The second arrival of God – The Realm of one thousand years -2

The Saviour wanted to tell us in advance only some general information concerning few previous signs of His Parutis: some of these signs are anterior, others are concomitant. Anterior are: preaching the Gospel to all people (Matei XXIV, 14); foreboding, thaumaturgies and Christ liars between faithful people (Matei XXIV, 24); increasing offences and decreasing the brother love between faithful people (Matei XXIV, 10,12). Concomitant signs are: sun darkening, heavenly bodies fall, serious disturbances of nature laws (Matei 1 XXIV, 7,29), “the sign of Man’s Son” in the sky (Matei XXIV, 30), that means the Holly Cross.
The saint apostles – completing, after their revelation, this eschatology – is discovering others signs pervious to God Parusia but having the same general character: Conversion to Christianity of Jews people (Rom. XI,. 25-26) and abandoning the Christianity (II Tes. II, 3) and the activity developed within the Church by a sinister religious person – named “Sin man”, “perdition son”, “without law”, “The hostile” -, who will realize false miracles, will manage the Church, considering that he is the supreme God, asking for adoration to his faithful people (TT Tes. II, 3-10; of. Matei XXIV, 15).
Some commentators named him the “Antichrist” and tried to promote the idea that he will be a person outside the Church and against it. But we have to mention that, according to Ioan I, 18,22; I1V, 3 and II Ioan 7, the name of “antichrist” was given by saint apostle and evangelist Ioan to dochet, cerintians and nicolaits – heretics from the end of apostolic age -, that means to some people from the Church and not outside it.
Others commentors identified this person to that symbolically described by saint, apostle and evangelist Ioan in Apoc. XX, 7-10, and the style of this biblical book is symbolic and does not allow any literal interpretation.
In fact, the few texts concerning this person don’t allow any updating and don’t concern person outside the Church or to usual historical events. From the content of these texts, it is very clear that the Savior (Matei XXIV) and also saint apostle Paul (II Tes. II, 3-10) mention only the itenrnal life of the Church and the religious activity developed by Christians by some lier teachers or heretics or by some unworthy clerics. As they are announced by biblical texts, means that these signs will happen before Parusia of Jesus Christ and world renewal, but none of them has the character of a precise prognostication, clear and indisputable. In all biblical pericopes having eschatological significance, the aghiograpfs use poetry images or rhetoric figures, or indefinite expressions of general indications, from which it is impossible to take a precise teaching about the date of the second arrival of Jesus Christ and the final renewal of the world.
Jesus Christ in His great prophetic and eshatologic speech from synoptic Gospel (Matei XXIV and XXV; Marcu XIII; Luca XVII, 20-37 and XXI, 5-26), describes in literal sense only de demolition the Temple, devastating Jerusalem and inevitable cancellation of Judaic state during His times by Roman army, while about events, chronologically much more far away, which will precede His Parusia and the “end” of the world, speaks in poetry and symbolical figures to emphasize their splendor.
Also the Saviour, in the answer to the question of Apostles concerning the date of Temple demolition, the date of His Parusia and the date of the “end” of the world and starting future life (Matei XXIV 3; Marcu XIII, 3-4; Luca XVII, 20 and XXI,7) does not announce not even the score of religious and national catastrophe of Judaic people, even He used the events from Judea, between the period 68-70 as a type (model, imagination) to describe the general events preceding His Parusia. During His entire prophetic and eschatological speech from synoptic Gospel, the intention of the Savior is clearly to give to Apostles some moral and religious recommendations: “Take care not being deceived by somebody...Don’t be afraid, as all must be, but the end is not coming... And about that day and hour nobody knows, not even the angels from the heaven... So you also have to be ready, because the Son of the man will suddenly arrive” (Matei XXIV,4,6,36,44) or: “Wake as you don’t know the day or hour when the Son of the man will come” (Matei XXV,13) and again: “So take on yourselves, don’t burden your hearts by too much food and drinks and the world troubles and suddenly that day will arrive. Wake but praying to leave all behind and to stay in front of the Son of the Man” (Luca XXI, 34-36).
