The Second Coming

By now you have all heard that Jesus is going to return May 21. Harold Camping, who earlier predicted his return in 1994, is at it again. In his earlier book, he hedged a little on whether 1994 was the exact time, but this time there is no doubt. He will not even speculate on what happens if he makes it to May 22 because there is absolutely no chance he could be wrong.

I have to hand it to him. Camping is not only bold, he also runs against the grain. Every prediction that I remember predicts Christ's return at Rosh Hashana in the fall. There is a certain logic to this: Christ was sacrificed on Passover. The Holy Spirit was poured out on the church on Pentecost (an early harvest festival). Therefore, it makes some sense to think that Christ would return on the Feast of Trumpets since trumpets are part of the second coming motif (not to mention the New Year/New Jerusalem parallel).

Camping, however, predicts a day in the spring. It's not even Pentecost. I have not read enough to know how he picks this particular day (nor am I really interested), but he gets points for being novel.

I am not here today to criticize a nut job (check out some of the other stuff he believes and you'll understand). I want to talk about our (and here I guess I am talking mostly to my Assemblies of God friends) approach to the second coming.

Our movement and others were founded in the atmosphere of the second coming fervor of the late nineteenth century. This is shown both in our continuing missions emphasis (which arose from the belief that the world needed to hear before Jesus came back) and the fact that 4 of our 16 doctrinal statements center on eschatology.

Even the early twentieth-century outpouring of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit was explained in eschatological terms. Believing that tongues and the miraculous as common had waned after the first century, the understanding as to why it had been resurrected was the soon return of Christ. This is why you occasionally see references to the Latter Rain, an interpretation of Joel 2:23. Just as crops needed rain at the beginning (i.e., Pentecost), they also need rain just before the harvest (the Second Coming) Therefore, the fact that the Holy Spirit was again being poured out at the beginning of the twentieth century was proof that the second coming was very soon.

I have more thoughts for another post. Check back with me.

I'm back

It has been 13 months since I last blogged. I think it was a combination of being lazy and thinking that no one was reading (except you Jeff). My friend Brian, however, is right. It is important for someone interested in theology to participate in dialogue. Which means not only commenting on other people's posts, but also creating some of my own.

I promise to my reader(s) that I will try to come up with something interesting at least once a week. That is not too large a commitment. If I come up with more, even better.

If you happened upon this post, I hope that you will bookmark me and give me a shot. If you like it please sign up so I know that someone is reading. Thanks.

Also, if you are new to my blog, check out some of the past posts.