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Commentary on "The Promise of His Return"
Day 1: Sabbath Afternoon, March 24, 2012 - Introduction
Overview
This week is the final week of the quarterly and follows the classical order of systematic theology which gives the last word to eschatology—the study of Jesus’ return at the end of times. The key thought is not the time factor but the certainty of the event. Despite expectations related to the years 2000 and 2001, the anticipated event still has not come, but Adventists are profoundly persuaded that Jesus is coming soon. From their perspective, even apart from the Bible, people may be persuaded about this event by the signs of a soon-approaching worldwide crisis. Add to this fact the way in which the Bible portrays the time before Jesus as bleak, and the certainty of Jesus’ coming should be clear enough for anybody.
Observations
For an unsuspecting observer, everything up to this point seems logical and sound. But for someone who knows the history and the background of Adventism, some red flags pop up immediately. First, in the context of mentioning a specific date for the end of the world, there is silence about Adventists’ past involvement in establishing dates for the second coming, dates such as 22 October, 1844. The Adventists are quick to detach themselves from any association with the practice of date setting as far as contemporary expectations are concerned, but fail to acknowledge that part of the reason Adventists expect a soon return of Jesus is closely related to their present belief that the date 22 October, 1844, first considered the date of Jesus’ second coming, marks the beginning of a short period before Jesus’ second coming, the period of investigative judgment. What gives the Adventists their identity is not the belief that Jesus is surely coming, because this doctrine is shared by many Christian churches. Also, the fact that they expect Jesus to come soon is an expectation shared by other Christians. This belief is not uniquely Adventist. What distinguishes Adventists is the reason for their expectation: 23 october, 1844, marked the beginning of the investigative judgment which will end soon with the second coming. Apart from the date and the theory of the investigative judgment, the Adventist cannot truly be called Adventist nor can Adventism sustain its peculiar identity. The attempt to minimize the importance of this factor doesn't inspire much trust in the author's openness regarding his reasons for belief.
The author manifests her confusion about the signs that point to Jesus’ soon return. She goes so far as to affirm that a crisis of global proportions will convince everyone, even those who don’t read the Bible, that catastrophe is coming, and this crisis will be a sign that Jesus is coming soon. What she doesn't grasp is that Jesus anticipated the fact that people will understand different crises, such as famines, wars, and earthquakes, as signs of the soon coming of Jesus. She adds also other elements that believers will understand as signs of the soon coming of Jesus: persecution, apostasy, false prophets, and false Christs. Jesus, however, not only stayed away from telling the disciples "These are signs that I'm coming soon," thus endorsing the instinctive association of these crisis with His coming, but He repeatedly breaks the connection between crises and the signs of His coming:
See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you dare not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet (Matthew 24:4-6).
Wars, rumors of wars, false Christs, all these should not be considered signs of alarm; these are not extraordinary events but are part of something that must happen, that pertains to the normal order. The end is not yet.
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains (Matthew 24:7,8).
Wars, famines, earthquakes—these are not the sign that the end is coming, but only the starting point of the "birth pains", a period of prolonged pain. Only when the gospel will be proclaimed to every nation the end will come. Instead of the negative elements of global crisis, Jesus presents the positive work of the gospel as leading to the end.
Adventists need to readjust their perspective related to the end times. The Adventist church thrived in crises and grew because the Adventist evangelists exploited people's fears related to different crisis by using every crisis as proof of the soundness of their message. The author of the quarterly tries to shift the eyes of the Adventists from problems related to their date-setting (23 october, 1844) and the holes in their basis of belief toward the idea that the global crisis is solid confirmation of Adventists' eschatological expectations. Readers should be aware of the shrinking credibility that such an approach brings.
Copyright 2012 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised March 21, 2012. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Camp Verde, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.
Official Adventist Resources
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