Dating the Advent (or Not!)

This was published originally in the Green Lake Church Gazette, Apirl, 2013

In the summer of 1994 I spent a week preaching at a Midwestern campmeeting. Halfway through the week, a genial couple invited me to lunch. Food out of the way, we got down to the real reason for their invitation: they wanted to share with me the good news that Jesus would return before the end of the year.

A couple of years previously, they had moved out of the city and purchased an ostrich farm where they could protect their children from the chaos that would engulf America's cities as we entered the final months of earth's history. They were enjoying the quietness and serenity of country life and the extra time with their children. But the conversation did not focus on the benefits of country living. We talked about the good news that within a matter of months Jesus would be here! They showed me charts of jubilee cycles. I heard complicated mathematical calculations. But most of all I sensed their excitement that Jesus was coming . . . and soon!

My hosts were gracious and courteous. They didn't demand that I agree. But they just

had to share the good news with me. Jesus was coming. Without setting a precise day, they

were absolutely convinced by the signs and chronological charts that Jesus was coming before

the end of the year.

They won my heart. I liked them. I was drawn to their obvious sincerity and sweet Christian spirit. But there were a couple of problems with what they had to say. First, they were Adventists, and Adventists should know better. Our history teaches us the folly of focusing on even approximate schedules for the Second Coming. Second, they were ignoring the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 24 and 25.

Adventist History

Date setting is our blood as a denomination. Our most famous date for the Second Coming was 1844.  Oops. Groups of Adventists have predicted the Second Coming 1847, 1851, 1964, 1994, 1998, and 2000. Most of us are coy about our date setting now. We are like Billy Graham, who was asked by reporter in the early nineteen sixties, “When will Jesus return?” Graham's reply some forty years ago, “We can't know the exact date, but I don't see how it can be more than five years from now.”

I’ve known people who actually lived out their belief that the end of time was very soon, people who decided not to pursue advanced education because time was too short for them to be able to complete their degree, people who married precipitously because they wanted to experience conjugal bliss before the possibility was snatched away by the second coming, people who failed to plan and save for retirement. In every case these Adventists lived to regret their decisions.

Once, I asked Marvin Moore, an Adventist expert on the end times, “What decision have you made in the last five years that was guided by your knowledge of end time events?” His reply, “None.” Moore has written books about end time events, but those books offer no help for his real life. They are pure theory.

If the dates we set are always wrong, if acting on the belief that time is short leads to regrettable decisions, if the experts on end time events can offer nothing helpful for our actual lives today, maybe it's time to take another look at the passage in the Bible that is most frequently cited in support of the idea that we can know the approximate time of the Advent.

Signs of the Times, Matthew 24 and 25

Adventist preoccupation with “signs of the end” is frequently based on a few verses in Matthew 24. This chapter and chapter 25 are an integrated literary unit. At the beginning of Matthew 24, Jesus and the Twelve were leaving the temple in Jerusalem. The disciples called Jesus' attention to the exquisite artistry and massive solidity of the temple buildings. Jesus responded, "Do you see all these things? I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down." The disciples were startled. How could God's temple be destroyed? Surely the destruction of the temple could be accomplished by nothing less than the end of the world.

A little later, when they were sitting on the Mount of Olives across the valley from Jerusalem, the disciples asked about Jesus' prediction. They had one concern: when is it going to happen? They wanted a chronology. Jesus began answering their question:

Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. . . . (Matthew 24:4-6).

Given the disciples' question and these opening words, I half expect the next sentence

to say something like: “These events prove my return is just around the corner. Sell your houses, cash in your stocks and bonds. Give everything you have for the work of spreading the gospel before it is too late!”

But what in fact did Jesus actually say?

. . . You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is not yet (Matthew 24:4-6).

When we see civilization in turmoil and the environment disturbed we long for the Second Coming. The worse things seem around us, the more intense our desire for Jesus to come and make everything right. Often, it's a short step from our desire for the return of Jesus to being seduced by theories purporting to predict the schedule of the end of the world. Jesus described chaos, then cautioned, the end is not yet.

In Matthew 24, after describing trouble and evil and stating that these are not proof of the end, Jesus launches into a series of seven parables. The first parables teach us how to think about time with respect to the Advent. In the final two parables a concern for end time events or schedules are shown to be essentially irrelevant in spiritual life.

