The Church Desires Christ Always to be Off in the Distance as Israel Did

Yes, the church says, it might happen today, or tomorrow, or the next day. Thirty seconds later they forget all about it. That's called lip service.

We can gather that the Old Testament congregation of Israel did exactly the same thing concerning the first coming of Christ. If a Jew were asked: "when will the Messiah come and do you desire His coming?" The response would have been: "Oh yes, we long, greatly long for the Messiah to come. Maybe He'll come today, or tomorrow, or the next day."

That's what they would say. But the Bible tells us what their reaction was when the Jewish 'church' finally heard the news that the Messiah HAD come:

Matthew 1:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

3 When HEROD the king had heard these things, he WAS TROUBLED, AND ALL JERUSALEM WITH HIM.

We understand why an evil king such as Herod (a type of Satan) was troubled by the news of the birth of the Messiah – but why on earth would Jerusalem (the O.T. church) be troubled along with him?

They were troubled because as long as the Messiah stayed in the realm of a future event (coming one day), then they could conduct their religious business as they pleased. They could simply give lip service to the Messiah's coming on some future day and then continue to do the things they wanted to do in their synagogues.

But once they heard of an actual coming of the long promised Messiah, they were as troubled as Herod. An evil king. They experienced a similar reaction as the evil king because (for the most part) they were also an evil people. As the ministry period of Jesus' incarnation would prove, the Jews hated Him and in reality wanted nothing to do with the actual Messiah. They desired and preferred a Messiah in word only. They preferred a Messiah always off in the distance and not One in actuality. Not One that that would walk among them. Therefore they were troubled by the news of His coming. Even after He came they too (like the end time apostate church of our day) denied His coming. Denied all the way to the cross that He even was the Messiah.

So we find today the New Testament church is conducting itself as its wicked sister before her (Israel) and is giving nothing but lip service to the coming of Christ. Any serious information coming from the Bible regarding God's program for the return of Christ is brushed aside with a 'no man knows' and 'He may come today'. These type of statements are given and designed for one purpose: to avoid and dismiss the topic altogether.

Immediately after saying, "Jesus may come today, be ready," the church returns to its worldly ways and behaviour, so much so that today it is indistinguishable from the world.

The fact is that the Lord Jesus Christ will not come on just 'any' day. God does all things according to His program of times and seasons. He is a very precise God. The timeline of 120 years was given to Noah to build the ark. God told Noah the exact day the flood would come 7 days in advance. And God told Abraham and Sarah they would have a son at the set time the next year. The Lord also told Abraham that his seed would be afflicted four hundred years and afterwards come out with great sustenance. Israel was in Egypt 430 years to the selfsame day. Christ did not hang on the cross any old time, but the Lamb of God hung on the cross at the time of the Passover (the time when the Lamb was to be slain). The Holy Spirit was not poured out at a random time but on the day when Pentecost had fully come.

God also says Judgment Day is an appointed time:

Acts 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world ...

The end is set. It is established by God. He knows now and has always known exactly when it will be:

Daniel 11:35 ... even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.

Habakkuk 2:3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Following the Biblical pattern, God (who knows the precise day) will reveal it to His elect

people:

Genesis 7: And the LORD said unto Noah, ...

4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights;

Genesis 18:17 And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;

Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

Also, following the Biblical pattern we can expect that once God does reveal it (as He has already done), the church will reject it as Israel before them and be troubled by the information because the truth is that, deep down, they do not want Jesus to return at all.