For no other reason than because Sandy alluded to it in his post, I brought down from the bookshelf Broughton Knox’s discussion of the coming of Jesus, referred to in Matthew 24, 25 and 26. It comes from a chapter cheekily entitled ‘The Five Comings of Jesus’ which you can read for yourself if you have Broughton’s book. If you haven’t got it, here’s what he says:
The third coming of the Son of Man distinguished in the New Testament is his coming on the clouds of heaven. It is a coming which takes place within the lifetime of Jesus’ hearers and will be recognized by them as having taken place.
Thus Jesus told the members of the Sanhedrin, “Henceforth you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven”. (Mt 26:64) Earlier in his ministry he had predicted, “Verily I say unto you, there shall be some of them that stand here that shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom”, and in the eschatological discourse in Matthew 24 which we have been considering, Jesus predicted “They shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory … Verily I say unto you this generation shall not pass away until all these things are accomplished. Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away”. (Mt 24:30, 34) It is plain from these passages that Jesus expected with absolute certainty that the Son of Man would come on the clouds during the lifetime of his hearers.
The image of the Son of Man coming on the clouds is drawn directly from Daniel 7:13 where the Son of Man comes with the clouds into the presence of the Ancient of Days and receives the Kingdom. This coming of the Son of Man is neither a coming into the world at Bethlehem nor the coming or parousia in judgement at Sodom or Jerusalem or any other of “the days of the Son of Man” but is a coming to the Father. As Jesus said in his prayer before his death, “I come to Thee”. (John 17:11, cf. John 14:12, 28 etc.) He comes to the Father to receive the everlasting kingdom, to be crowned with glory and honour through his death to sit on God’s right hand asking reigning and waiting for every enemy to be subject to him. The “coming on the clouds” is a synonym of “sitting at the right hand of God”, and both stand for receiving and the exercising of dominion and sovereignty.
(D Broughton Knox, Selected Works: Volume I: The Doctrine of God, edited by Tony Payne, Matthias Media, Sydney, 2000, p. 219.
Broughton goes on to refer to Psalms 2 and 110 to show how the Son of Man sits at God’s right hand to receive authority and to judge the nations. That authority is given to Jesus at his death and resurrection, and comes into effect through the preaching of the gospel to all the nations—a job we are still involved in. The coming of the Son of Man drives us to the task of evangelism!
Wikid!
But… for a dummy like me without a theological degree (hey, that rhymed), how do I tell which event Jesus is talking about as I read the gospels? What contextual (or other) clues tell me when he’s talking about Bethlehem, his crucifixion, or return in judgement?
(And what where the other 2 again?)
But, as I said above… Wikid! It’s great to see that the so called “unfulfilled promise” of Jesus to that generation is just a matter of not understanding one’s Old Testament.