Albert N. Martin

I invite you to turn with me in your own Bibles to Paul’s first letter to the infant church at Thessalonica, 1 Thessalonians, and follow with me please, as I read beginning in chapter 4 and verse 13, reading through to verse 11 of chapter 5, (remembering that when the Apostle wrote this letter there were no chapter divisions, let alone no verse divisions), and this is a unit of thought that we ought always to keep connected, as the Spirit of God has connected it.

Verse 13 of chapter 4:

But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that you sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that anything be written unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. When they are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief: for you are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that are drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God appointed us not unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as also you are doing.

We’ve read these words of the Apostle: the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven. These Spirit-inspired words, written by the apostle Paul in the plainest language affirm the proof of Scripture, that our Lord Jesus will return again in power and in glory at the end of the age.

Having considered six passages which explicitly declare that eagerly awaiting and loving the return of Christ was normal, New Testament perspective and experience, we then examined at least four reasons as to why true believers who are in a healthy, spiritual state eagerly await and truly love the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then I began to take up with you some fundamental issues or foundational facts concerning the return of Christ (though we have looked in the previous messages at a number of passages which highlight various things that the Lord Jesus will do at His return). I felt it wise to collate a number of Scriptures and to bring into sharp focus some of the most foundational issues with respect to the biblical teaching concerning the return of Christ. I’ve stated that we would be doing this under four major headings; we’ve covered the first two.

As to the event of the return of Christ, we saw that it is certain. We briefly consulted no fewer than 15 or 20 texts from the New Testament, noting that one would literally have to emasculate the entire New Testament to remove from it its constant reiteration and unified prophetic voice declaring the truth pronounced by the two angels to the 11 apostles: “That this same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner, as you have beheld Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

Secondly, as to the place of the return of Christ in redemptive history, we saw that it is central and climactic. I defined redemptive history as the sovereign activity of the Triune God working out His saving plan and purposes in the theater of the real world of space, time, material and immaterial entities and human beings.

We then saw from the Scriptures that subsequent to the death, the resurrection, the ascension of Jesus and the sending-forth of the Holy Spirit that the next significant event in the history of redemption is the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. I tried to demonstrate from the Scriptures that that event is central to redemptive history, and it is also climactic; that in the return of Jesus there will be realized the fulfillment of all of God’s redemptive acts in both mercy and in judgement, thereby ushering in the eternal state.

As we leave that and come to the third heading, I want to quote the words of a very perceptive commentator, a man by the name of Douglas Moo, commenting of the passage in James that we considered, which speaks of the Lord being at hand, these words:

“But what is crucial is to understand that this ‘nearness’ in the appropriate temporal framework: [is that of] salvation history. With the death and resurrection of Jesus and pouring out of the Spirit, the ‘last days’ have been inaugurated.”

You remember what Peter said on the Day of Pentecost? He said, “This is that which Joel the Prophet spoke about, ‘It shall come to pass in the last days that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh’” (Acts 2:16-17).

So, the descent of the Spirit inaugurated the last days. This final age of salvation will find its climax in the return of Christ in glory, but—and here is the crucial point—the length of this age is unknown. Not even Jesus knew how long the last days would last (Mark 13:32). What this means is that the return of Christ as the next event in the salvation, historical timetable, is from the time of the Early Church to our own day near, at hand, or imminent. That’s the truth that I sought to set forth from the Scriptures this morning.

So we have seen, as to the event of the return of Christ—it is certain; as to the place of the return of Christ in redemptive history—it is central and it is climactic.

Now we come in the third place to consider: as to the precise time of the Lord’s return, for us—it is imminent, indefinite and unknowable.

Now, the word ‘imminent’—not immanence, the immanence of God means God is everywhere present—but to be imminent means that something is likely to happen without delay. The Scriptures always present the Second Coming in this way.

We saw (this morning) from 1 Peter 4, verse 7, that there in the first century the apostle Peter declared, “But the end of all things is at hand.” It is near; it is imminent.

James in chapter 5, verses 8 and 9, uses similar language. He tells us in chapter 5, verses 8 and 9, “The coming of the Lord is at hand…behold, the judge stands before the doors.”

Now, does this mean that God has revealed nothing concerning anything that must happen before the return of Christ? I answer an unembarrassed no.

Peter knew that he would live to be an old man and that he would die before Jesus would return, and yet he says, “Behold, the coming of the Lord is at hand.” Peter knew the Lord would not come before he became an old man and died. How did he know that?

Well, turn to John chapter 21. Many of you perhaps have already thought of this incident. The Lord is restoring His backslidden, Christ-denying apostle there by the shore of the Sea of Galilee (or Lake Tiberias), and this is what our Lord says after drawing out from Peter the threefold affirmation of his love and recommissioning him. Verse 18 of John 21:

Truly, truly, I say unto you, [that is, to Peter], when you were young, you girded yourself, and walked where you would not: but when you shall be old, you will stretch forth your hands, and another will gird you, and carry you where you would not. Now this he spake, signifying by what manner of death he should glorify God.

Our Lord clearly tells Peter he’s going to live to be an old man. Furthermore, he tells him he’s going to die a martyr’s death, not a natural death, a death in which he is taken by coercion, taken by force of another into a place that naturally he would not go, but you ask: did Peter understand it that way? Yes, he did, because he tells us.

Turn to 2 Peter, and here’s Peter’s commentary upon these very words. 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 13 to 15:

“I think it right, as long as I am in this tabernacle, [that is, in this present body], to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ signified unto me. Yes, I will give diligence that at every time ye may be able after my decease [after my departure, after my exodus] to call these things to remembrance.”

Then it’s interesting, he launches right into another dissertation on the Second Coming. “For [he goes on to say] we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here is Peter then, one of the apostolic instruments stirring up first century Christians to live in the light of the imminence of the return of Jesus, yet he knows Christ will not return till he’s become an old men, until he dies a martyr’s death!

So, for Peter, knowing that the Lord Jesus could not and would not come, according to His own word, till he became an old man and died a martyr’s death, yet Peter lived in the eager anticipation and love of the return of the Lord Jesus and exhorted others to do the same!

Bible References: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11; Acts 1:11; Acts 2:16-17; Mark 13:37; 1 Peter 4:7; James 5:8-9; John 21:18-19; 2 Peter 1:13-15