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3.Closing Time: God and an Exit Strategy
Jonathan Gallagher 2009
TEXT: 1 Thess. 5; Rev. 21, 22
“The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be.” Paul Valery
Literary Visions of the Future
In contrast to the former belief in man’s steady progress to some scientific Golden Age, Neville Shute’s On the Beach pessimistically portrays a world slowly but inexorably dying from nuclear fallout. John Christopher portrays a world blighted by a virus that kills all grasses—including wheat, barley and rice etc in The Death of Grass. In Thomas M Disch’s The Genocides the world is taken over by an alien civilization for growing crops, and humanity is exterminated like some unwanted crop pests. Life becomes impossible on earth because of pollution in John Brunner’s The Sheep Look Up. E M Forster’s story The Machine Stops shows what happens when science is totally relied upon—everyone dies when the great machine that supplies all their needs suddenly stops. In The Last Man by Alfred Noyes almost everyone is destroyed by a new weapon of mass destruction. His message is that unless we can control our violent passions then we are fated to destroy ourselves.
Pessimism about the future is vast. Hardly anyone is suggesting that the earth has a wonderful future ahead. It is as if by looking deep into their own selves, writers about the future can only magnify the evil, corrupt and dying nature of humanity. Even those who do not predict an imminent end describe a world in which freedom and humanity is lost as people become subservient to a technological state (like Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World) or brainwashed into oblivion (like George Orwell’s 1984), or enslaved by robots (like Karel Capek’s R.U
.R.). And even if we were to solve our all-too-human problems, H G Wells describes a desolate eventual future in The Time Machine—when the energy of the solar system, even the Universe, just runs out. Closing time!
And we can make the endtime just as doomladen and disastrous! [“No more doom and disaster please!” comment] Or we can become preoccupied with many other factors. But what is essential is this:
Great Controversy
In all our considerations of the end-time, we need to remember its significance in terms of the great controversy over the character of God. While we tend to be self-focused, the real issues are about God. So what do we learn from the polarized extremes of the “closing time”—the time when all comes to a point of completion and consummation? Our perspective is one of worrying about ourselves, and how we will fare in the end-time. There is much self-preoccupation of readiness or otherwise, preparation for the final crisis, being ready to stand without a mediator and so on.
But if we understand the great controversy issues, then the view becomes very different. Instead of worrying about how we will survive, or when this will happen, and if there has been a delay, our focus centers on God and his vindication before the whole on-looking universe!
Look again at the primary determinant, and the true “exit strategy” of God—the way in which there is a final conclusion to the conflict of the ages:
CORE CONCEPT: “It is the darkness of misapprehension of God that is enshrouding the world. Men are losing their knowledge of His character. It has been misunderstood and misinterpreted. At this time a message from God is to be proclaimed, a message illuminating in its influence and saving in its power. His character is to be made known. Into the darkness of the world is to be shed the light of His glory, the light of His goodness, mercy, and truth…The last rays of merciful light, the last message of mercy to be given to the world, is a revelation of His character of love.” {COL 415}
The question why?
What’s significant is why Jesus comes. Without his return the first coming is forever incomplete, because we are still here and sin still continues. Christ simply has to return to achieve all that he promised. Note these words from some respected theologians:
“Faith in Jesus Christ without the expectation of His Parousia [second advent] is a voucher that is not redeemed, a promise that is not seriously meant. A Christian faith without expectation of the Parousia is like a ladder which leads nowhere but ends in the void.” Emil Brunner, Eternal Hope (London: Lutterworth Press, 1954), 138-9.
“The second coming of Christ is an absolutely indispensable doctrine in the Biblical teaching of redemption. Apart from His glorious return, God’s work will forever be incomplete. At the center of redemption past is Christ on the cross; at the center of redemption future is Christ’s returning in glory.” George Eldon Ladd, The Blessed Hope (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1956), 6.
“God leads us forward, not back. The Christian life means looking forward to the coming of Christ, like runners straining for the finishing tape.” Stephen H. Travis, The Jesus Hope (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1980), 93.
“The importance in God’s thought of the Second Coming of Christ is seen in the fact that this event is mentioned more times in the New Testament than there are chapters. It has been said by those who have taken the trouble to count that it is mentioned 318 times in the 260 chapters of the New Testament. And one who made a life-long study of the doctrine has said that it occupies one in every twenty-five verses from Matthew to Revelation.” R.A. Torrey, The Return of the Lord Jesus (Los Angeles: Bible Institute, [1913]), 13.
