House Divided Bridging the Gap in Reformed Eschatology A Preterist Response to
When Shall These Things Be?
Chapter Four
The Eschatological Madness of Mathison or How Can These Things Be?
Part 7 – In Like Manner Acts 1:9-11
Michael J. Sullivan
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Like Manner
Mathison argues: Jesus ascended visibly and bodily. Then He vanished
from sight in a cloud (Acts 1:9). Acts 1:11 says that He will return
in the same manner that He departed. This has not happened yet
(184–188, 204). Therefore, Acts 1:11 is not yet fulfilled.
Response:
After speaking to His apostles about the kingdom over a period of
forty days, Jesus told them to stay in Jerusalem and to wait for the fulfillment
of the Father’s promise of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus said would
take place “not many days from now.” This prompted the disciples to ask
Him in verse six about the timing of the kingdom’s arrival. “Lord, are
you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus did not give
them a day or hour, but He reminded them in verse eight of the sign of
the Great Commission which had to be accomplished before He would
restore the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:8; Matt. 24:3, 14). Mathison, ignoring
the immediate context, states:
The first thing that must be observed when we examine this account
is that no reference to time is connected with the prediction
of the return of Christ. (185)
However, in another book Mathison #2 admits:
The time frame is hinted at in the preceding context. The
disciples are given a commission to be Christ’s witnesses “in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest
part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The implication is that Christ’s visible
return will follow the completion of the mission to the remotest
part of the earth.”[1]
According to Mathison in the above quote, when the Great Commission
in verse 8 is fulfilled, then the Second Coming of verse 11
will occur. Mathison’s contention that there are two Great Commissions
given in the New Testament—one fulfilled before AD 70 and
another that will be fulfilled before the allegedly yet-future Second
(Third) Coming—is altogether arbitrary. It is a position he is forced
to take because of his flawed, partial preterist framework—like his
doctrines of two “last days” in the New Testament, and of two future
“comings” of Christ in the New Testament, and of his divided
sections separated by 2000+ years in Matthew 24 and in Matthew
16:27–28 and in other Scriptures.
Mathison breaks again from the majority of Reformed, Evangelical,
and preterist theologians, who see one Great Commission in the Gospels
and in the book of Acts, instead of two. Mathison’s dichotomizing
approach to the Great Commission does not merit a serious rebuttal
and can be rejected out of hand.
Since the Second Coming is fulfilled after the Great Commission,
and since there is only one Great Commission, and since the Great
Commission was fulfilled in Christ’s generation, it follows that the Second
Coming was fulfilled in those days as well. The gospel was preached
to the world; “then” the end came (Matt. 24:14). The following
chart proves that the Great Commission was fulfilled in the first
century.
|
Prophecy |
Fulfillment |
|
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world [Greek ikumene] for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Matt. 24:14)
|
“But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: ‘Their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’” [Greek oikumene] (Rom. 10:18)
|
|
“And the gospel must first be published among all nations.” [Greek ethnos] “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.’” [Greek ethnos] “‘. . . I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.” (Mark 13:10; Matt. 28:19-20)
|
“…My gospel… has been made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to all nations. . . .” [Greek ethnos] (Rom.16:25-26)
|
|
“And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world [Greek kosmos] and preach the gospel to every creature” “. . . And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils;they shall speak with new tongues.” [Greek glossa] (Mark 16:15, 17)
|
“…of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in all the world [Greek kosmos], as is bringing forth fruit. . . .” (Col. 1:5-6)
|
|
“And he said unto them ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.’” [Greek kitisis] (Mark 16:15)
|
“ . . . from the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature [Greek kitisis] under heaven, of which I, Paul became a minister.” (Col. 1:23)
|
|
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,and to the end of the earth/land.” [Greek ge] (Acts 1:8)
|
“But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: ‘Their sound has gone out to all the earth/land [Greek ge], and their words to the ends of the world.’” (Rom. 10:18)
|
|
Prophecy had begun to be fulfilled: “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues [Greek glossa], as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation [Greek ethnos] under heaven. (Acts 2:4-5)
|
Prophecy would be fulfilled “shortly”: “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth/land [Greek ge], and to every nation [Greek ethnos], and kindred [Greek phile] and tongue [Greek glossa], and people.” [Greek laos] (Rev. 1:1; 14:6; cf. 10:6-7) Satan was bound so that the Great Commission to the nations would be accomplished during the millennium (Rev. 20:3).
|
Therefore, I have proven that the in-like-manner Second Coming of
Christ was also fulfilled in the first century.
