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The UK Bible Students Website Christian Biblical Studies |
‘Occupy till I come’
Scripture references are to the
King James (Authorised) Version.
The nineteenth-century hothouse of Millennial expectations in both Britain and America was a fertile medium for predictions drawn from biblical prophecy.
In the British Isles, John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), churchman, translator and founder of the Plymouth Brethren, influenced Christian thought along the lines of chronological periods, or dispensations.
The expectation that Christ's return was at hand was prevalent in those days, as at the time of the First Advent (Luke 3:15).
William Miller (1782-1845), the American adventist and evangelist, drawing on prophecies in Daniel, twice predicted that Christ would return, first in 1843, then, that date failing, 1844.
The let-down discouraged many of his followers, though the lessons learned from the ʻGreat Disappointmentʼ were incorporated into the teachings of C. T. Russell (1852-1916) and the Bible Students movement three decades later.
Russell led a highly-successful worldwide ministry, in which the return of Christ was a prominent feature.
That there would be an indeterminate hiatus between Christ's First Advent and his Second punctuated with confusion on the part of the watching disciples, is suggested by Jesusʼ parable of the ʻpoundsʼ, in which the master of the household departs with an exhortation to his servants to ʻoccupy till I comeʼ that is, until I return (Luke 19:13).
The master is Christ; the servants are His people, awaiting his promised second return in the end of the ages.
We are to ʻoccupyʼ or ʻtradeʼ (so the Greek), with patient resignation, in an attitude of hopeful anticipation until He is made manifest to the world.
That this will happen is certain; but just when, we are not told. The kingdom of God is simultaneously both near and far off, a contradiction which the thoughtful and attentive watcher can appreciate.
Striving to live in this present evil world requires one daily to live in hope of a practical, future deliverance, penetrating the haze which intervenes with trust in the declarations and prophecies found in the Word of God.
For more information on the early Millenarians and their connection to Christian Zionism, see the article by Judy Sturges, Ph.D. on our website here.
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Oct.-Nov. 2016. ukbiblestudents.co.uk