Parable one. In Noah's day, people were eating, drinking and getting married. Life went on as usual right up until the very day of the flood. Then catastrophe overtook the world. In the same way, in the last days life will go on as usual. Nothing will seem to be out of the ordinary until suddenly Jesus appears in the clouds of heaven.

Parables two and three. Two men will be in the field, working . . . as usual. Two women will be grinding grain . . . their everyday routine. Nothing out of the ordinary . . . until one is taken and the other left.

We don't have to guess what these parables mean; Jesus Himself tells us.

"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. . . You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him" (Matthew 24:42-44).

Parable four. A servant left in charge of an estate in his master's absence imagines the master will be gone forever and begins to mistreat his fellow servants, only to be surprised by the Master's unexpectedly early return. The message: Don't imagine the day of accountability is off in the misty future. It will arrive sooner than you think.

Parable five, “The Ten Virgins.” In a 180 degree shift from the previous parable, the fools in this story are those who imagine time is short. The foolish virgins are foolish precisely in their certainty that the bridegroom will return real soon. Just like people who failed to pursue their education or to plan for retirement because they knew for sure Jesus was coming soon, so these virgins came to grief because of their utter confidence that their wait would be brief.

In each of these parables, Jesus presents the same message: If you imagine that you know God's schedule you will find yourself embarrassed. Actual time will inevitably, inescapably, unavoidably, ineluctably, necessarily (have I used enough adverbs yet?) be different from your expectation. Theories about the schedule of the end always mislead. Always.

Parable six, “The Investors.” A master calls in three servants, announces he is leaving for an extended period of time and entrusts to each of them some money to manage while he is gone. You might think this is going to be another parable about time. But time plays no role in this story. The master leaves. The master returns. Nothing is mentioned about whether he returned sooner or later than expected. Instead when the servants are audited by the master, the crucial factor turns out to be what they thought of the master's character. The two servants who trusted the master, made bold and successful investments. The servant who did not trust the master, buried his money and was harshly condemned.

Parable seven, “The Sheep and Goats.” On judgment day, humanity is divided into two groups. The blessed group is commended for showing compassion to Jesus. The cursed group is condemned for neglecting Jesus. Both groups protest they never saw Jesus at all. Jesus replies: What you did for the nobodies, you did for me. Ultimately theories about the schedule of end time events will prove irrelevant. Even theology, our high-flown theories about God, recedes as the most important question. This section of Matthew begins with the disciples asking about the calendar: when is the temple going to be destroyed? When is the end of the world? Jesus answers by steering their minds to questions of character: what do you know of the character of God? What character is revealed in your response to human need? Get the answers to these questions wrong and even the most accurate end time schedule will do you no good. Get the answers to these questions about character right, and time is of no concern.

End Time Theory for Christians

Sermon manuscript for Green Lake Church of Seventh-day Adventists

Sabbath, June 8, 2013

Scripture Readings:

OT: Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7

NT: Matthew 9:35-38; 28:18-20

In the last days it shall come to pass,

that the mountain of the house of the LORD

shall be established in the top of the mountains,

and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.

And many nations shall come, and say,

Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,

and to the house of the God of Jacob;

and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths:

for the law shall go forth of Zion,

and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

And he shall judge among many people,

and rebuke strong nations afar off;

and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruninghooks:

nation shall not lift up a sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war any more.

But they shall sit every one under his vine and under his fig tree;

and none shall make them afraid:

for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.

Micah 4. (See also Isaiah 2)

It's graduation season. When I talk to people who are completing high school or college or grad school, I naturally ask, what next? What big dream do you have? What do you see ahead? Our vision of the future powerfully shapes our lives.

Are you dreaming of a sports scholarship in college? You won't spend the summer on the couch watching TV or gaming. Ditto if you dream of winning a major music competition. Do you dream of solving the catastrophic problem facing European honey bees or writing a book that will alter the course of history? Do you want to do something to improve the economic structures of Africa?

If these dreams are vivid, if they express your real ambition, they will shape your life. They will determine how you spend your time, what you take in school, how you spend your summer. They will affect the books your read, even the friendships you cultivate. Your vision of the future is expressed in the life you live here and now.

