Coming vs. Presence

by SharonUT 4 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • SharonUT
    SharonUT

    As I have studied the KJV, Matthew 24:3 uses the word "coming" in the same way Matthew 21:5 does.

    Matthew 24:3: "And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy COMING, and of the end of the world?"

    Matthew 21:5 "Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King COMETH unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass."

    Both times in these scriptures - the word used here means "an official royal visit" and not "presence". Is this incorrect? Thanks.

  • God_knows
    God_knows

    Peace and blessings to you!

    You should understand them as they are written; the King is COMING, and soon will be coming back to be here forever. The word PRESENCE itself can also be seen as PHYSICAL presence, NOT invisible. When Jesus comes back, ALL will see Him perfectly clearly, as the bible foretells.

    Hugs to you dearest one!

  • Larsguy
    Larsguy

    Thanks for your comments. "Presence", in fact, is not a good translation of this term since it is misleading. It's hard to find a good English word that expresses what they understood back then but basically all the disciples were asking about were the things that would be taking place a the distant time when the Messiah would arrive and Jesus gave them a generation's worth of events leading up to and including his arrival, the first of which was a world war which allows us to date that last generation from World War I which is totally in harmony with the Bible's other chronology which specifically pinpoints the year of the Second Coming, even down to a few months...

    "No one knows the DAY nor HOUR.." is a specific fulfillment. It doesn't mean the exact year would not be known in advance by the "wise virgin" class anointed ones.

    As far as Christ arriving though, keep in mind there are two groups; the wise virgins and the foolish virgins. I won't introduce new information into this thread but just suffice to say the wise virgins are aware of and find and recognize the Messiah before the foolish virgins do. So everybody would not see the Messiah when he first arrives. At the very least though, the Messiah was to appear back on the earth, IN THE FLESH again, no later than 1994, so.... if you're still looking for a second coming you apparently missed it; others, however, did not.

    LG

  • SharonUT
    SharonUT

    I'm game for more comments! Please chime in people so I can get this. I don't think I understand... still.

  • accuracy
    accuracy

    A good Greek lexicon would be helpful. For starters, Matthew does not use the same Greek word for "coming/cometh" at 21:5 as he does at 24:3. Matthew 24:3 uses a different word, "parousia," which another Bible writer contrasts with "absence" (Greek: apousia) at Philippians 2:12, indicating that "presence" is a legit translation for "parousia." However, a good Greek lexicon would also give you the range of meanings of this word in the first century A.D.

    The Greek word used at Matthew 21:5, on the other hand, is a form of "erchomai," which is the usual word for "come" or "appear."

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