle against Rome. Those who believed would be saved, but those who did not – those who “delighted in wickedness,” would indeed perish in the great events shortly to come to pass.
We are not the Thessalonians to whom Paul was prophesying and we should not make the mistake of assuming that his explanation to those early brethren that the Day of Christ was not just at hand means that it is still unfulfilled almost 2000 years later. It was Paul’s purpose in speaking this prophecy to assure the Thessalonians that the events of the “Day of Christ” were not immediately upon them, but that certain events must first occur. Then, in only a short time – less than 20 years – the end would come and Christ would come in vengeance against the enemies of his Bride, the Church.
LUKE 17:30-33
“It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it…”
[NIV]The imagery in this discourse is almost identical with the passage in chapter 21 of Luke and in Matthew 24. The meanings are the same. “Just like this,” refers to the preceding passage where Jesus tells his disciples that the days leading up to the “revealing” of the Son of Man would be similar to the days of Noah or Lot, where the people were living sinful lives and when sudden and (to them) unexpected destruction came upon them. Only the chosen ones of God, Noah and his family and Lot with his family, were given the information to know how to escape.
In this instance, it would be the Jewish nation, living in decadence and sin, which would be destroyed by God. The Christians should watch for the signs and so escape, but they should be alert and move quickly when the time came. “Remember Lot’s wife!” Jesus warns them. After the siege began, there would be nothing for the Christian brethren in Jerusalem. They must not delay their escape, and they must not look back at the old Jerusalem as a holy place anymore. Its days of religious significance and authority had come to an end.
In the first part of this passage, the Pharisees had tried to test Jesus by asking him when the Kingdom of God would come. In verse 21, he answered them:
“…Behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”
The kingdom was not a physical one. It was a spiritual kingdom. It was to be found within the hearts and minds of the peoples of the Jewish nation itself. These who made up the kingdom, the disciples who accepted Christ, would soon suffer great tribulations and persecutions at the hands of the unbelieving Jews and Romans. Many would be killed for their belief
It was these Christian martyrs who cried out from under God’s alter in Revelation 6:10 –
“How long, 0 Lord, holy and true, doest thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”
In Luke, chapter 18:7-8, Jesus tells the disciples that God would indeed avenge his own elect:
“And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly…”
[NIV]Let us note that Jesus promised them their avenging quickly. If these martyrs were not avenged by God during the times that their murderers were still living on the earth, and if they still have not been avenged by the “revealing of the Son of Man” even today, then God’s promise to so avenge them “quickly” or “speedily” [KJV] was not kept.
The members of the Church today do not cry out to God to be avenged. We do not suffer as a whole from any mortal terrors and persecutions as the first Christian believers did. The faithful disciples Prior to A.D. 70. had a great deal to be avenged for as they suffered from their persecutors.
God, however, was true to his promise of a speedy application of justice upon those persecutors. He was “revealed” in the power of the war against the Jewish nation and that nation was destroyed and taken out of the way of the Church. In the last part of verse 8, Jesus asks a rhetorical question to remind his disciples not to lose their faith and fall away:
“…However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
[NIV]As we have seen, many did fall away from the faith and were lost from God and were physically lost in the war. Many others did keep the faith, even in the face of torture and physical death. They knew the signs to watch for – the signs of the impending war actions that would come upon Judea. Luke 17:34-37 –
“I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together, the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.”
Those who remembered the signs and were faithful would escape and those who did not would be trapped and doomed. Here as in Matthew 24:28 the Roman army is symbolized as the “eagles” who have gathered together to devour the “body,” which is the unbelieving Jewish nation.
HEBREWS 10:19-37. verse 37
“For in just a very little while, ‘He who is coming will come and will not delay’…”
[NIV]“He” of course, is Jesus Christ, and the passage leading up to this promise or prophecy of Christ’s coming gives us insight into the meaning and timing of this “coming.”
After an inspiring passage beginning in verse 19, the Hebrew writer says in verse 25:
“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
[Hebrews 10:25 NIV]What Day was this? Like other New Testament authors, this writer fully expected that day to occur
shortly, certainly within the lifetimes of his peers. Otherwise, these Christians would have no need to hear and heed this kind of exhortation. If we continue to read the passage; we can see who is the subject of the events that were to occur. In verses 26-27, we read:
“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”
The Christians were being exhorted to remain faithful and not to slip back into their old traditions as their Jewish brethren and countrymen were trying desperately to get them to do. To so leave the faith would, for that person, nullify the sacrifice of Christ – that is, that person would be lost. Then he or she would be just like the rest of the Jewish nation: left with only a “fearful expectation” of the destruction to come. They would, in fact, become one of the enemy themselves.
It was the “enemies of God,” or as the KJV puts it, the “adversaries,” who were to be consumed and devoured by God. These enemies were the people who were persecuting God’s chosen ones, his Church. In verses 28-29, we read:
“Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?”
[NIV]Here is a clear reference to the Jewish nation that had rejected the Christ. The unrepentant Jews would be judged by their own Law. By physically killing the Son of God (“trampled.. .under foot”), rejecting his authority and salvation (“treated as…unholy…the blood of the covenant”), and by failing to understand or accept the spiritual nature of God (“insulted the Spirit”), the Jews had committed the ultimate sin and had to suffer the ultimate punishment. This punishment was the total destruction
of their nation and religion. This was the event that the Christians were looking for as a “Day” soon approaching.
