When will Jesus return?

[Carson]

In 2011, when I lived in Boston, I was awestruck by the extreme devotion of some Christians to the second coming of Christ.

That year, the famous radio broadcaster Howard Camping predicted not once but twice that Jesus would return to earth.

Unfortunately, the first date, May 21, came and went. So, he recalculated the numbers and set out October 21st as the next and final prediction.

I saw the devotion of his followers firsthand as they drove trucks with large billboards around Copley Square and passionately engaged me and others with their message that the end of the world was near.

As The New York Times explained,

Mr. Camping, a thin man with a craggy face and a resonant baritone radio voice, relentlessly promoted the date and its fateful consequences for more than two years on his listener-supported network, on 5,000 billboards and in countless books and pamphlets translated into 75 languages. To pay for it all, he raised tens of millions of dollars from listeners.

Some people, like Robert Fitzpatrick, paid a high price for their trust in Camping. As ABC News reported,

Robert Fitzpatrick of New York had put his money where his faith is: The 60-year-old retiree spent $140,000 – almost everything he had – on hundreds of billboards proclaiming the Armagedon that Camping predicted.

When it didn’t come, he was standing in New York’s Times Square, surrounded by jeering tourists in a drizzling rain.

“I can’t tell you what I feel right now,” he said. “Obviously, I haven’t understood it correctly because we’re still here.”

At least in America, there is a perpetual interest in the end times. For instance, the Left Behind book series has sold over eighty million copies!

One of the liturgical readings for this week, Mark 13:32-37, reminded me why I have never gotten into this material.

In this passage, Jesus teaches us the proper attitude towards his Second Coming:

“Now concerning that day or hour no one knows—neither the angels in heaven nor the Son—but only the Father.

“Watch! Be alert! For you don’t know when the time is coming.

“It is like a man on a journey, who left his house, gave authority to his servants, gave each one his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to be alert. Therefore be alert, since you don’t know when the master of the house is coming—whether in the evening or at midnight or at the crowing of the rooster or early in the morning.

Otherwise, when he comes suddenly he might find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to everyone: Be alert!”

(As an aside, I’m often curious to see how a close study of the gospels develops - or erodes - our confidence in their historical accuracy. This passage is surely authentic to Jesus because it contains a strange admission of ignorance: he doesn’t know when he will return to earth? How can he be the Son of God and not know the future? So, it’s difficult to imagine why the early church would have invented this saying. )

Looking at the text itself, the first and most obvious point is that no one knows when Jesus will return.

So, we can be confident that anyone who says they have ascertained his return date is either a fool or a liar. I don’t mean to be harsh, but clear.

For instance, Harold Camping was embarrassed, but did he take any action to return the donations of his followers? As far as I’m aware, the answer is no.

So why do we remain so interested to know when Jesus will return?

To understand that, we need to think through the logic of what Jesus is saying. It goes like this:

Because we don’t know when he will return, we must always be ready for his return.

This is what he emphasizes in the mini-parable. Notice the repetition: be alert… be alert… be alert!

To put it plainly, Jesus could return today. Are you ready?

Or to look at it from the other direction: We can’t get spiritually lazy because he could return at any time. We don’t want him to find us spiritually asleep (verse 36)!

So… why do we want to know when Jesus will return?

I can’t see anyone else’s heart, but here are some motivations that come to mind:

• Curiosity. Just as we’d like to know exactly how the stock market will perform next year, we’d like to know when Jesus will return. It’s an interesting topic, so we may forget that Jesus has told us this is an unsolvable puzzle. At times, this could even grow into an intellectual pride, that we know a secret that others don’t.

• Anxiety. Perhaps we’re convicted that we have been neglecting Christ. It would be nice to know when he’s returning so we can ‘clean house’ at the last minute - and ignore him until then.

• Fear. What if we lacked faith and didn’t go to heaven? Or we didn’t take the warning seriously, so we never told our families and friends?

• Control. Who could have predicted COVID-19 and its disruption to our world? With so many other dramatic changes in our world, from politics to technology to the economy, knowing what’s about to happen can feel empowering. Especially if our lives are difficult, the hope of an imminent return can be a means of escaping our circumstances, giving us purpose, and making us feel very significant.

