Second Coming

Jesus Christ is coming soon. His own words spoken before He ascended state the promise emphatically: "I will come again" (John 14:3). If the second coming has been soon for two thousand years, it is in its immediacy now.

As Jesus ascended into heaven, His disciples heard some comforting words from "two men" clothed "in white apparel." Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.." The promise is definite: "This same Jesus ... will come." Jesus spoke of His coming to those that were still alive. We must understand that although we still await the coming of Jesus, He has already come in the form of His Holy Spirit. "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." There may still be a kingdom to come but the Lord did return into His kingdom to the church two thousand years ago. We should not be surprised at this, the letters to the seven churches of Asia were written from "who is, and who was, and who is to come."

We all realize that God is Spirit and Jesus is among us in spirit now. This is no new revelation, we have had it from the beginning. He said that He would send the spirit of truth and we are truly among Him. It is really hard for me to explain exactly what we are waiting for when we seek Jesus to come again in the future with all the glory that will be expected of Him, I have never been too good at it. There will be a time in this world when time will come to an end. There is sin in the world, hatred, pride and jealousy, all of which will be over when Jesus comes again. We are waiting for the time when all tears will be gone and no more death. We can always bring that into the heavenly realm but I just cannot believe that the Bible would be so obscure to our thinking in that we have got it wrong for the last two thousand years, including the New Testament writers. Whatever form that Jesus will come, it will in a glorious appearing and we are still waiting and any teaching passed on to people to say that He is not coming again would be false teaching.

The Second Coming of Jesus will be different things to different people and it will be as a progressive occurrence. Will Jesus come in the air or to the earth? Will He come as a thief in the night or shall all eyes see Him? Will His coming be a time of joy and blessing or shall the people mourn? While they are saying "peace and safety," then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs.

I have been on the web since 1995 although it was not promoted until two years later. Now I see all kinds of sites letting us know that Jesus is calling His Bride. The denunciation of nicolaitanism seems to be getting mainstream also. I learned of these things many years ago and thought that I was alone. But like Elijah, the Lord had to remind me that there are many others that have not bent the knee to Baal. Not that these things are reason to boast but may I please just praise the Lord a little? It is a real good feeling to know that the Lord has put me and for that matter, all of us here in the position of knowing that Jesus is coming soon and that we are part of what He is doing to alert the rest of the world to His ways and purposes. This is what the restoration is all about, that of being led by the Lord, hearing Him and restoring that first love that was taken away from us. So Praise the Lord!

The promise of the second coming is given over 300 times in the New Testament. Jesus Christ will come.

There is a parable about the servant that said in in his heart, "My lord delayeth his coming." I want to be one that is looking for His appearing, how about you? "The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware." Luke 12

The New Testament was written after the Spirit was given, that is obvious. And I would counsel you to take these words to heart because you cannot teach against them without doing harm to yourself and others:

James 5:7  Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

I Timothy 6:14 That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:
15  Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;

2 Timothy 4:1  ¶I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2  Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4  And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

2 Timothy 4:8  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

I Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 1:7  And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
8  In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
9  Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
10  When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

1 Thessalonians 4:15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Philippians 3:20  For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
21  Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

1 John 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

The inescapable fact taken from scripture concerning the second coming is that Jesus will come with power and great glory, revealed from heaven in blazing fire and the nations of the earth will mourn. It will be like the days of Lot with fire and brimstone the day that the Son of Man is revealed, there will be signs in the sun, moon and stars and the heavens will be shaken, all nations will be in turmoil, people will be apostate and hateful, there will arise false prophets and scoffers walking after their own lusts, 2 Peter 3:4 "And saying, Where is the promise of his coming?" We cannot spiritualize all these things, many of these things are upon us now but Jesus is coming to take us back with Him to where He is, there will be justice and mercy for the righteous, this is yet to come and we are supposed to know the way. Luke 21:28

And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

Of course every generation of Christians have had their end-time prophets proclaiming the time at hand, being a mixture of good and bad. After all, we are told that we would not know when Jesus comes, we should eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed and that we should be on the "watch." It would follow that each generation should have that expectant seeking after and Maranatha hope of "Jesus come quickly," but there is nothing to compare to the day that we are living in. Jesus IS coming soon and He will not overtake us as a thief for we are the children of light and we long for His appearing. Those that have been given that revelatory knowledge need to alert others.

We are in the times of restitution now. This restoration is promised to coincide with the return of Jesus following. Saint Peter gave His sermon to the people of Israel after Jesus had lived, died, rose again and had already sent His Spirit fulfilling prophecies of His first coming, a present coming to us through the church age and the future second coming. Acts 3:18,

But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. 19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

Paul wrote to the gifted about the Day of the Lord: 1 Corinthians 1:6

Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: 7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: 8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There are many different interpretations given during this discussion concerning end-time thinking. We really do not need to come to any definite conclusions except one and that is that we are to get ready for Jesus. He will let us know how. That may include everyone but for us as the remnant in the restitution of all things, if we are called to it, we can do no other but fulfill that one calling. We are the comer-outers and overcomers, the Elijah spirit, those involved with the man-child of revelation and the manifest sons. We may not know the exact time but we are getting ready in due season and we are a part of that restoration. For those of you that think that Jesus is not coming for whatever reason or we are mistaken for end-time thinking, we should try to love each other anyway. If you cannot, you judge yourself, ask yourself what you doing here but please leave us be. As to rapture theories, the man of sin, the beast, the mark of the beast, millennial positions, Babylon and such are only our opinions at this point. Paul said it well in 1 Corinthians 4:5,

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

The next time you take communion, remember these words: 1 Corinthians 11:26

For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

Since we do not know all the answers, we must proceed upon that fact rather than divide over issues that cannot be adequately proven by scripture or past and current events. We are promised the revelation to understand these things but it is predicated upon progressive revelation that we will have to discern as time goes on. If we can only accept the core value of walking in the spirit of love, we will be doing what Jesus would have us do. We all agree in this, we must be ready!
[Acts 1:11, Matthew 16, I Timothy, II Timothy, end-time thinking was a topic of the latter rain discussion list]



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