Author Topic: Why Doesn't Jesus Come? (Read 7787 times)

Richard Myers · « **on:** September 06, 2003, 12:57:00 PM »

The Bible is clear in it's promise that Jesus will return to take His church home. Seventh-day Adventists teach His coming is soon. Some may wonder why Jesus waits. There is much suffering and pain in the world today. Jesus delays His coming and many suffer. Why does Jesus wait?

JimB · « **Reply #1 on:** September 08, 2003, 05:54:00 AM »

My answer does not have any Biblical or SOP support, directly that is. But I believe that Jesus delays because HE is waiting for the momement when HE can save the most people.

Richard Myers · « **Reply #2 on:** September 08, 2003, 06:07:00 AM »

Good morning, Brother Jim.

And after He saves the most people, then will He come?

JimB · « **Reply #3 on:** September 08, 2003, 10:07:00 AM »

Yes, I believe at that point HE will return to take His chilren home. It is my thinking that again will be the "fullness of time".

Randy S · « **Reply #4 on:** September 08, 2003, 10:51:00 AM »

Ellen White wrote that when Christ's character was perfectly reproduced in His people then He would come back.

That means the primary reason lies in our unwillingness, as a group, to allow God to transform our characters.

Ele Holmes · « **Reply #5 on:** September 09, 2003, 05:29:00 PM »

"Christ by definite instruction prepared his disciples for their work. He is our Master, as he was theirs, and this instruction we are to follow. We are to work earnestly and vigilantly to prepare the way for the second coming of the Lord. There is much to be done in preparation for that solemn event. Waiting, watching, praying and working..this is what we are to do as servants of God. Personal consecration is necessary and we can not have this unless heart-holiness is cultivated and cherished. RH 10-02-00
(Also read Early Writings of EGW Pg 249)

Ele Holmes · « **Reply #6 on:** September 09, 2003, 05:46:00 PM »

Dear Richard,
We need the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
"Just such an experience as this is what we need today. We need the Holy Spirit and assurance. Living power must attend the message of Christ's second coming in the clouds of heaven. We must not rest until we see many souls converted to the blessed hope of the Lord's appearing.....The work to be done today is just as real, and the truth is just as much truth; only we are to give the message with as much more earnestness as the coming of the Lord is nearer. The message for this time is positive, simple, and of the deepest importance. We must act like men and women who believe. We are not half awake to the perils and the dangers that we must be prepared to meet. Waiting, watching, working, praying, warning the world, this is our work." Manuscript Releases Volume 10, page 383
I have just done a deep study on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I wrote it out maybe in the wrong place, in the Rebaptism Forum, but it is so very important for us, for our Church....staying in constant communion with our loving Saviour through the Holy Spirit. Then He will come. Come Lorc Jesus Come....Ele Holmes

M.A. Crawford · « **Reply #7 on:** September 15, 2003, 05:30:00 PM »

I believe the answer as to why Jesus waits and delays His coming is in the Scriptural reference below:

"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. 2 Peter 3:9. Emphasis mine throughout.

1. "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise."

One of the great promises in all the Bible is found in John 14:2, 3:

"In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I WILL COME AGAIN, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

AND EVERY FAITHFUL FOLLOWER OF CHRIST BELIEVES THAT, takes Christ at His Word, and so orders his/her life to reflect this belief in what is written in John 14:2, 3.

2. "Is longsuffering to us-ward, NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH, but that all should come to repentance."

What wonderful news!! God suffers long toward us stubbon and stiff-necked sinners TRYING TO SAVE US because He is not willing that anyone should perish. Therefore He does all He can to give us another chance at eternal life. Praise God!!

God is not the author of death; He is the Author of Life!! (John 11:25). Death is an enemy and exists in the world today NOT BECAUSE OF GOD, but because of sin (Rom. 6:23; 1 Cor. 15:22). The destruction of the wicked is referred to in Isaiah 28:21 as God's strange act. It is His strange act because GOD IS THE AUTHOR OF LIFE, and not of death.

"And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and he sea, Saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. Revelation 7:1-3.

God, in His Goodness and Mercy, has instructed His angels to hold back the winds of strife that are soon to be let loose upon all the earth and is patiently waiting AND GIVING US TIME to get right with Him because the Coming of the Lord shall be as a thief in the night (2 Peter 3:10):

"For when they shall say, Peace and safety; THEN SUDDEN DESTRUCTION COMETH UPON THEM...and they shall not escape. 1 Thessalonians 5:3.