What would God do to the Jews? Verses 30-31 tell us:
“For we know him who said, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay’, and again, ‘The Lord will judge his people’. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
[NIV]The first of these two verses confirms that this retribution by God on the Jewish nation was to be a fulfillment of prophecy. The two quotes are from Deuteronomy 32:35-36 and show that God knew that this would happen and that the Jews would be cut off. It was, indeed, a dreadful or fearful thing to come under the wrathful judgment of the true God, as the Jews found out in the events of A.D. 70.
1 PETER 4:12-13
“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”
[NIV]What was this “painful trial” that these Christian brethren were suffering? Once again, we see a reference to the persecutions that the Christians were undergoing at the hands of the Jewish authorities. Peter reminds them not to be surprised at these events, as if it were something strange – that is, something unforseen. They had received prophecy of these tribulations from Jesus himself, and they should realize that these trials were to occur and that they would only last for a while.
In fact, Christ would be “revealed” in a short time in the “glory” of victory over those persecutors. These suffering Christians would then be “overjoyed” in the victory and the relief of persecutions. We should note that this persecution and the revealing of Christ in glory would be happening to those people to whom Peter was speaking.
When would this revealing of Christ take place? Let us read verse 7 preceding:
“But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer.”
1 Peter 4:7The revealing was “at hand,” right next to happening. These brethren were instructed here to be clear-minded and prayerful as they watched for the revealing of Christ. Peter’s warning and instructions to them would be useless if these events did not occur to them. The revealing of Christ which Peter was speaking about here was not something that would happen thousands of years in the future. It was imminent – at hand. It happened to that generation.
Let us read verses 16-17 following:
“…If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”
Here, Peter uses the phrase “the House of God” to represent all his peoples collectively, Jews and Christians alike, and states that judgment is to be delivered on all these people and that this judgment would begin now (“the time is come”). This was the judgment of those who accepted the gospel as opposed to those who did not. The Christians would suffer, but not be ashamed. The unbelieving Jew would receive the negative judgment and suffer the consequences. Peter asks ominously, “what shall the end be of them?”. This is the same judgment that is still taking place today. Everyone who hears the gospel is judged by whether or not they accept it and become
followers of Jesus Christ.
1 JOHN 2:28
“And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.”
[NIV]Here, John calls for the Christians to remain faithful to their belief in Christ’s divinity and the promise of God (v.25) which was eternal life. The “last days” before the coming of Christ against their persecutors were being endured by John and the tormented brethren at the time of this writing. In verse 18 preceding, we read:
“Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.”
[NIV]This is one of the plainest passages indicating that these events belonged to the time of the writers and original hearers of the New Testament. Many today would have us believe that John and the other authors were simply mistaken and overzealous in looking for the coming of Christ. John says “we know it is the last hour.” Jesus says “behold, I come quickly.” Were Jesus and John mistaken or are those who criticize them?
John says that the indicator of the last hour is the appearance of the “antichrist.” Who is this antichrist that John refers to? In verse 22 he tells us:
“he is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.”
[see also Ch. 4:3]Anyone who denies Christ or God is anti (against) – Christ. The reference in verse 18 to many antichrists is certainly focussed on the false prophets and scoffers that were prophesied earlier and were numerous at that time. The reason John says that this is “how we know” that it was the last hour is because these false prophets were one of the signs that they were to watch for as prophesied by Jesus himself. With all the signs coming to fulfillment, and the distress of the persecutions and tribulations peaking, John knew that the very “last hour had come before Christ would be revealed in the great events of A.D.70.
2 PETER 3:3-13. verses 3-4
“First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”’
[NIV]As we studied earlier in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, Paul said that a “falling away” of the faithful would occur before the “Day of Christ,” and Jesus prophesied that the love of many would “grow cold” in Matthew 24:12. Here, Peter prophecies that “scoffers” would come in “the last days.” As, after the death of Jesus, time went on and nothing dramatic happened, these people would begin to doubt the promised coming of Christ and would lose their faith and “fall away from the Church. Many of the Christian disciples were faithful and true to Christ, but some were easily swayed back into their Jewish traditions and religion, especially as the persecutions continued and the Christians seemed to be in danger of eradication.
To these disbelievers, the perception that Christ was powerless and that nothing would occur to give hope and life to the Christian Church was only an illusion.
In the next verses, Peter reminds them of the destruction of the Flood and tells them in verse 7:
“By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”
[2 Peter 3:7 NIV]What present heavens and earth is this? It is tempting for us to instinctively think of the physical universe and planet when we read such verses, but we should remember that this is a prophecy by Peter and that symbols, once again, are being employed. When Peter uses the Mosaic Flood as an analogy, he is not implying that a similar “natural” destruction is coming. The Flood is used here as a “type” of the flood to come. The event that Peter is symbolically predicting is the flood of the Roman army and the war that drowned and destroyed the Jewish state in A.D. 70.
The “heavens and earth” are simply the Jewish religious/political authorities and the lands of Palestine and the people who lived there. They were the “ungodly men” – ungodly because they had rejected and killed the Christ, and still rejected him – who were being “kept” (by the gracious mercy of God who wanted all to repent and come to him) unto the day of judgment and destruction. This phrasing tells us that this is another “day of the Lord” just like the ones we see exampled in the Old Testament.
How do we know this is not future? In the next verse (v.8.), Peter says:
“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”
[NIV]This verse has been used by many to justify the long centuries between the earthly days of Christ and a presumed future coming. The idea seems to be that because God is timeless, his statements to us that have time references are really meaningless. If God, for instance, says that something will happen “soon,” it might not be “soon to us humans; or by the same logic we could presume that God might say that something will occur a thousand years from now, and then it could take us by surprise by happening tomorrow.
They would say that when Christ states, “This generation shall not pass until...,” and, “Behold, I come quickly,” that he could mean “not for 2,000 years”!
