Return of the King
Burning Questions: Week 3
Sunday, July 17, 2022
Matthew 12:38-40, Matthew 24:35-42, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11
For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so, too, will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Matthew 24:35-42
Listen to this week’s sermon here:
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Popular modern teachings on the end times center around ideas of “rapture” and escape from this world. There’s only one problem. Until the late 1800’s, nobody in any Christian denomination had thought of such a theology.
Consider Matthew 24:35-42. The idea is that those who are not prepared for the return of Christ will be “left behind” when the “rapture” comes, while true believers are caught up into heaven. The misunderstanding here is in the passage itself. Jesus says it will be as it was in the days of Noah. Those who were “left behind” included Noah and his family on the ark. The rest were “swept away” in the flood. If it is truly like the days of Noah, then we should want to be left behind and not swept away in the flood. To be left means to be rescued or “saved.”
The problem with modern versions of End Times Theology, Brian McLaren writes, is that they are
...desperate, escapist and globally hopeless…. The world is going down the toilet, they say. There is no hope. It’s all going to burn. So we should jump into the life rafts and paddle away like mad away from the sinking ship. We should retreat into our Christian enclaves, listen to Christian radio, watch Christian TV, pray, study the Bible, tell drivers what we believe with bumper-stickers that say, ‘in case of rapture, this vehicle will self-destruct,’ keep our contact with the world at a minimum, concentrate on our personal righteousness, and anticipate heaven, a supernatural life beyond history - instead of anticipating the just society [of the Kingdom of God fully manifest on Earth as it is in Heaven].
The overarching movement of scripture is toward restoration and re-creation, not destruction, toward a call to building the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven rather than escaping to some other heavenly realm. Christ will indeed return, and as we read in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, we have a hope of being caught up with Christ. But the early writers and hearers of this text would never have considered being caught up to go to another place. Rather, they had in mind a common military image of going out to meet the King who is coming to rescue their city. Then together they return to take back the city and restore the throne to it’s rightful ruler. Christ did not conquer death only to be run out of creation by some devil in the end, taking only a few chosen ones with him. When Christ returns, he will rule a new heaven and a new earth as one, and he has made us heirs of this kingdom. More than that, he has given us the responsibility to start building it here and now.
… on earth, as it is in heaven.