Your Doctrine Does Not Excuse Your Disobedience

It is about obedience.

I am premillennial, pre-tribulational, and dispensational in my convictions. I believe Christ could return at any moment. Yet that belief does not lessen my obligation to confront injustice. If anything, it intensifies it. If Christ may return at any moment to reckon with His servants, then I ought to be all the more urgent in doing His business faithfully.

In Luke 19:13, Christ gives a command to His servants:

“Occupy till I come.”

The Greek word used there carries the idea of conducting business, administering affairs, stewarding responsibility, and increasing what has been entrusted. More importantly, the phrase is given as an imperative. Christ is not offering optional advice to unusually passionate believers. He is issuing a command to all His servants.

Do business until I come.

Not:

• speculate until I come,

• retreat until I come,

• wait passively until I come,

• or build elaborate systems explaining why obedience can wait until I come.

Occupy until I come.

This is where many Christians across eschatological camps stumble in opposite directions.

Premillennial Christians can sometimes drift into escapism. They become so focused on being “caught up” that they neglect the stewardship Christ has already placed in their hands. The imminent return of Christ becomes an excuse for disengagement rather than urgency.

Meanwhile, postmillennial and amillennial Christians can drift into a different danger. Because they believe victory is inevitable in history, they may slowly lose urgency in the present. The expectation of eventual triumph can subtly produce complacency.

But both errors arrive at the same place: neglecting Christ’s commands.

In the parable of the minas, the wicked servant was not condemned for having incorrect prophetic charts. He was condemned because he buried what his master entrusted to him instead of faithfully stewarding it.

That should sober every Christian regardless of millennial position.

Our eschatology does not change our Christian duty.

The same Scriptures that teach Christ will return in glory are the same Scriptures commanding us to love our neighbour, preach the gospel, defend the innocent, confront evil, and obey God without compromise.

Abolitionism is not fundamentally an eschatological system. It is Christianity applied to our preborn neighbour.

The child in the womb does not suddenly stop bearing God’s image because a Christian holds to premillennialism. The command “You shall not murder” does not disappear because someone is dispensational. The obligation to defend those being led to the slaughter is not suspended until after the millennium is sorted out.

Christian duty remains.

Far too often, Christians use theology as a mechanism for delay. But throughout Scripture, eschatology is never presented as an excuse for inactivity. It is presented as motivation for faithfulness.

Christ repeatedly ties His return to stewardship.

Will He find faithfulness when He comes?

Will He find His servants conducting His business?

Will He find His ambassadors faithfully representing His kingdom?

The Christian is not called to calculate how little obedience is necessary before Christ returns. The Christian is called to obey until the very end.

And that includes how we respond to the slaughter of our preborn neighbour.

The irony is that Christians who believe Christ is returning soon should be among the most urgent people on earth. If we truly believe the King may arrive at any moment to reckon with His servants, then we ought to be urgently engaged in His business.

Not retreating.

Not hiding.

Not delaying.

Occupying.