Q. I once read that Jesus said he is coming back "soon" but he has not and this seems to be great evidence against Christianity. How do you respond?
The Bible and the Book of Revelation ends with these words from Jesus: “Yes, I am coming soon”. John recorded those words circa 90AD – more than 1900 years ago. How can we reconcile the delay with the imminent sounding promise? If you invited me for lunch and I phoned ahead to say “I’ll be there soon” – but kept you waiting for a week before arriving, you would be annoyed. But does Jesus use “soon” in that same sense? Evidently not, because of the delay we have experienced in history!
There is another way to understand Jesus’ words. Revelation celebrates that the work of Jesus has been completed, He has been slain, He has been raised, He has overcome the powers of evil, He is seated on the throne, He has the scroll which will complete God’s purposes for human history. Throughout John’s gospel, Jesus talks about His “time” and “hour” – everything is building up to His work on the Cross. He often tells people before the Cross that “it is not yet my time”. And He declares at the end, on the Cross, “It is finished” – Jesus has accomplished fully the mission that was entrusted to Him. Now in Revelation, Jesus again is speaking about time in this Salvation-History sense. The main event left on God’s calendar is the return of Jesus – there are no other events from God’s side: incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension have all been completed. In this sense, Jesus is ready to commence the final events of this present age at any time, “soon”.
Why has there been this delay?
It is evidence of God’s grace to this world:
“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:8-10).
He is giving time for the gospel to go out to the nations, so that when He returns it will be to save many, rather than to judge them.
Q. When Jesus ascends into heaven he says "I am going to prepare a place for you" - what is that place and when are we there. How does this fit in with the new earth?
In the Upper Room Discourse, Jesus prepares His disciples for His death, resurrection and ascension – He is going to depart and return to His Father, having accomplished the work He was given to do. The disciples are understandably confused and distressed at the idea of Jesus leaving them. He speaks a lot in these chapters (John 14-16) about the coming of the Holy Spirit to be with them, in His place. He also assures them that one day He is returning:
“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2-3)
There may be a reference here to the Jewish marriage tradition. The groom would go away to prepare a home for his bride to come live in. Then he would return to her house, take her away to the house and there would be a great wedding banquet. Earlier in John’s gospel Jesus began His ministry at such a wedding banquet and indicated that in the future He would be preparing one Himself for His people. We hear the announcement and invitation to this wedding celebration in Revelation 19, between Jesus and His bride. We next hear of the city of New Jerusalem descending out of heaven, prepared like a bride in Revelation 21:1-2. The wedding of God and His people is celebrated in the New Heavens and New Earth. The heavenly city of God comes down on the new earth. This is the place that Jesus has prepared for His people to live with Him throughout the endless joyous ages of eternity.
This is the place that God’s people by faith have longed for as their eternal home:
“By faith Abraham made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God…All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them” (Hebrews 11:9-16).
Perhaps, we will see this city and dwell in it between our death and our resurrection, when our souls are separated from our bodies but with Christ. However, we will only fully appreciate and inhabit this city when we have our resurrected bodies in the new creation.
If you want to think more about heaven and our eternal home in the new creation, see this helpful video from the Bible Project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy2AQlK6C5k
Q. Will we remember sin in heaven?
Memory is a very important part of our being human. Our memories are essential parts of our personality. That’s why when the human brain starts to malfunction and is unable to retain memories, like in dementia, families describe “losing” the person. It’s a terribly sad thing to witness, as some of us have with our loved ones. That is to say, while the Bible does not directly answer your question, I believe that it is important that we remember our past, including our sins.
We’re told that there will be no sin in heaven (21:27), and those who sin are outside of heaven in hell (21:8, 22:15). We are told that the consequences and brokenness caused by sin like death, sorrow, pain are no more in heaven (21:4). One of the reasons we will not sin in heaven is because we will not want to. It’s not that God will have removed our free will, but rather that we will remember how awful sin and its consequences were in this world, and be glad of being freed from its tyranny and corruption in the new world.
We are told that Jesus’ resurrected and glorified body still bears the marks of His crucifixion (5:6) – as a reminder throughout eternity of the love He demonstrated and cost He had to pay in order to save us from our sins. We will love Him all the more, as we remember and realise the true depths of our sinfulness that He has saved us from.
