How we watch while we wait is important. We must be careful how we process a theology of the end times, as we wait for Jesus return.

Jesus insisted simultaneously that the kingdom is inaugurated and that it is future. If the balance is distorted in that tension we will quickly introduce major wobbles. This is true not only in our theology but also in our ethics, our attitudes, our hopes, our conduct, and our speech.

Two churches in the New Testament, Thessalonica and Corinth, are examples how a misunderstanding of Eschatology (end times), can cause major problems.

The Corinthian Church Had No Focus on The Lord’s Return

They were living in the now.

In 1 Corinthians 4:8 Paul says, rather sarcastically, already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have become kings, and that without us! It sounds as if they were preaching to one another, You’re a child of the king! Live like one! Does God, your heavenly Father, want you to live like a pauper when you are a king?

These Christians believed because they were Christians, they should be honored. They were taken up with the age of the life to come, and thought they should enjoy all of its benefits now. The only thing they did not claim for themselves was the resurrection, primarily because some of them had trouble believing in the resurrection in any case. So they figured they had all the rest of the blessings, and that’s all there was.

The church at Corinth thought they were so blessed and wise, so they dismissed Paul as less. He was put down, while the Corinthians were gloating, believing they had the inside track. They believed they were wise, and they were elevated.

As a result, the church at Corinth was racked with division and arrogance. There is no trace of any expectancy of the Lord’s return. There seemed to be no hungering and thirsting for the future home of righteousness, and no desire to be removed from this world. There was too much participation in the world. The blessings that did come the Corinthians’ way were bound up so much with the culture of the day. Prosperity in Corinth was a sign of the Lord’s approval.

The Church in Thessalonica Was Consumed With The Lord’s Return

They were living in the future.

1 Thessalonians 1:6: Paul is writing to a church which immediately, unlike the Corinthian church, faced suffering. This young church already had opposition, persecution, and difficulty. In chapter 4:13, it is immediately obvious the Thessalonians are so anticipating an imminent return of the Lord that they can scarcely imagine any of their own could die before that return takes place.

2 Thessalonians’ words reveal some of the Thessalonians have “donned their ascension robes.” They were ready to go. They had resigned from their employment, and were sponging off of the rest of the congregation. They were so convinced the Lord’s coming was soon that they abandoned the world entirely and were simply looking heavenward, waiting for the Lord’s glorious return.

Therefore, Paul has to say some sharp things in II Thessalonian 2:2 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until certain things take place. Here it appears, you have some who have become idle in their enthusiastic anticipation of the Lord’s return, but, in fact, they are not pulling their weight in the congregation, the body of believers.

There is no hint that the Thessalonians were going through some kind of profound glorying, self-congratulations in the area of the gifts of the Spirit or the fruit of the Spirit; nor is there any sense that they feel they are kings already. They are waiting for the Lord’s return. As a result, they had rather checked out of society, and were becoming irresponsible in their conduct.

The church, throughout its long history, has often swung from one extreme to the other, not getting the balance very well. On the one hand, there are some in most generations who so stress the coming of the Lord that somehow your responsibility in this life is short-circuited.

On the other hand, there are some who so stress the blessings and advantages we have in Christ, the gift of the Spirit, and that Christians ought to be prosperous, wealthy, and healthy. And that becomes the focus.

After all, they say, is there not healing in the atonement? The answer to that, is yes, of course, there is healing in the atonement.

Ultimately, the question is not what the atonement provides, as after all, the atonement provides everything. The question is, How much of the ultimate blessings of the final kingdom are to be expected and enjoyed among us today, and how much is reserved for the Lord’s return?

It is the tension between thanking God for what He has provided in the first coming of the Messiah and seeking God for what is still to come in the second coming of the Messiah that preserves our eschatological balance.

If we go astray on one side of this or the other, we will begin to discover wobbles in all areas, as churches, and as individuals. We can claim too little and enjoy too little. Or, we can claim too much and become boastful and proud. May we remember and grow from the past, and with God’s help continually rebalance our spiritual living out of now/the future.