Is the Coming of the Lord Imminent?

 
Dennis Edwards

Recently, I heard a comment from a friend of mine. She had been listening to a Pastor on-line that she likes. He was talking about the rise of the Antichrist to power and the coming on the Lord. But she told me that he said, “Don’t worry, it’s not imminent.” She was happy that it wasn’t imminent and said maybe it will happen in our children’s lifetime. I wanted to respond to her thoughts but was pressed for time. When I got home that evening I was thinking more about the Pastor's remark of  “it not being imminent.”

If it’s not imminent, why is in that in the Scriptures, Jesus, the disciples, the prophets, all talk as if it is imminent? Why do we find that urgency in the Spirit to proclaim that this is the day of the Lord? Let us look at Scripture and see what we can find.

Here is the first passage that came to mind when meditating on the idea that the rise of the Antichrist, the persecution of believers, and eventually the Lord’s return is not imminent.

“Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost says, “Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.” [Psalm 95:7b-11])

“Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; while it is said, Today if we will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.”[1]

Just like in the time of Moses, not everyone entered the promised land. Some became hardened through the deceitfulness of sin and lost that urgency of the Spirit to believe and obey. As a result, God let almost the complete older generation die in the wilderness and not enter the promised land. Their hearts had become hardened and they lost the urgency of the Spirit that Today was the day of salvation, that Today was the day to hear from and obey the Lord, that Today was the day to believe and obey His voice.

Why is it that in the words of Jesus and the apostles we find that they speak as if the Lord’s return is imminent? Is it so that we do not harden our hearts and let sin enter in and deceive us into believing it is not imminent and therefore it is not necessary to live for Jesus today? Shall we say with the unbelivers that, “Today is not the day of salvation, tomorrow may be or some other day in the future. Let’s not worry about it. Let us eat, and drink, and be merry for these things are not imminent?” Could it be that Jesus and the apostles speak as if His return is imminent, to not only give us hope, but to keep us on our toes with the importance  of obeying God today, the importance of winning others to Christ today, the importance of showing and sharing God’s love today?

Let us read from the words of Jesus.

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord does come.

“But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man comes. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

“But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delays his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looks not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”[2]

Apostle Paul called it an evil heart of unbelief which caused the Jews to lose the urgency of the Spirit that Today is the day of salvation. Jesus calls the servant evil when he begins to believe that the Lord has delayed his coming and begins to therefore eat and drink with the drunken and treat his fellow-servants cruelly. The concept that the Lord has delayed His coming, that His coming is not imminent, causes us to lose the urgency of the Spirit and causes us to fall back into lukewarness in our relationship with the Lord and others. We gain an evil heart of unbelief which causes us to be disobedient to the Lord, and to love and serve other gods.

Interestingly enough, Jesus continues his lesson in Matthew with the following similar message.

“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go ye out to meet him.

“Then those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man comes.”[3]

Again we see Jesus speaking of the importance of having that spirit of urgency which helps us to be obedient to the Lord. For it is by the fear of the Lord that men depart from evil. If we have that urgency that the end time events may be soon coming upon us, we will be like the five wise virgins with the oil of the Holy Spirit in our lamps. God gives the Holy Spirit to them that obey Him. Our obedience today to Christ will put oil in our lamps and in our vessels and we will be ready for whatever tomorrow may bring.

In Jesus’ message to John in the Book of Revelation, He warns of the importance of keeping that urgency of the Spirit which causes us to obey Him.

“Remember therefore how thou has received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shall not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shall not know what hour I will come upon thee.”[4]

Apostle Paul has also used the imagery of the thief in the night.

“But of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

“You are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the brestplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”[5]

Again we see the importance of not falling into the “peace and safety” mode, or “the Lord delays His coming” mode. Those modes make us fall asleep and lose the urgency of the Spirit to be about the Lord’s work. We gain an evil heart of unbelief or become evil servants. Apostle Peter calls it the “all things continue as they were” mode. Let us read from his espistle.

“This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your minds by way of remembrance: that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

“For this they willing are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water perished: but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”[6]

Apostle Peter is warning us that in the last days there will be scoffers, ungodly men, who will question the coming of the Lord. They will question the creation event and the flood event and will say all things continue as they have for millions of years. “Where is the promise of his coming?” They will plant their seeds of doubt in our hearts and minds to cause us to lose faith and fall away from our important job of being ambassadors and witnesses for the Lord.

“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”[7]

In other words, the Lord is giving time for the gospel to be preached in all the world, that all men who would will be saved.

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”[8]

We continue with the words from Apostle Peter:

“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 away with a fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness. Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”[9]

Apostle Peter tells us to keep that heavenly vision because all these earthly things will eventually fade away and be burnt up. We need to keep ourselves stirred up less we harden our hearts, or become foolish virgins, or evil servants, or scoffers, walking after our own lusts.

 “And account that the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given him has written unto you; as also in all his espistles, speaking in them of these things; in which some things hard to understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.”[10]

 Jesus in His revelation to John says.

“Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”[11]

Those of us who have receieved Christ are now clothed in His righteousness. Our own righteousness is stinking, filthy rags. We keep our garments by abiding in Christ and letting His word abide in us by being obedient to his still small voice and to His written word.

“He which testifies these things says, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”[12]

The Lord is not delaying His coming. He will return at the given time. He calls us to remember these things.

“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do my pleasure.”[13]

We know that God’s word is true and the days of Antichrist and the Lord’s return will come and will not tarry. It behooves us to live as if we really believe these things. Apostle Paul admonished us:

“Preach the word; be instant[14] in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”

We need to be busy about the Lord’s work in any way we can. In the Gospel of Luke we find Jesus’ words of warning.

“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with overeating, and drunkedness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”[15]

Don’t lose the urgency of the Spirit by believing that the endtime events are not imminent. They are imminent if your eyes, heart, and mind are open to His Spirit. Don’t let the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke your life and faith in Christ. Apostle Paul wrote,

“For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.”[16]

What can we do to be ready? We can do what Apostle Peter wrote. We can sanctify the Lord in our hearts. We can put Him first. We can love and obey Him with all our heart, mind, body, and soul. Then we will be always ready to give an answer to every man that asks us of the reason for the hope that we have in Christ with meekness and fear.[17]

Or as Apostle Paul has said,

“And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house,…For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.”[18]

Surely the Lord will come quickly and will not tarry. Let us therefore be “stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”[19]

For, “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”[20]

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[1] Hebrews 3:7-16

[2] Matthew 24:37-51

[3] Matthew 25:1-13

[4] Revelation 3:3

[5] 1 Thessalonians 5:1-9

[6] 2 Peter 3:1-7

[7] 2 Peter 3:8-9

[8] Matthew 24:14

[9] 2 Peter 3:10-14

[10]  2 Peter 3:15-18

[11] Revelation 16:15

[12] Revelation 22:20

[13] Isaiah 46:9-10

[14] 2 Timothy 4:2

[15] Luke 21:34-36

[16] Romans 9:28

[17] 1 Peter 3:15

[18] Acts 20:20&27

[19] 1 Corinthians 15:58

[20] Revelation 3:11