Can Prayer Bring Christ Sooner? – Part two

There have been cases recorded in the Scriptures when attempts have been made, or petitions have been uttered to bring the day of Christ’s appearance sooner. At least one time during the ministry of Jesus, there were certain Jews who so desired the establishment of the Kingdom of God, that they attempted to take Jesus by force to make Him king (John 6:15). Toward the end of His earthly work, Jesus found it necessary to correct a misunderstanding current among His followers. In Luke 19:11 we are told: “And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the Kingdom of God should immediately appear.” The parable of the pounds followed, in which Jesus taught them of His impending departure and ultimate return after a long period of time. They were to “occupy” (trade with) until He came again. His sojourn in heaven was to be for a protracted period of time, at the end of which He would “receive for himself a kingdom and return” (V. 12). His instructions to those servants into whose hands the Lord had committed certain responsibilities was to trade and carry on His business with a view to giving an account of their stewardship in the day of His return. It is well to note that the Master neither here, nor yet in any other of His parables on the Kingdom of God, instructed His servants to attempt to induce, through prayer, a premature return.

The Times Of Restitution

After the resurrection of Jesus, and after the Lord had spent some forty days in expounding and elaborating upon the subject of the Kingdom of God, the disciples asked Him: “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). The reply made to them at this time is pertinent to this study, since Jesus emphasized again what He had taught them earlier: “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father bath put in his own power.” Here the Lord tells His disciples that the “Father hath set within His own authority” both the times (CHRONOS), the length of the periods, and the seasons (KAIROS), epoch characterized by certain events. Times and seasons relate both the duration of a period and the certain features which would mark them. Both are under the power and in the complete authority of God, as Peter was quick to confess after being endowed with the “Spirit of Truth”: “And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:20,21). Again, we have stressed to us the fact that Christ will remain in heaven until the time comes, when, in harmony with previous revealed knowledge, God will send Him again to this earth for the consummation of His purpose. The same word occurs in Acts 7:17 where Stephen declares: “But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt.” The “time” of the promise of the Lord’s return is now drawing near, but it is not yet here.

How Long, 0 Lord?

This question has been on the lips of all God’s children of every age. (See Psalms 74:10; Isa. 64:9-12; Zech. 1:12; Rev. 13:10). An actual petition for the quick return of Jesus is recorded in the 6th chapter of Revelation, being voiced in imagery by the souls under the altar: “And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, 0 Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” (V. 10). These were those who had died for the testimony of Christ, often by the most cruel and inhuman means. They are here depicted as crying for God to avenge their blood. Though it is apparent that this is a symbolic representation of the terrible persecution suffered by the people of God under the fifth seal, the truth still remains that we have here an impassioned petition to God, presented under the most pathetic conditions, and in such circumstances that sincerity and fervency cannot be questioned. What is the reply given to them? Are they told that their prayers will indeed hasten their emancipation from death; that, due to their excellent zeal and unimpeachable sincerity, Christ will soon make His appearance and avenge them? No! Two things are stated in reference to their request: first, they were given white robes, which was an assurance of their future investiture with immortality; second they were “told that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also, and their brethren that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.” (VII)

The performance of God’s purpose may seem slow and deliberate to those immediately involved in the circumstances. However, God’s ultimate objective must always be held in view if we are not to become discouraged at the apparent delay in its fulfillment. Ironically enough, this was to be the very danger with which the household of Faith was to be confronted in the last days. The apostle warns us of the attitude of those who have lost faith in the promises of God: “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last day scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying: “Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2nd Peter 3:3,4). The trouble with those who take such an attitude as this is simply that they have failed to look at conditions as they are viewed by the Father. They have lost sight of the goal because they have allowed themselves to be taken up with the immediate, but fleeting pleasures of this world. Peter sharply reproves them and reminds them of God’s divine forbearance and desire that all should be saved: “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (VV. 8,9). Obviously there is nothing we can do to hasten the coming of Christ. The outworking of God’s purpose will occupy that period of time suitable for its fulfillment. Though we might presume to feel that God is “slack concerning His promise”, and that our Lord should come now, we could very well find ourselves actually opposing Him in His continuing work of separating a people for Himself.

