The word “until”
by Barbara Buzzard
The word until is one of the most important words in the bible. It is a huge theme that runs through Scripture. What does it make you think of? Anticipation, usually associated with something good and used in a time sense, as in “the weather may be bad until….”
The word until is the biblical way of speaking of the return of Jesus. All the prophets spoke of the coming of Messiah.
Let’s look at a few examples:
- Ps. 110:1 The LORD said to my lord. Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.
Why would God say that to Jesus?
Because Jesus will be moving to another residence at the time his Father decides. There will be a change of management on earth. Jesus’s present stay in heaven is until he takes up residence as our King and fully inherits the earth as his possession.
- Rev. 2:25-26, the word until appears twice! “Hold fast what you have until I come. He who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, I will give him power over the nations…”
- Acts 3:21 Jesus “must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets.”
Again, it is not just a minor theme but a major one. It is so important that whole books have been written around this one word. For example, Until by Robert Shank who basically says that all the untils look forward to the coming Kingdom of God on earth.
The word until also has to have an end, e.g., until cannot continue forever. The word has an end point.
For example, some believe that the Bible says there will be no more time. We think this is a misunderstanding of verses like Revelation 10:6 where the angel of the Lord explicitly says:
“There will be no more delay!”
We really can only understand in terms of time. God made us that way. He speaks of time when he speaks of the coming age and every time He says when. If there were no more time just think of all the words which would be meaningless:
- Before & after (Rev 7.9),
- Soon (Isa 56.1),
- When (1Cor 15.28),
- Then (1Cor 15.24),
- At hand (Mar 1:14-15)
- First & last (Mar 10.31),
- In that day (John 16.23),
- Afterwards (Jer 46.26), and of course until.
But if you understand that until requires you to look for something, to be grounded as to something lying ahead, to be watchful and to be expectant, that will give you a very different feeling from just expecting a kind of Never Never Land.
So, what happens if you don’t understand the concept of until? You will be confused.
A major assignment for the Christian is to wait for the king. Our Messiah (anointed one) is the Hope of this world. He is the Hope of the earth and all creation. He is the Hope of the church and of all Christians.
His return is as certain as the historical facts of his origin (Matt. 1.1, 18) and his life. The only question is when. But the answer is that we must obey and keep the faith until Jesus returns.
- 2 Pet. 1:19 “We have a prophetic word made more sure to which you would do good to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises.”
- Mat. 23:39 and Jesus is here speaking to Jerusalem: “I tell you this; you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”
As we have seen, the word until is very definite, very specific and runs like a golden thread through Scripture. And the word until is always accompanied by the end point to which we look forward to, not back and definitely not in the present.
