Everyone is dead but me! If I die, what happens then?

Guaranteed. Nothing could be more certain. But it’s not happening.

A street lamp outside the Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune Protestant church in Strasbourg, France.

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The death of Christ left the Disciples shocked, helpless, hopeless, defeated, empty, disbelieving. Paul would later say, “If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” There is no reason to live for Christ if he is dead. Just go back home and get whatever enjoyment you can out of life, because this is it. There’s nothing more. And, paraphrased, “If Christ is in that grave, then our proclamation is nonsense and your faith in him is stupid.  If we put our hope in a Christ who is dead, then we the most pitiful of the pitiful.”

Now John is facing this head-on. Christ died on that cross, was buried, was resurrected, and appeared many times to the Disciples and others: eating and drinking and talking. John knows that and insists that he personally saw all of this, is not lying, and that he is writing so that those who were not there may know it is really true, and that by believing that it is true we also might have life in his name.

John does not mention the Temptation, or the baptism, or the birth... or the ascension. Why? He is writing long after Luke wrote Acts 1. But then, none of the other Gospels have the account of the ascension either. Why was this not an important fact to mention?

For John, the issue is a more delicate matter, because he was there, at the ascension. Matthew also, but not Luke, and he’s the only one who writes about it. Why?

By the time of the writing of the Matthew’s Gospel, the question of when Christ would return was possibly not a critical one. Yet, Peter brings it up in his letter, angrily, at about the same time as Matthew’s writing, as a question that deserves no answer. Whatever the reason for Peter confronting the criticism and Matthew paying it no mind, there was time. Everyone except James the brother of John was alive.

But by the time of John’s writing, no one was still alive, and Jesus had not returned, and Jerusalem was destroyed, there was no nation of Israel... it was gone. It was all gone. And he had been left alone, for 20 years now, to reflect upon these things. Jesus’ statement “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?” must have now seemed bitter. Peter dying before John is one thing; but everyone dying? Leaving him alone for 20 years?!

How can the return be true if everyone is dead? How can it be true if there is no Israel? What is he coming back for? There’s nothing here. It’s all gone. There is no Israel for the Messiah to restore. There are no Twelve to restart what he left.

It’s one thing for Paul to say “if Christ is still in that grave, our proclamation is nonsense and our faith is futile.” But what if Christ is in heaven? What if he’s staying there? What if something really terrible has happened? What if he changed his mind? What if, like all those other times, I didn’t hear him right?

I can believe I will follow Christ into his glory, but if heaven is real but the promised return is not, what does that mean? What else am I not understanding? And if I die, the last of the Twelve, what do I say to those before my death about the return of Christ? Sorry?

John ends his Gospel with no mention of the ascension or the return of Christ. John writes his letters without ever mentioning the question that Peter rejects in anger. John talks about living forever, and the day of judgment, and Christ being revealed

1 John 2.17

The world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever.

1 John 2.28

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he is revealed we may have confidence and not be put to shame before him at his coming.

1 John 3.2

What we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.

1 John 4.9

God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.

1 John 4.17

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.

1 John 5.10-13

Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

The question is full in the face of Peter; it has to also be full in the face of John—and even more so since he not only witnessed Christ dying, but all of them also. And the entire nation! Peter never had to deal with that piece of the puzzle.

The question is there, on the table: yes, we believe, he died, yes, we believe he was resurrected, yes, we believe he ascended to the right hand of the Father... but where is he?!

Yes, we believe we have eternal life. Yes, we believe that his life means we also have life, and apparently will be received into heaven as he was. But doesn’t he have to actually do it?! How can everything else be true if this isn’t?

Everything in John’s Gospel and his letters avoids the issue of the return of Christ. He leaves out the birth, the baptism, the temptation, the ascension—and the return. Our believe is so that we may have life. John’s general remarks about his coming and his revelation and the day of judgment have no solidity. They can be non-physical experiences, at any time... there is no actual promise associated with it.

Until we get to Revelation. Then it’s a firm thing.

We assume Revelation was the last book written.

The return of Christ in Revelation is a fearful thing. If and when he returns, it is to personally remove your lampstand: to tell you to your face I do not know you. Jesus never says he will return to reward the churches who keep the faith; only that he will return to punish those that don’t.

Is this the return they are waiting for? Is this the solution to the mysterious statement, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?” Is John remaining so he can witness Christ returning in fierce anger to make war against his own church? To spit them out of his mouth?

If this is so, maybe the promise of his coming is not such a good thing.

But still, in Rev 22 Jesus says “I am coming soon!” Verses 7, 12, and 20. Three times. Guaranteed. Nothing could be more certain.

But it’s not happening.

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Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible (NRSV), copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.