IN CONSIDERING the subject of the second coming of Christ, the timing, the manner, and the circumstances attend ant upon His coming, one point of discussion that needs (but quite often does not receive) careful attention is what has been called a second chance. The term usually has a pejorative sense; in one book that dramatizes the "rapture," the author is careful to stake out the claim that his view does not allow for a "second chance." 1
What constitutes a second chance? The entire human race was given a second chance at eternal life when the first one was muffed in the Garden of Eden. Jesus Christ provided that reprieve through His atoning death. And each of us at the dawn of every new day receives a new chance to correct mistakes, to claim the mercy of a forgiving God.
But the second-chance theory per se is something else. One rather extreme position even relates it to the point of death. There are some who teach, or at least imply, that those who die as unregenerate sinners will be resurrected and have another chance to accept Christ and His salvation.2 Most Christians deny this, believing that one's eternal destiny is determined in this present life and that death closes the books on a person's opportunity for salvation.
But the issue is clouded by some of the current concepts of the relationship be tween the Second Coming and that same closing of the books. This is especially true of the doctrine of a two-stage return of Christ. At the first invisible stage, i.e., at the "rapture," Christ is said to take the church bodily out of the world. For seven years the rest of the world continues. During the seven years, a large number of Jews are converted to Christ, albeit under dire circumstances. In addition, a sizable number of non-Jews will also be converted. Then when Christ returns in the parousia, the second stage of the Second Coming, He will destroy all the rebellious and reign uncontested over the converted Jews and Gentiles.
However, it is held as part of this rapturist view that as long as these people remain alive they are still under their "first chance," that no judgment is made in their case until the second Second Coming, the visible one.
This concept is certainly convenient for those who doubt the fact of a Second Coming anyway, and perhaps are not even sure there is a Jesus Christ. "Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation" (2 Peter 3:4). "Now," they can say, "if we see all the Christians disappear from the earth, pi lots of airplanes and engineers of trains and drivers of cars mysteriously vanish and these vehicles go clipping along and eventually come to grief without anyone at the controls, then surely we will know that the Christians were right all along. Then we will know we have seven years to make things right with God before Jesus comes back." Of course, they may experience some terrible times during the tribulation, but things are not usually as bad as expected and look at all the "fun" they are having now that they would miss if per chance the Christians are wrong. So they may say.
On the other hand look at the grief they will experience if there is no "first stage," no such unmistakable prior warning. Suppose that the Second Coming is just as Jesus indicated it would be —sudden, visible, and decisive. The Word of God has much to say about such a coming. He will come with great power and glory, with myriads of an gels, with the great sound of a trumpet, amid earthquake and fire. Every eye shall see Him and the great men of earth will flee in terror from the sight of Him. He will reap the earth in harvest, divide the sheep from the goats, throw the tares into the fire, and put the wheat into the barn. Those who con spire against Him will be destroyed by the brightness of His coming.3
But not a word, not one word, is said in the Bible about a prior, silent, in visible coming when He would secrete away His saints. The reference in 1 Thessalonians that describes Jesus taking away His saints states clearly it would be accompanied by a great trumpet call; other features of the same passage link it with the description in Matthew 25 of His public appearance. Similarly, attempts to find a "rapture" in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 flies in the face of lexical and contextual evidence.
Basically, the doctrine of a special coming of Jesus for a certain portion of His people as apart from a coming that is to include all His people is an out growth or a secondary conclusion of a concept that denies man the freedom of choice and denies God the ability to work around man's choices. According to this concept, God's promises to ancient Israel of a glorious reign will be literally fulfilled, in spite of God's own warning that if they didn't obey He would "repent of the good" He intended to bestow on them (Jer. 18:7-10). Jesus Himself stated unequivocally that the kingdom of God would be taken from the Jewish nation and given to another nation (Matt. 21:43), and Peter identifies that nation as the church (1 Peter 2:9, 10; cf. Ex. 19:6, 7). Israel is still God's people, but it is an Israel that shares the faith of Abraham, not necessarily his genes (Gal. 3:26-29).
Several problems are raised by the seven-year period of extended grace en visioned between two "comings" of Christ. There is the interpretation that during this period the Holy Spirit would return to the status He had before Pentecost, supposedly a low-profile stance of noninterference. To this view the objection may be raised that, with all Christians gone, the Scriptures under official interdict, and the Holy Spirit practically inactive, how are so many Jews, and Gentiles as well, to be converted—people who had not been converted when all these agencies were still operative? The answer is given by those who hold this view, that God will manifest Himself "in a special way." 4 This viewpoint intimates, however, that God is partial, that He is holding some thing up His sleeve. If He has a special way of saving people, or of getting their attention, a way that is more effective than any He has used to date, could He not be accused of injustice? Is God doing less than His best for man's salvation now?
