The Coming Messiah: Not Radical Thought (Or Is It?)
By Pastor Eric Haley

Eric Haley is pastor at Calvary Chapel.

In these times, when terrorism is on the minds of many throughout the world, we hear words such as "fundamentalist," "extremist," and "radical" used interchangeably to describe the religious beliefs behind the terrorist mind. Not that terrorism has to be fueled by religious thought, for we know that acts of terror are also fueled by bigotry, hatred, money, selfishness, mental instability, power struggles and humanist idealism, if not classic demonic possession.

Yet, the questions beg to be asked. Is it wrong in general to have basic fundamental beliefs that are nonnegotiable? Is extremism just a matter of perspective? And what in the world does it mean to be "radical?"

I'll pose this "radical" question about myself since I have been accused of being a radical from time to time. Is it radical for me to believe in the soon coming of Jesus, the Messiah? There are those in the Christian world that don't like talking about the Second Coming of Christ. To some, it's an uncomfortable subject and considered doom and gloom theology. To others it's outdated, something people talked about before the turn of the last millennium. And then to others, it's just plain overrated. Many have been so inundated with Left Behind books, video games and movies they are eager to move on to other subjects of greater relevance to the world today.

But, really, is there anything greater in relevance than the End Times, if indeed we are in the End Times? You know, a large part of the world's population believes we are very close to that time. There are many Christians, Jews and even Moslems who are waiting for a messiah and though we strongly disagree about who that is, we have one thing in common: we believe this will mark the end of the age. Millions upon millions of people around the world believe we are in the Last Days. How radical is that? I guess that depends on how you define radical.

That word has so many meanings! Even if we stay away from the subjects of botany, geometry, philology, and music, paring down the definitions to just three leaves us with meanings that are nearly exact opposites: 1) to be wildly different, 2) to be foundationally primary, and 3) to be way cool (modern use, not yet in most dictionaries).

Well, believing in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is certainly wildly different than what normally happens from day to day. I hope for His coming in my lifetime. What an awesome thing it would be to experience the victorious coming of the Lord Jesus Christ! I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a change. But even if I die before he comes, Paul says in I Thessalonians that I will still get to be there. It's a win/win situation. So I guess you can call that radical thought.

The Second Coming is also foundational. I would find it quite difficult to believe that the Bible is God-breathed and then think that so many of those breathings are not relevant for today. If reading about the Second Coming of Christ made me uncomfortable, then I would have to avoid reading certain chapters in all four of the Gospels, the book of Acts, and nearly all the letters of the apostles Paul, Peter, James, and John. I would have to totally avoid I Thessalonians, and of course Revelation as well as some of the classic Old Testament prophets like Daniel and Ezekiel. I would really have to question why God would give us this book of truths if he expected us to laugh that much of it off saying, "Well you know those apostles, they were so gullible!"

Yes, of course there are other things to talk about and there are great lessons for spiritual growth throughout the Scriptures. But can we really ignore the connection of these truths to the Second Coming?

The late Dr. Francis Schaeffer wrote a book several decades ago entitled, How Should We Then Live? There is an obvious response to that question. We should live a life holy and acceptable to God. (Romans 12:1). But I believe the scriptural parallel to that question posed in the title of Dr. Schaeffer's book is found in II Peter 3:11-12: Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God. This was the conclusion of Peter's thoughts concerning the Second Coming of Christ, in response to those who were giving up on it.

It appears that holy conversation and godliness is recommended to prepare us for the Lord's coming, as much as it is a testimony of changed lives. So the Second Coming is foundational and primary. Is that radical? Yes.

Finally, I also consider the Second Coming of Christ to be the way cool kind of radical. Back in the days of the Jesus Movement we called it "far out".

We would sing songs like "Maranatha, maranatha, the Lord is coming back. We must prepare our hearts so we can meet him." I think it is so cool, so far out, and so radical that the Lord Jesus Christ who suffered and died for us, was resurrected from the dead, and ascended into heaven, would desire to come back for us so that we could live with him forever! Is that totally radical and way cool or what?