After commanding His disciples to take possession of the kingdom
through the Great Commission, Jesus ascended in a cloud, hidden from
the disciples’ sight (Acts 1:9). Mathison insists that Jesus’ physical body
was seen for some period of time as He ascended into the sky. However,
verse nine simply says, “He was lifted up, and a cloud received Him from
their eyes.” Jesus was certainly seen just before He was “lifted up” (Acts
1:9). But it is not at all certain that He was directly seen as He ascended
into the sky.
In verse 11, the disciples were told that Jesus would come in the
manner that they had seen Him enter heaven (the sky). The continuity
of Him coming as He had entered heaven is found in the fact that He
would come in the heavenly glory-cloud of His Father (Matt. 16:27). Jesus
was not physically seen after He was received into the glory-cloud.
It was while He was hidden from sight in that cloud that He was indirectly
seen entering the sky. And He was to come in like manner.
Therefore, He would not be physically or directly seen when He came
“in like manner,” in the cloud, to indwell His church in the end of the old
covenant age (Luke 17:20–37; John 14:2–3, 23).
Mathison errs when he says that Jesus was going to come back in
the same way that He “departed.” The Scriptures say that Jesus would
come in the same way He had entered the sky. He entered the sky hidden
from literal eye sight in the cloud of God’s glory.
Here is the order of events:
1. As they looked, He was taken up (Acts 1:9).
2. A cloud received Him from their eyes (Acts 1:9).
These first two events could very well have happened simultaneously.
As Mathison himself admits, the verse could be translated, “He
was lifted up; that is, a cloud received Him out of their sight.”[2] It is a
very real possibility that Jesus was instantly hidden in the cloud at the
moment His feet left the earth.
3. Then the disciples saw Him going into the sky. That is, they
looked intently into the sky as He was ascending in the cloud
(Acts 1:10–11).
In the Old Testament, God was never literally or directly seen coming
in His glory when He judged or saved Israel and other nations. Jesus
was not literally seen again after He entered the cloud of God’s glory.
He was “taken up in glory” (1 Tim. 3:16) and He would come in glory as
the Ancient of Days.
The Lord God had become flesh. John bore testimony to the
fact that looking at and touching Jesus was to look at and touch
God Himself (John 1:14; 1 John 1:1). God was physically seen in the
flesh, but this was temporary for the second person of the Godhead
(Heb. 5:7), even as He had been born into and under the old covenant
system with its temporal types and shadows (Gal. 4:4; Rom.
5–8; 2 Cor. 3; Heb. 8:13).[3]
Ironically, the point of the question, “Why do you stand here looking
into the sky,” was that Jesus was not going to return to His physical
form. It was futile for the disciples to long for Jesus to return to the
earthly form He had taken when He was born of Mary. In His ascension,
Jesus had returned to His pre-incarnate glory. The question of
the two men was rhetorical, and it meant, “There is no use in standing
here longing for Jesus to return to you and to be as He was in the
days of His flesh. He will come, but He will come in the manner you
saw Him enter heaven—hidden from physical eyes in the cloud of the
Father’s glory.”
We agree with the majority of commentators and cross reference
systems which see the in-like-manner coming of Jesus in Acts 1:11 as
being parallel with the coming of Jesus on or in the cloud(s) in Matthew
16:27–28, 24:30–31, 26:64–68; Luke 21:27, and Revelation 1:7. Mathison
and Gentry, however, wrench Acts 1:11 from those Scriptures.
They admit that Christ was figuratively “seen” (perceived, understood)
at a figurative “coming” in/on the clouds in AD 70, but they deny that
this was the fulfillment of Acts 1:11.
This brings us to another problem. Mathison writes of Matthew
24:30 in his book Postmillennialism:
. . . [T]he “coming” of the Son of Man is His coming in judgment
upon Jerusalem (see vv. 23–28), which is intimately connected
with His ascension to the right hand of God (cf. Dan.
7:13–14).[4]
Later, in WSTTB, Mathison goes further and identifies the Ascension
with the coming of Christ in AD 70:
. . . [W]hen [Jesus] makes reference to “the coming of the Son of
Man,” . . . He may have been referring . . . to his ascension . . . and
the judgment on Jerusalem. . . . ” (182, emphasis added)
For Mathison, Christ’s “coming” in Daniel 7:13–14 is somehow
both a literal, visible “going up” in a literal cloud in about AD 30 and
a figurative “coming” to Jerusalem from heaven in figurative clouds
in AD 70. The confusion inherent in this position is plain enough.
