IS THE DOCTRINE OF IMMINENCE TAUGHT IN THE BIBLE? 

by Sheila Sternberg

The generally accepted definition of imminence is that Jesus could come "at any moment" meaning there are NO signs to occur, NO prophecies to be fulfilled before Jesus returns for the rapture of the church. However...

Christ predicted the destruction of the Temple (Luke 21:6, Matt. 24:2, Mark 13:2.) He also predicted the coming of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8.) Could He return before these things were fulfilled?

Jesus told Peter that he would get old and die (John 21:18-19.) Could His coming be imminent as long as Peter was still alive? (Peter was part of the church, wasn't he? Matt. 16:18 & Acts.) Peter even instructed us to wait for and hasten the coming day of God (2 Peter 3:12.) How can we rush a day which may begin at any moment? Is it possible that the Lord's "slowness" (vs. 9) is directly linked to His command for us to...
 

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen.
Matt. 28:19-20


In Matt.24:14, Jesus tells us that the gospel will be preached in all of the world as a witness to all the nations BEFORE the end comes. It is obvious from Rev. 7:9 that the job was completed; and Acts 1:8 suggests that it is done by His servants after being baptized in the Holy Spirit. 

Some people believe that Jesus teaches that His return is imminent in John 14:2-3.
 

In my Father's house are many mansions: if [it were] not [so], I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also.

Does Jesus, in this passage, mention that His coming could be "at any moment" or does He merely teach His disciples that He will be coming back for them? Just a few days earlier, He had told this same group of men of wars and rumors of wars, of the abomination of desolation, of the great tribulation, of signs in the sun, moon, and stars.
 
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. Luke 21:28

Is it possible, as some believe, that the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) was meant only for the Jews and John 14 was meant only for the church when BOTH were spoken to the same group of men only days apart? 

Some pretribulationists believe that the seven churches written to in Revelation 2 and 3 represent not only seven churches in existence when the letters from Christ were written, but also represent seven periods of Church history. (But since we all want to be included in the Philadelphia church, it must overlap the Laodicean church in order to have the Philadelphian church alive at the rapture.) Little do these sincere pretribulationists realize that by espousing this historical period view of the churches, they inadvertently deny the doctrine of imminence in that the return of Jesus could not have been imminent during the Thyatira period, the Smyrna period, etc. Not until the Philadelphia/Laodicean period could His coming be said to be imminent.

The prophecy of the seventieth week of Daniel (Daniel 9:24) deals with Jerusalem and the Jews. Could Jesus' return to rapture His church be imminent prior to 1948 when the Jews returned to Israel, or, for that matter, 1967 when they recaptured Jerusalem? This argument should receive even more weight considering pretribulationists claim that the seventieth week (called by them, "the tribulation") deals not with the church, but exclusively with the Jews (Dan 9:24.) 

In answer to His disciples question in Matt. 24:3, "What shall be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?"  He did not tell them that His coming would be signless or imminent. He told of wars and rumors of wars, etc. Then He said,

As soon as [the fig tree's] branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also when you see all these things, you know that He is near, at the very gates.

In other words, we will not know the exact day or hour, but when these things begin happening, His coming is so near that the generation to see the signs will not die before His return. Could His coming be imminent BEFORE these things have happened? (Matt. 24:32-34,36; Luke 21:28) 

Many pretribbers quote verses about the "thief in the night" to support their "at any moment" doctrine. In Revelation 3:3 written to the church at Sardis (not Philadelphia, not Laodecia), Jesus says,
 

"Remember then what you received and heard; keep that, and repent. If you will not awake, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you."

However, it is "the day of the Lord" which comes like a thief.
 
"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up." 2 Peter 3:10. "For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." 1 Thessalonians 5:2.

But when we keep reading, we find, "But you are not in darkness, brethren, for that day to surprise you like a thief." (vs.4)

It is in this context that we are commanded not to sleep, but to watch.(vs. 6-7; Mark 13:36)

Now if references to the rapture coming "as a thief in the night" mean that the rapture comes at the beginning of the Day of the Lord (which I believe is the accurate chronology) then what do we do with Acts 2:20 and Joel 2:31 placing the sun turning dark and the moon to blood BEFORE the Day of the Lord? That wouldn't make the rapture signless and imminent would it? 

Could it be merely a coincidence that this is the very sign Jesus described would precede His coming?
 

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken; then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Matt. 24:29-31.

This coinciding of the Day of the Lord and the rapture is spoken of in 2 Thess. 2:1-4.

"Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him, we beg you, brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God."

According to Luke 21,

it is only  "when these things begin to take place" that we can
"look up and raise your heads,
because your redemption is drawing near."