When we examine this concept, it deflates rapidly under our scrutiny. In reality, this verse is evidence in precisely the opposite direction. Peter is arguing for the punctuality with which God keeps his promises when they fall due. It does not matter if the time specified for their fulfillment is very short – one day – or very long – a thousand years! Time, as humans count it, is not of consequence to the Almighty God. We might not keep a promise after a great length of time has passed, but Peter reminds these disciples that God will not be negligent. A single day, or a thousand years is all the same to God. When the promised time has arrived, that which was prophesied will certainly occur.
In this case, the promised event was the “day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men,” and it did come just as God had promised and all his holy men had prophesied. in verses 9-10, Peter emphasizes God’s promptness:
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
[NIV]At the time Peter wrote this letter, the brethren were under duress from the tribulations and some were perhaps complaining to Peter. God had promised to avenge them speedily, and nothing was apparently happening. Peter reminds them that God’s purpose in delaying the Day of the Lord is to allow time for his people to repent and accept him. The promise would be kept, however, for the “Lord is not slow in keeping his promise.” It would be kept soon.
It is important to note that each time a “delay” in these prophesied events is mentioned by one of the apostles, he gives them the reason for that delay, and then he reemphasizes the nearness of the fulfillment of the prophecy.
In the next verse, verse 10, Peter goes on to describe that great and terrible “Day”:
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”
Here again, we are tempted to think that the physical universe is the subject of this prophecy. It is from this verse and others like it that so many have obtained the idea that the universal creation, including this planet Earth, will be consumed and destroyed in some “end time” event. Once again, however, we are hearing a prophecy, and again we are seeing the apostle use symbols. A very good way to illustrate this is to examine the word “elements.” What were the elements that were going to melt away or be burned up? Does this word refer to the scientific idea of the elements of matter – all the “stuff” of the universe?
The Greek word for “elements” used here is “stoicheion.” According to Young’10, the literal meaning of the word is “elements, rudiments, first step.” The root of the word is “stoichos,” which refers to a straight ruler or rod, and is used to signify those who walk according to a straight rule. Throughout the New Testament this word is used to mean one thing. In Galatians 4:3, Paul wrote:
“Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.”
Paul is not saying that they once lived as slaves in caves under the ground. He is teaching that “we Jews” who are now heirs of Christ, were, before Christ, under the elements, or rudiments of the world. This was a world of people and the rudiments that they were under were the ordinances of the old Law of Moses. They were bound to or in bondage to that Law. It was the elementary way in which God interacted with his people. As Paul said in chapter 3:23-24 just prior:
“…The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”
The Law was the collection of rudiments, or elements, that the people lived by. The Christian brethren were warned not to return to those laws and ordinances. A little further on in chapter 4:9, Paul tells them:
“But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?”
The word translated “elements” here is, again, “stoicheion” and was the Law that once kept these former Jews in bondage (because no man could keep that Law perfectly).
In Colossians 2:8,20, Paul warns the brethren of some of the Jewish scoffers:
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”
“Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances?”
The word used here is also “stoicheion.” It was the old Law of Moses that Christians had left behind when “with Christ” they became “dead from the rudiments.” The Jewish world of people still following those rudiments and elements were still a physically live and powerful force, however, and this is the world that would be coming to a cataclysmic end!
In our passage in 2 Peter, we see these same “elements” melting away with fervent heat. It was the old Law which had constrained them that melted away. There is no justification for assigning this imagery to a presumed end of the physical universe.
What is the meaning of the symbol “fervent heat” or “fire”? The author of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 12:29 –
“For our God is a consuming fire.”
It is the word and actions of God himself that would cause the Law and the followers of it to come to an end. Christ ended its religious authority by fulfilling it at the cross, and God destroyed the earthly manifestations of it in his coming in A.D. 70.
In the last part of verse 10 of our study passage, once the Jewish religious authorities (“heavens”) have passed away and the old Law of Moses was deactivated by God (“elements melt with fervent heat”), then:
“…the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”
This symbol “earth” refers to the place of the prophecy – in this case Judea – and tells what would become of it in the times being prophesied. It would be burned up along with the “works that are therein.” What works were in the land of Judea at the time that the Romans destroyed that land? The Jewish nation was there and it was the Judaic culture, religion, and political system that was “burned up” in the actions of war in A.D. 70. The Bible does not speak of the physical destruction of this planet here or anywhere in the scriptures. In fact, it speaks of its permanence. The Psalmist wrote (Psalms 104:5) of God:
“Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed forever.”
and Ecclesiastes 1:4 tells us:
“Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever”
[NIV]In this prophesied destruction of the “earth,” the subject of the destruction was being presented as a symbol.
In verses 11-12, Peter goes on to say:
“Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.” [NIV]
The Christians were to be living righteous lives in the face of the adversities they were experiencing. They were looking forward with great eagerness to that “Day of God” which would bring them out from under the persecutions and make them victorious in Christ over all their enemies. This is what Peter means in verse 13, when he states
“But In keeping with his promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”
[NIV]What promise was this? It was the promise of Luke 1:70-74, that they should be “delivered out of the hand of our enemies. The new heaven and earth are also symbols. The heavens are the new religious authority, sanctioned by God. The new earth is the place of that prophecy and the people who dwell there. That new authority and people are, as the Hebrew author tells us in chapter 12:23, the “general assembly and church of the first born” – a “kingdom which cannot be moved.” It was the Kingdom of God, the Church of Christ,’ which being established on Pentecost, was to be soon redeemed from its mortal earthly enemies. It was this victorious Church that Peter and the others were looking forward to – this new era of relationship with God where instead of unrighteous men wallowing in tradition, there would be only the “spirits of just men made perfect.”
