Sunday School | The Return of Christ - Part 2

So last week we passed out some notes that list every time the New Testament references the return of Christ. And if you didn't get one, we had them, but they're gone again. So never mind, we have nothing. Okay, I actually have a few more that I was printing away—one left. Who wants the last one? Anybody need one? Way in the back. Adam, do you contribute enough to this church to warrant one, do you think? I don't know. Let's see. Yeah, sweet Adam. Do you guys love it when Adam leads worship? I love it when Adam—my wife was like, "Who is that guy?" I'm like, "Nobody." It's nobody at all. It's good.

All right, you guys, we're doing a long form series on doctrine. We're studying all Christian doctrine, organized over the span of years. We finished our theology proper—the doctrine of the first person of God. We're just kind of in the near end of the doctrine called Christology, the doctrine of the Son. And in particular what we're at, finally, is His return. And so last week, I passed this thing out and invited you to read through it. It's a list of every time that I think—and I'm curious if anybody saw anything that I missed—but every time the New Testament refers to Christ's second coming. It's a pretty great document. And if you didn't have a chance to read it this week or last week, I hope you might read it this week. I found it somewhat overwhelming to just all at once have this concentration. Isn't it great, Catherine? It's so good. You're redeeming yourself. So good.

And so if you got a copy of it, email it to you. And if you don't get our emails, then you want to get those—just email me at chsdoctorin@gmail.com. And then I can send you a digital version of this and a variety of resources as we go.

So what I want to do today is I'm hoping to hear, maybe, that many of you read through this, or at least skimmed through it, or maybe you studied it all week. But I'd love to hear the things that you noticed, the things that your mind is maybe turning on regarding the return of Christ. And I'm going to start us off. I'm going to give you a handful of things that I've been kind of kicking around and thinking. And then toward the end of our time, we'll have a little bit more opportunity for you guys to jump in.

Signs and Surprises

So the first, maybe three things that I want to point out exist in these kind of dynamic tension pairs. So what Scripture says about the return of Christ is that it's going to be a surprise. Many times, you'll see things like this:

Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. — Matthew 24:13

Matthew 24:49, by the way—these are all Olivet Discourse. Remember, this is Jesus' primary teaching on this, shows up in Matthew 24 and other places, too.

The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, at an hour he is not aware of. — Matthew 24:49

Right? This is a surprise. Peter puts it like this:

The day of the Lord will come like a thief. — 2 Peter 3

So on the one hand, when's He coming? I don't know. It's a surprise, right? You guys may have lived through those moments where these guys—"What was the dude? Harold Camping? Do you guys, were you guys alive for the Harold Camping thing?" Every once in a while, there's somebody that's like, "I have to tell you exactly when it's going to be. It's going to be like October 13th, 1997." That didn't turn out to be accurate. Like, there's been these guys, and so it's a surprise. We don't know when it's going to be.

However, there is also repeated references that there will be hints, there will be clues, there will be signs. And so on the one hand, "thief in the night"—we don't know when it's going to be. But there's also a sense where Jesus is like, "You know how to read the signs, you know what the weather is going to do, you should be able to know something about this."

And there is one marker that is the primary sign that His return is coming. Do you mind if I'm curious—what is the indicator that Jesus' return is close? And it's not that we bombed Iran, okay? Do you know what you know? The most—did you say COVID? Is that what you said, Joe? It is not the answer, okay? Fets? This is a total guess, but is it a third temple? Okay, this is—that's not what I'm going to say. However, that's a common thing that will get thrown out.

So what Andy said is it's a total guess, but is it the third temple? So sometimes people will anticipate the return of Christ around certain happenings in Israel, because there's got to be a temple. And so when the Jews rebuild a temple where this is on this rock that the Muslim zone—and that's going to be a marker. And so my answer to that is, I don't know, maybe, but that's not what I think is the most sure indicator. I think people get that from extrapolating a couple of links on a chain.

