Tomorrow is Advent Sunday, the day when Christians recall God's D-Day and look forward to his V-Day. That is how Swiss theologian Oscar Cullmann described the times we live in. On D-Day God landed the forces of his grace on the beaches of human history in the person of Jesus Christ and since the triumph on Calvary victory is assured, the outcome is certain, but the final victory is not yet won for there is still an unfulfilled future. The great promises of the return of Christ in glory and the resurrection of the dead, the sombre reality of hell and the glorious reality of heaven all await V-Day. Cullmann termed it inaugurated eschatology and foresaw an unspecified period of blood, sweat and tears for the church between the divine D-Day and V-Day.
The New Testament uses three highly descriptive words to illuminate what the return of Jesus of Nazareth promises. First, it is a parousia, meaning presence or arrival and has the idea of a royal visit. The church lives in expectation of the visitation in pomp and circumstance of its Lord and King (First Letter to the Corinthians 15:23). Then, it is an apocalypsis, an unveiling of Jesus whose dominion and sovereignty are veiled at this moment. When he returns, the veil will be drawn aside and the world will see the reality and extent of his sovereign rule (First Letter of Peter 1:7). Thirdly, it is an epiphaneia, an appearing, and the church is expecting the glorious appearing of her great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ (Letter to Titus 2:13). The three concepts merge into the one overwhelming reality that while at this moment the glory of God in the face of Jesus is not visible to us, one day we shall see him clearly in all his divine splendour.
What are we to expect when Jesus returns? It will certainly be himself, in person, and not merely the ongoing presence of his memory, or his power, or even his Spirit. The Bible's details are scant as to what this involves, but as Christ was once really present in this world in the flesh, one day that presence will again be a physical reality.
Moreover, it will be a return in glory for though the first advent was indeed a real presence, it was veiled in lowliness and humiliation. Its hallmark was the divine incognito, for he was among us in obscurity and anonymity. This is the teaching of Paul's Letter to the Philippians 2: 5-11. Christ came as the great Nobody and to those who looked, he appeared merely a man. When he hung in his agony and shame, an executed criminal, on the cross outside the city wall that was the last place on earth we would have searched for Immanuel, God-with-us.
When he returns, he will look like what he is, the world's Saviour, God in glory, splendour and majesty, with all the trappings of deity. There was a flashing glimpse of all this on the Mount of Transfiguration (Gospel of Matthew 17) but now he comes with the holy angels and with the voice of the trumpet that awakes the dead (First Letter to the Thessalonians 4:16). Events as cataclysmic as the beginning of time will accompany the stopping of clocks for ever - the resurrection of the dead, the great Day of Judgment and the creation of a new heaven and earth.
Ah, but when? Sometime Church of Ireland rector at Calary, Co Wicklow, J.N. Darby, associated with spiritual renewal at Powerscourt House in the 1820s but much more famous as the founder of the worldwide Christian Brethren movement, was deeply involved in complicated attempts to diarise dates and timings. Yet the reality is, only God knows, which we know via Jesus's own confession of ignorance: "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Gospel of Matthew 24:36). Ultimately, Darby and friends all but claimed to know something God's Son does not know.
We do know Jesus may return at any time, like a thief in the night (First Letter to the Thessalonians 5:2), without warning, when least expected and so the church is to remain in a state of constant alertness. Jesus may be here today. Are we ready? When Methodism's founder John Wesley was asked how he would prepare for Jesus' return that evening, his response was, "I should continue to do exactly what I am doing." By contrast, what changes, what hurried repentances and mending of relationships would we scurry to effect were we to be alerted that Jesus would return to Ireland tonight?
Tomorrow - if it comes - we concentrate on futurism, the way reality will be when the Lord of glory erupts into world history. Remarkably, St Peter himself was prosaic and unflappable at the prospect, interpreting Jesus's return primarily as a call to daily godliness, so that all Christians might be as unruffled as the great Wesley: "Prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed" (First Letter of Peter 1:13).
G.F.