Mike said the following...
Christians have been proclaiming the imminent return of Jesus for almost two thousand years, with nobody seeming to notice or care that the claim has become absurd, that the trail has gone cold.
Whenever someone says that Jesus is coming soon, the first thing you should ask is what do you mean by "soon?" After two thousand years of waiting, the word has been stripped of any meaning that might be reasonably ascribed to it. When your message hinges on a meaningless word, your message becomes meaningless as well. Time for a new message.
I've long been puzzled by the fixation of some Christians on end times predictions. If you'll allow me a phonetic pun, it's impossible to get the "scat" out of eschatology. The joke would be even better if the spelling would cooperate. But for practical purposes, and in the context of one's own salvation, what does it matter? If the intent is to warn the sinner that time is short, the point is better made reminding him of the precarious and undeniably brief duration of his own life. If the second coming of Jesus and one's demise both represent cutoff points in opportunities for salvation, why not go with what we know for sure? Presumably you'd get agreement from the hundred generations of Christians who have expired while waiting for the second coming that never came.
Of course we should find out what they mean by "soon". Nowhere does the Bible say when Jesus will come again. That doesn't make Him not to be God as you imply in your blog. It wasn't His mission to tell us when he would return. I will explain that later. REVELATION 22:20 does say the following...
The one who gives this testimony says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!
But "soon" doesn't refer to time in this case. If you had done your homework you would have found that there are multiple translations. Biblehub.com will give those.
https://biblehub.com/revelation/22-20.htm
In this case I checked and some used the word "quickly" instead of soon.
This article goes into more detail on that translation.
https://www.bibleref.com/Revelation/22/Revelation-22-20.html
In this verse we read Jesus' affirmation that He is surely coming "soon." As with similar statements in Revelation, this is translated from the Greek word tachys, which most literally means "quickly." This is more a statement on the way Jesus will return than a claim about when He will return.
In other words He's not going to come back and preach to the multitudes. It will be businesses like.
These three articles give us a few more hints.
https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/2020/11/07/ready-for-the-lord-2/
https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/topics/second-coming-jesus-christ
https://www.christianity.com/wiki/end-times/is-jesus-coming-back-soon.html
Christ’s second coming will be bright, loud and glorious. This event cannot be hidden, every human on planet earth will see Jesus. He will come back personally and literally. Revelation 1:7 says, “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him.” There will not be a person on earth who is unaware of Jesus’ return. Jesus Himself describes the manner of His coming. Matthew 24:27 states that the return of Christ will be like the brightness of lightning illuminating the entire sky from the east to the west. Verses 30 and 31 of the same chapter describe Jesus coming with power and great glory and with the sound of a great trumpet, that awakens the righteous dead who are then gathered from the ends of the earth.
When He Was speaking to his disciples on the Mount of Olives, He told them that He would come in power and in glory. Angels said that Jesus Christ would return. In Acts Chapter 1, when it speaks of Jesus ascending to His Father, then the angels are there and they said, "He will return in the same manner that He has left."
The only thing we can be sure of is that only God the Father knows when, so we better be ready. That doesn't take anything away from the divinity of Jesus Christ. As I will explain in my next post, He is true God and true Man!
The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids
Matthew 25 1:13
25 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids[a] took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.[b] 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those bridesmaids[c] got up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. 11 Later the other bridesmaids[d] came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ 13 Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.[e
Links to other posts in this series:
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