So maybe I don't know, but that's not what I think is the most obvious and clear sign of his coming. Yeah, Gary. Okay, this is good. So that's Second Thessalonians. We might even get to that—whatever this means, that the man of lawlessness is revealed. Paul is going to get into the technicalities of that in Second Thessalonians. I'm sure that's in our list. The problem with that one, Gary, is I don't really know what that means either, right? We're just trading in one uncertainty for another.

Okay, one more shot. Yeah, Don. Oh, Bob just said—I know Bob's going to get it right, but Don can tie. When the word has reached all nations. That's it. That's what you're going to say, right?

So it's Matthew 24:14. It says this:

This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come. — Matthew 24:14

The surest sign that the return of Christ is imminent is that we finally finish the task. We were given a commission: go preach the gospel to all nations, make disciples all across the world. And when we—he's not coming back until that is accomplished. This is definitive. This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come.

You want to hasten his coming? The New Testament talks about hastening his coming, getting him sooner. Do evangelism, support foreign missions, preach the gospel. What did you say, Charlie? Yeah, give money to Bible translators. This is it. This gospel—when that gets done, that's when he comes back.

So on the one hand, we don't know when it's coming. On the other hand, we know what has to happen first, right? Here's another pairing: When is he coming? Soon. Soon. It is imminent. But on the other hand, it's going to be a long time, right? That's a tricky one.

The Imminent Return

All right, so here's how this goes. Jesus says at the very end of the book, Revelation 22:

He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." — Revelation 22:20

He says it over and over in Revelation:

Behold, I am coming soon. — Revelation 22:7, 12, 20

James 5 says:

You too, be patient and stand firm because the Lord's coming is near. — James 5:8

Jude is going to say this:

Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. — Jude 1:21

Now, that one doesn't say that he's coming soon, but he says that we're waiting for it. So the idea of the imminent return of Christ is not just that we expect it right now, but it's that we're living as if it's coming soon. We are supposed to live like, I don't know what's next, how soon? I'm ready. I'm prepared. We don't want to be like the ones that Jesus tells stories about. They're like, "Yeah, later, who cares? That's off my mind. It's not shaping my life." We are to live, even if we're mistaken in the particulars, that he's coming soon—because he is.

Like the virgins with the lamps. Perfect, Joe. The virgins with the lamps—they got slack. They're supposed to be ready. They're on alert because the bride and groom could come at any minute. And when he comes, you need to already have your oil ready. I don't know what that even means, but there's supposed to be whatever that cultural moment was. They're supposed to be ready for it. And they get caught off guard. It's like, "Oh, shoot, now you're coming now?" And Jesus is saying, "When he comes, there's going to be a lot of us sort of like, 'Oh, snap now?'" That's what he's saying. He's coming soon. Be ready.

The Long Delay

However, Jesus lets a lot of hints drop that it's going to be a while. And in fact, it has been a while, right? The first generation of Christian leaders thought maybe he'd come around AD 37, or maybe AD 60, or maybe AD 91. And now we're in 2024, 2025. And he hasn't come.

But here's the clue. He said things like this over and over again. Matthew 24:

But suppose that servant is wicked. — Matthew 24:48

Or he says to himself:

My master is staying away a long time. — Matthew 24:48

Or in the story that Joe just referenced, Matthew 25:

The bridegroom was a long time in coming. And they all became drowsy and fell asleep. — Matthew 25:5

Or Luke 12:45:

But suppose the servant says to himself, "My master is taking a long time in coming." And then he begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. — Luke 12:45

Or in Luke 20:9:

A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. — Luke 20:9

Peter talks about this too. The whole thing—Peter's famous remark on this: "A day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day, right?" And in the last days, scoffers will come scoffing and say:

Where is this coming that he promised? — 2 Peter 3:4

He's like, hang on, you don't understand how this works. So on the one hand, it's soon. He's coming soon. We had to live with the imminent return of Christ, always on our mind. And yet we've been forewarned. It may be a while. And yet, even though it will be a while, we're to live in a constant anticipation of when he comes. With me?