COLOSSIANS 3:4
“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”
To whom is Christ appearing here? It cannot be to the Christians, for they were to appear with him! The Christian brethren had already recieved Christ at Pentecost and were even then with him and the Father, spiritually.
Verses 1-3 preceding:
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”
[NIV]Christ and those who follow him were to spiritually appear together to someone. In verses 5-6 he warns the Christians against an ungodly lifestyle and in so warning them, describes the people to whom they and Christ are to appear:
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient.”
[NIV]In the Greek, “those who are disobedient,” is actually the “Sons of disobedience.” Here again, we have a clear reference of God coming in vengeance on his sinful people, those who refused to accept Christ and die to their own sin. In this “coming of wrath”, the Christians are pictured as coming with Christ because they were the ones being subjected to the persecutions, and, of course, because of their acceptance of Christ as the Messiah. Their victory over the sinful and disobedient peoples was assured. This is why the Christians appear with Christ “in glory.”
1 THESSALONIANS 1:10; 2:19. chapter 1:10
“And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead – Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.”
[NIV]In the introduction of this letter to the church at Thessalonica, Paul speaks of his love for the brethren there and makes this reference to their waiting for Jesus. He qualifies this statement by telling them what purpose is to be served by this “coming.” Jesus was going to come with wrath, and these faithful brethren, along with all the Christians, would be “rescued from the coming wrath.” What wrath is this?
A little further on in chapter 2:14-16, he tells them:
“For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from all your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them fully.”
[NIV]Here again, we have a clear reference to the purpose and subject of Christ’s appearance. It was to be a coming in vengeance and wrath against those who were persecuting the Church and who had totally rejected Jesus Christ. Very plainly, Paul tells us it is the old Jewish nation that would be receiving this wrath of God. These were the people who “killed the Lord” and who “displease God.” They were causing “suffering” to the brethren in Judea and were being “hostile” to all the Christians and were trying hard to keep them from bringing the Gentiles to Christ. Through these actions of persecution of Christ’s people, Paul says that the Jews “heap up their sins to the limit.” The limit had indeed been reached. It was the limit of God’s tolerance for their sins and it would be the cause of God’s wrath upon them. This wrath had “come upon them to the uttermost,” as the KJV has it. It was total and their destruction would be total.
Some have made the argument that because Paul prophesied and warned of the “coming of Christ” to many congregations that were not in the land of Judea, such as this group at Thessalonica (in Macedonia, which is modem day Greece), the event he is talking about could not, therefore, have been the destruction of Jerusalem and the Judaic system. They would argue that these non-Judean brethren were outside the theater of war and of the dangers of persecution that are warned of by Jesus and the other prophets and were therefore not in need of the warnings and prophecies – therefore, the “coming” event must be something else and will occur in our future.
This passage in 1 Thessalonians shows us that the congregations in these other lands were also suffering the tribulations and persecutions to an equal measure as the brethren in Judea. Verse 14 again:
“…You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews”
[NIV]The churches in Macedonia, Asia (Turkey), Rome, and elsewhere were also under terrific pressure and persecutions, not only from their own pagan countrymen, but also from the Jewish communities that existed there. These people got it from two directions at once! Thus, Paul speaks in chapter 1, verse 3, of:
“…your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ”.
[1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV]and in verse 6:
“…in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.”
[1 Thessalonians 1:6 NIV]When the Roman war against Judea finally came, these brethren would be “in the dark” as to the fate of the church in Jerusalem. Through the obscuring clouds of war, they would be wondering if the Christian church would survive. This was the reason that the prophecies were given to them as well as to the brethren in Judea itself. They would need to know what was happening in Judea, and understand that God was in control of these important events. Unlike the church members in Jerusalem, they would not need to be delivered from the literal war actions. They were, however, just as much a part of the church, and they would be delivered from the judgment placed on those who did not accept Christ. Although the Thessalonians had no need to “flee to the mountains” in a literal sense, they had to be reassured and have hope for the ultimate victory of God over the persecuting authorities in his terrible “day of wrath.”
In the final verses of chapter 2, Paul states his sadness that he could not come to the brethren at Thessalonica again, and states in verse 19:
“For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming."
How could the Christian brethren in Macedonia be present with Christ at his coming in wrath against the Jewish nation? It was to be a spiritual coming of God manifested in the physical actions of the pagan Roman army.
Paul kept his sadness over their physical separation in perspective by reminding them that they were all together spiritually in Christ. All Christians, regardless of their physical location, were before God – in his presence – in this great Day of Jesus Christ. They were comforting one another with these words, that they would all be spiritually participating in this glorious victory over their collective enemies. Paul, for one, was expecting that event to happen very quickly!
PHILIPPIANS 3:18-21
“For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their God is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
[NIV]Here we have a description of the enemies of God and God’s People. This letter was written in about A.D. 62, just three or four Years before the Roman– Jewish war broke out. These Christian brethren were suffering under the hands of those enemies, but Paul promises them that the enemy’s “destiny is destruction.” These Jews were glorying in their dedication to following the old Law of Moses, Which was really glorying in “their shame,” because they did not accept Christ.
Their mind was on earthly things – making money on the Temple Steps, making themselves look good delivering long and dramatic public prayers concentrating their energies and minds on the wealth and cultures of the world rather than the words of God, and looking for an earthly Kingdom and Messiah King who would magically protect them from the Romans and everyone else.
The suffering Christians were different from these people, for, as Paul says in verse 20, “our citizenship is in heaven.” In other words, this is where we reside as Christians right now. Those Christians in Philippi were citizens of heaven even then.
