THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS - Part 2

 

The churches of Christ Greet You (Romans 16:16)

 

 

 

The hard times and dangerous situations of this 21^st century are causing many to again focus on the second coming of Christ.  This is just as natural as the desire to pray when death is very real.  We do need a continual awareness of the fact that Jesus will return!  We must also understand WHY He will return and WHAT will take place at that time.  In view of the numerous errors being taught, there are some elementary things about His second coming we must study.

 

That Jesus Christ is returning is beyond question.  No one who believes the Bible can deny that He will come the second time.  His return will be truly a “second coming.”  The Bible says, "... when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed" (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).

 

The unknown author of the book of Hebrews wrote, "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.  To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time apart from sin, for salvation" (Hebrews 9:27-28). Yes, Jesus will come a second time, but the Bible is as silent as a graveyard tomb about a third coming.  Advocates of the fanciful and imaginary "Rapture" theory demand a third coming of Christ.  They recognize His first coming as the time described in the Gospel records.  They think His second coming will be a secret mission in which He will whisk away the saints for a period of seven years of bliss.  Later, they allege that He will return yet a third time with His saints to lead a literal army in a literal war to end all wars, which they call "The Battle of Armageddon." (The Bible does not use that description anywhere.)  Yes, that's right - we are referring to the false doctrine called Premillennialism.  Not only is it absurdly foolish to think of Jesus as a military commander-in-chief of a literal army, slaughtering thousands of people, it is patently wrong to teach a third coming of Christ.

 

Jesus promised He would return: "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:1-3).  Notice that Jesus is not coming back to prepare a place here on earth.  He said, "I go (not come again) to prepare a place for you..."  Millennialists and the Jehovah's Witness Organization take issue with Jesus.  They think He intends to make this planet a place of paradise and rule over an earthly kingdom with headquarters in Jerusalem.  Such ideas are completely false.  The dispensationalists need to get His going and comings correct and it would also help if they would learn to count correctly.

 

The truth is simple.  Jesus will return after He has prepared a place for the saints in heaven.  He will return to take His own out of the world, never again to return.  Listen again: "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).  If the saints will "always be with the Lord in the air" after being "caught up together" with Him in the

clouds, there is no biblical basis for thinking this planet is scheduled to be their eternal home.  The millennial theory makes this "always" amount to around seven years.

 

The apostle Peter heard Jesus say, "I go to prepare a place for you."  By divine inspiration he wrote, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you" (1 Peter 1:3-4).  Peter affirmed that Jesus went away from this planet to prepare a place, and to reserve it in heaven for the saints.  But there are those who still believe this earth is the place Jesus intended to prepare for His saints.  How sad!

 

Years ago, some of our citizens very excitedly set approximate dates for the Lord's return.  They thought He would return in September of 1988.  But He didn't! Charles Taze Russell, founder of the Jehovah's Witness Organization, set October 1914 as the date for Jesus to return and for this present order of the world to come to an end.  Russell falsely prophesied that the imaginary millennium was to begin and thousands of people blindly followed that false prophet.  When Jesus didn't come back in 1914 Russell, undaunted and unabashed, simply set the date up to 1918.  He and his followers were convinced that the great World War I was Armageddon.  But Jesus did not come back in 1918 and World War I was not this whimsical battle of Armageddon, was it?  Russell died leaving behind followers who still hold to his false ideas and notions.

 

Except for the statement that Jesus will NOT return until the Man of Sin (the son of perdition) be revealed (2 Thess. 2:1-4), there is no hint at all as to when Jesus will return. It is clearly written, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.  But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  Take heed, watch and pray; for (listen carefully now) you do not know when the time is" (Mark 13:31-33).  If Jesus says, "You do not know when the time is," and we accept His word, that settles the issue.  We are admonished to regard His return as ready to occur at any tick of the clock.

 

When Jesus returns He will NOT establish a kingdom on earth nor marshal a literal army for some carnal conflict with other nations.  The kingdom HAS been in existence since the first Pentecost following His resurrection from the grave (Acts 2).  That it was set up in the days of the apostles is clear.  It is written, "Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power" (Mark 9:1).  Notice that some would see it present - back then it would exist.  The kingdom was to be present in the lifetime of those who heard these very words fall from His lips.  They were not disappointed.  Jesus never modified this to say, "I am sorry, but there has been a delay - we cannot set the kingdom up now.  The Jewish nation is not ready to accept me as the Messiah."  In fact, He did just the opposite.  He continued urging people to get ready for the kingdom.  He did not modify His kingdom to suit the people.  He tried to modify the people of His day for the coming of His kingdom then.  He continually told them the kingdom is "at hand."  That means it was very near.

 

The kingdom was set up in Jerusalem (Acts 2).  The time was Pentecost, one of the most important of Jewish festivals.  Long before Jesus came to earth, a prophet of God interpreted a dream of an old pagan king named Nebuchadnezzar.  The prophet was Daniel.  He was called on not only to interpret but to describe the king's dream.  He described it accurately.  "You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image!  This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome.  This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.  You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.  Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found.  And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth" (Daniel 2:31-35).

 

Next, Daniel gave a divine interpretation of the dream: "This is the dream.  Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king.  You, O king, are a king of kings.  For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all - you are this head of gold.  But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.  And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as

iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters all things; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.  Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay.  And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.  As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.  And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever" (Daniel 2:36-44).

 

In Daniel's prophecy he shows that the statue represented four successive world dynasties.  The first was Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar, the second, Medo-Persia under Darius and Cyrus, the third was Greece or Macedonia under Alexander the Great.  The fourth, and last dynasty in the dream, was Rome under a succession of Caesars.  Only four world empires are part of this dream.  Each of them is represented by a metallic or partial metallic section of the gigantic statue.  During the time of the "last kings" (Rome), Daniel affirms "the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed" and one that will "stand forever" (vs. 44).  What kings?  The Roman Caesars. When did those live who were to see the kingdom of God present with power?"  During the days of the Roman Caesars.

 

The apostles were promised power when the Holy Spirit was sent upon them.  Jesus said, "But you (the apostles) shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you" (Acts 1:8).  The Holy Spirit came on them on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4).  Therefore, the kingdom Jesus promised did actually come into existence with power, witnessed by those who heard Him say it would come, on the day of Pentecost.  Jesus returned to heaven to become Lord of lords and King of kings (Acts 2:36-37; 1 Tim. 6:15).  The kingdom and the power Jesus promised became a reality on that great and notable day and has been in continuous existence since.  It is crass foolishness to look for some future establishment of that which exists.

 

In our next lesson we will deal with other things that will NOT happen when He returns.  We hope you will study all of this with us.  Please remember, the kingdom of Christ exists.  You can be a member of it if you will submit to Him as your King.  Jesus said one must be born of water and of the Spirit in order to enter His kingdom (John 3:5).  Dear friend, have you been immersed in water for the remission of your sins (Acts 22:16)?  If not, you cannot claim membership in His kingdom for you have not been born of water and of the Spirit.

 

Here are two passages with other statements relative to entering His kingdom: Matthew 7:21; Matthew 18:3 - both of which teach that being born of water and of the Spirit involve complete submission and obedience to the Lord.