THE DOCTRINE OF THE SECOND COMING

There is a tendency in the Christian life for us to do what the lazy man does in the face of an impending inevitability - procrastinate. John knows that he does not have the courage or skill to cheat in an exam without being caught. Which leaves him two possibilities - bribe the lecturer or study for the exam. But since the lecturer is an upright professor who certainly does not need the money, John knows that his only viable option is to study. But he does not. He rather, spends his time watching and making notes on video clips on HOW TO CHEAT WITHOUT GETTING CAUGHT.

The Christian falls in slightly the same position as John. He knows that Christ's Second Coming is not only inevitable - it is imminent - and he knows that there are some things he has to put right before that Day but he chose to procrastinate by giving himself knowledge of the future which he does not have. He begins to guess that perhaps God will allow him satisfy his sinful desires satisfactorily and then allow him repent before the End. If John is caught cheating, he would suffer and suffer greatly but only for a short time. If the Christian who is playing this guess-game with God is caught (as surely as he will) he will suffer and suffer greatly and more for ever. This is the Great Danger in Christianity - that God will wait for us!

And it is a myth which distracts us from our real duties and our real interests. It is our attempt to guess the plot of a drama in which we are the characters. But how can the characters in a play guess the plot? We are not the playwright, we are not the producer, we are not even the audience. We are on the stage. To play well the scenes in which we are "on" concerns us much more than to guess about the scenes that follow it how much more the end.

In King Lear, there is a man who is such a minor character that Shakespeare gave him no name: he is merely "First Servant". All the characters around him Regan, Cornwall, and Edmund have fine long-term plans. They think they know how the story is going to end, and they are quite wrong. The servant has no such delusions. He has no notion how the play is going to go. But he understands the present scene. He sees an abomination (the blinding of old Gloucester) taking place. He will not stand it. His sword is out and pointed at his master's chest in a moment: then Regan stabs him dead from behind. That is his whole part: eight lines all told. But if it were real life and not a play, that is the part it would be best to have acted.

The doctrine of the Second Coming teaches us that we do not and cannot know when the world drama will end. The curtain may be rung down at any moment: say, before you have finished reading this paragraph. This seems intolerably frustrating. So many things would be interrupted. Perhaps you were going to get married next month, perhaps you were going to get a raise and a promotion next week: you may even be on the verge of a great scientific discovery; you may be maturing great social and political reforms. Surely no good and wise God would be so very unreasonable as to cut all this short right? Not now of all moments! But we think this because we keep on assuming that we know the play. We do not know the play. We do not even know whether we are in Act I or Act V. We do not know who are the major and who are the minor characters. The Author knows. The audience, if there is an audience (if angels and archangels and all the company of heaven fill the cinema seats) may have an inkling. But we, never seeing the play from outside, never meeting any characters except the tiny minority who are "on" in the same scenes as ourselves, wholly ignorant of the future and very imperfectly informed about the past, cannot tell at what moment the end ought to come. That it will come when it ought, we are sure; but we waste our time meant to prepare us for the glorious end if we use it on guessing when that will be in order to "live and let live" and repent just in the nick of time.

We are led to expect that the Author will have something to say to each of us on the part that each of us has played. The playing it well is what matters infinitely. Intelligent scientists as well as gullible Christians agree that the world will end. But it is not an end to itself but to Judgment. The doctrine of the Second Coming, then, is not to be postponed because it conflicts with our favorite modern mythology. It is, for that very reason, to be more valued and made more frequently the subject of meditation. It is the medicine our condition especially needs. Our Blessed Lord's teaching on the subject quite clearly consisted of three propositions, (I) That he will certainly return (II) That we cannot possibly find out when (III) And that therefore we must always be ready for him. Note the "therefore". Precisely because we cannot predict the moment, we must be ready at all moments. Our Blessed Lord repeated this practical conclusion again and again; as if the promise of the Return had been made for the sake of this conclusion alone. Watch, watch, is the burden of his advice. I shall come like a thief. You will not, I most solemnly assure you, you will not, see me approaching. If the householder had known at what time the burglar would arrive, he would have been ready for him. If the servant had known when his absent employer would come home, he would not have been found drunk in the kitchen. But they didn't nor will you. Therefore you must be ready at all times.

The point is simple enough. John does not know which part of his lesson he will be made to answer: that is why he must be prepared to answer all. The sentry does not know at what time an enemy will attack, or an officer inspect his post: that is why he must keep awake all the time. The question "What if this present were the world's last night?" has mostly been pressed upon our minds with the purpose of exciting fear. That is not its right use. Perfect love, we know, casts out fear. But unfortunately, so do several other things like ignorance, alcohol, presumption, and stupidity.

But it is always better for perfect love to cast out our mortal fears than the rest because what death is for me is what The Second Coming is for the human race.