According to John: Yeshua's Appearance

Introduction

Last time we talked about this topic, before we go sidetracked by Geo-Politics, we were looking at how Peter dealt with the Day of the Lord. Today we are going to cover a few letters written by John. This includes a passage from 1 John as well as some excerpts from the first three chapters of Revelation. Let’s start by reading 1 John 2:24-28

1 John 2:24–28 TLV

As for you, let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will continue to live in the Son and in the Father. Now this is the promise that He Himself has promised us—eternal life. I have written you these things about those who are trying to mislead you. As for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things—and it is true and not a lie—and just as it has taught you, abide in Him. And now, children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we will have confidence and not be ashamed in His presence at His coming.

Remain in Covenant

When we speak of being “In Messiah” we are actually referencing the state of being “In covenant with Him”. John uses this idea of abiding and trusting throughout his writings, and in the Gospel of John, John recorded the last conversation that Yeshua had with his disciples before he was betrayed. In John 14:11-12 Yeshua had said:

John 14:11–12 TLV

Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me—or at least believe because of the works themselves. “Amen, amen I tell you, he who puts his trust in Me, the works that I do he will do; and greater than these he will do, because I am going to the Father.

The relationship that Yeshua had with the Father, while he was here on earth, is the relationship that we are called to have with God. This, like every other relationship in our lives, starts and is founded on trust. This is not simply trusting that God will move through us, but rather choosing to trust that Yeshua keeps His word, that he is worthy of us unveiling the deepest and most painful areas of our lives to him. There is no manipulation, that will work on Yeshua, Yeshua explains the trust that a child has in his parent. This is the sort of relationship that we are called to have with God.

Yeshua would go on to explain that it is through the Ruach HaKodesh living in us that we will truly be in Him, and He in us: John 14:15-17

John 14:15–17 TLV

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper so He may be with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him. You know Him, because He abides with you and will be in you.

The next thing that Yeshua teaches his Talmidim is about abiding in the vine. We are supposed to receive our life, our sustenance from Yeshua. John 15:5-6

John 15:5–6 TLV

“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for apart from Me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away like a branch and is dried up. Such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned.

The fruitfulness in our lives is not based upon what we do, or what we have, rather how connected are we to the Lord Yeshua? Do we spend daily time with him? Do we notice when we forget? The love of Yeshua is supposed to flow through us to all those around us. He is our source of life, purpose and love. If we find that we are lacking in one of these areas, then we should make time to get to know Yeshua better.

Much later in John’s life, he is writing this letter of 1 John, and he is reminding his readers that they were to remain faithful to the end.

When He appears

We have been looking for passages that refer to the revelation of Yeshua, and we see this in 1 John 2:28 “And now, children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we will have confidence and not be ashamed in His presence at His coming.”

The admonition to abide in Yeshua is so that when he returns we will not be ashamed. I want to look at a few things from this passage. Notice that we are called to continue to be faithful until Yeshua appears, and that the appearance of Yeshua is the same event as His coming? An appearance by definition is visible. There is no reference to remaining faithful until we are taken out of this world, there is no mention of a secret rapture. No, we are called to remain faithful, and to abide in a trusting relationship with Him, until the day the we are transformed, and that day will be when Yeshua returns.

Michael Brown and Craig Keener summarise this verse by saying:

We must remain in Him so that when He appears publicly at His coming (parousia) we will not be ashamed before Him (see 1 John 2:28).

Hold firm to the end

In the letters to the 7 congregations, in chapters 2-3 of Revelation, we see several times where John writes that the community should hold firm to the end. One example of this is in Rev. 2:24-27

Revelation 2:24–27 TLV

“But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold to this teaching and have not learned the so-called ‘deep things’ of satan—I place on you no other burden. Only hold firm to what you have until I come. To the one who overcomes and guards My deeds until the end, ‘I will give him authority over the nations and he shall rule them with an iron rod, as when clay pots are broken into pieces.’

How long are we supposed to hold firm? Until Yeshua comes; and when will that be? The End. But with an eternal God, the end of one thing is the beginning of another.

Another example is to the congregation in Philadelphia. As some of you may know, this passage was instrumental in directing Eleanor and specifically me to follow the Lord and come to Australia.

We pick up in Rev. 3:10-11

Revelation 3:10–11 TLV

“Because you have kept My word about patient endurance, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is coming upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon—hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown.

Now, Brown and Keener point out that this verse is probably the strongest case for a pre-tribulational rapture. The problem, as my Uncle Nick Baker in his book on Revelation points out, the verse does not mention the Tribulation at all. Instead, the verse specifically mentions “the hour of trial” and that the believers would be “kept from” the suffering that was coming on the whole world.

The “hour of trial” could be referring to the Great Tribulation, or maybe only the last little bit of it, or it could refer to a completely different world-wide issue. We all just went through Covid, and so could understand that it could be something entirely different.

The other problem is that the phrase “to be kept from” is not a common phrase throughout Greek literature, the Bible included. In fact one of the only other times that it is used is by John, in his Gospel in John 17:14-16

John 17:14–16 TLV

I have given them Your word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world just as I am not of the world. I am not asking that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

Here we see that Yeshua had used the phrase “to be kept from” not to refer to removing believers from a difficult situation, but rather preserving them through the middle of it.

After explaining this passage, Brown and Keener then point out:

When we expand this query to the larger context of the book of Revelation as a whole, the pre-Tribulational interpretation becomes even more problematic. Nowhere in Revelation do we read of believers taken alive from the earth; nowhere do we read of them being raptured before the Tribulation. Instead, we see some believers protected from judgements (Rev. 7:3, 9:4) but suffering in the world at the hands of their enemies (Rev. 12:11, 13:7). These believers, like those in Philadelphia, “keep” God’s message (Rev. 12:17).

Summary

Let us summarize and have another look at the Summary slide and the Timeline.