9. The Day of Christ’s Return

And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

Matthew 25:6

In the very first chapter of the very first book of the Bible, the Lord tells us that He created the Heaven and the Earth. He proceeds to give us a day by day, morning and evening account of what He created each of six days before resting on the seventh. He brings these great days of creation back to us on several occasions most explicitly in the 4^th commandment, for in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day… (Exodus 20:11). Nevertheless, many well educated Christians approach the first chapter of Scripture and tell us that it doesn’t mean day in the ordinary sense of the word. They tell us it means, or could mean, something entirely different.

Perhaps it surprises us when that which seems to be written so clearly in Scripture is so confused by Christians. It troubles us that the perspicuity of Scripture seems to be ignored and a complex and difficult interpretation is presented in the place of the clear and plain. Such teaching seems to weaken the Christian witness to the world and brings reproach upon the Word of God as novel interpretations are given to what is so simple and elementary. Those who posit strange theories are rightly asked: “If the first chapter takes such elaborate interpretation, how will we ever understand the balance? If we cannot know whether or not God created in six literal 24 hour days how can we actually know whether or not Christ rose bodily from the dead?”

As Jesus left the temple in Matthew 24 he told His disciples that the temple would be torn down. The disciples asked him “When shall these things be?” Jesus then began his discourse both on the end of the Jewish world and Jerusalem as well as the end of the whole world and his return from Heaven. After warnings and instruction Jesus spoke of the end of the world in 24:36 with these words, “but of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven…” Before the 24^th and 25^th chapters of Matthew conclude, the Lord repeats this statement in several different ways:

For as in the days that were before the flood they…knew not until the flood came…so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Matthew 24:37-39

Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

Matthew 24:42

The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware…

Matthew 24:50

Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

Matthew 25:13

The summary of these passages is clear: God has not revealed the time of Christ’s return. Nevertheless, like the creation account of Genesis 1, many examples can be cited of alternatives to the clarity of God’s Word.

Time would fail us to consider the teaching of Harold Camping and 7th Day Adventists; cults such as the World Mission Society Church of God and Jehovah’s Witnesses; or the many other unaffiliated individuals and parachurch groups predicting days and years for Christ’s return. While wide-ranging in their theology, they are united by a common history of predicting the date for the Lord’s return and often living to see their predictions fail. While these predictions are precisely how God tells us we are to recognize a false prophet (Deuteronomy 18:20-22), nevertheless many, even in the church, still follow these teachers and their teachings. Our ears itch for such strange teaching because we want to know the things that are hidden from us. May the Lord deliver us from this temptation.

The Lord makes clear and understandable His teaching regarding the time of His return: Christians ought not to worry, busy, or waste themselves with a pursuit of this secret thing of God. Instead, the Christian should understand Christ’s return to be imminent and therefore always ready for the Lord to appear. The world is even now in the last days, waiting for Christ’s return which may be tonight, tomorrow, or ten thousand years from now. Are you ready for Him tonight?

Brothers and sisters let not your heart be troubled by that which the Lord has seen fit to hide from us. The day and the hour is kept secret that we might be given to much holy living and prayer, always ready and never ashamed at the coming of the Lord. Many examples of disaster can be given of individuals and families who have pursued the secret things reserved for God. Let us pursue the revealed will of God and resist all deceivers seeking to give us a secret message from God concerning that which He has reserved only for Himself.

As Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded that there shall be a day of judgment, both to deter all men from sin; and for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity: so will he have that day unknown to men, that they may shake off all carnal security, and be always watchful, because they know not at what hour the Lord will come; and may be ever prepared to say, Come LORD Jesus, come quickly, Amen.

Westminster Confession of Faith 33.3

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