It’s Been 2,000 Years, So Why Do We Believe Jesus Is Coming “Soon”?

It's been 2,000 years, so why do we believe that Jesus is coming soon? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. Well, hi, this is Bill Meyer along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

We pray that you had a wonderful Easter. This is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. Our phone lines are open right now, and you can call us for the next 25 minutes or so. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites, and of course you can always email us your question. Our email address is questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Chris calling in from Nashville, Tennessee. Chris, what's your question for Adriel? Hi, can you hear me?

Yeah, I can hear you, Chris. All right, hey guys, my question is how should pastors tithe and also people who are in the ministry or missionaries, but I'm pretty much wanting to know about pastors. What do you do, Adriel, with that situation?

What do I do? That's a great question. I've actually had this conversation with other pastors before. I don't know what everyone does.

I can tell you what I think we ought to do. I think it's good to give a tithe even to the church you're a part of now or the church you're ministering in. Now, of course a tithe, I believe, was specifically a part of the old covenant, and so I don't think that we're bound to the tithe in the same way that the believers under the Old Testament were, but I do think that the tithe is a helpful baseline in terms of thinking about giving to the work of the gospel in the local church. Specifically, you know, you have Paul's exhortation in 2 Corinthians 9 where he says, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. So for everyone, whether you're a pastor or not, I think the exhortation is don't give reluctantly and don't give under this sense of compulsion, you know, just out of a heart of bitterness or something like that. No, we want to give to the Lord and to the work of the gospel, and we want to do so with joy because the Lord loves a cheerful giver, and I think that that applies to those who are in ministry especially. I mean, we ought to be setting forth an example of generosity and in particular giving to the work of the ministry, the work of the advancement of the gospel, but this is also applicable, of course Paul's words there in 2 Corinthians 9, to all believers. And so I have spoken to pastors in the past who have said, you know, I don't know, it's kind of weird, I feel weird tithing to my own church, that sort of a thing. Others who have said, you know, I give to other churches, church planting, things like that.

And so I think there's, I mean, just going back to what Paul said there specifically, each one must give as he has decided in his heart, but for all of us as Christians in the church and especially for pastors wanting to cultivate that heart of generosity, I think is really, really important. Chris, are you in ministry? Are you a pastor?

Not currently. God may have called me to that in a while. I'm kind of in the process of just going through the Bible right now and getting familiar with it, and I have the gift of speaking, public speaking and teaching, but I'm still kind of in the learning stages.

Awesome. Well, may God continue to bless you as you study the Scriptures, and boy, if that is something that he's gifted you with teaching and you have a sense of call to the ministry, may the Lord bless you and bring people around you who are going to encourage you and also help to guide you in that specifically. So Chris, God bless and thank you for your call.

Thanks, Chris. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Love to hear from you if you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life doctrine, theology, you name it. If you've got questions or doubts about the Christian life, maybe you consider yourself to be an atheist or an agnostic. We're open to your calls as well.

And maybe there's some area of your life that you're struggling in right now. We'd love to hear from you and even pray for you. Here's the number, 833-THECORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Cynthia calling in from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Cynthia, what's your question for Adriel? Well, I wanted to find out how you account for or explain the gospel of the kingdom that is spoken of in the gospels with the gospel of grace that Paul spoke of through all of his epistles. Yeah. You know, great question. You know, when Jesus begins his earthly ministry, he goes out proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God, oftentimes referred to as the gospel of the kingdom, as you said, in places like Mark chapter four. We have to understand first and foremost what the word gospel is. The gospel is good news.

It's an announcement. This is the announcement of the coming of God's long expected kingdom as the prophets had spoken about. Now, of course, it came in ways that the people weren't expecting. Christ conquered sin, death, and hell through his suffering and resurrection from the dead. People were looking for more of a political kingdom, you know, a king who is going to come and reign and, you know, kick the Romans out and reestablish Israel as this great nation going to spread out throughout the whole world. And what Jesus was doing was unique.