Okay, Catherine? I'm really trying to memorize is that when Paul says, my prayer for you is that your love may abound more and more in insight and depth of wisdom and depth of insight.

Your love may abound more and more and in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may discern what's best and be pure and blameless until the day of Christ. — Philippians

So in case you couldn't hear Catherine, she's saying Paul is praying that they will grow more and more in their knowledge and depth of insight, their wisdom, and that they will be pure and blameless until the day of Christ. There is a sense that it may be a while and there's work to be done in the meantime.

Every day that he doesn't come is on the one hand a disappointment, right? Because Maranatha comes soon, right? But on the other hand, every day that it doesn't come is an opportunity. So what are the opportunities afforded to us every day that he hasn't come back?

Love others, Nate. Well, one of the opportunities is certainly that every day he doesn't come back leaves the door open for evangelism. There's more possibility that somebody else can hear the gospel, right? Excellent. Chris?

Repentance. Repentance, is that what you said? That is such a good answer. Have you ever noticed that you sin and that you don't get immediately punished? It's not like the safes are falling out of the sky every time you do something stupid, right? There is this window of time between sin and judgment and that window between sin and judgment, Chris, is the opportunity for repentance. So every day that he hasn't come back, there is more possibility for you to repent, to bring your life into order with him. Absolutely.

Every day he doesn't come, we want him to come soon. He will come soon, but it's been a while. And I don't know. Maybe it's today, but maybe it's a while yet. Silas?

I say, like, give some opportunity to review the Bible. Sure, okay. So the more time that we have, we have the opportunity to get to know him. And here's the thing. I want to emphasize that we will get to this more fully when we get to the end of eschatology. But I think we sometimes imagine that whatever degree we are cooperating with him in this world doesn't honestly matter that much, because when he comes back and he transforms our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body, everything's going to get caught up, right? And I think that is a false understanding.

The Eternal Significance of Present Days

What you do in these days, these few days of infinite consequence will matter forever. Your opportunities to be generous with your money and lay up treasure in heaven stops when you die. If you want to lay up treasure in heaven, if you want to buy in, do it now, right? Your opportunity to shape your soul, to be the kind of thing that will experience joy in his presence is now. This is the window.

I will unpack that in greater detail, but Silas, the idea that right now you could think, "Why learn to read my Bible now? Because when we die and go to heaven and when Jesus comes back and everything's renewed, we'll probably just learn everything. It'll be easier that way anyway. So we can just coast till then and we'll just worry about all that stuff later." False. These days matter. They will matter forever. The opportunity to shape your soul, to be like him, is now. What you will be in that world will be made out of what you are in this life. I will try to prove that to you in about two years.

Joe? Several occasions Christ said, today, the kingdom has come near you. And so my thoughts parallel to what you're saying there is that as we're conduits for his whole experience within us, we can bring the kingdom.

Amen. Yes, every day that he doesn't come is an opportunity for us to cooperate with him. It's an opportunity for us to represent him. It's an opportunity for us to bring his kingdom to this earth so that others would see how great he is and want to be part of it. All of these days matter.

And so on the one hand, and some of you, many of you, love somebody who is presently outside of his grace, presently not bent the knee to Christ. And on the one hand, the Lord comes soon, comes soon, comes soon. On the other hand, could you give us another day? Right. Do you feel this?

So we live in this imminent return, but it's been a while. Here's another one. Bob, there's one more we can add to the list here. Jesus tells the church of Philadelphia, "I am coming soon." So that was not on the list. We found a failure. Thank you. Revelation 3:11, the church of Philadelphia. Very good. Thank you for that. If you have more of those, tell me or email me, because it's a word doc and I'll just update it.

