Doctrine of Imminency; 1 John 2:18
In this section John is giving us his instruction to baby believers. It extends from verse 18 through verse 27. When we look at this we have to keep in mind the background is our framework of the stress-busters or the problem-solving devices, the ten spiritual skills that characterise different stages of our advance in the spiritual life. We have to get in place these spiritual skills and make them operational in our life, and the result of that is happiness. Happiness isn't something you go and get, happiness is the consequence of having thinking oriented to doctrine and utilising the spiritual skills. The spiritual skill that has most to do with spiritual adolescence is a personal sense of eternal destiny, because at that stage we quit living for tomorrow and we start living life in terms of eternity.
Now we come to the children. They are focusing on those five basic problem-solving devices. Understanding confession so that we can get back in fellowship. Staying in fellowship, which is the filling of the Holy Spirit or walking by means of the Holy Spirit, and all of those are encapsulated in the word "abide" which relates to fellowship.
1 John 2:18 NASB "Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour." The words "antichrist is coming" is anarthrous, i.e. no definite article, which usually emphasises the quality of the noun, and in this case it is a singular noun so it refers to one specific individual who will come in history. Then "even now [in the church age] many antichrists." The repetition of the phrase "it is the last hour" is for emphasis and the concept of the last hour must be investigated. The Greek is eschate hora [e)sxath w(ra] which is literally translated "last hour." The word eschate is not used in reference just to something prophetic in the future. The verb is a present active indicative; it is. John is talking about the time that he is living, the pre-canon period of the church age. He is writing at approximately 80 or 90 AD, the canon is almost finished, and he keeps saying "it is," right now, that it already was the last hour. What we will see is that the last days is a combination of the church age and the Tribulation. It is the last period of human history before the destruction of the cosmic system which John referred to back in verse 17 which is passing away. This is the last opportunity Satan has to attempt to control mankind.
This is seen in other passages. For example, in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 NASB "But realize this, that in the last days [the entire panorama of the church age] difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good…" These are historical trends that will occur throughout the church age. "…treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these." Many antichrists are coming up again and again and again, and that is the trend throughout the church age. So what we find is exactly what Paul referred to in 2 Timothy 3:5, people who hold to a form of godliness, just external religious observation. They may even say the right things and use the right terminology but it is truly external because they have denied its power, i.e. a true relationship with Jesus Christ based on faith alone in Christ alone, and then exercising the power of God the Holy Spirit through the filling of the Spirit. These doctrines are being rejected more and more today but that is the core of real spiritual power, especially the filling of the Holy Spirit in conjunction with the Word of God.
Another verse that deals with the last days in Hebrews 1:2 NASB "in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world." The writer identifies "last days" with his present time, which was certainly in the first century of the church. Then again in James 5:3 NASB "Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!" The last days there refers to the church age because they are "storing up your treasure" in this age and their hope is on the present time and their present wealth, and their focus is not a hope upon the future, they had no sense of future eternal destiny.
Peter uses this term three times. 1 Peter 1:5 NASB "who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." There he refers to that revelation towards the end of this age, and that refers not to salvation in terms of justification but salvation or deliverance at the Rapture. So that includes the church age. [20] "For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you." There he is using "last times" in terms of the early part of the church age. Then in 2 Peter 3:3 NASB "Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with {their} mocking, following after their own lusts." Once again the "last days" there refers to the present time. So the eschatos referred to in these verses include both the present church age and the Tribulation. So we are living in the last days, and so was Peter, Paul and John.
John goes on to say that it is the "last hour." That term "hour" is used by John to refer to a temporal measurement within a day. He uses it that way in John 1:39; 4:6; 11:9 but he also uses that term to refer to an indefinite period of time, a time of undetermined length—John 2:4; 4:21, 23, where Jesus says "an hour is coming and now is…" He also uses it that way in John 5:25, 28; 16:25. So "last hour" does not refer to a measurement on the clock but to an undetermined period of time or an age. John uses the present tense, continuous action, "it is the last hour," and that indicates expectancy; he is expecting something to come.
The doctrine of the imminency of the Rapture
- In the Oxford English Dictionary we are told that imminent means that something is hanging overhead, is constantly ready to befall or overtake one, it is close at hand in its incidence. That means it could come at any moment. It is impending, it is threatening to occur. It does not mean that it is soon or immediate. It is certain, it will occur, but it is uncertain when it will occur. We also know that it is not contingent on any other event, and no prophesied event intervenes between the believer and the Rapture. There is no prophecy that must be fulfilled between now and the coming of the Rapture. In fact, there is no prophecy fulfilled in the church age. The reason we know the second coming is not imminent is that there are specific signs that must take place before the second coming. In this age, the church age, we are in the only dispensation in which there are just historical trends and no prophecy.
