THE PERSON AND TEACHINGS OF JESUS
THE OLIVET DISCOURSE The Second Coming of Christ
Verse 36 is one of the most puzzling statements in the entire NT. For the past 35 verses Jesus has just been articulating the events which occur before His return. Now all of a sudden He says that He doesn't know when that "day and hour" will be. Is Jesus contradicting Himself?
Before we answer this, note that many people wonder whether or not you can trust the NT. Well, you can bet your bottom dollar that Jesus made this statement because it is NOT the kind of statement that the early church would have put into the mouth of Jesus if it were not true. It almost makes Him look "less than God." Properly understood though we see that this verse actually helps define the relationship of Jesus to God. He is God the Son who always acts out of perfect submission to His Father. He doesn't know or even want to know the timing of this day and hour because the Father does not want Him to know it. Yes, Jesus as God the Son IS omniscient; however, He has chosen to limit His omniscience out of due respect for His Father's wishes. He is not only a perfect God; He is also a perfect Son.
Having said this, I feel that many people make way too much out of this verse. They basically use this verse to obliterate the previous 35 verses or use it to support a theory about the rapture which this verse does not sustain. "Hour and day" when referring to the last days does not refer to just a period of 60 minutes or a period of 24 hours. The term "day of the Lord" (an important OT term) actually refers to the sequence of events which must occur before and which usher in the return of Christ. Jesus then is not just referring to His physical return or to the rapture; rather He is referring to the sequence of events which climaxes with His return. Jesus says He does not know when this sequence will kick into gear. Only the Father knows the timing. Once this sequence kicks into gear, you will know that His coming is near just as the budding of the fig tree lets you know summer is near.
SOME WON'T EVEN REALIZE HE'S COMING (24:37-44)
For some people the problem is not the timing of Jesus' return. For them the problem is the issue whether or not Jesus will return in the first place. There are several reasons they reject the idea of Jesus' return. First, such an event as this has never occurred in history. For them something can be true only if it has happened before in the past (this is called historical positivism). Second, others point to the fact that nearly 2000 years have elapsed since Jesus supposedly ascended into heaven. The most influential NT theologian of the 20th century rejected the idea of the return of Christ, writing: "Every school boy knows that history will just run its course."
First, such people though fail to take into account Peter's teaching that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day (2 Pet. 3:8). The problem is not with Jesus but with their view of Jesus. For them Jesus is a petty God, if God at all. They have really reduced Him. Second, if Jesus came and rose from the dead, then He must come again. Why? Because when Jesus rose from the dead, He began the process of resurrecting not only people but also the entire universe. If He does not return, He will be leaving unfinished the work He started on Easter Sunday. That would be illogical.
Nevertheless many people reject the concept of Jesus' return. As a result, they will carry on with life as if nothing major is in the works: they will be eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, major events in normal everyday life.
Jesus warns them though that a precedent has already been set for people like them. Thousands of years earlier Noah warned the people that disaster was about to strike in the form of a world-wide flood (2 Pet. 2:5). Yet according to Genesis the people had never experienced rainfall, much less a flood (Gen. 2:6). There was no historical precedent for a flood; therefore, it was an impossibility. Yet while they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, Noah went into the ark and sealed it from the elements. Then a cataclysmic event unparalleled in the history of the world swept these people away. It happened once, and Jesus informs us that it is going to happen again.
Jesus next gives a illustration which has become so tied to the Christian view of the second coming. In the illustration a man's home is successfully broken into because he did not know when the thief was coming. If that homeowner had known the timing of the thief's arrival, he would have been ready. Because we don't know when Jesus is going to return, we have 2 options: (1) we can throw our hands up in despair and not even try to be ready for His coming or (2) we can stay ready at all times for His return. The second option is the option Jesus is advising us to take.
(From this illustration comes the famous Christian idea of Jesus coming "a thief in the night." I cannot stress strongly enough how much most if not all the NT springs the from the fountain of Jesus' teachings.)
FOR SOME HE WILL COME TOO SOON (24:45-51)
Whereas the first group does not even think Jesus is going to return, this second group here thinks He is going to return later than when He actually does return. In His parable Jesus says that the master entrusts great responsibility to one of his servants. The signficance of His position is seen in that he actually is responsible to feed the other slaves.
This slave basically can make one of 2 choices. Because he does not know when his master is going to return, he can either act wisely and perform his functions well, treating his fellow-slaves with dignity and respect. OR he can roll the dice, abuse his position by mistreating his fellow-slaves and hope that he can reform right before his master returns. He gambles and loses because his master returns BEFORE he expected. As a result his master punishes him severely for the way he treated the slaves.
The moral to this parable is that if you gamble on the timing of Jesus' return, you are going to lose. Be watchful and awake for Jesus' coming. How? By living for Him. The only person who is awake spiritually is the person who is living for Jesus.
FOR OTHERS HE WILL COME TOO LATE (25:1-13)
In the last of these 3 illustrations Jesus presents a situation in which He returns later than expected. The scene is a wedding banquet in which 10 maids are lining the path from the bridegroom's house to the house where his bride is already awaiting him. Since the feast is at night, each maid brings a torch to help light the way. Most likely they have already doused their torches with oil but have not lit the torches; they will wait for the groom's arrival before they light the torches.
