1. Is the exact day and hour of the second coming of Christ fixed? or flexible? Is there an appointed day or not?

2. When God told us that "it is in our power to hasten our Lord's return" (DA 633) was He implying that the day is not fixed?

3. If the day and hour of the second coming is not fixed, or has not been appointed, can we continue to delay the second coming indefinitely?

4. What did God mean when He said, I "will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth"? (Rom 9:28)

Here are some helpful quotes on the topic:

GC 548
Here the apostle plainly stated that a specified time, then future, had been fixed upon for the judgment of the world. {GC 548.2}

5BC 1126
As a man He will come again with power and glory, to receive His children. And that which should cause us joy and thanksgiving is, that God "hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained." {5BC 1126.2}

DA 632, 633
But the day and the hour of His coming Christ has not revealed. He stated plainly to His disciples that He Himself could not make known the day or the hour of His second appearing. Had He been at liberty to reveal this, why need He have exhorted them to maintain an attitude of constant expectancy? There are those who claim to know the very day and hour of our Lord's appearing. Very earnest are they in mapping out the future. But the Lord has warned them off the ground they occupy. The exact time of the second coming of the Son of man is God's mystery. {DA 632.4}

DA 633, 634
By giving the gospel to the world it is in our power to hasten our Lord's return. We are not only to look for but to HASTEN the coming of the day of God. 2 Peter 3:12, margin. Had the church of Christ done her appointed work as the Lord ordained, the whole world would before this have been warned, and the Lord Jesus would have come to our earth in power and great glory. {DA 633.3}

FE 335
Notwithstanding the fact that there are false prophets, there are also those who are preaching the truth as pointed out in the Scriptures. With deep earnestness, with honest faith, prompted by the Holy Spirit, they are stirring minds and hearts by showing them that we are living near the second coming of Christ, but the day and hour of His appearing are beyond the ken of man; for "of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only." {FE 335.1}

But there is a day that God hath appointed for the close of this world's history. “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Prophecy is fast fulfilling. More, much more, should be said about these tremendously important subjects. The day is at hand when the destiny of every soul will be fixed forever. This day of the Lord HASTENS on apace. {FE 335.2}

EV 579
There will be many converted from among the Jews, and these converts will aid in preparing the way of the Lord, and making straight in the desert a highway for our God. Converted Jews are to have an important part to act in the great preparations to be made in the future to receive Christ, our Prince. A nation shall be born in a day. How? By men whom God has appointed being converted to the truth. There will be seen "first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." The predictions of prophecy will be fulfilled.--Manuscript 75, 1905. {Ev 579.1}

MM: 1. Is the exact day and hour of the second coming of Christ fixed? or flexible? Is there an appointed day or not?

Tom: When His character is perfectly reproduced in His people, then Christ will come and claim them as His own (COL 69). This isn't something which can be "appointed" by God. This is a work in which we can choose to cooperate with Him or not. This is up to us, not God. He can't force it.

God sent a message the purpose of which was to prepare a people for Christ's coming, but that message was to a great degree resited. God's intention was that Christ would come shortly after 1888, but the Spirit of Prophesy tells us that intention was (temporarily) thwrarted, and that "we may have to remain here many more years because of insubordination."

MM: 2. When God told us that "it is in our power to hasten our Lord's return" (DA 633) was He implying that the day is not fixed?

Tom: The future is not fixed.

MM: 3. If the day and hour of the second coming is not fixed, or has not been appointed, can we continue to delay the second coming indefinitely?

Tom: God knows that Christ will come, so Christ's coming is certain. *When* He will come is something we can impact. *That* He will come is not.

MM: 4. What did God mean when He said, I "will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth"? (Rom 9:28)

Tom: I think this has been applied to the 1260 prophesy.

... but the day and hour of His appearing are beyond the ken of man; for "of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only." But there is a day that God hath appointed for the close of this world's history.

Tom, what is it about the language of this quote that implies to you God has no idea when Jesus will return?


MM, What is it in our above posts that leads you to believe that Mars is purple?

You mean Orion? Jesus is passing through Orion when He returns. I haven't heard anything about the Red Planet and the Second Advent. Do you know something about it?

The quote I posted very clearly says the day and hour of Jesus' return has been appointed by God. Why do you disagree?

I made the Mars reference because you asked me a question which has no relation to anything I've written, so I asked you a similar one. That is, I've never written that God has no idea when Jesus will return, and you have never written, AFAIK, that Mars is purple.

IOW, your question was poorly framed. It's like, "Have you stopped beating your wife?" The question itself implies something, making the question unanswerable without impicitly accepting the premise.

MM: The quote I posted very clearly says the day and hour of Jesus' return has been appointed by God. Why do you disagree?

Tom: As a response to that question, I wrote the following:

Old Tom: When His character is perfectly reproduced in His people, then Christ will come and claim them as His own (COL 69). This isn't something which can be "appointed" by God. This is a work in which we can choose to cooperate with Him or not. This is up to us, not God. He can't force it.

God sent a message the purpose of which was to prepare a people for Christ's coming, but that message was to a great degree resited. God's intention was that Christ would come shortly after 1888, but the Spirit of Prophesy tells us that intention was (temporarily) thwrarted, and that "we may have to remain here many more years because of insubordination."

Tom: You are using the word "appointed" in a deterministic way, but EGW was not deterministic in her phiolosophy, which is clarified by the points which I made. She was an incompatibilist. If she were deterministic, like you are, she never would have written that God sent Christ as the risk of failure or eternal loss, or to stay on the topic of Christ's coming, she never would have written that we can hasten Christ's coming. These are not deterministic ideas.

Therefore her use of the word "appointed" must have been incompatibilistic, not deterministic. Or to say the same thing in simple language, it must be in harmony with her view that we can hasten Christ's coming, which implies the future is not fixed.

Now starting from the assumption that the future is not fixed, how should we understand that God has appointed a day for Christ's return? What I would mean if I said that there is a day appointed for Christ's return (which I would feel very comfortable in saying) is that there is a day when that will happen. I wouldn't mean there is a specific day in which it must happen because the future is fixed, but simply that it will happen. When it will happen is conditional upon us, which EGW made clear in many statements, such as the ones I alluded to.