And it is creation that Jesus’ second coming redeems. “In keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13, NIV). In this respect, believers in Jesus’ return are more hopeful
about this old Earth than anyone else. We have incentive to preserve and care for it, realizing that inasmuch as God thinks it worth saving, it is worth our preservation efforts, too. Adventists should be at the forefront of those advocating for the environment, because “the earth is the lord’s, and everything in it” (Psa. 24:1, NIV). We wouldn’t borrow a loved one’s house and then trash it!
That Problematic “Soon” A reader wrote this comment on an Adventist Today piece: “When I was little, I heard that Jesus would come ‘soon.’ When I’d tell mom I was hungry, she’d tell me supper would be ‘soon.’ In my little literalist mind, I thought Jesus would come for supper. To this day I wonder: what does ‘soon’ mean?” On this point our pioneers, bless them, failed us. Tey quit
setting precise dates in favor of soſt dates—predictions that they could update as oſten as necessary in order to put pressure on their listeners. Jesus, they said, is returning “soon.” But how soon is soon? Is it, as Adventists have understood it, any time when Jesus returns, from today to another two millennia from now? If it could be another two millennia, why do we keep saying, “Jesus is coming soon”? I will advance this (perhaps audacious) statement: it is too late
for Jesus to return soon. Even if Jesus came this aſternoon, he will not have come “soon” in any recognizable meaning of that word. Nor should we confuse “soon” with “sooner,” as in “Jesus is
certainly coming ‘sooner’ than he was in 1844.” At my age, I obviously expect to die sooner than I expected to die when I was 20 years old. But if my clinician tells me I’m going to die soon, I’m going to update my will, get my house in order, maybe rent a hospital bed. Tat Adventists have continued to have children, buy real estate, save for retirement, and write wills tells us that most don’t really expect Jesus very soon at all. Persisting in declaring a “soon” coming, 20 centuries aſter Jesus’
prediction and two centuries from Miller’s, means that we are franchising disappointment. Te Bible gives two clear teachings in regard to Jesus’ return. First, no one can predict it, and we ought not to try. Second, Jesus has already come into our lives and (when we form happy churches) into our communities! What we await is not our redemption, which is assured, but the redemption of a broken human world.
But We’re Adventists! Someone is bound to say that we are locked into believing in a soon Advent, because we’re Adventists. Our name insists upon it! Yes, we believe in Jesus’ promised return; however, it is flatly
unbiblical to embroider that event with predictions, much less with persecution and imaginary enemies. It is enough to say that Jesus is returning. When? According to Jesus, God decides (Matt. 24:36). Someday. And it has nothing to do with us—not our preaching, our evangelism, or the success of our denomination. Te truth is that for 2,000 years since that promise was made, every Christian who has died will meet Jesus in the resurrection. Tat’s good enough for you and me, too. Many Adventists, who insist that the rambling narratives of
Daniel and Revelation must predict something specific, cite Ellen White’s commentary on them in Te Great Controversy. Te hardest thing for Adventists to do will be to set aside what we’ve been taught about a complicated end-time schedule and, instead, begin to trust in a God who does what God wants when God wants to do it. For my part, I have no problem admitting that we know very
little about what Daniel and Revelation really mean. Neither do I hesitate to set aside Te Great Controversy; whatever its value to the believers a century ago, it has proven with time to yield mostly fear and doubt. I expunge from my eschatology a secret close of probation, the endless anticipation of Sunday laws, and blaming Roman Catholics. Tese things are not only hurtful in themselves, but unhelpful to people living under the grace of Jesus. Te architecture of my faith relies on these words of Jesus:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27, NIV). Will bad things happen to us? Of course! But the way
we’ve done Adventist eschatology imputes to God a future of uncertainty and terror that overshadows any eventual joy. We must return to a faith that promises redemption now, in spite of the cruelties of this earthly existence, and eternal life once this life is over—but then leave the details to God. Our new Adventism must circle back to the heart of William
Miller’s eschatology. Not when (that was Miller’s mistake), but what: “that blessed hope.”
1 Annie R. Smith, “I Saw One Weary,” Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal (1985), Hymn No. 441.
2 Uriah Smith, Te Prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation (1897, 1944), pp. 281- 289 [535-540].
3 Ellen G. White, Manuscript 174, 1899, reprinted in Manuscript Releases, Vol. 1 (1981), p. 61. 4 William Miller, William Miller’s Apology and Defence: August 1 (1845), p. 28.
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