What caught my eye in today’s first lectionary reading, from chapter 22 of Revelation, were the first and last parts:
12: “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense, to repay every one for what he has done. * * * 20: He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! [Emphasis added]
It immediately brought to mind Deut. 18.21-22:
21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD ?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him. [Emphasis added]
Revelation’s prediction of Jesus’ imminent return echoes similar predictions elsewhere in the New Testament. (For citations, see my earlier post, Is Jesus Coming Again? The Predictors’ Track Record Doesn’t Inspire Confidence.)
For some 1,900 years, the church has brandished that prediction while resolutely ignoring its failure. At most, traditionalists offer weak excuses such as, a thousand years is as a day in the Lord’s sight, no one knows when he will be coming, etc. But the predictions were clearly to the effect that Jesus would be coming back Any Day Now — and he didn’t. The evidence permits only one conclusion: The early church’s prediction of Jesus’ imminent return is just one more in a long series of bad guesses we humans have made — prophetic messages that, it turns out, the LORD did not speak after all.
That’s not automatically a bad thing. We just have to keep in mind that what we imagine to be true is often incomplete, or even flat-out wrong. In fact, the Apostle Paul nicely summed up how we should face this particular fact: “Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good.” (1 Thess. 5.20-21, New Living Translation, emphasis added.) Not a bad way to approach life.
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