With human beings dying and being born and becoming sinners every second of the day, there is no way that the Great Commission will be finished. Yet Christian denominations are trapsing through the darkest jungles of the earth, trying to reach every person with the message of salvation.
The bogus belief is that when every person has finally heard the Gospel, the Second Coming of Christ will take place. It's based on this verse:
The World: Bogus Belief #25
When the Gospel is preached to every person, the Second Coming of Christ will finally take place.
Unfortunately, Jesus was referring to the destruction of the Jewish economy, not the end of the planet. Here's a verse from the Old Testament that should illustrate this important rule of CONTEXT:
I will bring distress on men so that they will walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the LORD; and their blood will be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the day of the LORD'S wrath; and all the earth will be devoured in the fire of His jealousy, for He will make a complete end, indeed a terrifying one, of all the inhabitants of the earth. (Zeph 1:17-18) NASU
Oooh...sounds like the end of the world. However, verse 4 clarifies that Judah and Jerusalem are the objects of this promise, not the planet. The idea that "it can also apply to us" is without merit. Matthew 24 and its sister chapters in Mark and Luke clearly refer to Jerusalem, not the world.
Folks in those days understood "world" to mean "land," specifically, the land of Judah. That was, for all intents and purposes, their world. The concept of a planet, like we understand it, was not popularily known.
If America was wiped out by a meteor, our "world" would come to an end. The rest of the planet could be in good shape, but our world will have ceased to exist.
Paul wrote to the Colossians about "the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister. (Col 1:23) NASU Hmmm...sounds like the Great Commission had been fulfilled. Unfortunately, many good preachers don't believe this. Yet even a cursory study of the bible shows that "all" doesn't always mean "all." Mark 1:5 says that John baptized everyone in Jerusalem and Judah. Did he now? No. It merely means that John the Baptist was like Billy Graham; everyone knew him. He was the most widely-known person, not to mention, only legitimate prophet, living at that time.
At the end of Paul's life, he told Timothy, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. (2 Tim 4:7) NASU While most tend to interpret the apostle's words as, "I've been a good Christian," he was referring to his commission by Christ to preach to the Gentiles.
