It never fails, when you start talking about the Apocalypse or the end of the world, the discussions frequently turn into a theological debate or discussions over fiction books such as the, “Left Behind” series which many think is gospel truth. Not! Sorry, Larry Norman, “I Wish We'd All Been Ready”, is a modern human invention. So moving away from all of these non-biblical, distorted theories, we will look at a historical question: Did Jesus and his followers believe the end of the world, as they knew it, would happen in their lifetime?
Turning to the earliest gospel, the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is speaking to his followers and says in Mark 13:32-37:
But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.
As I already mentioned, Jesus is speaking to his followers and his disciples. He is not speaking to a future generation and the “you” does not include you. Rather, Jesus wants his present followers to be ready for the imminent end, hanging in the balance, as Jesus enters Jerusalem and is crucified by the Romans on the cross. This becomes more clear as we look at Matthew 24:34 where Jesus declares, “Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.” This generation that Jesus is referring to is his Jewish followers and disciples. Once again, we need to be very clear, “this generation” does not include you or any other generation other than Jesus’ followers 2000 years ago.
In 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, the New Testament’s earliest writing, the Apostle Paul concurs with Jesus that the Jesus generation, not some future generation, would not pass away before seeing the Apocalypse. However, Paul is dealing with something interesting and unique. Twenty years had passed since the death of Jesus and some of the Christians were getting a little antsy and they were wondering about all those Jesus followers who had already died. Were they going to miss out on Jesus’ return now that they were dead? Paul assures these early Christians that their deceased loved ones would not miss out but they would be raised from the dead as Jesus the Messiah descends from heaven with a shout as the King of kings. This is what Paul said:
For this, we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever.”(1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).
Did Jesus and his followers believe Jesus would return during their generation? Yes, but it didn’t happen? No.
In our next study, “The Apocalypse (Part 2), we will look at what exactly were these earlier followers expecting. What did this apocalypse look like to Jesus and his followers?
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