Torch, Spring 1985

I • 6 imminency is pretribulational premillennialism. It teaches that Christ can come at any moment to rapture His Church, consisting of all saints, both dead and living , from the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2) . Believers will then be in Heaven while the tribulation is taking place on earth . At the end of this period, the Christians will descend with. Christ to the earth to share in the blessings of His worldwide kingdom of peace and righteousness. According to this position , there is nothing holding back His return except the divine will and timetable . No prophecy needs to be fulfilled . He could come today. Serious attention should be given to those arguments that are voiced against imminency, especially as they come from the lips and pens of evangelicals . There are several, but only the most important will be discussed here . The first is based upon our Lord ' s announcement during His post-resurrection ministry of Peter's death in John 21: 18, 19 . The argument is that Christ could not have come until Peter had become old and had died. This would delay His coming until at least A.O. 65-68, the traditional date of Peter's martyrdom . In reply , Peter was middle-aged at this time because he was neither young nor old (John 21: 18) . Since the life span was relatively short at those times , he would have been old in just a few years . After Pentecost, Peter faced immediate persecution and possible Joss of life several The hope ofHis return should produce comfort in the life ofthe believer. times (Acts 4,5 ,8, 12). His death was actually imminent; therefore, Christ's coming was just as imminent. The divine and human plans for Paul ' s ministry are cited as proofs against imminency. Christ commissioned Paul to be a witness unto Gentiles, kings , and Israel and to suffer great things (Acts 9:15, 16). Paul had long-distance plans for his missionary journeys (Rom. 15 :24). He knew that he would reach Rome (Acts 23 :11) . Late in life, he even predicted his own death (2 Tim . 4:6). Do not these plans negate a belief in imminency on the part of Paul? It must be said that Paul knew that God could interrupt or change his plans . Paul wanted to go to Bithynia, too , but the Holy Spirit stopped him (Acts 16:7). Just because he planned a trip to Spain does not mean that he actually expected to fulfill that ambition . His imprisonments at Caesarea and Rome (total of four years) took precious time away from him. He probably did not get to Spain ; the Bible records no such visit. In Paul's mind , the Spirit could stop him again , the Lord's imminent return could interrupt his plans, or imprisonment and/or death could prevent it. The most popular argument against imminency is based upon the content of the Great Commission . Christ commanded the disciples and the Church to make disciples of all the nations, to go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, and to be witnesses of Him from Jerusalem to the uttermost part of the earth (Mark 16:15 ; Matt. 28:19 ; Acts 1:8) . Such an extensive program of evangelization would naturally involve a great deal of time and effort; therefore , Christ could not come until the Church had fulfilled her commission. Those who espouse this view admit that any generation which is really dedicated to the task can complete this mission. They thus use it as an incentive for all-out missionary endeavor. If we can evangelize the world, then Christ will be able to come in our time. Although it is true that the present world population has not been completely evangelized, can it be assumed that there was never a generation in which the entire world heard the gospel? Could there ever have been a more dedicated group of missionaries than that of the apostles? Did they not preach extensively throughout the known world of their day? (See Acts 2:5-8; 17:6; Col . 1:23 , cf. 1:6). There is good scriptural support for believing that the commission was fulfilled in the apostolic era, possibly very early . One verse that constantly pops up in this discussion is Matthew 24: 14: "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 ." Spoken during the Olivet Discourse, our Lord was outlining the signs and conditions in the tribulation period before His return to the earth after the tribulation. During the tribulation , the gospel of the kingdom will be preached again. It is the same message that John the Baptist and Jesus preached : "Repent ye , for the kingdom of heaven is at hand ." It will be preached by the two great witnesses (Rev . 11 :3), by the 144 ,000 Jewish evangelists (Rev. 7 :4), and by thousands of converted Gentiles (Rev . 7:9) . As these are persecuted and scattered by anti-Christian forces, the entire world will hear of the nearness of the Millennial Kingdom. The end of the tribulation will then come when Christ returns. This verse does not refer to the preaching of the gosp~l of the grace of God (I Cor. 15: 3 ,4) which is going on today . It is also pointed out that Jerusalem had to be destroyed before the second advent (Luke 21:20-24) . Since the city was not devastated until A.O . 70, He could not have come until then . This position assumes that the destruction had to take place before the rapture of the Church and before the great tribulation period . However, Jesus was talking about His return to the earth . He could have come before A .O . 70 , with the destruction taking place during the tribulation . In fact , although it was smashed by the Romans 1900 years ago , it will again be attacked during the future tribulation period. It should also be noted that no one in