The second coming of Jesus is essential! As has been said, if he’s not coming back, then we have a major problem. One: Jesus already promised. Was he wrong (as some have suggested), or did his disciples simply misunderstand? Either way the glorious objective of the Christian church is annulled. Two: most of the motivation found in the New Testament is removed. Three: will there ever be an End to all of this. Four... The implications of denying the second coming are immense. Most of all in how it begins the conclusion of the whole great controversy...
Denial
And yet some do deny it. In the name of “de-mythologizing” (taking away the “mythical” or supposedly unreal elements), Jesus return is re-interpreted, or just plain denied.
“The mythical eschatology is untenable for the simple reason that the parousia of Christ never took place as the New Testament expected. History did not come to an end, and, as every schoolboy knows, it will continue to run its course. Even if we believe that the world as we know it will come to an end in time, we expect the end to take the form of a natural catastrophe, not of a mythical event such as the New Testament expects.” Rudolf Bultmann.
“We can no longer look for the return of the Son of Man on the clouds of heaven or hope that the faithful will meet him in the air.” Rudolf Bultmann.
“The Christian hope knows that it hopes but it does not know what it hopes for.” Rudolf Bultmann.
“The eschaton [last or final event] has moved from the future to the present, from the sphere of expectation into that of realized experience.” C H Dodd.
Jesus “did not expect a literal descent from the sky in glory, either in the near future or later.” T F Glasson.
“That the heart of the Christian hope was now, once more, to `wait for God’s Son from heaven’, for a second and final coming which would complete and crown the first, is a belief for which we have found no firm foundation in the words of Jesus himself.” John A T Robinson.
“The End of which the New Testament speaks is no temporal event.” Karl Barth.
“To desire the Parousia [second coming], all we have to do is to let the very heart of the earth, as we christianise it, beat within us.” Teilhard de Chardin.
So why hasn’t Jesus returned yet? What of the implementation of the exit strategy?
Waiting because God’s patience, not wanting anyone to be lost 2 Peter 3:9. But won’t this always be the case, and does this not unnecessarily extend suffering?
Sufficient evidence—only God knows when enough is enough…
Conditional/Unconditional issues
Compare/contrast:
God’s purposes know no haste and no delay. DA32.
The promises and the threatenings of God are alike conditional. Ev 695.
Unfulfilled prophecy: Assyria and Egypt—when did this happen? “In that day Egypt and Assyria will be connected by a highway. The Egyptians and Assyrians will move freely between their lands, and they will both worship God. And Israel will be their ally. The three will be together, and Israel will be a blessing to them. For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will say, ‘Blessed be Egypt, my people. Blessed be Assyria, the land I have made. Blessed be Israel, my special possession!’” Isaiah 19:23-25 NLT.
God has an exit strategy
How do we understand it?
Second advent as vindication of God’s power/might or of God’s “right-ness.”
Destruction of wicked as retributive vengeance or distributive consequence.
Close of probation as arbitrary decision of non-accountable Deity or sorrowful conclusion of concerned Father.
Lake of fire as eventual demonstration of God’s destructive ability over evil or final repercussion of rebellion.
Last battle or first?
Argument over nature and character of God or the temerity of upstart?
Second coming as homecoming or tyrant’s victory parade?
Reaction of onlooking universe—fear or joy?
Angelic response: God’s retaliation or consummation of His plan of demonstration...
Blessings of righteous as just reward or result of following truth.
Punitive destruction of sin or natural consequence?
How is God’s character demonstrated in eschatological events? Last plagues etc?
The plan, the strategy, for the ultimate exit
“As kind as a father is to his children, so kind is the Lord to those who honour him” (Ps.103:13, TEV). The firm assurance given by Jesus that he would come again is the promise of a loving caring Saviour, the promise of the continuing care of God that has extended from creation and will be a major part of the new creation. The second advent is the final demonstration of the reality of God’s caring love, the full expression of his character which is love.
The promise of the second coming means that God stretches out his hand to us, to help us and to lead us into his heavenly kingdom. In the beginning God. In the end God. He is always there, taking the initiative, compassionate and caring. “He first loved us.” The final coming of Jesus is the complete assurance that God loves us, the last act in the drama of “For God loves the world that he gave his only begotten Son...” Jesus comes the second time in all his glory as majestic proof of the immensity of God’s love for us, the completing contrast to his former coming to die in love so that we might live. This is the truth of Jesus’ return; this is what it means.