It is revealing to look at the Greek word that is translated “citizenship” here. It comes from politeuma,” which Moulton renders as a “community or commonwealth.”12 This is the community of Christians – the Church – which is a true commonwealth. It is our spiritual abode and our state of being. If we have all of our spiritual wealth in the commonwealth of Christians and are citizens of heaven, then there is no need for a return of Christ to us in order to set up another heavenly kingdom. If the kingdom of heaven is yet future, then neither we nor the Philippians could be citizens of that realm.
The completion of verse 20 says that it is from this realm or commonwealth that “we eagerly await (‘look for’ – KJV) a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Now, these Christians cannot be looking for Christ to come back to them in order to religiously save them. They are already saved souls who are citizens of heaven and who were even then in Christ’s presence. Yet, this coming of Christ would be in the role of “Savior.”
What is the meaning of this? Obviously, they were looking for Christ to come for the purpose of saving them from the tribulations and murdering of the Jewish and pagan persecutors. He would so come in the actions of the Romans, and this would make his coming spiritual in nature. This is why we see the Philippians looking for Christ to come “from there” – that is, from the heavenly realms.
When would this coming occur? Just a bit further on, in chapter 4:5, Paul says:
“Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.”
The event that would save the Christian Church from destruction was indeed “at hand.” It was very near to them – only three or four years away. The final part of the study passage, verse 21, can cause some confusion if not studied very carefully. Paul states:
“[Christ] by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will he like his glorious body.”
[NIV]Many believe that this statement and others like it mean that there will be a supernatural change in the physical bodies that we inhabit at the time of Christ’s coming. To understand this properly, we must remember that Paul is prophesying again, and he is using symbolic language.
The key to interpreting this verse is the Greek word that is translated “lowly” or “vile” (KJV) in reference to the bodies of the Christians prior to Christ’s coming. The word is “tapeinosis,” which Moulton renders as “depression, meanness, low estate, or abject condition.” The bodies of the Christians are pictured here as being in an “abject condition” or a “low estate” because they are under the persecutions of the enemies mentioned in verse 18. It has nothing to do with their actual physical bodies. At Christ’s coming to save them, they would be changed – changed into the likeness of Christ’s body. What is the body of Christ like? It says that it is “glorious”! Christ’s body is glorious because he is victorious over those enemies. So, the Christians would be changed from a state of being abject and low (under the persecutors) to a state of glorious victory over those persecutors. This would be accomplished through the saving powers of Christ in his actions of AD. 67-70.
We must be careful not to fall into the trap of interpreting symbolic terms literally. As religiously saved peoples, they already had a spiritual body that had the same form as that of Jesus Christ’s. This Spiritual body (or soul) is what God gives all of us and makes us to be “in his image.” It is this body that, upon our salvation, is eternally alive with Christ, and the Philippian congregation along with all the Christians were alive in their spiritual bodies even as Paul wrote this letter to them.
JUDE 14-15
“Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: ‘See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”’
[NIV]Note the purpose of this coming of the Lord – it is to judge ungodly men, and specifically these ungodly men that Jude writes about. Also, the Christian saints – all the brethren in spirit – were to be coming with the Lord in this judgment.
Who were these ungodly people that were the subject of this coming and judgment? Jude is speaking of the ones who were infiltrating the churches and trying to twist the teachings and influence the believers to return to Judaism or at least to “Judaize” their Christianity. Some were false teachers and others were simply opportunists who had no belief in Christ, but tried to take advantage of the good will and charity of the brethren. Jude says of them (verses 4, 12, 16):
“For certain men who were marked out for condemnation13 long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ…These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm – shepherds who feed only themselves. These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.”
[NIV]These were the ones that the Lord and all his myriad holy ones were coming in judgment against. This is part and parcel of the same spiritual coming against all the enemies and persecutors of the original church. The enemies would include all who were ungodly. This judgment and this coming cannot be yet in the future, or these evil men have not yet been judged and punished. We know that these people were the ones who were to be watched for during the “last times.” Verse 17-18:
“But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, ‘In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires’. These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.”
[NIV]These were the scoffers that Jesus and the apostles warned them to watch out for. They were infiltrating the churches and trying to corrupt them even then. This was to happen in the last times, and, as John stated in 1 John 2:18 –
“…it is the last time...even now are there many anti-christs, whereby we know that it is the last time.”
That time was upon those Christians and the spiritual coming of the spirits of all the saints along with the Spirit of God in judgment of all those scoffers and persecutors was imminent in the war actions of A.D. 67-70.
1 CORINTHIANS 4:5
“Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.”
When the Lord accomplishes this coming, he would bring certain “hidden things” to light. What were these hidden things? They were the hidden things of darkness, or as he puts it in 2 Corinthians 4:2, “the hidden things of shame.
We know that from the time of Pentecost, Christ and God dwells in our hearts and we dwell in him. There is nothing that is hidden from God not even our secret or hidden thoughts. If we harbor any hidden things of shame in our minds, God already knows about it and if, by “bringing to light,” we mean that God will make these things known to all men, then this would not place us in a condition to receive his praise. As Christians, we are all forgiven of past shames and are living righteous lives (or otherwise there is something amiss in our commitment to Christ).
This verse talks about a “coming” event of the Lord and it talks about a specific “time” when judgment would begin. This is a prophecy just like all the others and its subject is identical. In this case, the “hidden things of darkness” or “shame” were the apostasies and defilements of the Jews against God which were hidden under the guise of holiness and ritual supplication to God – all the trappings of the great Law of Moses, but without the heart and soul of it.