M.A.

Richard Myers · « **Reply #8 on:** September 15, 2003, 07:33:00 PM »

Amen! Good comments.

The Lord loves us, even the sinner. There are many who can still be saved. He will not come until all have either accepted His love or rejected it.

Why is it taking so long? The church has not done her appointed task. When she does and the (true gospel) message goes too all the world, then all will be in a position to choose whom they will serve. All of the suffering then can come to an end.

Joan · « **Reply #9 on:** September 16, 2003, 02:39:00 AM »

Do I detect dissatisfied impatience? Are we not better off holding close to heart the promise of his coming as a bond that unites us? While being excited at the evident signs of his near coming should we not put more emphasis on our duties we need to accomplish first? Duties like what Matthew 25 implies along with being filled with the oil of His Spirit in prepareness. Also being constant in season and out of season for witnessing to the gospel message to those we make contact with. Right?

Why get neurotic about wanting his coming in a time-set of our imagination? The signs are there but our hopes of them getting fulliflled within e.g. the next two years is putting a timeset on what is only God's business.
And why get dissatisfied when the delay of his coming isn’t within 15 coming years but drags on and on?
Why do we have to have answers to his delay? Is it really alone our fault as children of God that he hasn't come back yet? Dare we say it is our business to speculate?
Matthew 24:36 “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”
We will never know the "precise" time, says that verse of truth. The angels aren’t allowed to know either. Could God the Father know something that Jesus the Son of God does not know? Is it possible for the Father to have knowledge of a secret and Jesus does not have knowledge of this secret concerning the precise time of His being sent back to earth to rapture the righteous up and away?
But what we do have is the explicit warning. A severe warning given many times in various ways. The warning-teaching is for us to be faithful to our given duties, to be prepared constantly for that unexpected moment of divine transport, and not to loose our readiness with getting distracted by earthly cares.
THANK GOD that the precise date of his coming has been hidden. All the better to keep us on our toes to being in a state of watchfulness.
The building on the Ark is still going on. The shaking/sifting has not finished. The call to go in and close the door has not happened yet. The need to talk to the folk outside around the Ark and warn them is imperative.

Let’s turn away from being disturbed in worry that He has not come yet. Let’s turn to those outside andl tell them to come into the Ark before the door gets closed.

Joan in Euroland of Babylon

M.A. Crawford · « **Reply #10 on:** October 01, 2003, 02:13:00 PM »

"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matthew 24:14.

This, I believe, is another reason why Jesus has not come. Jesus Himself declares in Matthew 24:14 that the Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. After this shall have occurred, THEN shall the end come. I believe that everyone WHO WANTS TO BE SAVED will have a chance to be saved before Jesus comes.

The Global Mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is about the business of fulfilling the Great Gospel Commission of Matthew 28:19 and 20 which tells us to "Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." Herein again, it is Jesus in Matthew 28:19 and 20 who gives the Command to GO, TELL!!!, just as He does in Matthew 24:14. I also like this passage of Scripture:

"Now then WE ARE AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." 2 Corinthians 5:20. Emphasis mine.

Ambassadors for Christ! That has a good ring to it. As Seventh-day Adventist Christians, it should be our DELIGHTFUL DELIGHT to be about the business of being Christ's representatives in our every day living by way of our words as well as our deeds. As ambassadors for Christ, I believe it should be the determination of every person who desires to be saved to be numbered among those who are found hastening that day when Christ shall be seen coming in the Clouds of His Glory.

M.A.

Richard Myers · « **Reply #11 on:** October 01, 2003, 08:53:00 PM »

Amen!

JimB · « **Reply #12 on:** October 02, 2003, 06:13:00 AM »

Last Sabbath I listened to a sermon by a well known preacher titled "Whom Shall I send? - A Call to Mission" He went on to say how he was invited a month ago to preach a couple of sermons to inspire the people employed at an organization that sends people into the mission field. He said that as the inspire-r he soon became inspired after he was invited to the home of a couple who had finished 9 years in a very remote mission field.

Now I'm not going to say that you will agree with his statements but I found them interesting none-the-less. He said that we as Adventist will give a hardy AMEN when the preacher Sabbath morning says that the Lord is coming soon, but we are kidding ourselves.