The Binary Nature of Christ's Return

Here's another huge pairing. The return of Christ is not only imminent, but it's also been a while. Not only do we not know when it will happen, but there are some time markers. However, it is going to be the single greatest day in the history of the world. It will be the best thing, the greatest thing, the most supreme thing. And it will be the darkest, most terrifying day for some. There is nothing, nothing more binary than the second coming.

Titus calls it my favorite line for what the return of Christ is:

It is the blessed hope. It's the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good. — Titus 2

It is the thing that our hearts long for. It is everything in our lives ordered around this. Peter says:

Rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. — 1 Peter

It's the superlative. It is the supreme, absolutely everything. When I was in college, I was involved in campus ministry and we all wanted Jesus to come back, but not until He got married and had sex. Right? Because that was the blessed hope. And we were wrong. This, as great as that is, this is better. This is better. There is—it is the absolute top. It is the absolute supremacy of everything.

And yet, look at 2 Thessalonians 1. I'm sure I have it in there, Bob, if I didn't let me know.

God is just, He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power. On the day He comes to be glorified in His holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. — 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10

This includes you because you believe our testimony to you. John writes in Revelation that when Jesus comes, the lost will cry out. They will flee to the rocks and the hills and they will cry out for the rocks to fall on them to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. They would rather be buried under an avalanche of stones than face the wrath of the Lamb. It could not be more binary. It is the blessed hope. It is the glorious appearing. We will be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. But for those who do not know Him, Psalm 2 says:

Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you be destroyed in your way. — Psalm 2

It could not be any starker.

And Chris, forgive me. I remember that you had your hand up and I forgot. Is it too late or do you want to jump in? I mean, it's kind of your last topic.

Chris: I was just going to ask, so what do you do with this first one on your Matthew 16:27 where he says, "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

Yes. So Chris's question is: If you look at the very first thing, the Son of Man is going to come in His Father's glory with His angels and will reward every person according to what he's done. Some are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. And then also in Matthew 24, maybe a little more famously, Jesus says, "I tell you the truth." How does it go?

This idea is: "This generation will not pass away until all these things are fulfilled." So there are a couple ways that people have understood that. I think the simplest and most direct way, that is very reasonable, that you'd be like, "He's talking about Him coming. He's going to come before 100 AD." That's a reasonable take. Clearly it's mistaken, but it's reasonable. So if we rule that out, and we assume that Jesus was telling the truth, what could He mean? Several things.

Number one: What He's describing possibly in Matthew 16 is actually not His second coming, this revelation of His glory, but is the description of the transfiguration when He pulls back the veil and shows His glory. Could it be that? Maybe.

Could it also be the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD? These are all different ideas that people put forward. He's talking about His transfiguration. Maybe. He's talking about the destruction of Jerusalem. This is actually very plausible. Most of the things that happen in the Olivet Discourse are a mixture of judgment that came on Israel in 70 AD when they got obliterated and His ultimate final coming. We often will see that things happen in foreshadowing layers. So He's coming in judgment, but He's going to come later in more judgment. He comes in rescue, but He's coming later in more rescue. It might be a reference to that.

And then the third thing—this might be worth more than a minute of response—is that it could be that the time of His coming is variable because it is contingent upon our faithfulness. Now, on the one hand, He knows all things, but on the other hand, He literally says, "I don't know." The Son doesn't know the hour. It's a very... How could that possibly be that He doesn't know? But there is an idea that His coming is contingent upon whether or not we are faithful to these tasks. And so the fact that it has been 2,000 years and He hasn't come may say much more about us than it does about Him and our faithfulness in this time.

So I'll give you that—at least a very quick kind of landscape of how folks tend to understand some of the things that seem to promise immediate imminence that clearly have not come to pass. Is that enough for the moment, at least?

Jesus' Return: Hope and Reality

Okay, super binary, right? So on the one hand, it was going to be the greatest day ever. On the other hand, it's going to be just hideously miserable for all of those who are outside of His grace, which is what compels us to do evangelism.

