Relocating To Elfland

A significant “stumbling block” in interpreting the New Testament is the apparent expectation of Christ and His apostles that He would “come” in judgment in the near future. Jesus, for instance, tells His disciples, “There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Matt 16:28). He tells His disciples during the Olivet Discourse, “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (Matt 24:34). He says to the Sanhedrin at His trial, “From now on you [all] will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matt 26:64). Then there is a rather cryptic word about the beloved disciple that generates all kinds of gossip: “If it is My will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?” (Jn 21:22).

Paul in writing to the Romans says, “Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand” (Rom 13:11–12). To Corinth he writes, “The present form of this world is passing away” (1 Cor 7:31). Writing to Thessalonica, he seems to think the “Day of the Lord” will shortly come like a thief at night, but assures the church they will not be surprised, for they are children of light and know the times and seasons (1 Thes 5:1–11). Later, he assures them that Christ is coming to be glorified in His saints, and prays that Christ may be glorified in them (2 Thes 1:10, 12), even as he puts their minds at rest that the Day has not yet come (2 Thes 2:2). This sense of imminence was so strong in the early church that some even taught, heretically, that the resurrection was already past (2 Tim 2:17).

The writer of Hebrews, likewise, believes a “shaking” of heaven and earth is about to occur that will remove all shakable things (Heb 12:26–27). Peter is very strong: “The end of all things is at hand” (1 Pt 4:7), and judgment is about to begin that bodes very ill for those who do not obey the gospel of God (1 Pt 4:17; given the similarity of language, this likely refers to the same event as 2 Thes 1:7–8). In his second letter, since time is passing, he must reassure his readers that he and the other apostles “did not follow cleverly devised myths” when they made known “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Pt 1:16); and he must answer what seemed at that time a plausible objection by certain scoffers – “Where is the promise of His coming?” This objection almost certainly derived plausibility precisely from apostolic teaching concerning the imminent “coming” of Christ. So what are we to make of all this?

In the face of the evidence, two solutions have been proposed. The liberal “solution” is simply to say Jesus and His apostles got it wrong: they misjudged the timing of His coming in judgment. A popular conservative “solution” is to try to find a way to reinterpret the imminence in the various statements cited above, so they can be read to allow for the thousands of years that have actually elapsed since Jesus’ ascension to the right hand of the Father.

There is, it seems to me, another and far more straightforward solution: that Jesus taught His disciples to expect His “coming” in power and glory within their own generation, distinct from His final coming to judge the living and the dead and to deliver the kingdom up to the Father at the end of history. What possible exegetical grounds might exist for such a solution?

When Jesus predicted the destruction of the Jerusalem temple (Lk 21:6), His hearers were moved to ask when this would occur. Jesus answered simply that there would be “wars and tumults” and deceptions about “the time” of His coming, but “the end” would not be at once (Lk 21:8–9). In what followed He explained this in some detail: His disciples would go through a difficult period in which they would be persecuted and imprisoned and brought before kings (one immediately thinks of the stories in Acts); and by their endurance they would gain their lives (Lk 21:10–19). But then a time would come when they would “see Jerusalem surrounded by armies” – the time of its “desolation” (Lk 21:20). This would be a season of “great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people [the unbelieving Jewish nation]” (Lk 21:21–24). What follows is remarkable apocalyptic imagery:

“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Three things should give us pause before we refer this section to something other than the ruin of Jerusalem. First, there is little or no indication that Jesus has suddenly started talking about some period of history other than the one He has just been describing. Second, He says that when these events take place “the kingdom of God is near” (Lk 21:31) – thus situating these events near the beginning of the kingdom of God, of which He Himself claims (elsewhere) to be the inaugurator. Third, though it is much debated, He does say quite plainly in verse 32, “This generation will not pass away until all has taken place.”

Did Jesus’ messianic judgment upon Jerusalem, in fulfillment of His own prophecies, qualify as a “coming” in power and glory and a “shaking” of the powers of heaven? Much more exegetical data would have to be sifted through, but Jesus’ Olivet Discourse as recorded in Luke suggests a strongly positive answer; and this, in turn, would make perfect sense of the apostolic intimations that Christ was coming soon to take vengeance publicly on His unbelieving adversaries.