- The doctrine of imminency is important to understand the pre-Tribulation return of Jesus Christ at the Rapture. The Rapture is the resurrection of all dead church age believers and the removal of all living believers from the earth at the end of the church age, just prior to the beginning of the Tribulation. The Rapture does not begin the Tribulation. What begins the Tribulation is when the Antichrist signs a peace treaty with Israel.
- The purpose of the doctrine of imminency is to keep each believer in a constant state of expectancy. We have to be ready in a constant state of expectancy, looking, waiting, watching, and hoping for the return of Christ that we might be ready and prepared and not ashamed at His coming (1 John 2:28).
- Believers are to look for the blessed hope. We are not to look for the Antichrist, the rebuilding of the temple, for the restoration of an Israeli state or Levitical priesthood. We are to: a) look for the Saviour, Hebrews 9:28; Titus 2:13; b) watch for the Saviour, 1 Thessalonians 5:6; Luke 12:37. We are looking forward to His coming; c) wait for the Saviour, 1 Corinthians 1:7; 1 Thessalonians 1:10, not for some other intervening event.
- Since there is no prophecy between the baptism of the Spirit and the Rapture it means that the Rapture is imminent. It could occur at any time, no one knows the day of the hour. We have to be ready.
- The resurrection of the church, like our dying, is completely out of our control; we don't have anything to say about it.
- The resurrection of the church is totally beyond our control because resurrection is the Lord's victory, 1 Corinthians 15:57. That victory is victory over death, and that victory is seen in the resurrection of Christ and our resurrection at the Rapture is based on that.
- While the Rapture is imminent, the second advent is not. The second advent is going to come at the end of a specified series of events given in the Scriptures.
- The Rapture could have occurred at the time of James or Paul because no prophecy had to be fulfilled before the resurrection of the church occurred. Paul and Peter both expected it in their lifetime and that motivated them to live in the light of that expectancy.
- Distortion of the imminency of the Rapture results in instability and foolish speculation about the time of the Rapture. That is the basis for James admonition in James 5:7, 8.
- Key passages that teach imminency: 2 Peter 3:3-8 NASB "Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with {their} mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For {ever} since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God {the} heavens existed long ago and {the} earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one {fact} escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day." This passage warns us that people will become impatient and question whether Jesus will ever come back. John 14:1-3 is a crucial passage for understanding imminency. NASB "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, {there} you may be also." How did Jesus Go" Physically and bodily. Here He indicates He is going to come again in the same way. The disciples were expecting to stay on earth in the coming kingdom, but that is not what Jesus is saying. This is not talking about what happens at death, it is talking about what happens at the Rapture. That is what the angels say in Acts 1:11 NASB "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven." Revelation 22:12 NASB "Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward {is} with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done." The word there in the Greek is taxis [tacij] and it means that everything with come in correct order, it doesn't mean coming soon. There is a difference between the imminency and the soon-coming of Christ. James 5:7-9 NASB "Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door." We are to wait expectantly. 1 Corinthians 1:7 NASB "so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ." Philippians 3:21 NASB "who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself." 1 Thessalonians 4:15 NASB "For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep." Titus 2:13 NASB "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus." 1 Corinthians 16:22 NASB "If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed. Maranatha (Lord, come)." We are to be ready for it, anticipating it. Romans 13:11 NASB "{Do} this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation [deliverance, i.e. the Rapture] is nearer to us than when we believed." 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 NASB "Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality." In v. 51 the word "mystery" can't be talking about the resurrection because it was known in the Old Testament, Abraham and David knew about resurrection. So Paul can't be talking simply about the resurrection at the second coming. He has to be talking about the transformation at the Rapture because that, and only that doctrine, was unrevealed in the Old Testament. So this is a strong passage for the pre-Tribulation Rapture. Philippians 4:5 NASB "Let your gentle {spirit} be known to all men. The Lord is near." 1 John 2:28 NASB "Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming." 1 John 3:1-3 NASB "See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and {such} we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope {fixed} on Him purifies [makes pure, the idea of confession] himself, just as He is pure." This has the idea of preparation for the Lord's coming.
I am waiting for the dawning
Of that bright and blessed day,
When the darksome night of sorrow
Shall have vanished far away;
When forever with the Saviour,
Far beyond this vale of tears,
I shall swell the song of worship
Through the everlasting years.
I am looking at the brightness
(See, it shineth from afar)
Of the clear and joyous beaming
Of the Bright and Morning Star,
Through the dark grey mist of morning
Do I see its glorious light;
Then away with every shadow
Of this sad and weary night.
I am waiting for the coming
Of the Lord who died for me;
Oh, His words have thrilled my spirit,
'I will come again for thee'
Faith can almost hear His footfall
On the threshold of the door,
And my heart, my heart is longing
To be with Him forevermore.