During the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, the Zealots firmly believed that God would be behind them in their revolt against Rome, even after they had turned his holy Temple into a fortress and a place of weapons and had filled its courts with dead bodies.
The spiritual coming of the Lord in the actions of the Roman armies brought to light the attitudes of the Jewish people that were the source of the defilements. It “made manifest the counsels of the hearts” of these apostate Jews. They were proud, vain, violent, dogmatic and completely sinful people hiding under a veneer of religious affectation and spectacle.
When the “time” came, these people would be judged and the sentence would be carried out. After this event, every person who had separated themselves from that old nation and purified themselves through Christ would “have praise of God.” They would be in the position of glorious victory over their enemies.
ACTS 3:19-21
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you. Whom the heaven must receive until the times of the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”
When Jesus Christ is sent, it would bring the “times of refreshing.” Refreshing in contrast to what? It was the removal of the great enemies of the Church that would bring refreshing from the tribulations and persecutions that were perpetrated by those authorities and peoples.
Let us note that this refreshment would come “from the presence of the Lord.” It was the power and actions of Christ that would cause the refreshing. It was Christ coming in vengeance and victory over those enemies that refreshed the Church and gave it the ability to live on in the world of men.
This sending and coming of Christ to bring the times of refreshing was something that had been “preached before unto you.” That is, it was the subject of all the prophecies that the brethren had heard and had been taught by the apostles, Jesus himself (as in Matthew 24), and all the Old Testament prophets.
Verse 21 says of Christ that the “heaven must receive” him until the “time of the restitution of all things” that God had spoken of through all the prophets. This simply means that, after the cross Christ would not be made manifest physically anymore to the world. John 14:19 –
“Yet a little while and the world seeth me no more.”
When Christ then came (spiritually!) to exact the vengeance against the persecutors, it would be the time of the restitution of all things. The word could be rendered, “restoration.” It would be the time when something would be restored or made right again. What thing? It was “all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” In other words, it was the final fulfillment of any and all of the prophecies that were ever made.
How can we know that this coming, refreshing, and restoration would be an event of those times in the first century? Let us read the next three verses (22-24):
“For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will becompletely cut off from among his people.’ Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days.”
[NIV]This prophet was, of course, Jesus Christ. Anyone (of the Jews) who did not listen to him, accept him, and become Christians, would be cut off from his people. His people were no longer the old Jewish nation, but were, instead, the new Church. All of the prophets foretold Christ and Christ came to fulfill those prophecies (Matthew 5:17-18). The final fulfillment (chronologically) was the destruction of the enemies in the coming of Jesus Christ in the last days. As Paul confirms, those prophesied events were to happen in “these days” – the days of the people living right then.
MATTHEW 10:23
“When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”
[NIV]
In the first part of this chapter, Jesus had given the apostles special power to heal and cast out unclean spirits and sent them out to preach the good news to the Jews only (verses 5-6). In verse 7, he told them:
“And as ye go, preach saying: The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
The Kingdom of Heaven was at hand, and as we have seen, it came to them on the Day of Pentecost. From that time onward, the apostles were going from house to house, village to village, and city to city, setting up congregations wherever they could. They were successful in some areas, rebuffed in many places, and persecuted everywhere. The “cities of Israel” included any place where the Jews were living, and this “tour of duty” for the apostles included all the mission trips of Paul and the others.
According to this prophecy, they would not be able to complete this effort before the time came for the Son of Man to come. What time was this? What was the Son of Man coming to accomplish? In verses 13-14, Jesus tells them that if they are rejected at a particular place, they should “withdraw their peace” from it and shake the dust off their feet as they left. In the next verse, he says:
“…it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment than for that city.”
and in verse 22, he tells them:
“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”
What was this Day of Judgment? What was this “end”? These specific peoples and cities would see this great day of judgment. It was the end of the Jewish nation and religion in the war of A.D. 67- 70. The apostles would be busy making their rounds and the disciples of Jesus’ day would still be alive to see this great event. If this coming of the Son of Man is still in our future, then Christ did not tell the apostles the truth. He led them to expect his coming soon, within their own lifetimes, only to back out of his promise. We know, however, that Christ spoke the truth and his coming would occur just when he said it would. Inverse 34, Jesus states the nature of this coming:
“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.”
It would be the swords of the Romans, under the spiritual control of God that would cause “the end” to come upon the Jewish nation (“on earth”).
LUKE 12:36-43. verse 40:
“You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
[NIV]This coming would be a surprise event to some, but not to the Christians Jesus tells those disciples he was speaking with that “you also must be ready.” The unexpectedness of the coming was to take the adversaries by surprise, indeed, but the disciples would be watchful for the signs of the coming event and would take the appropriate actions! Luke 12:37, just preceding:
“Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching….”
They are “blessed” because they obeyed Christ’s warnings, watched for the prophesied signs, and escaped the war and were saved. As we have read in Eusebius, the faithful disciples did flee from Jerusalem and all of Judea after seeing the signs come to pass. They spent the years of the war in Decapolis at the place called Pella – outside the Jewish realm. Neither Jesus nor his disciples knew just when the events of his enemy’s ruin would occur, but as
1 Thessalonians 5:4-6 reminds us:
“Ye are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are the children of light.”
In our passage in Luke, Jesus goes on to tell a parable of a servant who, when his master delays his return, begins to do evil things and forget to watch. In Luke 12:47, he says:
“That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows.”
[NIV]Those disciples who turned away from Christ under pressure of persecutions or from simple apostasy (deciding not to believe or care anymore) would be caught up in the war actions and treated to the same fate as the rest of the unbelieving Jewish nation. They would indeed be “beaten with many blows.” The responsibility to watch out for the signs of the times was crucially important for those men and women.
