Deeper Reflection
THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH, EVERY generation thinks that Christ will return in their generation. Just to give perspective: the great reformer Martin Luther and his generation also thought so.Martin Luther’s “numerous pronouncements on the end of all things are reminiscent of statements made often before his time…Luther lived in a stormy age, seething with new ideas and revolutionary concepts and groaning with the agonies of a laborious rebirth (renaissance). He stood in the midst of the tempest that resulted in many ideological and armed conflicts; but what caused the greatest anxiety to his age, especially 1528 to 1530, was the constant menace of the Ottoman onslaught. This threat had been hovering over the West ever since the Mohammedans succeeded, in 711, in entering Europe by the western gate of Spain; and the situation became alarming when later the seemingly irresistible pressure from the East placed Europe in a huge pincer which threatened to crush it. As the Ottomans approached Vienna, the mounting anxiety was reflected in Luther’s writings and talks. This caused him to preach a crusade against the Ottomans. (Luther applied Gog and Magog to the Ottomans [Eze 38-39; Rev 20:7-10]). And Luther was so impressed by the precariousness of the times in 1528 that he expected the end to come before he had time to finish the translation of the Old Testament”⁶⁶.“The coming of the Lord is near” (Jas 5:8). As to when, we never know. But this we know: Every day is one day nearer. And our posture must be: Be urgent and patient – without the unnecessary “eschatological hypes”.

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⁶⁶ ww w.ministry magazine.org/archive/1951/12/martin-luther