Memes declaring that “Jesus is Coming Soon” are all over the internet. Facebook is filled with them. There are numerous Rapture pages. It’s amazing to see how a false doctrine from the 19th century has infected the church under the guise of interpreting the Bible literally. Its spread has been exponential. Here’s what those who claim to interpret the Bible literally mean by literal: “When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense, but take every word at its primary, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context clearly indicate otherwise.”[1] But do they follow this “plain sense” approach when it comes to the time texts? They do not. The following exchange is a representative example:
Gary DeMar: This was said 2000 years ago! What did “soon” mean then and is it different from the way “soon” is used today? The NT also says Jesus’ coming was “near” then (James 5:7-9). What did “near” mean then, and does “near” mean something different today?
First Respondent: Jesus did come almost 2000 years ago. Jesus is always near. Death is never promised when it will happen. Soon [means that] has always been knocking on our doors. A thousand years is like a day. Fig tree generation will see his coming.
Gary DeMar: Jesus came in judgment against Jerusalem before that (“this generation,” their generation, passed away: Matt. 24:34). It was the end of the Old Covenant age (24:3). The outward manifestation of that coming was the destruction of the temple in AD 70. I knew you would refer to 2 Peter 3:8. You can’t turn every time word into its opposite or relativize them by an appeal to a verse taken out of context. The so-called “fig tree generation” was their generation. Note the use of the second person plural (you) throughout the chapter referring to Jesus’ primary audience. “So, you [them] too, when you [them] see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the doors” (24:33). That’s right, “near” means “at the doors.” The same “at the doors” is used in James 5:9. Matthew 24:34 is the clincher: “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”
First Respondent: Whenever it is at this time, near, soon, the time is at hand. He is coming and it feels more close than ever before. I can’t wait. If that even involves in death. I am so ready. 100 years at the most of a human’s life is not long.
Gary DeMar: The time WAS at hand for that generation. It “feels more close than ever before.” “Feels”? Do you know how many people claimed the end was near for them using some of the same arguments you are using? Christians have been making these claims for nearly 2000 years using the same Bible verses. Hal Lindsey argued that it would all come about within 40 years of 1948. Chuck Smith and other prophecy writers said the same thing. Lindsey made that claim 54 years ago. In 1926, Oswald J. Smith wrote a book identifying Mussolini as the antichrist. You should read the book The Day and the Hour by Frank Gumerlock. He covers the historical folly of these sorts of claims.
The Day and the Hour
Throughout Christian history, bizarre fringe groups and well-meaning saints alike have been fully convinced that events in their lifetime were fulfilling Bible prophecy. In The Day and The Hour, Gumerlock spans two thousand years of conjecture on the last days, disclosing the dreams and delusions of those who believed that their sect was the 144,000 of Revelation 7; that the 1290 days of Daniel 12 had expired in their generation; that the "Man of Sin" of II Thessalonians 2 was reigning in their time; that a Rapture of the saints, a Great Tribulation, a Battle of Armageddon were just around the corner; or that a Millennial Kingdom was about to dawn.
Buy NowSecond Respondent: I believe near and soon in that day is the same as today, but he was talking in [a] heavenly sense. God is outside of time so some time does not exist for him so soon for him could be 1000 years. I think he was just telling us hey you need to be ready because when you least expect it, I’m coming praise God for that. Keep looking up and keep watching because he’s coming soon.
Gary DeMar: Come on. Jesus’ disciples understood what Jesus was saying about timing because they were familiar with the words He used. See the chart at the end of this article by James Glasgow. (The chart also appears in my new book Prophecy Wars that will soon be available from American Vision.) There is no indication that Jesus was “talking in [a] heavenly sense.” It always amazes me that Christians who claim to interpret the Bible “literally” argue this way. Words like “near,” “quickly,” “shortly,” and “about to” are to be interpreted according to how they are used in other contexts. We’re not talking about God’s sense of timing; we’re talking about God’s revelation to us in words that we are to understand. If you start going down the “heavenly sense” method, where do we stop? Maybe Jesus didn’t rise from the dead physically; He only arose spiritually. Jesus didn’t really feed thousands by multiplying the loaves and fishes; it was only “spiritually/heavenly” food. Liberals have argued this way about Jesus’ “miracles” for years.
Third Respondent: Who cares? Just be ready for his coming. Soon could be any minute, and it says no man knows the day or hour! Could be now or years from now or you could die before then just be ready.
Gary DeMar: Have you noticed that when biblical evidence is offered that contradicts a claim, someone will come back with “who cares?” or “it doesn’t really matter.” Misinterpreting the Bible and spreading false hope matter a great deal. The day and hour of the coming that was to take place before that first-century generation passed away. “The precise day and hour was not revealed: he [Jesus] could only say to them that it would be during the present generation (vs. 34. 36),”[2] their generation. John Gill comments, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man: Which is to be understood, not of the second coming of Christ, the end of the world, and the last judgment; but of the coming of the son of man, to take vengeance on the Jews, and of their destruction.”[3]
John Lightfoot offers a similar interpretation based on Mark 13:32: “Of what day and hour? That the discourse is of the day of the destruction of Jerusalem is so evident, both by the disciples’ questions, and by the whole thread of Christ’s discourse, that it is a wonder any should understand these words of the day and hour of the last judgment.”[4] John mentions that the presence of many antichrists in his day indicated “that it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18), that is, near the time when Jesus’ judgment coming was about to unfold.
