The day and hour of the second coming of Jesus is fixed. We cannot add to, or take away from, the word of God. His timing takes into consideration whatever we do to hasten His return. With or without us, the gospel will be completed, and Jesus will return on time. "And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." Luke 19:40.

Mark
13:32 But of that day and [that] hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

1 Thessalonians
5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
5:4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

2 Peter
3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
3:11 [Seeing] then [that] all these things shall be dissolved, what manner [of persons] ought ye to be in [all] holy conversation and godliness,
3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Revelation
3:3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed [is] he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

"His timing takes into consideration whatever we do to hasten His return."

I don't understand this. "Hasten" and "tardy" have to do with things that we do to make a thing happen more quickly or less quickly. If it's our privelege not only to look forward but to hasten Christ's coming, that means we can do something to make it happen more quickly. If His timing already took into account what we do, we couldn't hasten it or delaty it.

EGW many times expressed the idea that Christ could already have come.

Could have come "ere this" does not change the fact that the day and hour of Christ's second advent is fixed. Human history, for God, is hind sight. The reason the day and hour is fixed is because God knows the end from the beginning. He knows what we will do in relation to the second coming of Christ, therefore, He knows the day and hour.

If the time is fixed, then that means He couldn't come at any other time than that time, doesn't it? Let's call this date D. Now we know that D is sometime after the 20th century. So if the time for Christ's coming is fixed sometime after the 20th century, how could He have come in the 19th?

What does "fixed" mean? Doesn't it mean the event can only happen at one precise moment in time? If that's the case, how could it happen in another?

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Removed quote of the previous post. - Daryl

[ October 01, 2004, 01:56 PM: Message edited by: Daryl Fawcett ]

I'm not sure I have the ability to explain this concept to your satisfaction. Only God knows when Jesus will come again, and He has known the exact day and hour since eternity past. The fact Jesus could have come "ere this" does not change when He will come.

"The fact that Jesus could have come 'ere this' does not change when He will come." Of course not. That's not the question. The question is if the date for Jesus' coming is fixed (and it must be fixed for some date in the future), then how is it possible that Jesus could have come before? That's the point. It's not possible.

If it has always been certain that He will come at some future date (from now), then it is not possible that He could have come in the past.

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Removed the quote of the previous post. - Daryl

[ October 01, 2004, 01:57 PM: Message edited by: Daryl Fawcett ]

The reason Jesus didn't come "ere this" is because the conditions were not met, not because it was impossible. God knows the day and hour of Jesus' coming, because He knows the end from the beginning, and nothing we do is going to change prophecy, which is based on what will happen as if it has already happened.

If we had the advantage of hindsight, and eternity to think about it, none of us would make mistakes or poor decisions. That's exactly how it is for God. He has had an eternity of hindsight to think about how best to manage human history. He has weighed every possibility and every outcome, from the vantage point of hindsight and eternity, and has picked the very best scenario, the one that best suits everyone and everything involved. And now God is working faithfully to ensure everything turns out accordingly. He will not allow anything to spoil His plan. We can know and trust that God is in control. Nothing we do, or anyone else does, will upset or derail God's strategy. Prophecy proves that God is in control.

God is in control but in a self-initiated limited sense for the reason that He will not tamper with our freedom of choice. In that sense God is not completely in control.

Because He knows what and when an event will happen doesn't make Him in control of the event except in the case that He allowed or allows it to happen.

When it comes to our choosing to accept or reject Jesus Christ as the Messiah, God is not in control. Ultimately knowing who will be saved or lost doesn't make God in control of that choice, otherwise, why did Jesus Christ weep over Jersualem?

Amen! Yes, God is in control. And yet, He will not violate our freedom to choose. But He is not a helpless bystander. We manage the choices, but God manages the consequences. God, not natural law, is in control. Otherwise, how can He predict the future with unerring accuracy? The outcome of the great controversy is not left to chance or choice.

Consider Cyrus, for example. God predicted Cyrus would allow the Jews to return to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity. But God also had to labor with Cyrus for three weeks before he was willing to release the Jews. See Daniel 10. God knew ahead of time it would require three weeks of persuasion, and He knew the outcome too.

God is not a passive bystander. He is the prime mover. Jesus is actively and agressively orchestrating celestial and terrestrial affairs to His advantage. He is going to win the great controversy, and nothing we do, or don't do, will hinder His success.