WHAT DID
"QUICKLY" AND "LAST DAYS"
MEAN IN GOD'S MIND?
In the book of Revelation, we
read phrases such as:
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. (Rev
1:3)
Behold,
I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no
man take thy crown. (Rev
3:11)
Behold,
I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the saying
of the prophecy of this book. (Rev 22:7)
Those who accuse us of interpreting scriptures "spiritually" too much, are doing
the very same thing with these verses above. Some mock the idea
of
the last days being the days between the cross and the destruction of
Jerusalem. They say that 2000 years may seem like a long time to man,
but God sees
one thousand years as one day. I wonder if they teach they are in the last days
in contrast to earlier years, as few as 100 years ago?
This is an example
of a commonly distorted piece of scripture. Here is the quote referred
to.
But, beloved, be
not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (2 PE 3:8)
This section of scripture is not
saying that God reckons time as so much smaller a deal than mankind
does, since God is eternal. It is not saying anything of the sort! This
is a famous distortion of scripture.
Notice the actual
context of the passage:
Knowing this
first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after
their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming?
for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from
the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of,
that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing
out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was,
being
overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens and the earth, which
are
now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the
day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not
ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years,
and
a thousand years as one day. 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. (2 Pe 3:3-10)
This is speaking about the
veracity of God's promises based upon whether or not they can stand the
test of time. Peter said that it is ridiculous to doubt the Lord's
coming on the basis that the duration of time since the promise was
given has been so long that "our fathers fell asleep". Peter explained
that God's promises are not weakened as time passes before they are
fulfilled. God is able to ensure that a promise is kept whether a day
passes for the fulfillment or one thousand years. The amount of time
that has elapsed since God made a promise does not affect the
possibility of
that promise coming to pass one iota.
The reason some of
His promises have not been fulfilled after so long a time since they
were pronounced is due to the fact that God is longsuffering. This is
particularly referring to judgment. And God's word concerning coming
judgment is not
weakened because of decades having elapsed since it was first foretold.
God was simply giving the people all the chances in the world they
might
need, in order to repent. He does not want anyone to perish. He does
not
rejoice in judging people in wrath. It's not as though He is hasty to
hurt.
But this passage in
no way is telling us that God's calendar looks at one day as we would
regard one thousand years. It is contrasting long periods of time with
short periods of time -- one thousand years as opposed to a day -- and
is
saying that the assurance of the promise being fulfilled is the same
whether
one day has passed or one thousand years has passed. This is not saying
God sees one thousand years as one day.
We could read
it like this: "The surety of a promise being fulfilled over one day or
one thousand years is the same, when it comes to God making the
promise." With God, we have no worries. With God, a promise that He
means to fulfill
in one day is the same in quality of the assurance of fulfillment as a
promise He ordained to bring to pass in one thousand years.
Men might be unable
to fulfill a promise after a few hundred years pass by, of course. But
when we are dealing with God, there is no need to despair. With God,
fulfilling a promise over one thousand years is just as easy as
fulfilling one over
one day's duration. That is what Peter is actually saying.
It is absolutely
irrelevant for the Lord to note a frame of reference according to His
eternal oversight when speaking to men. To say that Revelation's
references to
the Lord coming "quickly" are spoken from God's viewpoint, who
considers
millennia as we do mere days, is to imply that God forgets about our
perspective,
and ignores our limitations of thought. If a proposed "quick" coming
meant
two thousand years, since two thousand years is hardly no time at all
in
the mind of a God who has no limitations with time as we do, then all
other
divinely inspired references in the Bible of a quick coming "at hand"
must
refer to approximately refer to two thousand years as well.
Jesus spoke of
the kingdom of God being "at hand." He repeated John the Baptist's
words
concerning the same. We know the Kingdom came when the church came,
because
we enter the Kingdom by being born of the water and of the Spirit.
And saying,
Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Mat 3:2)
From that time
Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. (Mat. 4:17)
"At hand" means very, very soon,
in our human terms. And AD70 did indeed arrive quite soon. In fact, it
arrived so soon that the angel told John to not seal the book of
visions and words he received since the time was so
close. Daniel wrote some five hundred years before John wrote. And
Daniel was told to not seal the book because the time was afar off for
it's fulfillment.
But thou, O
Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the
time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be
increased. (Dan 12:4)
And
he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed
till the time of the end. (Dan 12:9)
Compare that with:
And he saith unto
me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is
at hand . (Rev 22:10)
If Daniel was only 500 years
behind John, and was told to seal the book because time was too far
away to concern Daniel, but this was not so with John, then how can two
thousand years since John fit the scenario? Is there a limit to the
extent of man's concern that lies somewhere between our time today
since John, and our time today since Daniel? Is the magic limit number
between 2,000 years and 2,500 years before the sealing must occur? That
must be the case if futurists are correct.
Or maybe God recalled
man's limitations when speaking to Daniel, but neglected them when
speaking with John. The only problem with that is that God had Daniel
seal the book when speaking from man's perspective, whereas He did not
when speaking to John from the eternal perspective. One brother was
ripped
off and cheated from insight, if the futurists are correct, depending
upon
which perspective God from which chose to speak to these men!