In Due Season

Just what is the attitude enjoined upon the household insofar as the coming of Jesus is concerned? Are they encouraged to hurry His appearance through ardent prayer and supplication? Is it even suggested that they are capable of changing the actual day of His advent by any means? I know of no place in the Word where this idea can find support. Though we are instructed to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem”, and, like the watchmen upon its walls, to hold not our peace day nor night, giving God no rest, “till he establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth”, there is not even a hint that, by so doing, we can hasten the coming of the “set time” when God shall favor Zion. Why, then, should we pray for the consolation of Israel? The answer lies in the very nature of our hope which consists of a very real kingdom, under the jurisdiction of Christ and His glorified saints, being established in the earth. The ancient city of Jerusalem, after being cleansed of its defilement contacted through the down-trodding of the Gentiles, will become “the city of the Great King”. Just as the eyes of the Deity are continually upon the land, “from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year”, so are His servants expected to be intensely interested in developments in that part of the earth, and to anxiously express that interest in fervent prayer. “Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following” Psalms 48:12,13).

Meanwhile, the saints are exhorted to patiently wait for the return of Jesus, just as many of the faithful in the divine record have done. Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable counselor, “waited for the kingdom of God” (Mark 15:43); Sime­on, described as a just and devout man is recorded as waiting for the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25); the saints in general are encouraged “to wait for His Son from heaven” (1st Thess. 1:10; Paul prayed that the Lord “direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ” (2nd Thess. 3:5). All of creation, laboring under the effects of sin are said by Paul to be waiting “for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19). When, at last the Lord does return, the faithful of all ages, both those who have slept and those who are alive shall say “in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us; this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (Isaiah 25:9). Here, then, is the Scriptural admonition concerning the disposition of the saints toward the coming of Jesus.

James, also, in a very striking analogy urges patience on his readers: “Be patient therefore brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman wait­eth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh” (James 5:7,8). In this exhortation to faint not, even under difficulties and trials, James draws a lesson from agriculture. Though the farmer would like to reap his grain soon, since it constitutes the very staff of life to him, he must wait. There is absolutely nothing he can do to hurry the natural processes of nature, or to speed up the arrangements as instituted by God. He must exercise patience in waiting, perhaps for several months. Even then the farmer may never reap. There might be a drought in the land due to the judgments of God in the earth. Pests may destroy his crop before he has a chance to harvest it. But, James declares that, though it may demand patience and endurance on the part of the children of God, their reaping is an absolute certainty. The Apostle Paul is explicit on this point, as he commends to the attention of the Galatians: “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due sea-ion, we shall reap if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9). The Greek word for “season” is KAIROS, which primarily signifies due measure. When used of time, it carries the thought of a fixed or definite period. The word “due” simply means “own”. The question is, whose fixed or definite period does Paul refer to here? To whom does the season when the faithful shall reap belong? The answer is obvious, but is expressed beyond all doubt in 1st Timothy 6:14,15: “That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in his times (Greek KAI­ROS, season) he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords.” These times, as they relate to the Lord’s appearing, are not subject to human influence.

In Such an Hour as Ye think Not

The very nature of those conditions which are to prevail just prior to Christ’s advent attest to the futility of our attempt to bring Him before the appointed time. In addition to the obvious signs, such as Israel being again in the land, unrest and perplexity among the nations, and the rise of Russia as a powerful and hostile state there were to be other indications of the Lord’s proximity: indications which greatly hamper, if they do not actually destroy the theory under question. Consider, for example, the Lord’s own counsel and warning to those living in the last days. The general tenor of His words suggests that there was to be a scarcity of sound faith when He returned: “Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh.

shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). This question follows the Lord’s admonition that men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (V. 1). It brings home to us in a very persuasive manner the ever present danger of indifference. Apathy toward the things of God will eventually destroy every vestige of faith. The “perilous times” of which Paul speaks (2nd Timothy 3:1-4) are times in which “iniquity shall abound,” and when “the love of many shall wax cold” (Matthew 24:12). These are the very dangers with which the household was to be confronted in the time of the end.

