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The language of Imminency: What does soon mean?

 

Does the "Soon" Language of Revelation Prove Preterism?

 

"The primary thing that people appeal to is this: the language of 'Near" and "quickly" that are used in Revelation seem to indicate that Jesus is going to come back immediately, in that generation."

Two words :

  Takos:  Quickly or suddenly

  Angus :  Near  For the time is near.    If John says that the time is near and things must soon come to pass then it has to happen within a few years.  We can't be looking thousands of years down the timeline for fulfillment.  This doesn't seem to be in the spirit of the proper interpretation.

These two words are used throughout Revelation, from chapter 1 to chapter 22.

Therefore the entire span of time that the book of Revelation covers is all considered "soon".  This includes the letters to the churches, the visions, the binding of Satan, the release of the Beast, the new heaven and the new earth.  All of these time periods are considered "soon" and "near".

Has Satan currently been released from his imprisonment?  Few interpretations regards that step to have happened yet.  And yet it is encompassed in the Soon language of Revelation.

More recently, some in the preterist viewpoint have begun to argue that the new heavens and new earth in Revelation 21 and 22 are being fulfilled.  But this opens the way to further error because it denies the actual return of Jesus.  In such a position, there is no eschatology at all.  Instead, there is an ever-present and uncharted now and anything that the New Testament might seem to say about it is irrelevant.

Revelation 21 and 22 are not a reference to the eternal state.  Perhaps there is no claim in Christianity to the eternal state whatsoever, which brings into question questions about the resurrection of believers.  When you start down this road,  you are pounding at the foundations of the faith.

Old Testament Precedent

The Old Testament is replete with the language of "Soon" and "Near" and "At hand."  

Deuteronomy 32:35   "For the day of their calamity is at hand (same word as near) and their doom comes swiftly."  This is God talking about a judgement in the far future, not within a time span of a few years.  

Joel 1:15  "For the day of the Lord is near".  

Joel 3:14:  "Multitudes, multitudes
in the valley of decision!
For the Day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision." 

Joel is dated around 800 BC and nothing had happened by the time that Jesus began his ministry.  So in what sense was the day of the Lord near?

1 Thessalonians 5:2 "You  yourselves are fully aware that the day of the lord will come like a thief in the night."

What this means is that rather than claiming that these things that John is talking about must soon come to pass, it is more likely talking about coming without delay, coming suddenly.  Coming without warning.

A second reading of these terms is that they are reflection of imminence.   Nothing more must happen before these events could occur.

 

Behavior of Believers 

 James 5:8.  Be patient, establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand.  Behold, the judge is standing at the door.

1 Peter 4:7  "The end of all things is at hand." 

Philippians 4:5 "Let your reasonableness be known to everybody.  The Lord is at hand."

According to preterist understanding, each these instances of things being 'at hand' or 'near' is talking about 70 AD.  But if James and Peter and Paul are using the 70 AD judgement as reasons for being reasonable and patient, then that motivation has been taken away.  

Paul says that the Lord is at hand in the destruction of the temple so we should be reasonable to everybody.  But that isn't the case for the modern Christian.  They don't have the imminent destruction of the temple hanging over their heads; that's all done with.  So it isn't really a reason for being patient or reasonable.  There may be other reasons for these things.

If you are claiming these things, you are systematically erasing any expectation of looking ahead to the Lord's return.  This is why preterism is so dangerous.  

Doug Wilson says that the attractiveness of preterism is that it can be used to answer anything.  All the references in the New Testament have been fulfilled in 70 AD.  We have no more looking ahead to the return of Christ, there is no expected future period of reunification, future hope of glory.  And no admonition to live in light of his imminent return.

This has the potential to destroy the Church.  Nothing in the New Testament applies to the modern church, except as a general model of how things might happen. 

 

Soon or Suddenly

 Sam Frost:  I'm constantly amazed that the word 'Soon' is so readily accepted and dogmatically is the only available translation of this idea. It isn't.  Quickly or suddenly is another viable option.

Malachi 3:1  "Behold I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple" 

When it says in the Old Testament that the day of the Lord is near or at hand, it means that this is the next step in the prophetic timeline. It is the next part of the plan, and nothing else must be put in place before it can occur.

Jesus urged his disciples to watch "for you do not know the day or the hour."  Jesus' return will happen when you least expect it.  Like the Bridegroom coming after midnight, Jesus urged us to be vigilant.  Jesus' message was to be ready and vigilant because his return would be unexpected.  The disciples echoed that sentiment in their letters.  They said, you don't have time to correct errors or impulsiveness, or rash reactions, or poor behavior.  You must act as though our time on earth is limited and unpredictable.  Don't be found without any oil in your lamp.

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