The Adventist Church began with a compelling vision of the immediate future. Jesus was coming soon, like next year or next month or tomorrow. That vision shaped their lives. The early Adventists were wrong about the date, of course. (We are still here!) But they planted a concern for the future deep in our DNA as a denomination. The future as we conceive it is not merely the vision of “futurologists.” We are confident that the flow of human history is more than the random interaction of human intention, national ambitions, and so-called “acts of God.” I.e. tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes.

Adventists live with the deep conviction that behind the apparent chaos of the cosmos, underneath the apparent directionlessness of history, God is actively working toward a goal. What is that goal? Where is humanity heading? What does the future look like?

According to the prophet Micah, it looks like this:

People will say,

The law shall go forth of Zion,

and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

The Lord will judge among many people,

and rebuke strong nations afar off.

What will be the effect of all this divine activity?

Nations will say,

Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,

and to the house of the God of Jacob,

and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths . . .

Then they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruninghooks:

nation shall not lift up a sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war any more.

This is an unbelievable vision. It is completely unrealistic—in the ordinary sense of the word. Do we really expect the Sunnis and Shias to put away their swords? Do we imagine the Chinese will quit hacking American computer systems? Will the Republicans and Democrats quit campaigning against one another?

Still, this is our vision as Adventists. We live in the hope and expectation that of a glorious future. This is essential to our life and identity as Adventists.

We are a Seventh-day Adventist Church. Our denomination began formally as a handful of believers in the Northeast and Michigan 150 years ago. Today we are about 20 million people around the world. Most of us live in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

As an Adventist pastor, it is my job to articulate the distinctive practices and beliefs that form our heritage as Adventists. We share much with other Christian churches. In addition to that shared faith, in our 150 years of study, prayer, worship and evangelism we have developed particular insights that form our own special heritage. It is my job to give voice to those special treasures of Adventism.

In addition to my identity as a generic Adventist pastor, I am also a liberal Adventist pastor. In fact, according to google, I am “the liberal Adventist pastor.” Today's sermon is the third in a series of theological sermons, presenting core elements of our Adventist thought, practice and identity. I hope you will listen critically and feel free to challenge me, question me, push me as we think together about our life and mission as Adventists.

Yesterday I was at a campground in the mountains above Naches, getting my wife and daughter set up for a weekend with their horses. A friend who was there with his family asked what I was preaching about today. When I told him, I was preaching about the “last days,” he expressed severe disgust. Why would I sully Sabbath morning worship with doom and gloom, fear and conspiracy obsession? Didn't I have something better to preach about?

Many of you will immediately identify with his revulsion. “Last day events” is not a happy topic.

A story from some years ago. A newcomer showed up at a home Bible study group. We invited him to tell us his story. Somehow he got around to his childhood experience at summer camp. The campfire program featured a continued story about the Last Days. The story teller vividly portrayed the people of God running for their lives, hiding in the woods, going from desperate situation to miraculous deliverance to desperate situation. Each evening's episode ended with the pursuers just minutes or seconds away from capturing or shooting the God's people. The newcomer told of having nightmares for months afterward, reliving the terror of the story.

As I'm telling the story here today, many of you are smiling in recognition. You read Project Sunlight. A fictionalized account of Adventists in the Last Days. You listened to evangelists and academy Bible teachers tell scary stories about the Last Days. When you think “Last Day Events” you think of war, plague and pestilence.

And you think is something uniquely Adventist. That visitor to our Bible study group who told of hearing nightmare-inducing stories about the End Times at summer camp? He was not an Adventist. He was a Nazarene. The camp where he heard those stories was a Nazarene camp.

Last Day Events imagined as a collection of terrifying, dreadful vignettes is the common heritage of conservative American Christianity across the denominational spectrum. This is tragic. Conservative Christians have focused on the wrong passages of Scripture. We have been seduced by visions of blood and mayhem. Those ugly visions have obscured the far more glorious visions of peace and transformation that are sprinkled all through the Bible.

All Christians agree that God's ultimate vision is peace and harmony. But when we begin studying Last Day Events we forget that ultimate beautiful vision in our macabre fascination with plagues and persecution and disaster. If God's ultimate vision is peace, that should be our dominant vision. That is the vision that should shape our lives.