It was different from what they were expecting, but it wasn't different from what had actually been prophesied. And so gospel is that good news, that announcement of the coming of God's kingdom through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we experienced that kingdom even now, today, through the ministry of the local church, through preaching, through baptism, through the Lord's Supper, through evangelism, as people are brought out of darkness into the kingdom of God's light. And all of that is on the basis of God's grace. It's by grace that we have been saved through faith.

This not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, as the apostle Paul said in Ephesians chapter two. And so I wouldn't see, you know, I wouldn't see any, any contradiction, not like they're, they're preaching two different gospels there. In fact, Paul was very careful to make sure that the same gospel he was preaching was what the other apostles were preaching in places like Jerusalem. They're preaching the same gospel that they received from Jesus. And through that gospel, the kingdom of God is advancing throughout the world. And so I would see them as one in the same, Cynthia.

Now just wanting to give you an opportunity to follow up, was there something specifically that concerned you about at least the way that they were talking or something that made you think, well, these are two different things. Maybe Paul is preaching a different gospel? Yes, I was thinking one was specifically for the Jews. And that would be the gospel of the kingdom because Jesus came specifically to fulfill the prophecies. And he was primarily focused on the Jews, even though he knew the great plan that eventually that the Gentiles will be brought in and he did, he did heal and work with plenty of Gentiles, not a lot, but a few. However, the gospel of grace was the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And he couldn't really proclaim that as the gospel of the kingdom, because that was the ultimate kingdom that he's going to have here on earth in the future. So I saw one being applied towards the Jews and one being applied towards salvation. And that's how I looked at it.

Yeah. See, that's really interesting. I understand the kingdom of God, and especially with the coming of Jesus. And yes, you're right. He came to the Jew first and then to the Greeks, to the Gentiles, but the kingdom of God that was established. And this was always how it was supposed to be, even in the Old Testament.

Israel was supposed to be a light to the nations. It wasn't just for them. It was for the whole world. This is one of the wonderful things about the new covenant, which is, right, this manifestation of God's kingdom through the local church on earth, the blessing and the gifts of the new covenant that God has given to his people.

It's that it's all inclusive. You know, the promise, Peter says, is to you and to your children, speaking to the Jews there on the day of Pentecost gathered together in Jerusalem, you and your children and to all who are far off. That is the nations of the world, the Gentiles, as Isaiah had prophesied. And so this is good news for the whole world. The kingdom of God is good news for the whole world. And we receive that kingdom through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, through the work that he accomplished for us on the cross and in his resurrection from the dead. Cynthia, may the Lord bless you as you continue to study the word of God. Thank you for giving us a call.

Thanks so much, Cynthia. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We've been offering a wonderful book here on the Core during the last week or two, and it's a book that we think every Christian will benefit from. It's by Lee Strobel, who was an atheist and a legal reporter for a Chicago newspaper who went out to really try to disclaim the claims of Christianity and ended up becoming a Christian based on his own research. And it's called The Case for Christ. Yeah, we're grateful to be able to offer this book to you right now because it's one of those books that's going to help you understand the sort of why behind, why we believe the things that we believe related to Christ's resurrection from the dead. Not only that, though, I mean, in the case for Christ, you have a lot of stuff about scripture, the authority of scripture, some of those foundational important doctrines that we need to grasp as believers, especially if we're having conversations with people who are skeptical about the faith or who maybe think, well, you just believe that because it's wishful thinking, or there's not really any sort of evidence backing up what it is that you believe as Christians.

Well, that's not the case at all. And that's what Lee Strobel came to discover as he was researching these things. And he outlines it all in this book, The Case for Christ. And so you can get ahold of this resource over at corechristianity.com. You know, if you have a friend or relative who considers themselves a skeptic, this would be an awesome book to give to them or to maybe read together to help them understand why the Christian gospel can be backed up with faith, with facts.

It's a wonderful book that will be a tremendous help to you. The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. And you can find that by going to corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Again, corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Look for The Case for Christ. Well, we do receive voicemails here at the core and you can call us 24 hours a day and leave us your voicemail.

Here's one that came in from one of our listeners named Zach. Is it right to say that Jesus is coming soon? The reason I ask is scripture says no one knows the day or the hour, like the Father. And then second thought on that. I mean, it's been almost 2000 years now.

