Where's the Second Coming? Maybe it already happened

Kevin Walker - Denver Biblical Wisdom Examiner - 05/22/2011

For months, Harold Camping of Family Radio proclaimed Christ would return on Saturday, May 21, 2011. Although they were likely the only ones surprised when they awoke on May 22, this new failed attempt to date the Second Coming only draws more criticism to Christians. Why has Jesus’ return taken so long, since he said to his 1st-century disciples, “Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation,” (Matthew 23:36)?

“I am coming soon,” (Revelation 3:11).

“Look, I am coming soon,” (Revelation 21:7).

“Look, I am coming soon,” (Revelation 21:12).

“Yes, I am coming soon,” (Revelation 21:20).

That generation has passed, and “soon” must be exceptionally relative if it still applies 1900-years later. Did Jesus stand us up? Or maybe “soon” was God’s original intention, but—like Jonah’s Ninevites—humanity’s faithful response to Christ has stalled Judgment Day, a shaky explanation at best. Maybe Jesus’ tardiness only proves he was just a man, reaffirming what atheists have said all along.

Mike Zeman, a Denver native and expert in apocalyptic scripture, has a simpler explanation. He says the Second Coming has already happened.

If someone shares with him the hope that Jesus will return someday and right the world, Zeman just offers his boyishly warm smile and replies, “Well, what did Jesus not finish on the cross?”

“For 2000 years,” Zeman said, “Christians have manipulated scripture to try to change the meaning of ‘generation,’ even though it is used throughout the gospels to mean ‘the times of those to whom Jesus spoke.’ Everything Jesus said would happen, happened. Everything every New Testament writer expected to happen, happened, and exactly as and when they expected it would—within their lifetimes.”

Because few Christians today read the Hebrew Bible as much as Paul’s churches would have, we often miss that the “Dooms Day” language in the New Testament is recycled from the Old. For instance, when the Christian passages talk about the “Day of the Lord” (Acts 2, Corinthians, Thessalonians, 2 Peter), it derives from Jewish passages like Isaiah 19, which uses the phrase in reference to the then-impending fall of Judah to Babylon: a single, catastrophic event, but not the end of the world.

The same is true with the “Lord’s coming.”

See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire

Isaiah 66:15

The Lord came in judgment on Judah, obliterated it, and the world continued. Before that, God sent a similar judgment on Noah’s society, wiped it out, and the world continued.

In exactly the same way, Zeman argues, the Lord Jesus came in judgment on apostate Israel (his “Second Coming”) when the Roman army sieged Jerusalem in 70 CE, completely destroying the Temple and the Old Covenant way of doing things, while fully established the eternal New Covenant in Christ. This Day of the Lord brought judgment just like the others (upon God’s own people who no longer wanted to act like it, not on the whole world in general), and just as Jesus predicted (Matthew 23). Again, the world continues on, and according to Zeman’s interpretation of scripture, probably for a long, long time yet.

Agree or not with Zeman’s stance, his key message should resonate with all Christians:

“I believe that Christians today should be focused on what Christ has done, not what he is supposed to do. Christ brought an end to death and Hades by giving us eternal life in him.”

God is good, so let’s focus on His present goodness, instead of sitting back and waiting for something better. Why do we worry about tomorrow, or more importantly, try to predict the Day After Tomorrow? Our lives in Christ are complete, whole, and perfect. Now. What are we still waiting for?