If we are going to call ourselves Adventist, that is, if our identity is going to be rooted in the Bible promise of Jesus to return and take his people home, then the glory of that promise should suffuse all our spiritual life. If we know that our Redeemer will accomplish his plans for triumph of goodness and joy, we will be energized in our present day efforts to ease suffering and enhance the well-being of our world.

Deliberate Selectivity

The Bible has a lot to say about the future. What it says is highly varied. To form a coherent vision of the future, you have to be selective about the passages you use as the basis for your preaching. Historically, for instance, Adventists have focused on Daniel and Revelation and completely ignored the visions of the last ten chapters of Ezekiel. (And wisely so. We understand them to be a provisional future that was available to the Jewish people at a particular point in the past, but not applicable in a literal sense in the contemporary world.)

If we are going to use the Bible as a tool for building healthy spiritual life, we must be selective. Not every passage is equally helpful. I quoted from Micah the beautiful vision of beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks, turning the instruments of death and destruction into tools for nourishing and sustaining life. But if you know the Bible, you might rightly challenge me: Hey what about the prophet Joel? He wrote:

Proclaim this among the Gentiles: Prepare war! Wake up the mighty men! Let all the men of war draw near. Let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears. Let the weak say, I am strong. [Train even your weaklings to be warriors. NLT]

Joel 3:9-10

So which is God's vision of the future? Beating our swords into plowshares or beating our plowshares into swords? Is God's vision peace or war?

I argue that the Bible includes both visions because the Bible is in touch with the entire range of human experience. But God's vision, God's purpose, the goal toward which God is moving history is peace. Therefore that should be our focus as well. It should be the orientation our children absorb from us. Alas, that has not been the case. We need to change our culture in regard to the “last days.”

Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. I am going 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 you will be also.

John 14:1-3

I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. . . And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with people. God will dwell with them. They will be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There will be no more death, sorrow or crying. There will be no more pain. For the former things have passed away.' He who sits on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.' Then he said, 'Write this down, for these words are true and faithful.

Revelation 21:1-5

Adventist worship should evince the joy and confidence of these passages. Our conversations about the end should focus on this divine triumph, this heavenly success. Let's so fill our imaginations, our ambitions, our expectations with these visions that they begin to shape our engagement with the world. Let us practice now, the job Jesus says we will have for all eternity.

Jesus told the twelve apostles, "I assure you that when the world is made new and the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Matthew 19:28

According to the vision of Micah, the effect of God's judgment is the end of war, the transcending of conflict and fighting. God's judgment, God's instruction, results in a world of peace and reconciliation. We can test our theology and philosophy by asking how much it contributes to our efforts to make the world a better place. What inspiration does our thinking about the Last Days add to our engagement in working to improve the economy, reduce illness, enhance the environment? Does our thinking about the Last Days help us to live happier, holier, more helpful lives?

Over the years Adventists have been seduced by complicated last day scenarios. When I tell orthodox Adventists that I wish Jesus would come this very afternoon, almost always they will solemnly assure me that that is impossible. Jesus cannot come this afternoon because we have not yet observed all the events on our Last Day Event Charts.

I tell you God does not need permission from our charts before Jesus can return. Our time lines that include “Jacob's Time of Trouble,” “The Loud Cry,” and “The National Sunday Law,” are not maps that God has to follow. For the vast majority of Adventists, these time lines and Last Days Charts and imaginative stories about persecution during the great tribulation are at best a tragic distraction from the glory of the prophet's vision of God's triumph.

They induce fear and dread in our kids. This is wrong.

The only Last Day Events that matter are the events pictured in these triumphant passages—the triumph of God, goodness, beauty, joy, justice, righteousness, compassion, mercy, peace. The dark scary stuff that we extract from Scripture has no place in a healthy vision of God's plans for the end. All of that stuff is penultimate. Much of it is already present in the world. We are familiar with it. We don't need prophecy to be aware of it. Prophecy calls us to something far better, higher, sweeter.

As Adventists we are called to proclaim the vision of the prophets Isaiah and Micah: That the judgment and law of God are leading to a world where people will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. A world where nations will learn war no more.

When this beatific vision animates us as a people, then we will deserve the label, Adventist.