The Comings of Christ

[ReformedLiberal]

talkswithbeagles said:

I disagree. The Second Coming of Christ is one of the main cornerstones of the Christian faith. Christians have been predicting that it was going to happen any day now for 2000 years. Jesus himself made a big deal about it. The apostle Paul obviously believed that it was going to happen in his life time, as did most of the early Christians of his day.

Fundamentalist Christians are fond of saying that every single word of the Bible is true, and that every Biblical prophesy either has been fullfilled or will be some day. This is one prophesy that has not been fullfilled. It was supposed to happen within the generation of people who were contemporaries with Jesus. Unless you count the Ressurection as the Second Coming, it just didn't happen. If you do count the Ressurection as the Second Coming, it certainly didn't end up like it was supposed to.

You have to remember, and be very careful about the fact, that the Bible has been translated from other languages. Furthermore, terms like Advent and Second Coming are not actually found in the scriptures, but are commonly accepted references to particular events. Do not judge the scriptures based on the interpretations of others. I made that mistake when I was young and it took me years to rediscover God and the value of the Bible.

Also, the word generation is commonly used in present day English to diferentiate steps in family lineage; father, son, grandson being different generations. That definition certainly fits many passages where the word is found. There were also times when the word obviously did not restrict it meaning to living people of a certain range in age.


NIV Genesis 7:1
1. The LORD then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.

NIV Matthew 23:34-36
34. Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
35. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
36. I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.

NIV Matthew 24:15-35
15. "So when you see standing in the holy place `the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel--let the reader understand--
16. then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
17. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house.
18. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak.
19. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!
20. Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.
21. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be equaled again.
22. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
23. At that time if anyone says to you, `Look, here is the Christ!' or, `There he is!' do not believe it.
24. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible.
25. See, I have told you ahead of time.
26. "So if anyone tells you, `There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, `Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it.
27. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
28. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29. "Immediately after the distress of those days "`the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'
30. "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.
31. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
32. "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.
33. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.
34. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
35. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

NIV Luke 11:47-51
47 "Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your forefathers who killed them.
48 So you testify that you approve of what your forefathers did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.
49 Because of this, God in his wisdom said, `I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.'
50 Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world,
51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.



If you take into account everything God and Jesus said, like the earth having been destroyed and restored and that it also would be again, it could very well mean that what you think meant "before those then living were to die" actually meant before the end and rebirth of the earth and mankind.

The word generation appears as many as a hundred times in the Bible, but the phrase 'this generation' only a few times. In at least two of these, the context includes references to the end of distinct ages of mankind. And in this one we see that 'this generation' ends with the judgement:

NIV Luke 11:30-32
30 For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation.
31 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.
32 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.

[juvenal]

The way I think about it, "the Second Coming" is nothing more than a well-used term for Christ's return to Earth at the end, whether you count Christ's death as "leaving" the Earth (making His Ressurection a "second coming") or not. It's a matter of semantics, and isn't a fundamental point of disagreement. The important points for Christianity are:

1.) God became a man
2.) He sacrificed Himself for us
3.) He rose on the third day after He was crucified.
4.) He will come again, to judge us.

Those are the basics. Whatever term you use to describe Christ's return is up to you, it seems to me.