Charlie brings up a good point about His coming—so much of it is for us personally as when He's coming back for us, rather than when He's coming back for the world. When we die, we have maybe 30 years left. That's right. So there is, to a certain extent, it's like when He's going to come back, I don't know, but I'm going to be dead within 30 years. Even if He doesn't come back before the end of our lives, our lives are going to end. I have the same understanding, Charlie. And yet, when He comes, here's one thing that we could consider as a secondary thought from that: our opportunities draw short.

But when we die and go to be with Him, that will be good, but that won't be the blessed hope. The good stuff is very often in an American context summarized as when you die, you go to heaven. And that's the chief good of the gospel, is that when you die, you go to heaven. And I will tell you definitively that is not the chief good. The chief good is that after you have already died and gone to heaven, your body will be raised from the dead and He's going to renew this earth. We have conflated and confused the return of Christ to restore all things on this earth with our little like spirits trip to some other place. And I just want to—everything Charlie's saying is true, but I don't want you to misunderstand that going to heaven is the equivalent of Jesus' return to the earth, because it is not the primary good. The thing that we hope and long for is that He comes back and restores this world, not that we're living in some disembodied experience someplace else. We'll do that more fully when we get to the eschatology, but that's a big deal.

Our death, which again, is soon—that is true. It's not the same as His return, but we don't have that much time, none of us.

Nate makes the point that our trip to heaven as spirits on earth, leaving and going to heaven, is like taking a lifelong or earthbound field trip to the aquarium in Lynchburg. The point he's trying to make is the field trip we take to heaven is eternal and everlasting. And it has a point where Jesus Christ will accept us for who we are and the people we have become.

So I would say I would twist two things there. One, our trip—our little field trip to heaven—I wouldn't say that that is eternal. I'd say that's temporary. We call it the intermediate state, and what we're waiting for is what will be permanent, which is our renewed life on this earth that He is going to renew. So it sets us up for what's coming, but the good thing is what's going to come back here.

And then second, He will accept us. That's absolutely true, but He won't accept us because of what we are. He will accept us because He's given us credit for His perfect life.

That's the beauty of Christianity. People are thinking, "I don't know if I did enough." Well, I do—you didn't. Don't be stupid. Of course he's not going to accept you based on your perfections. Of course not. But that was never our hope. Our hope is that he would credit us with the perfections of Jesus, take all of our blame and culpability, and on the basis of his worthiness and not our unworthiness, all of this would be given to us. It's a gift, right? We don't deserve any of it, but there's so much generosity and goodness from him.

Harry, because I see your face—I remember you said something or you raised your hand, and I made a mental note like, "Oh, call on Harry next week." But I have absolutely no idea what it was. Do you remember, and is it relevant at this point?

Harry: Oh, I mean, it was in Revelation 1 where he was talking about when he is coming back, there's going to be people that are weeping and moaning.

Tim: Oh, okay. Yes. Okay, yes. I remember. Let's do this on a little side trail, and then you guys have another minute to think about things that you draw from this. Go to Revelation 1.

In Revelation 1, there's this great line, and I want you to understand what this means here. We'll pick it up in the middle of verse 5. There's a paragraph break there.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father. To him be glory and power forever and ever, amen. Look, he's coming with the clouds. And every eye will see him. Even those who pierced him and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be. — Revelation 1:5-7

Now, the question is, what is he talking about with this mourning? Well, the answer to that question would be found in Zechariah 12. So what he's quoting here is Zechariah 12. You guys, two years ago, three years ago, we studied Zechariah. Do you remember that?

The Context of Zechariah

So if you go back to Zechariah 12, verse 10—Zechariah is very late. Israel's already been judged. The Babylonian captivity—we call it a post-exilic prophet. The prophets in the Old Testament, the major and minor, the big ones like Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, and then the little ones like Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi—we group them into three classes. There's the pre-exile prophets. They're the early dudes. There's the exilic prophets, and then there's the post-exilic.