I don't I don't know if you can really consider that under the soon category. Yeah. Curious to hear your thoughts on that question. Maybe I'm just not getting the picture.

So thank you. Hey, Zach, thank you for that question. I mean, this gets at our eschatology and understanding some of those statements that Jesus was making in the gospels and even what the disciples were talking about when they when they referred to the coming of our Lord being soon. Specifically, you know, you look at the Book of Revelation as well. You have all of these statements, right?

This this near coming. Now, some people have said, oh, that's a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., what was prophesied by Jesus himself in the Olivet Discourse, where he talked about this coming in judgment on Israel. And I think that there's some indication you're looking at that that theories of teaching that Jesus gave in particular in the gospels.

I think I think there's something to say. He is prophesying about the destruction of Jerusalem. But you also have this this sense that the apostles were waiting for Jesus to come back very quickly and judge the world. Now it's been a while, at least from our perspective. But of course, we want to remember what what Peter said in Second Peter Chapter three concerning the day of the Lord.

And this is this is where I would go with your question. Peter wrote, This is now the second letter that I'm writing to you, beloved. In both of them, I'm stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. They deliberately overlook this fact that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God. And that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word, the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire being kept until the day of judgment and destruction on the ungodly. But now listen to what Jesus said or listen to what Peter says. Do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But Peter says, Look, you know, some people are going to say, boy, you know, is he ever going to come back? Where is the promise of his coming? You know, history is just continuing as it always has. And they're going to scoff.

They're going to scoff about this. And Peter says, Hold on a second. With the Lord, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.

You know, the period of time that has taken place from the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ to now, that's a couple days, if you will, in the divine scheme of things. Why is God tearing, though? Peter says, It's for your sake. God is tearing for your sake, because right now this is the age of grace and mercy. And he's calling all people everywhere to repent, to turn to him and receive the forgiveness of sins that is through Jesus Christ. So rather than scoffing, rather than saying, haha, where is the promise of his coming?

You know what we should do? We should say, Lord, thank you. Thank you for not shutting the door before it was too late for me.

Thank you for holding the door open so that sinners like me might come through Jesus, who is himself the door, the way, the truth and the life to receive your grace. And so that's, that's what I agree when people say, you know, boy, he hasn't come back. I say, well, well, look, he is tearing for our sake so that each might reach repentance.

Don't, don't waste your time. Don't, don't, don't assume, right? That, that, well, it's just all things are going to continue as they always have instead lay hold of the grace of God for you. God bless Zach.

Well said. Thanks for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We still have time for your phone call.

If you have a question about the gospel, the Christian life, something going on in your personal life, maybe some sort of persecution you run up against at home or work or in your neighborhood at your school, we'd love to hear from you. Here's the number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Justin who's calling in from Arkansas. Justin, what's your question for Adriel? Hey Pastor Adriel, how are you? I'm doing well. How are you doing, Justin?

I'm doing good. So I've, I've had this on my mind for a while now. Our preacher has been talking about this, our pastor, and I've just, I don't know that I agree with him and I wanted to get your take on this. So he says that in the Bible, it says that there's no pain or sorrow.

There's only joy when we get to heaven. And I've asked him a couple of times, you know, so what happens when we get to heaven and the family members that didn't make it to heaven, will we remember them? And his opinion on that is that no, God will not allow us to remember them as to, so that there's no pain or sorrow for them that didn't make it to heaven.

Now I personally don't believe that. I think that, you know, we'll remember them, but we won't feel sorrow for the ones that didn't make it. I was just wondering your opinion and take on that.

Yeah, thank you for your question. You know, I believe that when we're in the presence of the Lord, when we're in heaven, our knowledge, I mean, we're going to be transformed, perfected in holiness, even prior to the resurrection of the dead, which we're looking forward to on the last day. But when we die, our spirits go to be with the Lord, to be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord, where we join together with all the departed in Christ, the angels around the throne of God as well, worshiping God. And there we're going to have this fullness of knowledge. I don't think we're going to have less knowledge. I don't think it's going to be like we're just going to forget everything and God is going to erase our memories.

