More seriously: I believe that Jesus can  return at any time. I am looking for his coming and longing for it. The early Christians believed that Jesus’ return may be imminent, and so should we. When he comes, I think Christians of many eschatological schools will be taken by surprise. And I plan to listen to Family Radio on May 22 to find out what Harold has to say.

Thank you for these insightful comments. You both understood the point of my article quite well. The work of the Church is paradoxical, isn’t it? We long for Christ’s kingship and we seek to display his rule over every aspect of life, but we know that his rule will not be revealed until his return. We speak and live as though Christ is the victor over death, and yet we die. Missionaries carry the gospel from one nation to another, and  as the church grows on the new mission field, the church on the home front weakens and wanes. To the naked eye, church history, world history and missions do not look like a one-directional march toward victory; it’s more like a step forward, then a step back. Many of our best efforts seem to end in humiliating defeat. But in defeat and failure we may be experiencing the greatest victory, as Jesus did when he went to the cross.

These paradoxes were found in the earthly ministry of Jesus. He healed lepers but did not wipe out leprosy. He fed the 5,000 but did not wipe out hunger. He raised Lazarus and yet Lazarus eventually died. He preached the gospel to his nation, but his nation rejected and killed him. The good  works of Jesus are called miraculous “signs.” They are not the reality; they are  signs pointing to the reality. The Holy Spirit continues this work in the church. The Spirit is the arrabon, the downpayment and foretaste of the glorious world to come.

Signs are easily misinterpreted, so the performing of signs must be accompanied by understandable preaching of Christ. Christ is the gospel, and the gospel is Christ. But Christ can be revealed very powerfully by disciples who plainly and clearly love him and love others, even if they are not aggressively proselytizing (Mother Theresa did not). God’s mission is the activity of the whole Church, not of any single part. If Christians are proselytizing in ways that do not involve true worship, in ways that do not show love, in ways that hurt rather than heal, in ways that divide rather then reconcile, in ways that elevate principles over persons, then something has gone very wrong. Too much of that, in my opinion, has resulted from Christians seeing their mission  in terms of  church growth and individual rescue rather then placing it in the great narrative of biblical history. We are supposed to be displaying the image of Christ, not acting like heartless soldiers, pushy salesmen or drive-by evangelists. If we claim to be serving the gospel but are not worshiping God and are disengaged from our spouses, families, and communities, then what are we doing? The gospel is about Christ who came to restore relationships so that persons can become true persons again.

And Joe, I am curious about one of your statements, you said, “Act 4 is restoration, when God remakes humanity and the earth. Restoration begins with the resurrection of Christ, his ascension to heaven, and the coming of the Holy Spirit. In this post-Pentecostal era, the Holy Spirit is working to restore our relationships with God, with one another and with the world. Act 4 will continue until Jesus returns to completely destroy sin and death, to raise our bodies and establish the new heaven and the new earth.” By this statement I am wondering if you take a “Postmillennial” approach to the end times as opposed to Amil or Premil? Because Postmils believe that the  church will continue to make the world better and better and defeat the forces of Satan more and more right up until the return of Christ, and ofcourse Amils and Premils almost say the opposite ie. that the world will continue to get worse until the Glorious Appearing. Or perhaps I am reading too much into your point that we should help our communities…

One more thing, we  cannot deny that personal, individual  salvation from Hell and Judgement  plays a huge role in the gospels and the rest of the  New Testament (and not just in 19th century revival meetings). I know that Tom  Wright and others with his theological bent make arguments to the contrary, but there are plenty of verses that are explicit on this point like when Jesus says to the pharisees in Matt 23, “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?” or, “He who does not believe stands condemned already” or, “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” Or, “…”Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

YES we do have to have concern for our communities and promote social justice  and be peacemakers and facilitate restoration etc. However I think that those things count for absolutely nothing without the Gospel also being preached. Otherwise, like Kevin DeYoung said at the Desiring God Conference, “Angelina Jolie does all of those things, without preaching the Gospel of salvation from sin and hell,  and restoration with God, how are we different from her?”