There are 5000 to 10000 unreached people-groups in the world yet. These are people who have never even heard the word "Jesus" from anyone. One of these people-groups are a portion of the Burmese people who are 27 Million in number. Also, if we sent 10 evangelistic teams to india and all 10 teams preached at one village a week it would take 10 years to get to all the villages and that is just India.

We yet have a very large work ahead of us. He went on to say that we as SDA's are fooling ourselves when we make these comments that the Lord is coming soon when there are millions and millions of people yet to be reached with the truth.

He had 3 couples that day tell him that his sermon was the confirmation that they were waiting for to be sure that the Lord wanted them in the mission field.

Elder John Thurber · « **Reply #13 on:** October 02, 2003, 07:56:00 AM »

This is an interesting statment.

With unerring accuracy the Infinite One still keeps an account with all nations. While His mercy is tendered with calls to repentance, this account will remain open; but when the figures reach a certain amount which God has fixed, the ministry of His wrath commences. The account is closed. Divine patience ceases. There is no more pleading of mercy in their behalf. {5T 208

Richard Myers · « **Reply #14 on:** October 02, 2003, 10:22:00 AM »

Jesus is coming soon even if I don't evangelize the world. All of the prophecies are fast fulfilling. My Lord will not delay His coming. The last steps will be rapid ones. While the church is organized for word-wide evangelism, we know that the books have been circulated widely and that they will do their work. It will be surprising how fast the work will finish when a remnant awakes. The work will go from mouth to mouth, from door to door and encircle the whole world. It will proceed rapidly.

Imagine for a moment what a Paul or a Luther could do today. We have tools that will enable us to reach the world very quickly when it is in the heart to do so. And...I think we sometimes get things a little backwards. We think the world revolves around us. But, in fact the United States and Europe are the ones that need someone to come in and evangelize them. When the light of God's truth reaches into the dark areas of the world it will spread rapidly, but what about the countries where the light has already been for hundreds or thousands of years?

As Friend John has said, God is dealing faithfully with the nations of the world. He is working in India today in a way that is rapidly spreading the truth. I spoke with a medical missionary at the Toronto GC session and was very encouraged at the progress in India.

One last thought. The work will not be finished by those who have long been in the church. Yes, some of these will help, but think about how long it took a new convert to the faith to go to work and the extent of his work. When the Pharisee Saul was converted, it was not long before he set sail for the world to make known what God had shown him. It will be the same today as the Holy Spirit finds those who will give the whole heart to the cause of Christ. May we be numbered in that group!

JimB · « **Reply #15 on:** October 02, 2003, 11:38:00 AM »

Is there not also a statement from Ellen White that says something like... the work we failed to do when times were good will have to be done under circumstances that are much more difficult.

I think she said it much better than my paraphrase but I forgot where it could be found.

Richard Myers · « **Reply #16 on:** October 02, 2003, 12:26:00 PM »

Here is one such statement: "Every effort possible should now be made to advance the work of God. Soon circumstances will arise which will make it more difficult than it is now to present the truth to many who are at present within our reach. Most earnest efforts should be put forth in Washington, in Boston, in Nashville, St. Louis, New Orleans, and in many other large cities. A comprehensive work will be accomplished when men and women stand in their places, faithfully doing their part. There is a call for hundreds of young men and women to be educated and trained for service." Manuscript 21, 1908.

Mike Lowe · « **Reply #17 on:** October 02, 2003, 01:10:00 PM »

Hello. My take on this topic is that Jesus is waiting for the remnant church to embrace the truth about rebirth and righteousness. why? Because we cannot preach the 3AM's (the everlasting gospel) unless we are experiencing it. And we cannot experience it until we believe the truth about it.

Unfortunately most people believe we are born again with unknown defective traits of character which God gradually reveals over the course of a lifetime of sinning and repenting. Until we believe and proclaim the truth about rebirth Jesus cannot return in the clouds of glory.

Ralph Myers · « **Reply #18 on:** October 02, 2003, 02:56:00 PM »

Does anyone want to see the antichrist come?

He must come before Christ does.

So then, do we want to do the work we need to do before this imposter shows up?

Richard Myers · « **Reply #19 on:** October 04, 2003, 03:59:00 PM »

It sounds like we need to share the last message of mercy with a world soon to perish before Jesus can come? What is that message? Here is one thought. The Loud Cry

We cannot give a message we do not know and we cannot ask others to believe a message we do not live. Jesus waits for us to manifest His character that we may be His witness.