αὐξανόμενοι εἰς τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ

Giuseppe Guarino

How near is the time?

An article

“ So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, [even] at the doors.”

Matthew 24:33 – KJV

Revelation 1:3 - KJV

“Blessed [is] he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time [is] at hand.”

Greek: “ ὁ γὰρ καιρὸς ἐγγύς ”

Revelation 22:10 - KJV

“And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.”

Greek: “ ὁ καιρὸς γὰρ ἐγγύς ἐστιν ”

In the book of Acts we read of the ascension of Jesus. The angels declared to those witnessing that event: “this same Jesus, which is taken up from you in heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”, Acts 1:11.

Ever since that day, the hope of Christians has been and is the return of the Lord Jesus. “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. “, Hebrews 9:28.

“The time is at hand,” reads the King James Version, “the time is near”,  in today’s English. That time is the time of the return of Jesus and of the judgment to take place.

This simple phrase, if not in itself, at least its implications, has been the field of controversy between Christians and non-believers. It is a difficult statement in the sense that it gives the reader the impression that the things which are to happen, will happen in a very short time.

The problem, then, is evident and the question is even legitimate: If the time was really near two thousand years ago, how come such a long time elapsed after such statement was made till now and nothing has happened yet?

Non-believers use the “delay” of Christ’s return to discredit the expectation for the second coming of Jesus, on the ground that if the time was “at hand” two thousand years ago, when the book was written, why has Jesus not returned then or since then? Is it true that he would return? It is not all a forgery, a delusion, in the minds of the apostles and those that immediately followed, that Jesus was coming back soon? Has the promise turned into a delusion?

No. To all these questions the simple answer is “No.”

To solve this “problem”, the true meaning of  “the time is at hand”, near, must be considered from a different point of view. Let me do it by asking and considering a simple question: How else could the Bible have said what it meant to say? How else would you have said to two thousand years of Christian generations that Christ is coming back, that we don’t know when, that we have to be ready for that day, that he will surely come; how would you have said it if you were the author of a Christian doctrine book to be read among Christians? I would have said it this way: “be ready…for the time is at hand.” That is how I would have said it, knowing that Jesus could come the very moment I am writing those words as well as a thousand years ahead. That is the only way the Bible or anyone else could say it.

The time is at hand, my friend. Two thousand years ago, a thousand years ago, to-day, in this very moment I write, the time is “at hand,” Jesus is coming back, God’s judgment is at the door.

The present tense in this phrase is so relevant. “the time is at hand”, it was for the reader of two thousand years ago, it is for us today.

I like the words of Paul when speaking of the return of Jesus Christ and the  Rapture of the Church. “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”, I Thessalonians 4:15-18. 

Some could object that Paul was deluded in his expectations because Jesus did not come back during his life time. I see it differently. I think Paul felt what every Christian should feel during his life and service for Christ, that he is coming back at any time. With a simple statement he gave the words that had to be the hope of all Christians: we do not await for death. A Christian is not waiting to die, a Christian is waiting for the return of Jesus, the blessed hope, his reunion with him. Paul could have never said it differently. He had no title to write, “those who will be still alive…”, because he did not know when Jesus was coming and had no authority to tell his readers he would have not returned during that generation; or to put it differently, he had no reason to exclude himself from hoping the return of Jesus would occur in his times.

I like it. I like Paul’s words very much. I see a man with a higher hope, anxiously awaiting the return of his Lord to set him free from his mortal condition. The same spirit that should be in every Christian!

But one would ask: Didn’t even Paul know when Jesus was coming back? The answer is: No. The Bible says that no-one knows the time. Jesus says: “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour  your Lord doth come…in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh”, Matthew 24:42, 44. 

This is also why the New Testament tells us of Jesus coming back as a “thief in the night”, which means when least expected. Paul writes: “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write to you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.”, I Thessalonians 5:1-2.

Many more Bible passages could be called to the readers attention to support and confirm those already quoted. I will leave the reader with one last Scripture which gives us the key to understanding the simple fact that it is only God’s patience to have delayed Jesus’ return and the judgment that will follow.

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” II Peter 3:9-10.