THE GREAT POSTPONEMENT

Peter, James, John and Paul all believed and, inspired by the Spirit of Christ, wrote that the end of the world was at hand. That was almost 2,000 years ago and the end still has not come. What you will read in this article is a little-known truth concerning this and the fact that the Bible clearly teaches that the world has already been evangelized in fulfillment of what is commonly called "The Great Commission." Notwithstanding the fact that the main work of the Church is to evangelize the unsaved and make disciples of the converts, the world does not need to be evangelized again by Christians as a prerequisite for the return of Christ and the end of the world (although the world will be evangelized by an angel during the Great Tribulation, Rev. 14:6).

Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, "This I say, brethren, the time is short" (1 Cor. 7:29a). "Now all these things [various judgments of Old Testament saints] happened unto them for examples: and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come" (1 Cor. 10:11). AND to the saints at Rome he wrote, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand" (Rm. 13:12a).

Peter wrote, "The end of all things is at hand" (1 Pet. 4:7a). There is no reason to believe that Peter or Paul had in mind that the end of all things was in the distant future.

The writer to the Hebrew Christians said, "But now once in the end of the world hath he [Jesus] appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Heb. 9:26). And, "[Exhort] one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching" (Heb. 10:25). The writer believed that the first appearance of Jesus to die on the cross and "the end of the world" were in the same time frame. Also, the writer penned, "For in just a very little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay" (Heb. 10:37).

James wrote, "Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand" (Jam. 5:8b NKJV).

In approximately A. D. 95 the apostle John wrote, "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass" (Rev. 1:1). And, "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand" (Rev. 1:3).

"Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour" (1 Jn. 2:18 NKJV).

It is obvious from the many verses included here that the writers believed the end of the world and the return of Christ was at hand, not in the distant future, and especially not 2,000 years later. Since this is established by Scripture it is obvious that there was a postponement of the consummation of the age and the end of the world. But does God inspire men to write one thing, for example that the end of all things is near or at hand, and then postpone or delay the same in a way that seems contrary to His Word? Following are two things that help us to see that the Word of God does not contradict itself. First, "The heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3:7-9).

Second, following is a small example of God postponing what He had already said would soon take place. King Hezekiah had a terminal illness and Isaiah was sent by the Lord to tell him to set his house in order because he was going to die. But after Hezekiah prayed, God told Isaiah to tell the king that He would heal him and add fifteen years to his life. Hezekiah's death, according to God, was at hand but He postponed it for fifteen years. God is sovereign, and He can do anything that He wants to do. Nothing is impossible with God (Mt. 19:26).

If you are interested in reading what the Scriptures really say about the timing of the rapture of the saints and the fact that Jesus is coming back on the last day of the Great Tribulation (which is the last day), please read the articles titled Pre-Trib Rapture---Fact or Fable? and The Last Day.

On the sixteenth day of the eighth month of 1980 God showed me a very clear vision of the entire world engulfed in flames and clearly said to me, "The world is coming to an end." That was my first encounter with the Lord and I was saved ten weeks later on 10/25/80. After I was born again I read in the Scriptures for the first time what Peter wrote about the last day which is precisely what I saw in the vision. (That is the only vision I have ever seen.) Peter wrote, "The heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment....The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2 Pet. 3:7, 10).

The Bible reveals that oftentimes God's judgment covers a forty-year period or comes forty years after His warning of the same. For example, Jerusalem was destroyed in A. D. 70, which was forty years after Jesus prophesied the event. (I want to make it clear that I am not setting dates---no man knows the hour or the day---but we can know the season when the last day is near.) If there is a correlation, then could it be that God will destroy the world forty years after He showed me the vision depicted in 2 Peter 3:10 and told me, "The world is coming to an end"? If so, then the world will come to an end sometime around the year 2020. If this is the case, then what is referred to as the "Great Tribulation" (lasting three and a half years) will begin and the Antichrist will be revealed sometime around 2016.

For those who cannot accept that the world will be burned up on the last day of the Great Tribulation when Jesus comes back (not 1,000 years later), please read the article titled The Last Day. This will clearly reveal to you what the Scriptures have to say about this fact.

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