Everything is dated around this time where Nebuchadnezzar comes in and just beats the snot out of Israel—well, Judah, really. The Assyrians come and wipe out Israel, and then the Babylonians come in and beat up Judah. They're put in captivity for 70 years. They're dragged away for 70 years. That's when Daniel is an exilic prophet. And then there's just a couple of guys after this—when the nation of Israel has been split in half, the northern tribes are gone, and the southern tribes have been severely chastened. They kind of limp back out. There's this weakened little group of followers, descendants of Abraham.

This is where Nehemiah shows up to build a wall because the city's in ruins. It's where Zerubbabel shows up and rebuilds the temple because that's a mess too. And so there's just a couple of prophets after they've all gotten beat up.

The question that they're wrestling with, and these post-exilic prophets—of which Zechariah is one—is: Are we done here? Like, is it over? Have we screwed this up so badly that there's no point coming back? Are all of those promises about the Messiah still going to happen? Or like, do we just totally miss this and there's no hope? And so we just lick our wounds and die. That's the question of Zechariah.

And the answer in Zechariah is: it's not over. It's not over. The Messiah is still coming, and you might shape up. You might recognize him when he comes. But we're going to have to wait and see. That's kind of how Zechariah ends. Yeah, he's coming. That's not really in question. What's in question is you. Are you going to see him when he comes?

And so as Zechariah's reflecting on that, here's what he ends up saying:

I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day, the weeping in Jerusalem will be great, like the weeping of Hadad Rimmon. — Zechariah 12:10

We don't even know what that is, but some scene of great sorrow. And the land will mourn each clan by itself and their wives with themselves. The clan of the house of David and their wives, Nathan their wives. He walks through like the kings and the priests and the normal people. And he says in 13:1:

"On that day, a fountain will be opened to the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and impurity. On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more. I will remove both the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land." — Zechariah 13:1

What Zechariah is foreshadowing is how the story is going to end for Israel. It's going to end well eventually, finally. After every opportunity has come, and after they have screwed up every single one of them, after it is so clear to everyone that they will never bend the knee, they will never worship Him, they will never acknowledge His greatness, they will never humble themselves—finally, finally, finally, God will say, "Enough, I'll do it for you." And He will pour out on them a spirit of grace and supplication. He will enable them to finally repent, to finally see the beauty of the Messiah that they have rejected and rejected and rejected and rejected.

That morning will be the morning that says, "Oh my gosh, are you kidding me? Have we been wrong the entire time? Did we completely blow it all the way?" The answer is yes, you did. You will grieve. They will grieve as if for an only child, because they will finally be able to see the depth of their rebellion and the extremity of His grace. That's what it means in Zechariah 12. Their mourning is the morning of repentance. It is when they finally realize, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, He was right. We were wrong, and we've completely ruined all things, and they long to be cleansed." He says, "I'll open a fountain." It's obviously an allusion to the blood of Christ.

So then, John—what John does with that, which I think is really interesting—you go back to Revelation 1 and look at what he says, because he makes a bit of an adjustment here. He says in verse 7:

"Look, He's coming with the clouds. He's coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the peoples of the earth." — Revelation 1:7

You see how he expanded it? It's not just the Jews. All the peoples of the earth will mourn because of Him, so shall it be. What John is saying is His extreme grace to Israel—that there will be faithful members of these tribes that will come. It won't just be Jews. There will be a bunch of Americans, a bunch of Australians, a bunch of Africans, a bunch of people from everywhere. And there's going to be a great revival. I think that's what he's saying.

So that morning is the morning that, to some extent, every one of you has already been through if you are in Christ—when you realize, "I blew it. I blew it. I blew it." But it's not too late. I think that's what that's talking about.

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The prophets often speak in first-person representative of the Lord, so John is using Zechariah's language to say the Lord Himself is speaking: "They will look on me."