If the coming of Jesus is no less a demonstration of love than his death on the cross, it is hard to see why some fear his return. Perhaps this “last day coming” is too overloaded with tones of some bell tolling the End of the World, and the corresponding doom and destruction. While it is true that in the history of the Christian church this accent on cataclysmic disaster has at times forced out hope in the return of the Saviour, we should not fall into that same error and look to Christ’s coming with fear and dread. God created us because of his nature of love, and he continues to act to help his created beings, and he wishes to restore that full communion by the ultimate act of divine intervention—the return of Jesus. God’s love and compassion demand that the chasm of sin and separation be finally ended so that we may meet him face to face. This is truly the “blessed hope.”
The second coming is firmly based in the loving, caring nature of God himself, which leaves no room for doubt. The second coming is the full assurance of God that he will be able to do all he promised. The second coming is the final demonstration of the God who cares, the God who sent his son to die so that we might live, and live in that eternal homecoming of full reunion.
The God who comes
Ever since the Lord God came to talk with the man and the woman in the garden, God has been coming to us. So much of what we understand about God is expressed in this idea of his coming to meet with us. God came to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and spoke with them. Moses met with the God that came in the experience of the burning bush, and at Sinai: “The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mount; and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up” (Ex.19:20).
This same perspective is behind the mission of Jesus. In expressing so many of his deeper teachings, Jesus says that he came: “the Son of man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Lk.19:10NIV); “the Son of man came, not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mt.10:45); “the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them”(Lk.9:56). Jesus came for a purpose: “I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me” (Jn.6:38). He “came unto his own, and his own received him not” (Jn.1:11), a coming not in terms of the terrible judgement of God, but to save us. (Jn.12:47). At the heart of the message of God’s love in Jesus is that the Son of God came to us, to show us the way, to tell us, to die for us so that he might save us. He came from heaven (Jn.3:13, 6:38, “from above” Jn.8:23), he came to earth and fallen humanity. That is the greatest truth of the gospel. We do not have to approach God—which is impossible in any case. He comes to us. He comes to us where we are. He comes so that God may be with us and save us. “I came ..to call...sinners to repentance” (Lk.5:32). That is the truth of God’s approach to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
And it is the same when applied to the ultimate, consummative coming that is Christ’s second advent. Jesus comes again so that he may be with us. We of ourselves cannot go to where he is, so he comes to us. The God that came, and comes, will come again. And his coming is for the very same purpose as previous comings—to make God real to man, to show God’s real character, to do his will—and to save. The God that comes always comes to save, to save those who respond to him.
The movement of God
This movement of God in the direction of humanity is one of the main things God wants us to appreciate in the second coming. It would seem that there is no reason why Christ could not call us to be with him, to provide with the power to make our own way to heaven. But he has chosen to return, to come to us, to demonstrate his interest and feeling in us and for us, so that we might see in his coming the intense desire of God to save us so that we might live forever in his presence. We might even imagine him saying “I’m coming back to the earth to meet you where you are. I’m willing to come down once more out of heaven so that you may see how much I love you.” In the second coming Jesus meets us with open arms.
I once watched a father picking up his son from school. The entrance was on a very busy street, with cars passing to and fro. The boy was looking round, anxiously waiting, his eyes searching for his father’s face. Then he saw his father on the other side of the street waiting to cross. He made to run out, but his father called over “Wait there, Tom. I’m coming for you. Just wait right there”. After a while his father made it through the traffic, and picked up his son, and kissed him. Lifting him onto his shoulders, the father made his way back across the street, on their way home.
That is the truth of the second coming, when Jesus lifts us onto his shoulders, and takes us home. That is the love, the care, the help of God.
“Coming” describes movement, it involves action. It means taking yourself out of where you are, and going somewhere else. It means crossing distance, it means using effort. All this is part of the coming of Jesus. In John 14:3 he makes this quite clear: He goes, he prepares, he comes again. The purpose (and the comings of God are always for a specific purpose) is “that where I am, there you may be also”. Quite obviously a distinct difference in location exists between earth and heaven: “here” and “there”. Jesus has to cross that “space” in order to come. And so that we might also cross that space-time barrier, he comes for us to take us home with him. Coming means moving from, and to.
Space separates—and in the Bible this picture is used to describe the very great difference that exists between God and ourselves. Christ had to come down out of heaven to empty himself (Philippians 2:6, 7) before he could “be” with us. The concept of God coming down gives meaning to his transcendence, to his absolute power. If there is no coming, no need to cross space, then God is here in the same place and in the same situation as us. There is no difference. Yet Christ is “from above”, and so, in order that he might be with us, he has to come. He has no choice. The barrier is there. He has to cross the vast distance that separates mankind from God. He comes to restore the togetherness that God and unfallen humanity shared at the beginning, the togetherness in which God’s transcendence does not need to be shown in distance, where there is no longer any separation because the barrier of sin has been broken down by Christ. The culmination of the second advent is “being with the Lord”.