The signs were to be obvious and were to occur to that generation. In Luke 12:54-55, Jesus speaks to the Jewish crowd and remarks on how good they are at foretelling weather from the signs visible in the sky. In verse 56, he asks them:
“Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it that ye do not discern this time?”
What kind of “time” was this going to be? In Luke 12: 49-51 preceding, Jesus states:
“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.”
[NIV]The baptism was, of course, his crucifixion. The fire was not quite kindled at the time Jesus spoke this, for he was still here as a physical man and this fire would be a spiritual blaze. It would come upon the “earth,” which is always the place of the people involved in the prophecy. This is, in fact, another prophetic statement by Christ. The division he would bring in the spiritual coming of AD. 70. was the great judgment and dividing of the righteous from the unrighteous, that is, the believers in Christ from those who rejected him. That judgment and division is everlasting and continues even today.
Again, we should ask the question of the relevancy of Christ’s warnings to the people he was speaking to, if the events being warned of were not to occur for thousands of years. When such a lengthy time period was to be involved in a prophecy, such as the one to Daniel (Daniel 11 and 12), we see that it was so indicated as when the angel tells Daniel in chapter 12:9 –
“…go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.”
[NIV]These words of prophecy spoken by Jesus and the apostles were delivered to those specific people and were given as warnings and signs for them to watch out for. Specific rewards were promised to them for obeying or for disobeying those warnings. If the coming of Jesus Christ was to be far off in the future, he would have sealed up those words just as he did before. Now, however, he had unsealed them, just as we read in the Revelation as the seals are undone in chapter 6, and as we read in the opening in verse 3:
“Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophesy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”
It was time for the words to be revealed!
HEBREWS 10:36-39
“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, ‘He who is coming will come and will not delay. But the righteous will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.’ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.”
[NIV]Here, the Hebrews author quotes the prophet Habakkuk (ch. 2:3-4) concerning the coming of Christ, and he asserts that this coming will I be in “just a very little while.” The literal translation from the Greek is even more emphatic. It is “mikron oson, oson,” which means a “very, very little” while. Christ would come soon indeed, and would not delay.
As in other passages, emphasis is placed here on the differing results of obeying versus disobeying Christ’s warnings. Those who “shrink back” from their belief in Christ either from apostasy or from persecutions, would be “destroyed.” They would be destroyed in terms of their spiritual relationship to God and also would be destroyed physically in the war.
The believers, on the other hand, would be saved from these destructions. To accomplish that reward, however, they would have to “persevere” through the tribulations and pains that they were then undergoing.
He tells them then that if they have “done the will of God,” they will “receive what he has promised.” What was the will of God? To persevere and to watch out for the prophesied signs and take the correct actions. What was the thing promised? It was simply their salvation from
the destructions brought against their enemy. It was the fulfillment of the promise of Luke 1:70-74, that:
“We should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us.”
Their salvation was not delayed for thousands of years. It came to them in a “very, very little while” in the great spiritual and physical events of the destruction of Judea.
The Christian brethren were able to endure that terrible time leading up to the war because they were citizens of the great Kingdom of God, the Church. Even though they were under duress and many had lost their possessions, the Hebrew author tells them “you endured” because of (v. 34):
“…knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven [literally: in the heavenlies] a better and enduring substance.”
This substance was their spiritual life – eternal life with God, and we know that life was not a promise yet to be fulfilled for them, for he says, “you have it.”
MATTHEW 26:64 (parallel verses in Mark 14:62, and Luke 22:69)
“…hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
This scene takes place in the court of the High Priest in Jerusalem. Christ has been brought in for judgment as a blasphemer, and is being questioned in front of Caiaphas, the High Priest, along with the Elders and Scribes (v. 57). These people, the Sanhedrin, formed the religious authority over the Jewish nation as set forth in the Law of Moses.
In their presence, Jesus prophesies his own return, and he is talking to these very people when he says “you shall see” the Son of Man coming. It was to these persecuting Jewish authorities that Christ was to come! If he did not come to them, then his prophecy and warning were meaningless to Caiaphas and the others who heard him speak this awesome promise.
Jesus says that these men would see him “sitting on the right hand of power.” This power was the power to destroy the Jewish nation both physically in the war and spiritually in God’s transference of religious authority to the new kingdom of Christ. The High Priest and Elders of Judaism would indeed see the power first hand in the destruction of their land, religion, and themselves in A.D. 70.
Jesus also characterizes his coming to them as coming “in the clouds of heaven.” This shows that he did not mean to come against them in a personal, physical manner like an earthly king coming to overthrow them. He would use other pagan armies to accomplish that, but the Son of Man would be present in these actions spiritually. Again, Jesus was prophesying and was using symbolic language and figures that these erudite Jews would readily understand. Coming “in the clouds of heaven” is a symbol often used in the Old Testament scriptures to indicate a spiritual event, and these Jews knew that Jesus was promising a spiritual overthrow of their authority and power.
By asserting that he was going to accomplish this himself, Jesus gained their sentence of death. Until he came in power and in the clouds of heaven to stop them, persecutions of his people would continue at the hands of these men and the rest of the unbelieving Jews and pagans.
JAMES 5:7-9
“Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient, and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The judge is standing at the door!”
[NIV]James wrote this letter (sometime between A.D. 50 and 63) to encourage his brothers in Christ who were all suffering under the torments and oppression of the Jewish authorities. He advises them to have patience in the face of these trials and to look for relief from them in the same way that a farmer looks for the relief of seasonal rains to water his dry fields.
