Where and When Did the Train Derailed off the Track?,
Tyrone Cropper
If the early Church believed they were living at the end
of the world, or age (1 Corinthians 10:11) when and how
did the train derailed off the track?
Why has no record of the past Second Advent come down
to us in history? We have to first remember that very
remarkable and significant events occurred in early church
history apparently leaving us uncertain as to the fate of
other prominent Jewish Christian workers.
Therefore the belief in the failure of Christ’s prophecies
stems from the attempts of a Gentile-dominated church
after A.D. 70 trying to understand Jewish concepts.
This lack of understanding should not amaze us, for most
of the Jewish world misunderstood the prophecies of His
first coming, so why should we expect any difference in
recognition of His second coming and the end of the age
by Gentile interpreters?
The silence of the period after the destruction was a direct
result of the downfall and captivity of the Jewish Nation.
Along with its end the Jewish Christians were scattered
and became almost lost to history. If any literature was
written by them after the fall of Jerusalem that taught
the return of Christ in that event, there is good reason
to believe that it was suppressed or beyond the
understanding of the dominant Gentile church.
"Jumping the gun", the Gentile-dominated church was
caught up in the idea of a physical return and a literal
interpretation of the very figurative Jewish apocalyptic
language found in the book of Revelation and other
OT & NT prophecies.
And any careful study of Rabbinic sources shows that
the remnant of the Jewish nation actively destroyed
all apocalyptic works speaking of an imminent end
after A.D. 70 because of its embarrassment to them.
Only after the end of the age happened, did the dominant
Gentile church "miss" the timing and the nature of the
event. Here are some statements made from a well known
early church father named "Kurt Aland", who tell us of
the decisive turning point in the second half of the second
century, a watershed decisive for the development of the
Christian church. This is the turning point when the train
derailed off the track.
We discover a decisive turning point in the second half of
the second century a watershed decisive for the development
of the Christian church. It was the definite conviction not
only of Paul, but of all Christians of that time, that they
themselves would experience the return of the Lord;
The Apocalypse expresses the fervent waiting for the end
within the circles in which the writer lived, not an
expectation that will happen at some unknown point x
in time, but one in the immediate present. If we browse
through the writings of that period we observe that this
expectation of the end continued. In fact, we also find
in the writings of the first half of the second century,
sufficient evidence to indicate that the expectation of
the Parousia was by no means at an end then.
At the end of the Didache ("the teaching of the twelve
apostles"), from the time shortly after 100, there is,
for example, an apocalyptic chapter which corresponds
completely in its outline to the Synoptic apocalypse in
Mark 13 (and the parallel chapters in the other Synoptic
Gospels.); here we can only very cautiously say that it
used the same words, but that its content is imperceptibly
in the process of change. It quite similar to the Epistle
of Barnabas which was written a little later that the
Didache, where we read: (The day is near in which
everything will perish together with the evil. The Lord
and his recompense are near).
Again and again the old expressions echo. They echo
apparently almost unchanged, but ("doubt about the
imminence of the Lord’s return is increasingly mixed with
them until around the middle of the second century when
the Shepherd of Hermas thinks he has found a solution
and expresses it with great thoroughness and emphasis;
"The Parousia-the Lord’s return-has been postponed
for the sake of Christians themselves. The building of
the tower has not been stopped,) it is only temporarily
suspended."
Therefore and this is the warning of the Shepherd of Hermas,
on account of which the entire work was really written do
good works for your purification, for if you delay too long,
the construction of the tower may be finished and you will
not be included as stones built into it.
The thought of a postponement of the Parousia appears
all through 2 Clement but here it is expressly mentioned
for the first time. Thus, about the middle of the second
century, a decisive turning point occurs one which can be
compared in significance to all other great turning points,
including the Reformation. Obviously, we cannot fix this
turning point precisely at the year 150, for it took a while
until the though caught hold everywhere. But a development
does begin with the Shepherd of Hermas which could not be
stopped. A development at the end of which we stand today.
As soon as the thought of a postponement of the Parousia
was uttered once and indeed not only incidentally, but
thoroughly presented in an entire writing, it developed
its own life and power.
At first, people looked at it as only a brief postponement,
as the Shepherd of Hermas clearly expresses. But soon,
as the end of the world did not occur, it was conceived
of as a longer and longer period, until finally, this is
today’s situation nothing but the thought of a postponement
exists in people’s consciousness. (Kurt Aland. A History
of Christianity. (2 vols.) Fortress Press: 1985. Vol. 1,
pp.89-102
These are powerful statements from someone who knows a
turning point when he see them. The Early Church Fathers
know that it was a definite conviction not only of Paul, but
of all Christians of that time, that they themselves would
experience the return of the Lord. And yet they still
developed a postponement of the Parousia that developed
its own life and power. Ultimately it is time to get back
to the Scripture and Scripture alone.
--
Hate is a prison. Anger is the warden and rage
is the guard who takes a piece of you every day.
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