If Jesus were to come and spirit away the Christians, would this really induce the ones left behind to mend their ways? Jesus' parable of the rich man and Lazarus was an answer to just such a proposal. Drawing His own conclusion to this parable, Jesus said of the Jewish leaders, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead" (Luke 16:31). In making a personal and present application of this statement, we understand that we have the Bible and all the testimony of the prophets to persuade us to accept salvation in Him. If this is not enough, then someone rising from the dead, or even Jesus in per son, would not be enough to persuade us to make that decision. God has done all He can do.
Must Be Ready Now
Since there is to be only the one Second Coming, it behooves us to be ready for it. And, actually, that preparation must be made before He comes. In the parable, the wheat and the tares are separated at the end of the world, but their becoming wheat or tares took place be fore that time. In the parable of the ten virgins, the five wise maidens provided themselves with extra oil before the bridegroom appeared.
The element of divine judgment is strong in the matter of the Second Coming, but the question is a broad one, because there are several phases to judgment. At this point we are not referring to the matter of timing or to time intervals—that is a study in itself. But we do note that judgment involves in vestigation—God must look into each individual case to determine what the facts are; it involves declaration—God pronounces who is to be saved and who is not; and it involves execution—the decision must be carried out, there must be sentence or reward.
That Christ shall separate the sheep from the goats, that He shall say to one group of people at His coming, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world," and to another group, "Depart from me, ye cursed" (Matt. 25:34-41), indicates well enough that He knows who is in each group. While the element of timing is not clear here, in 2 Thessalonians no doubt is left: "Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming" (chap. 2:8). Nor is this limited to any one individual. Revelation 19:21 shows that all the wicked share the fate of "that Wicked," the antichrist, at the coming of the Lord.
The point we wish to make here is that there will be no second chance beyond the coming of the Lord. Our destinies will have been decided at that point. They will have been decided be fore Jesus comes. How long before, we do not know, but clearly Jesus will know before He leaves heaven just who will be the citizens of His kingdom.
The author of Hebrews goes to considerable length to describe Jesus as our High Priest in heaven now. As our Mediator (see also 1 Tim. 2:5), He pleads our case before the Father. But at some point He determines that further mediation is of no avail, the issues of human redemption have been resolved. He then pronounces the decree recorded in Revelation 22:11: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still."
It is after that decree goes forth that Jesus returns to earth, for in the next verse He continues, "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be."
This emphasizes the importance of making our decision now to accept Jesus as our Lord and Master. There is to be no second chance, either after death or after our Lord's return. "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin" (Heb. 3:12, 13).
Paul made a similar appeal to the church at Corinth: "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2). Death itself may close our probation at any time, even before Christ gives His final decree. "For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth" (Isa. 38:18).
In his first Epistle, John makes a statement relevant to this topic of when our preparation is to be completed. "We know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (1 John 3:2, 3). Hope in the Second Coming, John says, is an instrument to help us get ready for that coming. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, then, with our cooperation, we are made to be like Jesus, and we will be like Him when He appears.
If we knew that we did not have to be ready by the time He appears, that we would have seven years after that to make the necessary preparation, would we make it now? Not many would. Human nature is not that way. We like to put things off if we can. But there is no such thing as taking our chances. There is no chance to take—there is only a choice. We get ready now or we will be caught unawares.
The decisions we make tomorrow are determined to a great degree by the decisions we made today. We must make our peace with God now. When we see Jesus coming with His angels it will be too late; our destiny will already have been decided. If we wait until then we will find ourselves among those calling for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them. That group will include many so-called Christians. They will have thought they were on the right side. "Lord, Lord," they will cry, "have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?" But the Lord will reply, "I never knew you [because you never really knew me]: depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (Matt. 7:22, 23).
If Jesus seems to be delaying His coming, we can find the reason here. He is not waiting for some sign to be fulfilled. Most of the signs of His return foretold by Him and John have been fulfilled. The chief ones remaining are those that transpire in the minds of men. Jesus is waiting for His people to want heaven enough to demonstrate that His way of life is possible, that His followers are the most trustworthy people in all the world. He is waiting for the harvest of the gospel seed to ripen! (Compare Mark 4:26-29 with Revelation 14:14-16.) From the beginning God has maintained that His kingdom is the only good and right kind. Jesus lived on earth to demonstrate God's love and His will. He has opened the way for each one of us to become a son or daughter of God. These are the ones who will make up His kingdom. All that remains now is for His people to lay their earthly toys aside, to want heaven enough to yield everything to God and allow Him to reign supreme in their lives.
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