A few years ago I started seriously thinking through many points of doctrine related to the last things, Revelation, the Gospels, the current nation-state of Israel, etc. I have joked about being a panmillenialist (because it will all pan out in the end). But a few things became glaringly obvious to me and I decided I didn’t have the luxury of downplaying the topic any longer. The questions that started me thinking were based around the timing statements in the New Testament and this question: Were the apostles wrong about Jesus’ return?
This is a question that has never bothered me, but it is a significant stumbling block for many who examine Christianity. So let’s start with a ten minute video clip that addresses the question regarding if the apostles were wrong. I think why I chose this clip will be obvious.
Listen to this video from 7:10 to 17:10. (I can’t cue it up for some reason.) My comments continue after the video.
As always, the inclusion of a creator or content is not a blanket endorsement of either.
It’s so jarring when Beck says that the apostles were just wrong. As Bible-believing Christians, we immediately know the much bigger implications of what he’s saying. Because he’s a Mormon, I don’t think he does.
As J.T. says in the clip, I can’t unsee it either. Once you see it (and a few other things), passages in Matthew and Acts leap out at you in ways you never saw before. So does Revelation. So does really the entire New Testament.
Jesus also said that the gospel must be preached to all nations. The disciples didn’t know just how many nations there are, and how many continents they are on. The last of the unreached people groups are being reached right now in our day. I remember there was a missions effort to get to them all by the year 2000.
Also, I was just reading about the unfruitful fig tree in Matthew 21 this morning. There’s an interesting word in Matthew 19:28 in the KJV: “regeneration”.
I have a couple of videos to share about this, but does the idea of the gospel being preached to the whole world mean the entire Earth? That is what we think of when we read it. But that’s not what the original recipients would have thought.
Matthew 24:14
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (ESV)
“the whole world” = oikoumene
Oikoumene means the whole inhabited world which at that time was the Roman Empire. Luke 2:1 also uses oikoumene.
“And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.” (KJV)
“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.” (ESV)
“Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth.” (NASB)
I don’t think all of the Earth was included in this. The whole world was the Roman Empire.
There are several places in the New Testament where the writers affirm that the Gospel has been preached to the whole world. They use the same work (oikoumene).
Romans 1:8
“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.” (KJV)
“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.” (ESV)
Colossians 1:6
“which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth;” (NKJV)
“which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,” (ESV)
Others related
Romans 16:26 (all nations)
1 Timothy 3:16 (throughout the world)
Acts 2:5 (every nation under heaven)
Christians in the New Testament believed that the Gospel HAD been preached to the whole world. That’s why they believed that when Jesus said he was coming soon, He meant exactly what He said.
The question I think Christians today should be asking themselves is why we ignore the straightforward explanation of these passages and develop something much more complicated that contradicts Jesus and the apostles who were with him.
Lots more but my chicken beeper just went off!