The problem though is that the oil already soaked into the torches may not be sufficient. Now if the groom comes soon, they will have enough oil; however, if there is a delay, some of the oil may drip off or even evaporate. Then when the torches are lit, there will not be sufficient enough oil to light the way.
Now 5 of the maids have acted wisely and prepared themselves for this second scenario. The other 5 though have gambled on the groom coming soon. Unfortunately for the latter 5 there is a delay in the bridal procession. The delay lasts so long that all 10 maids fall asleep.
Late into the night though a trumpet sounds, announcing the arrival of the groom. Because of the delay the torches have lost too much oil to be really effective to light the way for the bridal procession. The first 5 maids bring out their extra oil and douse their torches with it to make them fit for the procession. The second 5 though are in trouble. They don't have any extra oil. Their torches will not be acceptable for the procession. They turn to the first 5 maids and ask for some of their oil. The first 5 maids though respond that they don't have enough for their torches and for the torches of the second 5 maids. In other words, each person is personally responsible to be prepared for the bridal procession. They second 5 maids run off to purchase more oil before the groom arrives.
Unfortunately for these 5 maids the groom arrives before they can return. When they return with the oil, they discover that the entire bridal procession has already gone into the bridal hall for the bridal banquet. The door to the hall has already been closed. When they knock on the door of the hall, they are greeted by the groom himself. The whole purpose of the bridal procession was to make a big deal out of the groom. People were not supposed to slip in after the groom had already arrived. It would take the focus off the groom and put it on the guests. It was just too disrespectful towards the groom. The groom refuses them admittance: "I don't know you." The bottom line is that their failure to prepare adequately for the groom's arrival was not due to a slip on their part or ignorance; rather it was due to a total lack of respect for the groom. Such guests he was not going to permit to participate in his bridal feast.
APPLICATION
Before we look at the ways we are to be prepared and watchful for the Lord's coming, we need to address a perverse attitude some people might have. Some act as if they have all the time in the world to get ready for Christ's return because the tribulation has not yet been triggered. They just want to abuse the situation just like the unwise slave abused his situation. It won't hurt them to go clubbing since Jesus definitely is not going to return tonight--no Antichrist has arisen yet. Such a person needs to remember 2 things. First, Jesus does not have to return to the whole world for Him to return to the individual believer. It just might be that the whole world will keep on going on tomorrow the same way it has for the past several thousand years. On the other hand, Jesus may come for that individual Christian in death. That coming is going to be just as dramatic for that person as Jesus' second coming.
Second, any Christian who has such an attitude is probably going to be so spiritually asleep that he won't even know it when Antichrist does arrive. That Christian will probably think that the devastation which falls upon the world will be nothing more than the results of global warming due to human waste or solar activity. For that person the Antichrist will be nothing more than a politically correct figure who is only doing what is best for the world. That person is going to be in deep trouble.
Throughout this passage we have seen Jesus repeat over and over again the injunction to "watch" [the Greek word "gregoreo" (pron. greh-gore-EH-o) in verses 42 and 43] and to be "prepared" [Grk. word "hetoimos" (HEH-toy-mahs) in v. 44]. This is the main point of these illustrations. Whatever else the return of Christ means for our lives, it means that at all times we should be watchful and be prepared for His coming.
What does it mean though to be spiritually awake and spiritually prepared for His coming? The first answer is found in Jesus' experience in the Garden of Gethsemane. Three times in the passage of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus instructs the disciples to "watch" (the same word "gregoreo") by praying (26:38, 40, 41). Whereas the 11 disciples are asleep, Jesus is not only awake, He is also praying. In fact He urges them not merely to stay awake, but to pray while awake. Prayer then is a key ingredient of staying alert and being ready for Christ's coming.
How does prayer keep you alert? The way we normally pray will not keep us spiritually awake. Most of the time our prayers are nothing more than a run through of our wish list of things we want from God. They are nothing more than a more sophisticated way of praying the way we prayed as children: "Bless mommy and daddy, Uncle Jim and Aunt Pat, bubba and sister, etc." There is a legitimate place for this kind of prayer; however, that is not the kind of prayer Jesus is referring to here.
The kind of prayer that makes us spiritually awake is the kind in which we are open to what God wants to communicate to us. It is a prayer that focuses on God and not on our wish list. In this kind of prayer we seek God's presence, His face, any impression He may lay upon our hearts. This kind of prayer keeps us awake spiritually, alert to what God may actually be doing in the world.
In a major passage on the second coming of Christ, Paul instructs the Thessalonians to be watchful (the same word is "gregoreo" in 1 Thess. 5:6, 10). How are they to be "watchful" or "awake"? By living lives of hope, faith, and love (5:8). Prayer alone is not sufficient to be prepared and watchful. The watchful Christian is also the Christian who lives the life of Christ.
What is that life like? The life of Christ is a life of faith, hope, and love.
Prayer, faith, hope, and love then are 4 key watchwords we need to remember to help us be prepared for the Lord's coming.