Questions on the Great Commission

Question: Well, when he says that all the nations will have the gospel proclaimed, is it like one person in each nation? Is it a majority of people in the nation?

The way mythologists tend to talk about this is within ethnos. They tend to talk about people groups. So there might be—well, there are. China isn't just one people group. There's, I don't know, are there 20? Are there 50? Are there 200 people groups? Ethnoi—unique identities. I think at a minimum, the gospel will go to every ethnos, to every people group. But it may be broader than that. But I don't know.

Follow-up: Colossians 1:23, where Paul is apparently saying that the gospel has been proclaimed already.

Yes. So let's look at the whole verse:

"If you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel, this is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant." — Colossians 1:23

When Paul says the gospel has been preached to every creature under heaven, what does he mean?

Well, I think what he means is what has obviously happened. They're in the Roman Empire, in Asia Minor, in that part of the world. They've done the job. They've been unbelievably diligent to proclaim the gospel. But clearly, that didn't include the creatures they were presently living in South America. That didn't include the creatures they were presently living in Northern Europe or in the Far East. Historically, it clearly doesn't mean that. But in their framing, we use hyperbolic language all the time to just say, "Man, it was packed. Everybody in Roanoke was at the concert last night." Well, they weren't literally everybody in Roanoke, but it's a way that we express the reality. And Paul will say in other places, he tells us that's hyperbolic. It's like, you guys, everywhere we go to preach the gospel, there's nobody left to talk to, because you already told them all. So there was incredible energetic evangelism in his time. But clearly, it had not reached the whole world. And that is still an ongoing concern, for sure.

Adam, I think you're the final word. I've not there yet. The access to technology. The reach that we seem to have in the world. It's like, how are there still people that have never heard? It's kind of crazy to think about. It's embarrassing, isn't it? There really is. Adam's question is, well, if all hangs on this, and we have so many technological advantages, how is it possible we haven't finished the job? It's a very good question. There's more wealth in the hands of Christians today than there has been in the history of the world. We have enough money to fund enough missionaries to go and do it, right? I think the honest reason is not that many of us are willing to give up our money, our time, our energy.

Will just walked in the room, okay? So we love Will, and Will and his family, they moved to Cambodia, where it's roughly this hot every day, all year long, right? And where the food isn't familiar, and where the friends aren't nearby, and I just think, Adam, the core reality is there's not that many Wills. There's just not that many people willing to go. And there are places in the world where you could go, and it'd be really discouraging, because it's just a low hit rate. Are enough people willing to give their money to fund the work being done by the few that are willing to go? Are the few that are willing to go able to be multiplied?

We had Shelby Fletcher as a fellow last year. You walk into his office in our church, and on his board, he had this map thing, and he was praying for the gospel to be proclaimed throughout all the nations of the world. There's not that many people. These are the four things that will accomplish the fulfillment of the Great Commission: we are praying, we are giving, we are going, and we are sending. The job will get done all the sooner when we become more serious about praying, giving, going, and sending. I think that's it.

With that, too, maybe—I probably don't have time for this—but Romans 1 talks about the fact that God might reveal himself without us going and being the one to tell. So how does that work?

Okay, so I can't. I'll just say very, very briefly: what Romans 1 is revealing is not a revelation of the gospel message. It's not the gospel of mercy. It's the message of judgment. There is enough information in nature to condemn the world. There is not enough information in nature to tell the world how they might be saved. So what Romans 1 is talking about is our culpability. We don't get to salvation until Romans 3, and that requires a messenger. That's a very short answer to that. We could unpack that more another time.

In the meantime, if you want to keep reading this document, that's great. There's still more to unpack about the lessons we have. There's more that I want to share, but we'll start. I'll give you guys first crack at it next week. Do we have Sunday school next week? Is it Fourth of July? I don't remember. Is it Fourth of July next week? We definitely have class next week, and we might on the fourth. I don't remember. Everything's normal. Yeah. We'll see you next week.