VARIOUS INTIMATIONS OF A SPEEDY COMING OF CHRIST WERE FULFILLED IN THE BEGINNING OF THE GOSPEL AGE [5]
By James Glasgow
These are expressed principally by the words ἐγγύς and ταχύ in the Revelation, and ἐγγίζω in the Gospels and Epistles. I shall exhibit a few examples: —
Matt. 3:2; 4:17; 10:7: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” — ἤγγικεν.
Matt. 26:45: “The hour is at hand” — ἤγγικεν.
Mark 1:15; Luke 10:9, 11: “The kingdom of God is at hand” — ἤγγικεν.
Mark 14:42: “He that betrayeth me is at hand” — ἤγγικεν.
Luke 16:8: “The time draweth near” — ἤγγικεν
Luke 21:20: “The desolation thereof” (of Jerusalem)” is nigh” — ἤγγικεν.
Rom. 13:12: “The day is at hand”— ἤγγικεν.
Heb. 10:25: “Ye see the day approaching” — ἐγγίζουσαν.
James 5:8: “The coming of the Lord draweth nigh” — ἤγγικεν.
1 Pet. 4:7: “The end of all” (Πάντων — of the spiritually dead in the previous verse) “is at hand” — ἤγγικεν.
Matt. 26:18: “My time is at hand” — ἐγγύς.
Luke 21:31: “The kingdom of God is nigh at hand” — ἐγγύς.
Phil. 4:5: “The Lord is at hand” — ἐγγύς.
Rev. 1:3; 22:10: “The time is at hand” — ἐγγύς.
The examples now given relate principally to time; but the words in more than forty instances refer to place and denote immediate contiguity.
So ταχύ and cognates may be exemplified: —
Luke 14:21: “Go out quickly into the streets” — ταχέως.
Luke 16:6: “Sit down quickly” — ταχέως.
John 11:31: “She rose up hastily [quickly]” — ταχέως.
1 Cor. 4:19: “I will come to you shortly.”
2 Thess. 2:2: “That ye be not soon (ταχέως) shaken” — ταχέως.
2 Pet. 1:14: “Shortly (ταχινή) I must put off this tabernacle.”
John 13:27: “That thou doest, do quickly” — τάχιον.
Acts 12:7: “Rise up quickly” — ἐν τάχει.
Rom. 16:20: “God shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” — ἐν τάχει.
Rev. 1:1; 22:6: “Things which must shortly come to pass” — ἐν τάχει.
Matt. 28:7: “Go quickly (ταχύ) and tell His disciples.”
John 11:29: “She rose quickly” — ταχύ.
Rev. 2:16: “I will come to Pergamos quickly” — ταχύ — in the Neronian persecution.
Rev. 3:11: “I come quickly” — ταχύ: viz. on Jerusalem.
Rev. 11:14: “The third woe cometh quickly” — ταχύ — in three and a half years.
Rev. 22:7, 12, 20: “I come quickly” — ταχύ.
If we are content to be guided by the Scripture usage of the words, the truth of the section will be at once established.
But many are not disposed to acquiesce in this. They prefer their pre-formed theories, — as that the Lord has never yet come again since His ascension, and consequently that the various promises of coming quickly meant that He would not come for at least 1870 years, and perhaps not for an indefinite number more. This applies both to pre-millenarians and post-millenarians, though from different standpoints — so very non-natural is the principle of scriptural interpretation which multitudes dogmatically lay down, and so purblindly do they adopt a position which charges the apostles either with error or with deception. Nothing can be taught more plainly in human vocables, than the apostles (as well as John the Baptist and Jesus Himself), in such places as those cited, taught that His coming after the ascension was to be expected quickly (ταχύ), in the plain meaning of that term.
The Destruction of Jerusalem ... and the Coming of the Lord
American Vision has updated the typesetting and combined the two books into a single volume under the title The Destruction of Jerusalem, the Mysterious Language of St. Paul’s Description of the Man of Sin, and the Day of the Lord. All the Greek words have been transliterated. Quoted and referenced Scripture passages have been added where Nisbett does not include them. The notes have been included as footnotes using standard numbering. Nisbett cites and quotes numerous obscure and long out-of-print theological authors and their works. When possible, the original source of a referenced or quoted work is included in the source reference as well as a link in a bracketed footnote. This new version of Nisbett’s two outstanding apologetic works is a welcome addition to any Christian’s library.
Buy Now[1] Tim LaHaye, No Fear of the Storm: Why Christians will Escape All the Tribulation (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 1992), 240. No Fear of the Storm was republished as Rapture Under Attack.
[2] Samuel Lee, Eschatology; or, The Scripture Doctrine or the Coming of the Lord, the Judgment, and the Resurrection (Boston: J.E. Tolton and Co., 1859), 42-43. Soon to be re-published by American Vision.
[3] John Gill, Exposition of the Bible (Matthew 24:36): https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/matthew-24-36.html
[4] A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica, 4 vols. (Oxford University Press, 1859/Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1979), 2:442.
[5] James Glasgow, The Apocalypse: Translated and Expounded (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1872), 61.