Sunday, August 5, 2007

MacArthur on Imminence

John MacArthur wrote:

“The NT is consistent in its anticipation that the return of Christ might occur at any moment.”

And,

“From the very earliest days of the church, the apostles and first-generation Christians nurtured an earnest expectation and fervent hope that Christ might suddenly return at any time to gather His church to heaven.”

And,

“The writer of Hebrews cited the imminent return of Christ as a reason to remain faithful:

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.”
Hebrews 10:25

http://www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/j00-11-1.htm

Is MacArthur right on this verse, that it promotes “imminency” and denies that there are any signs or events that must precede the arrival of “that day”?

First, let us notice two key words in the passage.

Approaching” is from eggizō and means to “draw near to,” to “join one thing to another” (Strong)

“See” is from blepōo and means to “understand” to “discern mentally” or to “perceive” (Strong)

How do we, in every day life, see the day approaching”? Is it not by looking at a clock, or by looking at the “connection” of a present event (or sign) with either a most recent one or with an impending one? Do I not see the day of my death approaching by seeing the signs of it?

The Psalmist said:

“We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.” (Psalm 74:9)

Here it seems that the Psalmist is at odds with the thinking of MacArthur and the Pre-Tribbers in how they “see the day approaching,” or to “see” anything “approaching,” for that matter.

This passage is interesting in that it mentions key words like “see” and “signs” and “how long,” all relevant to the matter at hand. We do not often “see” “how long” because we do not “see our signs”!

Why then do Pre-Trib advocates and believers in “imminence” say that this “seeing the day approaching” is not to be looking for any event that precedes that day? Is that true in every day life?

How do I come to understand that the night, or next day, is “drawing near”? Is it not because we see “time slip away” by its connected events?

Pre-Trib folks should quit using such argumentation on such verses as Hebrew 10:25.

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