Mathison says that “the coming of the Son of Man” in Daniel 7:13–
14 is a reference to the Ascension. But then Mathison says that
when Jesus used the term, He was referring to the Ascension and
to the destruction of Jerusalem. Yet there is not one instance where
Jesus spoke of the coming of the Son of Man where it can be taken
to be a reference to His Ascension. In every case, it is His coming
to earth in judgment and salvation. But this is only the tip of the
Iceberg of Confusion.
Even though Mathison says that Jesus’ “coming” in AD 70 was “intimately
connected with His ascension,” and even though Mathison says
that both the Ascension and His coming in judgment in AD 70 are equally
“the coming of the Son of Man,” and even though Mathison admits that
both events were with a cloud/clouds and in the glory of the Father, and
that both events were seen (Acts 1:11; Matt. 26:64), Mathison nevertheless
maintains that Jesus’ “coming” in AD 70 was not the “in-like-manner”
coming promised in Acts 1:11. Mathison’s position is an ineffable tangle
of exegetical double vision, contradiction, and consummate confusion.
Partial Preterist Milton Terry, in contrast, took a lucid, biblical approach, seeing
Matthew 24:30–31, 34; Acts 1:11; and Revelation 1:7 as all being fulfilled
in the fall of Jerusalem in the end of the age:
Whatever the real nature of the parousia, as contemplated in this
prophetic discourse, our Lord unmistakably associates it with the
destruction of the temple and city, which he represents as the signal
termination of the pre-Messianic age. The coming on clouds,
the darkening of the heavens, the collapse of elements, are, as we
have shown above, familiar forms of apocalyptic language, appropriated
from the Hebrew prophets. Acts i, 11, is often cited to show that Christ’s
coming must needs be spectacular, “in like manner as ye beheld him
going into the heaven.” But (1) in the only other three places where [“in like
manner”] occurs, it points to a general concept rather than the
particular form of its actuality. Thus, in Acts vii, 28, it is not some
particular manner in which Moses killed the Egyptian that is notable,
but rather the certain fact of it. In 2 Tim. iii, 8, it is likewise
the fact of strenuous opposition rather than the special manner in
which Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses. And in Matt. xxiii,
37, and Luke xiii, 34, it is the general thought of protection rather
than the visible manner of a mother bird that is intended. Again
(2), if Jesus did not come in that generation, and immediately after
the great tribulation that attended the fall of Jerusalem, his
words in Matt. xvi, 27, 28, xxiv, 29, and parallel passages are in the
highest degree misleading. (3) To make the one statement of the
angel in Acts i, 11, override all the sayings of Jesus on the same
subject and control their meaning is a very one-sided method of
biblical interpretation. But all the angel’s words necessarily mean
is that as Jesus has ascended into heaven so he will come from
heaven. And this main thought agrees with the language of Jesus
and the prophets.[5]
As Mathison admits in one book but denies in another, the immediate
context links Christ’s in-like-manner return to the fulfillment of the
Great Commission (v. 8; Matt. 24:14, 27, 30; Rom. 10:18). The Great
Commission was fulfilled in Christ’s generation. Jesus was “lifted up”
and hidden from sight in the cloud of glory. He ascended into the sky
hidden in the cloud, as His disciples watched. He was to come in the
same manner in which the disciples saw Him enter into the sky: hidden
in the cloud of the glory of His Father. He was “seen” in that Day in
the same way that Yahweh was “seen” whenever He came on a cloud to
judge nations in the Old Testament.
This was the one and only future coming of Christ that was promised
in the New Testament. Therefore, Christ returned in AD 70. The
analogy of Scripture confirms this interpretation. It does not confirm
Mathison’s, which rips Acts 1:9–11 from its immediate and broader
New Testament contexts. We agree with Terry’s comments on Matthew
24:30–31, 34; Acts 1:11; and Revelation 1:7. “We accept upon the
testimony of the Scriptures”[6] that Christ returned on/in a cloud/clouds
in that generation.
[1] Postmillennialism, 117 (emphasis added).
[2] From Age to Age, 459
[3] Though Jesus is no longer in the flesh, He forever retains His human
nature. He is forever Man, even as the saints in heaven today, who are no longer
in their physical bodies, are still human/man by nature. Neither the Son
of Man nor those who are in Him, whether in heaven or on earth, are “nonhuman.”
(See David Green’s response to Strimple Argument #11 in chapter
seven of this book.)
[4] Keith A. Mathison, Postmillennialism: An Eschatology of Hope (Phillipsburg,
NJ: 1999), 114
[5] Milton S. Terry, A Study of the Most Notable Revelations of God and
of Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 246-247.
[6] Milton S. Terry, Biblical Hermeneutic (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1990), 468, n.1 (emphases added).
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