• Trust and community. When a respected Bible teacher says they are ‘absolutely certain’ about such a monumental matter, we might trust them! When our church, Christian friends, or others close to us are equally motivated, we risk being swept up in their enthusiasm.

It can feel taboo to talk about these issues, but that’s part of the problem.

Instead, when we become aware of what’s going on in our hearts as we study the Scriptures, we can steadily grow to spiritual maturity.

Are you wondering when Jesus will return? It’s a good question - Jesus took the time to address it with his disciples.

So what do we do with the ambiguity of not knowing?

I think there are two practices that help:

First, remember that Jesus came to earth to be with us. We can learn to practice the presence of God, and his loving presence in our hearts consoles us as we wait. It’s not that God is absent and will one day be present! Rather, we are filled with the Holy Spirit.

So, we already know that God is with us, and we will one day be with him in a more glorious and fulfilling way than we could ever imagine.

Second, ask God to turn our anxiety into hope. The second coming of Jesus is not something we need to worry about. Instead, it is a promise that one day, our master will return, find us spiritually awake, and we will celebrate together… forever!

Perhaps at first read, we’re disappointed by Jesus’ answer in Mark 13. We don’t know when he’s returning? He didn’t either? So frustrating.

But as we work through these issues, I see a better and more exciting way to read the text:

First, Jesus is protecting us from the spiritual manipulation of end-time prophets.

Second, Jesus invites us to live a spiritually vibrant life - both now and forever.

I’d like to hear…

What makes you interested in end-time predictions?

How can admitting that we don’t know when Jesus will return give us a stronger faith?

What questions or insights do you have about Mark 13:32-37?

[dennis (Dennis Gotiza)]

Hi @Carson

Allow me to add some thought on this.

Regarding possible motivations behind these Second Coming hoaxes, I might add deliberate mass manipulation (i.e., social engineering) to the list, with the intent of discrediting the truth behind the ambiguity on the subject.

The myriad of failed proclamations by many “Christ”-proclaiming leaders inevitably discredited the message to some, if not most, as repeated false alarms can erode trust—remember The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

One particular example of a suspiciously staged hoax I remember is the Y2K Bug. Many documentaries (at least from my location) seemingly confirm this fear. If any Christian group buys into the hysteria and brings the topic to the pulpit, some shallow members may become discouraged and start to doubt the preacher’s message. By making the Second Coming a big joke instead of a serious warning, they can effectively discredit the Bible as prophesied in 2Pet.3:3,4.

[Carson]

Hi @dennis,

That’s a great point!

When we fail to exercise discernment about matters of general interest, then it’s understandable that people will question our discernment about matters of spiritual interest.

Your post prompted me to read some detailed reporting on the Y2K issue. I thought Thom Gibbs provided a fair-minded conclusion in his retrospective look in 2019:

History is told by the victors. In this case the people working on the Y2K problem and the people predicting that it would not be a big deal can both claim a win. Ultimately, widespread disaster was averted. Was the price paid too high? We will never know.

It wasn’t a hoax, but it wasn’t as bad as it was made to seem. Some people stood to profit and it was in their interests to talk up the risk. Others were worried, worked hard, and altruistic. All of these things can be true.

As we approach 2020 many of us are either for or against an issue, increasingly seek definition and a sense of identity from that position and there is little room for uncertainty, doubt, the muddled reality of life.

In other words, the Y2K issue was complicated. On the one hand, it was a real issue that needed to be fixed in computer systems. On the other, it led to mass hysteria that made the risk seem orders of magnitude larger than the evidence suggested.

I think it’s grounding to consider Paul’s admonition to Timothy:

I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of his appearing and his kingdom:

Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.

But as for you, exercise self-control in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry (2 Tim 4:1-5).

The more we can realize what our ears want to hear - the itch we want to scratch with hysteria and myths - and openly discuss these risks together, the better we can prepare ourselves to stay focused on sound doctrine, spiritual encouragement, and steady faithfulness to God.