But, you know, Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, when he talks about being in the presence of the Lord, he says this in verse eight, love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away. As for tongues, they will cease us for knowledge. It will pass away. We know in part and we prophesy in part.

But when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child.

When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

And so it seems to me like based on what the apostle Paul says, when we're in the presence of the Lord, perfected in holiness, we're going to have an even fuller knowledge. It's not going to be more limited. It's not like our memory is going to be erased. It's going to be fully restored.

We're going to have this full knowledge. And yet somehow we're not going to be full of despair and sorrow. Instead, you think of that great scene that's given to us in Revelation chapter 21, verse four, he, God, will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away. And so in some sense, and again, this side of heaven, you know, we can only imagine, right, we can only imagine this side of heaven, but in some sense, we're going to be so overwhelmed with the glory, the grace, the goodness, the love of God, that the sorrows that we experienced here on earth, the pain that we experienced here on earth is not going to weigh us down in the age to come. Now again, I don't know exactly what that's going to be like, but it's just going to be the overwhelming presence of God, his goodness, his glory healing us, restoring us, granting us peace.

And of course, you know, right now we pray for our loved ones, for our family members, longing to see them come to know Jesus, to embrace the gospel of Christ. And we grieve, you know, when they don't, when they reject that. And many, you know, die apart from faith. And so we do have sorrow over that. Paul talks about that sorrow in Romans chapter 9 specifically, when he talked about, you know, all his kinsmen, according to the flesh, who had rejected the gospel. He says, I wish that I was accursed for their sake, that they might know Christ. And yet again, when we're in the presence of the Lord, right, there's going to be this fullness of joy that's going to eclipse everything else. And again, right now we can only imagine it, but I don't think it's going to be that God is just going to cause us to forget everyone we ever knew or every bad thing that ever happened somehow.

Even with that still there, I believe with the fullness of knowledge, we're going to be overwhelmed with the goodness and glory of God so that there is no more sorrow. God bless you, brother. Amen. Great picture.

You painted for us there, Adriel. Thanks for that. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. You can leave a voicemail with your question anytime, 24 hours a day. Our voicemail system is always active. And here's the number to call. It's 833-THECORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Kathy calling in from Indiana. Kathy, what's your question for Adriel?

Hi, thank you so much for taking my question. God created the angels, one being Satan, who became envious of God and wanted to be like him or better than him, and thus was kicked out of heaven. And I'm really struggling because I know God's creation is perfect, and it's hard for me to understand how evil even came in. But my question is, if we're going to spend eternity with God, are we at risk of sinning and potentially getting kicked out of heaven?

Wouldn't that be the worst, Kathy? I mean, it's like, oh, not this again, all over again. But the answer is no. And so God did create the angels and man, Adam and Eve, there in the garden with free will, the call to choose. It was sort of like this, we might say, probationary period there where Adam and Eve were not perfected in holiness at that point. There was still something set before them, the heavenly life that was set before them, had they obeyed the commandment of the Lord. And so there's this there's this trial period, if you will, where God places them in the garden, gives them his law, says, hey, be fruitful, multiply, do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And they have a choice and left to the freedom of their own wills. They sinned against God by eating the forbidden fruit. And that plunged humanity into death and despair and sorrow and sin. We, when we turn to Jesus Christ, are grafted into the new Adam. We're no longer under Adam and and, you know, this this death that he brought, sin that he brought. Now we are connected to the new Adam, Jesus Christ.

Paul talks about this in First Corinthians, Chapter 15 and in Romans, Chapter five. And when we enter into the presence of the Lord, when we go to heaven, we are perfected in holiness so that we experience, especially on the last day, the resurrection of the dead, something beyond what even Adam and Eve had experienced in in the garden. We're we're confirmed in that holiness, in that righteousness, in that perfection that was set before Adam and Eve, which they fell short of by sinning against God. And so being in heaven and the new creation is not it's just not just putting us into this situation of like we're new Adams and Eves and and we have another chance to sin against God. No, we're going to be perfected. And there is going to be no more. It's going to be totally eradicated sin.

And we're going to exist in perfect love and worship with God and all of God's people and the angels for all eternity around his throne. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833 the CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.