If a man is in prison and I want to meet with him, I have to come to him. He is completely unable to come to meet me. I show my desire to talk with him by going to the prison and sitting in the visiting room. I cannot show my caring by staying at home. And when the time come for him to be released, I demonstrate my love by going to the prison gates and meeting him there, and taking him home for a meal with me.
That is the involvement that the second advent shows. God is telling us something by coming to us. What sort of invitation do you respond to? A brochure received through the mail, or a personal call from a fried? If someone takes the trouble to come and see you, don’t you appreciate that more? And what would you think of the one you love, if he/she didn’t come to you to take you home? In his second coming Jesus comes for all these reasons.
Jesus comes to restore the togetherness that God and unfallen humanity shared at the beginning, the togetherness in which God’s transcendence does not need to be shown in distance, where there is no longer any separation because the barrier of sin has been broken down by Christ. The culmination of the second advent is “being with the Lord”.
Coming implies that two people meet. When God comes, he confronts us with his presence. God tells us he’s coming so that we can decide. We have to choose. It’s easy enough to forget someone when they’re not there. But when they are on your doorstep it’s a very different matter. God tells us of this meeting in advance, and that he plans to visit us in a very special way. That is what the message of the second advent is saying. We encounter God, finally and absolutely. We see that meeting, and we should look forward to it. We plan to be ready for the “visit”. We look fro the signs of that coming. Imagine the person you love most in the world is coming to your home. What do you do? Excited, expectant, you look up the road, waiting. You clean, you tidy, you prepare. You still have you job to do. But you look, you anticipate.
And the second advent of Jesus is the same. He has sent you a message that he’s coming to be with you. You think of that meeting. You plan what you want to talk about. But most of all you think of the person, and what he means to you. Homecoming. The second coming means the eternal homecoming, the full presence of God. And it’s personal; Jesus comes for you, and you alone.
Look again at this message, written especially for “Advent-ists”!
“Now concerning how and when all this will happen, dear brothers and sisters, we don’t really need to write you. For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. When people are saying, ‘Everything is peaceful and secure,’ then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman’s labor pains begin. And there will be no escape. But you aren’t in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters, and you won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief. For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night. So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk. But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.
For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever. So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 NLT.
Reunion
Like the reuniting of parted lovers, like the meeting of Father and lost son, like the encounter of two true friends, the separation is over, the goal is reached, the journey ended. Jesus comes, and the two are one, together; and absence is lost in eternal presence.
The God of hope promises to return in all glory to lead us to the eternal home He has prepared for us. The second advent is the vision that John sees, the means by which ultimate desire (and ours) is finally achieved. “God himself will be with them and be their God”. (Revelation 21:3 NIV. My emphasis).
The return of Jesus is what ‘Emmanuel’ really means. The God of relationships!
In the words of Adoniram Judson, “My future is as bright as the promises of God”!
Prisoners of hope
Remember: We are “Prisoners of hope” (Zechariah 9:12 NIV), committed to that glorious promise of God Himself. It is a hope that gives us meaning and purpose, a destiny with our Creator and Redeemer: “We have placed our hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all.” (1 Timothy 4:10 TEV).
And “Because we have this hope, we are very bold.” (2 Corinthians 3:12 TEV).
So: “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.” (1 Timothy 6:12 NIV).
Adventists or Exitists?
So in the end (!), what are we most concerned about? Us and our exit strategy? Or God and his resolution of the whole great controversy? We have a part to play, certainly. And Jesus knew the kind of people we are, which is why he spent so much time trying to prepare us, to warn us, to give us signposts on the way. But in the end, it is all about God, and how we relate to him. He will achieve universal harmony, with or without us. He desperately wants to end it all, to come—“Behold I come quickly” he tells us. Let us not for a moment imply that God is reluctant to end pain and suffering and death, or that he is less keen than us to restore his gracious government of truth and right. But these is a process, and we are part of that too, so that in the end we all will know, one way or another, what his answers are to all the charges, to all the misrepresentations, to all the lies and innuendos—and that he is supremely vindicated in all his admirable humility.
You’ll notice that the title for this series was “Closing Time: God and an Exit Strategy.” Not “God and Your Exit Strategy.” It’s God’s!
Bottom line: If God has an Exit Strategy, you don’t need one!
3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” 6 And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. 7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.”
3 No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. 4 And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.
6 Then the angel said to me, “Everything you have heard and seen is trustworthy and true. The Lord God, who inspires his prophets, has sent his angel to tell his servants what will happen soon.” Rev 21:3-7; 22:3-6 NLT.
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