The same are doing saint apostles in their missionary and pastoral activity. Thus, after remembering to faithful people the unexpected character of God Parusia, Saint Apostle Paul wrote: “You are the sons of light and of the day; we are not the sons of the night or of the dark. So don’t sleep like the others, but let’s wake and let’s be awake...putting on the armour of the faith and love and the helmet of the salvation hope” I Tes. V, 5-8) or: “And please brothers, concerning the arrival of Jesus Christ and our meeting with Him, don’t move by your mind and don’t be afraid...Ant don’t be deceived in no way” (II tes. II,1-3); “So brothers stay well and keep the knowledge you learned from our words or letter” (II tes. II,15). At his turn, saint...apostle Peter wrote: For that, waiting this, take tare to be found by Christ without guilt, blameless, peaceful. And the long patience of “our God you have to consider it as a salvation...And knowing this before, take care to continue to be strong, without being influenced by the wandering villainous” (II Peter III, 14-17)
The confirmation that the biblical texts don’t allow any prognostic about the date of Parusia of Christ and the “end” of the world is coming also from the history. The normal passing of the times and always going farther away of the history contested, during the ages, all wrong and pessimist interpretations of biblical eschatology and will be certainly contested in the future. Thus, at the middle of apostolic age, the history selected those Thessalonica Christians who, considering that the Parusia of Chris was close, they leaved their work, affecting the others faithful people by somber eschatological predictions and waiting in any moment the end of the world. Without the intervention of saint Paul by all his authority as an apostle, the Greek – Roman world was covered by the scandal of an entire religious group, pauperized by false eschatological illuminist, compromising the prestige of Christians.
In fact, the absurdity that the date of Parusia of the God and the “end” of the world were near is clearly resulted by the biblical revelation about the faithful people role. Who really believe the word of the God from saint Scripture, must be absolutely sure in his heart, that this world will be not ended before the blessing – also as an order – which the Almighty God said at creation moment to protoparents of humanity and to all their heirs, when He said: “Grown up and breed and fill the earth and subjugate it” (creation I, 28).
Saint scripture says us that God gave to the men first the order and blessing to “grow up”. Who may declare that the humanity is already grown up to his full capacity?
God gave also to the men, at creation moment, the order and blessing to “breed and to fill the earth”. Who may declare that the humanity arrived or will arrive in next future to the maximum level of his numerical breed or will fill all the earth? At the same time, God when blessing people, at creation moment, gave them also the order to “Subjugate the earth and to rule the fish of the sea and all the birds of the sky, all animals on the earth, all plants and trees” (Creation I, 28-30). Who may pretend, observing the true, that the humanity fulfilled or will fulfill such a role?”
The seas and oceans represent an enormous and eternal source of food and richness so precious, which until now only few of them were provided to the man.
These summary theological and rational considerations, prevent us to understand how a Christian may put together the biblical teaching about the wisdom, kindness and divine providence, with pessimist, negative and catastrophic ideas about the future of humanity and universe. They also make us to wonder how some Christians may declare on one side the dogma about God kindness and on the other hand, to have pessimist interpretations about biblical eschatology.
So these considerations oblige - and this is very important for our pastoral and missionary tasks – to fight against any subjective, not scientific and tendentious updating of biblical prophecies with eschatological character and to protect the Christians against their negative influence. In fact, the Holy Spirit discovered to us by Saint Scripture and Saint Tradition, only what is useful for salvation, not the science. The Saint Scripture and Saint Tradition include the religious true discovered by God, and the science the material true discovered by human efforts: “by your efforts you will get your food” (Creation III, 190, By biblical inspiration, God did not give to the man, in Saint Scripture, data of positive science, but religious and moral teaching. So Holy Scripture may not be considered – like by Roman – Catholics from middle age – as an encyclopedia of all knowledge about the world and the life.
Being a religious book, the Holy Scripture only incidentally speaks about some scientific issues, considering them not according to reality, but according to cultural state, mentality, language and the environment of the time when it was written. So biblical texts may not be considered as a basis to fight against the affirmations of scientists that on our plant they may have an interesting, rich and happy life, for a period of thousand and ten hundreds millions of years, a more and more number of people. Also, no faith teaching of the Church does not give us the right to be skeptical about the hope of scientists that the humanity will finally find the ways to provide an unlimited multilateral development, subjugating the entire nature.
The humanity is not passive, waiting a “new sky” and a “new earth”, but is trying to realize them, as it is possible or at least to be near to their realization, by different ways. Thus, the medicine fights to cure the illness and to prevent the old age. The art fights to realize the beauty. The science fights to know all things and energies from the universe and the technique fights to continuously extract the energy of material and facilitate the human work. All these aspects must by considered by Christians as a testimony that even in material plan we go to perfection, to a new and superior world, to what biblical Revelation is suggesting, on spiritual plan, by expressions “new earth and new sky”.