Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”
If people within three decades of Christ’s ascension were wondering why it was taking so long for Jesus to return, then certainly people must be wondering the same thing almost two thousand years later.
A general answer to this question is found in the first coming of Jesus. God had a perfect time for his Son to come to earth the first time. Galatians 4:4 says, “But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.” The world stage was perfectly arranged for the coming of Jesus and the spread of the gospeclass="underline" the Roman peace (Pax Romana) had brought relative stability to the world, Greek was a common language for the writing of the New Testament, and the Roman road system was a powerful means for taking the gospel all over the world of that day.
In the same way, we can rest assured that a sovereign God has a perfect time, known only to him, for the return of his Son. The Bible is clear that “God keeps his own calendar.”[5]
More specifically, while we don’t know every reason behind God’s timing, he has told us at least two reasons for this apparent delay in his coming in 2 Peter 3:8-15. First, “God’s calendar is a heavenly calendar.”[6] As we read in 2 Peter 3:8, “You must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.” This refers to God’s relationship to time. God views time differently than we do. “God’s ‘delay’ is not really a delay at all in the dimensions of his existence…. We see the movement of time as a sequential series of still frames, passing one-by-one, as in a motion picture, but God sees the entire movement at once.”[7]
D. Edmond Hiebert explains: “The point is not that time has no meaning for God but rather that His use of time is extensive, so that He may use a thousand years to do what we might feel should be done in a day, as well as intensive, doing in a day what we might feel could only be done in a thousand years.”[8] One way to understand the passage of time before Christ’s coming is God’s heavenly calendar, viewing time from his vantage point.
Second, “God’s calendar is an evangelistic calendar.”[9] This deals with God’s use of time. Second Peter 3:9, 15 says, “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent…. And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved.”
The extended time between Christ’s two comings serves a redemptive purpose and underscores the patience and longsuffering of God. “God guides all human history as salvation history, moving nations and people groups to meet the appointments for redemption made for those who will hear the gospel and receive the Savior.”[10] The “slowness” in Christ’s coming is not the result of divine indifference, powerlessness, or distraction, but rather the gracious patience of God toward sinners in need of salvation.
Michael Green says, “It is not slowness but patience that delays the consummation of all history, and holds open the door to repentant sinners, even repentant scoffers. Not impotence but mercy is the reason for God’s delay.”[11] The character of God moves him to patiently wait to send his Son.
Since one of the reasons for the apparent delay of Christ’s coming is God’s mercy for sinners, believers should be alert to opportunities God gives us to be part of the “hastening” of his coming by sharing the Good News with those around us. Rather than wondering or worrying about the delay, may we be moved by God to keep working in light of his mercy and patience.
About the Author
Mark Hitchcock was born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He attended Oklahoma State University and graduated from law school in 1984. After working for a judge at the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals for four years, Mark was led to attend Dallas Theological Seminary, graduating in 1991. Since that time, he has served as senior pastor of Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Oklahoma. He completed his PhD at Dallas Theological Seminary in 2005 and serves as an associate professor of Bible exposition at DTS. He has authored more than thirty books related to end-times Bible prophecy that have sold more than one million copies. His books have been translated into more than ten languages. Mark is a frequent speaker at churches and prophecy conferences both in the United States and internationally. Mark and his wife, Cheryl, live in Edmond, Oklahoma. They have two sons, Justin (married to Natalee) and Samuel, and two grandchildren.
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Russia Rising: Tracking the Bear in Bible Prophecy
Copyright © 2017 by Mark Hitchcock. All rights reserved.
Cover photograph of fighter jets copyright © disq/Shutterstock. All rights reserved.
Cover photograph of Moscow skyline copyright © Dmitry Molchanov/Shutterstock. All rights reserved.
Cover photograph of sunset copyright © by Adina Voicu/Pixaby.com. All rights reserved.
Cover photograph of code copyright © by Pete Linforth/Pixaby.com. All rights reserved.
Cover designed by David Carlson, Studio Gearbox
Interior designed by Dean H. Renninger
Published in association with the literary agency of William K. Jensen Literary Agency, 119 Bampton Court, Eugene, Oregon 97404.
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
5
The main points I’ve used are taken from Robert Harvey and Philip H. Towner,
8
D. Edmond Hiebert, S
11
Michael Green,