Our Decisive Task

The End will not come until the Gospel of the Kingdom of God has been proclaimed to all nations – Matthew 24:14.

When the subject of the Second Coming is raised, the question of what “sign” or “signs” will precede it is asked. Invariably, wars, earthquakes, tsunamis, famines, and similar catastrophes are proposed as the harbingers of that day. Yet Jesus himself gave us the definitive answer to the question, namely, the completion of the mission of the Church to proclaim his Salvation and Lordship to all nations.

After his final visit to the Temple, Christ predicted its destruction. Because Israel had rejected her Messiah, “All these things will come upon this generation. Behold, your house is left to you desolate. Truly I declare to you, there will not be left one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” - (Matthew 23:34-39, 24:1-2).

[Photo by Louis Reed on Unsplash]

In reaction, the disciples asked two questions. First, when would the predicted destruction of the Temple occur? Second, what would be the “sign” of the coming of the Son of Man and the conclusion of the age?

Jesus began his answers with a dire warning - Beware of false messiahs and false prophets who will deceive many. His disciples would hear about wars, earthquakes, international conflicts, and famines. False prophets and other deceivers would point to such events as signs of the rapidly approaching End of the Age.

However, calamities of this sort were not indicators of the nearness of the End. Disasters would occur but the “End is not yet.” False teachers would infiltrate his Church and point to these very things as “signs” of his imminent return. Thus, deceivers would raise false expectations and thereby “deceive many” - (Matthew 24:4-8, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4).

Human and natural catastrophes occur regularly, therefore, we as Christ’s disciples must "not be alarmed" when such events inevitably do occur. They are not chronological markers by which we may calculate the timing of the End. At most, they constitute a “beginning of birth pains,” portends of the inevitable conclusion of the present age.

To the first question, Christ’s answer was within one “generation,” that is, the generation that was contemporary with Jesus would see the destruction of the Temple, and this happened when a Roman army destroyed it in A.D. 70, exactly as he predicted - within one generation - (Matthew 3:7, 11:16, 12:34-45, 16:4, 17:17, 23:33-36, 24:34).

THE SIGN

Regarding his “coming on the clouds and the conclusion of the age,” Jesus declared that no man knows that day or hour except God alone, and therefore, we must always be prepared for its unexpected and sudden arrival.

Knowledge of the “times and seasons” belongs to God alone, and any man who claims such knowledge either lies or arrogates to himself inside information that even the Son of Man does not possess - (Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:33, Acts 1:7-9).

As to the requested “sign,” Jesus gave us one explicit goal that must be achieved before he returns – Namely, the “proclamation of this Gospel of the Kingdom in the whole habitable earth for a testimony to all nations.” Only “then will the end come.”

The message of his Kingdom is Good News for all men and women who hear and obey it, and we as his Church must bear witness to it in every inhabited corner of the Earth before the “Son of Man arrives… to gather his saints” and to judge the nations - (Matthew 24:14).

In the Greek clause, the demonstrative pronoun translated as “this Gospel” or ‘houtos’ is emphatic. It is, “this Gospel of the Kingdom” that must be proclaimed, presumably, the same Gospel message preached by Jesus and his Apostles.

This is the task that Jesus assigned to his disciples. We must “Go and teach all nations to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you; behold, I am with you even unto the end of the age.” This task must be completed before Christ returns and consummates God’s kingdom, raises the dead, destroys the “last enemy, Death,” and gathers his elect to himself - (Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:6-8, 1 Corinthians 15:20-28).

The Church has not been left on its own in this endeavor. We are authorized to perform this task because the resurrected Jesus now possesses “all authority (‘exousia’) in Heaven and on Earth.” Therefore, he sends us as his representatives to proclaim his message to all the peoples of the Earth – (Matthew 28:18-20).

Nor has Jesus left us without the necessary tools for accomplishing this mission. The primary purpose of the Gift of the Spirit is to equip his Church, his ‘ekklésia’ or “assembly,” for Gospel proclamation:

• “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you: and you will be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth” – (Acts 1:8).

The Spirit-empowered Church becomes Christ’s “kingdom of priests” on Earth whose task is to mediate the light and life of Jesus to a dying world. It is by faithfully proclaiming the Gospel even during times of persecution that the Church defeats the Devil. “They overcame the Dragon through the blood of the Lamb and through the word of their testimony, and they loved not their life even unto death” - (Romans 16:20, 1 Peter 2:9, Revelation 1:6, 5:10, 12:11, 20:6).

The result of this effort will be the Great Harvest of men and women at the end of the age. God promised Abraham that he would have descendants as countless as the “stars of heaven and as the sand of the seashore.” Thus, in fulfillment of the Covenant, the Messiah of Israel will “possess the nations,” and by his shed blood he will redeem the “innumerable multitude of men from every nation, tribe, people, and tongue” that will stand in worship before the Lamb in the Holy City, “New Jerusalem.” All this will be accomplished as the Church fulfills its mission - (Genesis 22:17, Psalm 2:8, Revelation 7:9-17, 21:24, 22:1-5).

So, how do we know when the task is done? According to Jesus, when the End does arrive! The fact that the Son of Man has not appeared on the clouds of Heaven is rock-solid evidence that our mission remains unfinished.

The human desire to know when Jesus will arrive is understandable. The desire for certainty about the future drives our attempts to discern the “times and seasons” and calculate dates. Nevertheless, all past attempts to do so have failed miserably; date-setting always results in disappointment.

In the interim between now and his return, we are called to preach the Gospel until it has reached the “uttermost parts of the Earth.” Completing this mission matters far more than possessing accurate information about signs, the future, “times and seasons,” and prophetic timetables.

This both raises and answers the question – Why has Christ’s return been “delayed,” supposedly, for 2,000+ years?  The answer is clear. Since the Church has yet to complete its mission, he is waiting for us to proclaim the Kingdom of God to every corner of the globe, and only then will he appear “on the clouds of heaven” to gather us to him. In this way, we may “hasten” his return and the Day of the Lord.

Jesus is not late, nor has God “delayed” Christ’s return for some reason known only to Him. The Risen Lord is waiting for his Church to complete the one paramount task assigned to it by him.

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SEE ALSO:

• The Decisive Day - (The arrival of Jesus will be an event of great victory and finality that will result in the resurrection and the New Creation)

• Death, the Last Enemy - (The arrival of Jesus at the end of the age will mean the resurrection and the end of the Last Enemy, namely, Death - 1 Corinthians 15:24-28)

• Jesus Conquered Death - (Paul reminded Timothy of the resurrection of Jesus and his victory over death since false teachers were denying the future resurrection of believers)

• Notre Tâche Décisive - (La Fin ne viendra pas tant que l'Évangile du Royaume de Dieu n'aura pas été proclamé à toutes les nations-Matthieu 24: 14)