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WHEN YOUR SON RETURNS IN JUDGMENT?

Oh my, I wish you hadn’t asked that question.

I WON’T TRY TO PIN YOU DOWN ON WHEN THAT WILL BE.  YOU WOULDN’T TELL ME ANYWAY, WOULD YOU?

Believe me, that’s not the problem.  I keep thinking of something my son told his inner circle when I prompted him to keep referring them to my spirit who was waiting in the wings, so to speak.  It seems to fit here.

WHAT WAS THAT?

“I still have many things to say to you, but you can’t bear them now.”⁶¹

WHY’S THAT?

I’m not trying to avoid your question, but I am thinking of David and Bathsheba’s son – the one who built that magnificent temple – and something we had him write for us.  I’ll admit he was somewhat disillusioned when he penned that to increase one’s knowledge is to increase one’s pain, but the man was correct.⁶²  Even so, candor does often lead one down that somewhat bumpy road to freedom.⁶³

SO YOU’LL TELL ME ABOUT THE RETURN OF YOUR SON?

Yes, but brace yourself.  The truth is, he returned already.  He didn’t come sauntering in on some donkey colt, though.  No, he was atop a mighty stallion, or I should say many mighty steeds which were outfitted for war.  He came just how he had predicted he would, did just what he said he would do.⁶⁴  Those of his own generation, who had studied what there was of the introductory remarks at the time and had not only seen my works but had learned my ways – they knew what a return in judgment was supposed to look like.  I had documented many examples for them in the rough drafts.⁶⁵

61 (John 16:12)

62 “. . . increasing knowledge results in increasing pain” (Ecclesiastes 1:18b, New American Standard).

63 “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

64 “. . . His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.  And Jesus said to them, ‘. . . Assuredly I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown     down . . . . Immediately after the tribulation of those days . . . the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven . . .and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. . . . Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place’” (Matthew 24:1b, 2b, 29a, 30, 34).

65 “The (prophecy) against Egypt:  ‘Behold, the Lord rides on a swift cloud, and will come into Egypt . . . ’  Then the Lord said, ‘. . . the king of Assyria (will) lead away the Egyptians as prisoners . . . to the shame of Egypt’” (Isaiah 19:1a, 20:3a, 4).  “. . . the day of the Lord is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations. And a sword will come upon Egypt . . . (when) her foundations are torn down. . . . when I break there the yoke bars of Egypt . . . a cloud will cover her . . . thus I will execute judgments on Egypt’”(Ezekiel 30:3-4, 18-19a, New American Standard).  “For the day of the Lord is coming, for it is at hand . . . like the morning clouds spread over the mountains, a people come great and strong . . . surely nothing shall escape them . . . “ (Joel 2:1b, 2, 3b).  It’s the author’s belief that most modern-day theologians try to explain away the time statements which Jesus made to His contemporaries about His return, because they have not yet grasped the true nature of His promised return in power and judgment. They have confused a cataclysmic end to our world with the fall of Jerusalem, destruction of the temple and end of sacrificial Judaism historical phenomenon.  The author believes that Jesus returned when He said He would to accomplish what He had prophesied in just the way that those who had heard and understood expected Him to.  New Testament authors were not mistaken when they declared:  “For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay” (Hebrews 10:37, New American Standard); or “. . . the end of all things is at hand” (1 Peter 4:7); or “. . . the coming of the Lord is at hand” (James 5:8).  They knew that when Jesus said, “This generation will by no means pass away until all these things take place” (Matthew 24:34), He meant their generation – not some future generation or age to come. The apostles knew that Christ’s “coming on the clouds” metaphor (Matthew 24:30, 26:64) was analogous to all Old Testament language depicting God’s calamitous actions to bring judgments to nations.  Throughout their history, God had acted invisibly through the armies of man or via natural phenomenon to achieve His will rather dramatically. Like Father, like Son – an unseen Jesus employed Roman armies and came “on the clouds” to effect a “great tribulation” final siege, the fall of Jerusalem, and the subsequent destruction of the temple as promised.  Paul had predicted that “the form of this world is passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:31).  The only “world” that most first-century disciples had known was gone.  The “new creation” world that they had only begun to experience had fully come.