This relief was to come to those brothers to whom James was writing, or else he was mistaken and not an inspired writer. In verse 8, he states that the Lord’s coming “is near.” Literally, this can be translated as “has drawn near.” It was near to them – only a few years away, and they were to “stand firm” and “be patient” for that great event which would remove their persecutors from power and allow the Church to live and grow.
James warns them not to “grumble” against one another (other translations use the words “groan” or “murmur”). Moulton renders the Greek word here as meaning “to give vent to querulous or censorious feelings”– in other words, don’t quarrel or censor one another about belief and perseverance in the face of these oppressions. If they did, they would be judged – that is, they would cease to persevere in their belief and would not follow the warning signs, and would so perish in the events of Christ’s coming.
Then he states:
“The judge is standing at the door!”
[NIV]If the Judge (who is God) is still standing before the door some 2,000 years later, after all these people have been dead and gone and have failed to see him coming to rescue them, then someone should open that door and let him in, for he is not the powerful God that we thought! No, he did come to put an end to the persecuting authorities and make the Christians victorious. In the next two verses (10 and 11), James reminds them:
“Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”
[NIV]James gives these brethren who were “suffering,” a powerful reminder that God would rescue and reward them. He refers to the story of Job, who suffered such terrible things. Job was severely tested, but he persevered in his trust in God, and he was rewarded in the end. This is the promise that James is holding out to these brothers, that if they only “hang in there” for a while longer, they will be blessed in the same manner that Job was blessed by God. This is the God, he reminds them, who can rescue them with power, but is “full of compassion and mercy” to his chosen people, the Christians. He is also full of compassion and mercy toward his former peoples, the Jews, for this is the reason he allowed that period of time between the cross and the war. He allowed it so that those people would hear of the Christ and would accept him, “whosoever will.”
JOHN 21:20-23
“Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said ‘Lord, who is going to betray you?’) When Peter saw him, he asked, ‘Lord, what about him?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.’ Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”’
[NIV]Here is a statement from Christ’s own lips which confirms that his coming would not be thousands of years in the future. Jesus indicates to Peter that John would physically live to see the coming of Christ.
John, the author of this gospel, is, of course, the one “whom Jesus loved.” The word that is translated “return” in the NIV really should be “come,” as the KJV says. It is from the Greek “eschomai” which means “to come”
Jesus was not aware of the exact time of the coming, as he told them in Mark 13:32, but he did give them many indications that the event would take place within that present, living generation. He told them “some standing here...” and “this generation shall not pass until...” and “all these things shall come upon this generation.” This is another one of these indicators.
We know that, although the other apostles were all killed by the time of the war in AD. 70, John lived into his 90’s and survived the war. He did, in fact, live to see the coming of Christ, both in returning to his disciples on Pentecost, and in the spiritual coming in vengeance against the enemies in A.D. 70. This is why John can say in l John 5:20–
“and we know that the Son of God is come…”
Moreover, we know that it is John who saw more directly than anyone else how the coming in AD. 70 would be a spiritual coming, for it was he who wrote the Revelation visions that describe that event. It is apparent that many of the disciples who were with Christ at that time were not able to understand the spiritual nature of the events that were occurring. On occasion, Jesus became exasperated that they could not see what he was doing. Many of them even held onto the idea that he was going to set up a physical kingdom.
In this instance, once again, they misunderstood Jesus and thought that he was telling them that John would never physically die. John himself corrects these rumors and ideas directly. He tells the gospel reader that this is not what Jesus said, rather only that John would live to see Christ’s coming. Many today still misunderstand Christ’s words here.
If Christ has not come again, then somewhere on this planet is a very old and frail man who still waits for a tarrying master to come for him.
1 PETER 1:3-7, 13, 20. verse 7;
“That the trial of your faith…might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing [revealing] of Jesus Christ.”
What “trial of faith” was this? Let us back up a bit and read the Preceding verses starting with verse 3:
“...in [God’s] great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.”
[NIV]“You” are the Christian brethren that Peter was addressing. The trials were obviously the persecutions that they were then undergoing at the hands of their Jewish countrymen. They were “suffering grief” from these people and were afraid for the future. Peter is reminding them that God had already provided a “new birth” for them into the spiritual Kingdom and the inheritance of eternal life. This is eternal spiritual life, as he indicates by characterizing it as being “kept in heaven for you” (literally: “reserved in the heavens for us”).
Now, because of their faith or belief in Christ, these Christians were “shielded” by God’s power from the kind of spiritual fate that their Jewish kinsfolk had suffered – that is, spiritual separation from God – and they were taken care of in this way continuously through until the “coming of the salvation.” Now, if they were shielded by God due to their faith and were already spiritually and religiously saved, then what is this salvation to come?
It was, of course, the physical salvation of the Church as a whole from the persecutions of the enemy of the Church. This salvation was “ready to be revealed in the last time.” John confirms that these were the last times in 1 John 2:18, and we know that this is true from Peter also, who says in verse 20:
“[Christ] was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”
[NIV]The brethren were suffering physical oppression, but only “for a little while” and Peter was reminding them to greatly rejoice in the knowledge that Christ would be revealed in judgment against their oppressors very shortly – in “these last times.”
Matthew 25:13
“Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”
This verse occurs at the conclusion of the parable of the ten virgins. In it, Jesus compared the “kingdom of heaven” to a wedding feast. (The Bride, along with Christ as the Bridegroom, is a commonly used symbol for the Kingdom or Church.) At this wedding feast, some of the attendants are watchful and ready for the groom to arrive, and some are not watchful and so miss out on the feast.
He states that the kingdom of heaven would be like this “then or “at