The appearance of the Lord is to be sudden and unexpected even by His faithful servants. In His Olivet discourse, Jesus repeatedly warned His followers that His coming would take place when the household did not expect Him. In Matthew’s record (chapter 24) Jesus foretold certain signs which would serve to alert His servants to the nearness of the time, although the signs would be of such a character that the actual day could not be determined. After relating some of the events which would transpire just before His advent, He declared: “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (V. 31). In order to give His servants ample warning of this event He spoke a parable to them relative to the fig tree which we understand to refer to the return of the Jews to the land of Palestine. This was a very important sign, since the generation who witnessed its fulfillment would not pass away till all was fulfilled (Luke 21:32). “So likewise ye, when ye see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors” (Matthew 24:33). Unmistakable though this sign was to be, the exact date of His appearance was to remain concealed: “But of that day and hour know­eth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (V. 36). A warning followed in which the Lord pleaded with His people to be constantly on their guard against the insidious influence of the world, because, said He, “in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man com­eth” (V. 44). His followers are to exercise a constant vigil, always “looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God”, never doubting its certainty for a moment (2nd Peter 3:12). Jesus declared that “the love of many shall wax cold”, and they shall say in their heart, ‘my Lord delayeth his coming” (Matthew 24:48). But, much to their surprise, the Lord has not ‘delayed” His coming, the time for His appearance simply having not yet arrived. “The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of” (VV. 48-50). It is well to note that only here and in Luke 12:45 do we find any reference whatsoever to the Lord’s delay, and both of these are conjectures made by evil servants whose faith had slipped. The advent is to be thief-like, inasmuch as its occurrence would be sudden and unexpected (See Rev. 16:15).

Paul likewise adds his own testimony to the precipitance of Jesus’ appearance. In the fourth chapter of his first letter to the Thessalonians, the apostle had just spoken of the descent of the Lord and the resurrection of the dead, coupled with the gathering of those who were alive in that day. In the fifth chapter Paul seems to anticipate, if not directly reply to a suggestion that the Lord’s appearance was imminent. It would be quite natural for his readers to raise this question much the same as the apostles had done with their Lord many years before when He had spoken to them of the same era. Remarkably, Paul seems to use the very words of Jesus as he deals with this question: “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you” (1st Thess. 5:1). Paul takes it for granted that his readers were well acquainted with the teaching of the Lord on this matter, and continues: “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night” (V. 2). The apostle then exhorts them to constant vigilance, reminding them that they are “children of the light, and children of the day.” It may be argued that the faithful whose houses are in perpetual order will not be overtaken by that day. This is true. In fact, this is the very admonition of Jesus in His Oli­vet discourse: “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth” (Luke 21:34,35). When Jesus speaks of the day not coming on them “unawares”, He means unprepared. They are to set their house in order at all times, lest that day “overtake” them, and they find themselves consigned to everlasting darkness.

The whole point of this analysis is to illustrate beyond all question that the actual day when the Lord will return will be a surprise to the wicked and righteous alike. The warnings of both Jesus and Paul to the household to remain alert and watchful for that day emphasize the abruptness with which it will come upon “all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.” If His coming were to be prompted by the fervent prayers of the faithful, it could not be said that His appearance would be unanticipated. But, in every reference to His return to this earth, the Master cautioned His followers as to its unexpected nature.

Summary

The evidence against the theory that prayer can bring Christ sooner is overwhelming. In this article and in the one preceding it, we has e attempted to cover the most important facts as they bear on the coming of the Lord. It is our conviction that every revelation of Divine truth having to do with the advent of Jesus demands that there be in the plan of the ages a pre-determined date on which Jesus will make His longed-for appearance. The following summation of the material considered in this respect will serve to emphasize this fact.

1. The theory that prayer can bring Christ sooner, must also allow of the possibility that the required fervency and spirituality of such entreaty may never be reached by the ecclesia, and, consequently. His return would never take place.
2. The Scriptures use terms in relation to His return, which imply a pre-determined date: i.e. ” . . . He hath appointed a day . (Acts 17:31); ” .. . the fullness of the times” (Eph. 1:10); . . . until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in” (Rom. 11: 25); ” . . . after this I will return . (Acts 15:16); ” . . . the set time is come . . (Psa. 103: 13); “in due season . (Gal. 6:9)
3. The times and seasons as they relate to the advent of Jesus are solely in the hands ot God, and thus, are not subject to human influence: Acts 1:6,7: 3:20, 21.
4.  Attempts to hasten the work of the Messiah, and petitions to pre-maturely consummate His return have always failed to achieve a positive response.
5. The saints are encouraged to patiently wait for the return of Christ. This is the attitude adopted by those whose faith was founded on the “hope of Israel”: Mark 15:43; Luke 2:25; 1 Thes, 1:10.
6. Jesus consistently cautioned His followers of the totally unexpected nature of His coming: Matt. 24:36, 39, 42-44, 50; Acts 1:7. His advent to be “thief like”: 1 Thes. 5:1,2; Rev. 16:15.
7. There is absolutely no Scriptural injunction to the saints to pray that the Lord’s return may be hastened. This lack of evidence in itself is detrimental to the whole theory.