Christ’s Return (part 3)
23 January 1999 10:57
This is the third and final part of Fr. “X”‘s article on the Return of Jesus.
Christ’s Own Teaching on His Reign
Just before Ascension, Jesus is asked: “Lord, are you going to restore the rule to Israel now?” to which he answers, “The exact time is not yours to know. The Father has reserved that to himself” (Acts 1: 6 – 7).
We are clearly dealing here with the Messianic hopes of the Jewish people for something visible and concrete here on earth. Instead of telling them that they had not rightly understood or even denying that there would be some sort of earthly reign, Jesus simply tells them that the time for it is a mystery.
The fact that Jesus seems to accept this Jewish hope for some sort of reign of God on earth is significant. On more than one occasion Jesus had separated Himself from current Jewish attitudes, as in the Sermon on the Mount. But nowhere in the whole New Testament do we find any sort of effort to eliminate the deeply rooted idea that the coming of the Messiah would be connected with some sort of earthly kingdom. The phrase “My kingdom does not belong to this world,” (Jn 18: 36) might seem at first glance to contradict the idea oa an earthly kingdom, but the word “world” here is rightly interpreted to be referring to the kind of “world” that stands opposed to the reign of God (Jn 17: 16).
There are certain passages in the Scriptures, which actually encourage the idea that Jesus intends to establish some sort of earthly rule, though it is evident that the rule of Christ is fundamentally in the hearts of mankind “in Spirit and truth” (Jn 4: 24). In St Luke Jesus is clearly comparing himself to an earthly ruler:
A man of noble birth went to a faraway country to become its king, and then return …. But his fellow citizens despised him, and they immediately sent a deputation after him with instructions to say, “We will not have this man rule over us.” He returned, however, crowned as king (Lk 19: 12 – 15).
We see here the idea of an interim period between the departure of Christ and His return. Nowadays we would be tempted to say that this return marks the end of the world. However, the other elements do not point to the end of the world but rather to a purification followed by a glorious reign. In fact, when the prince leaves, he gives tasks to his servants to perform. On his return he rewards them with renewed responsibilities: “You showed yourself capable in a small matter. For that you can take over ten villages” (Lk 19: 17). The unfaithful are then punished.
Vassula on the Reign of Christ
For some modern Catholics the idea that there could be any sort of interim period of peace or “triumph of good over evil” seems utterly fantastic, and yet not only does there seem to be conclusive evidence for this triumph in the Scriptures and tradition, this is also what our Blessed Mother promised at Fatima. Moreover, Vassula as well as other current mystics of our time insists that it is precisely about this glorious return and a renewed world that heaven is speaking in these days and for our own times.
In the messages of 19 Dec 1990, Jesus gives a deeper understanding of the true significance of the Lord’s prayer:
I shall save you, I shall unite you to your other brothers and Wisdom shall be your Holy Companion to instruct you without ceasing. I shall soon lift the ban and your great apostasy will come to its end and the prayer I have given you shall be accomplished. My Will shall be done on earth as it is in Heaven, and under My Hallowed Name many nations shall come from far away, from all the ends of the earth to dwell close to My Holy Name, extolling My greatness by the divinity I would give you back. And My Kingdon shall come, because My throne shall descend from above into My Holy City and I shall reign among the remnant left, who will see Me face to face. Love shall return as Love and My Will shall be done on earth as it is in Heaven because you will be one, worshipping Me around one Tabernacle with love in your heart and a fire burning inside you. I shall accomplish My priestly prayer on earth as in Heaven. Your souls shall be rooted in Me, in Love, in Unity, and filled up with the utter fullness of My Spirit. Yes, My beloved ones, I shall not only give you your daily bread but also a hidden Treasure out of My Heart, The Celestial Manna (the Holy Spirit) that transfigures, uplifts your spirit into a copy of My Spirit. You shall be transfigured with the outpouring of My Spirit to know how to forgive fully those who trespassed against you. I shall put inside you a Spirit of Understanding and Mercy to make you understand what “fear of the Lord means”. Yes, beloved ones, and once you do, I shall give you Wisdom to be your travelling Companion and guide, to lead you into sanctity, this sanctity which will paralyse satan, obstructing him from coming between us and between My Love.
So when you see the sky dissolve into flames and the elements melt in the heat, know that this is the sign of the beginning of My promise, and of the New Heavens and the New earth, the Renewal of My Church, the Revival of My Church, the Revival of your hearts … I have kept for Myself a remnant, chosen and transformed by My Grace to remain faithful to Me. This remnant I am raising up to rebuild the altars that once were and reconstruct My Sanctuary, they are the builders of My New Church … I have spoken to you today in plain words.
The Old Testament and the Messianic Reign
The spiritual interpretation that Vassula brings out about the reign of Christ and the first resurrection confirms completely the ancient teaching of the Fathers of the Church about an earthly reign of Christ just as it confirms the same teaching as the Fathers understood it in the Bible itself.
But how did this thoroughly Catholic teaching disappear from popular awareness and scholarly interest? It was an overly materialistic rather than a spiritual interpretation of this first resurrection and the coming kingdom that led to a gradual disregard for this important teaching.
It is common knowledge that the Jewish world in which Christ appeared had an extremely concrete view of the coming reign of the Messiah. It certainly was not perceived as primarily an interior reality. The quickest way of getting an idea of the Jewish hopes for an era of peace and prosperity through the Old Testament prophecies for daily Mass and the Office during the time of Advent. Take, for example, these words from Jeremiah:
See the days are coming … it is the Lord who speaks … when I will raise a virtuous Branch of David, who will reign as true and be wise, practising honesty and integrity in the land. In his days, Judah will be saved and Israel dwell in confidence. And this is the name he will be called: The Lord – our – Integrity (Jer 23: 5 – 8).
And in Isaiah:
In the days to come, the mountain of the Temple of the Lord shall tower above the mountains and be lifted higher than the hills. All the nations will stream to it, peoples without number will come to it… He will wield authority over the nations and adjudicate between many peoples; these will hammer their swords into ploughshare,and their spears into sickles. Nation will not lift sword against nation, there will be no more training for war (Is 2: 1 – 5).
It seems clear that we have good reasons to hope for a world order that is different from the one that we are presently facing. We have a well-founded hope to look forward to a Church that draws all humanity to the Father through Christ in a world of Peace. It also seems clear that what Our Lady promised in Fatima about an “era of peace” sounded very much like what the prophets promised as the age of the Messianic reign.
The arguments from Scripture and Tradition are strongly in favour of Vassula and our other modern prophets. I see no reason in Scripture or Tradition to maintain that the only major remaining event in salvation history is the end of the world. I can find absolutely no grounds for denying that the reign of Christ is going to come before the end of the world, though this reign will always be primarily in the heart.
Rev. James M. Fannan, PIME
