In 2 Thessalonians 3:5 we read “And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.” What Paul wrote here is the example of the church of Thessalonica as they journey this earth and waiting for the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. For every church today must follow as what Paul said to the church of Thessalonians namely we need the love of God and the patient in waiting for Christ.
Another aspect of the events in the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ we find in 1 Corinthians 15. The passage tells us exactly what kind of resurrection body we will have when the Lord fixes the day. The body that we have right now is made of dust of this earth and the Lord will not allow this kind of body to enter His kingdom. Flesh and Blood can not inherit of the kingdom of God but we shall pattern after the resurrection body of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus has the body that is flesh and bone and not flesh and blood. The book of Leviticus clearly said that the life of the body is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11). Thus our body in the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus will be changed in to the glorified body as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” Paul did not only teach the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ on these two epistles but rather in all his epistles he did emphasise that the recipients of his letters might continue to be ready for the return of the Lord.
2. According to the apostle James
In James 5:7-8 “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of he earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” This is the practical emphasis James gave concerning the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. As the recipients of his epistle were living as strangers and pilgrims in other lands, James comforted them with this wonderful of God. On the other hand, James reminded the believers about the judgement of the Lord as he said in James 5:9 “Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.” The Lord Jesus said that God has committed all judgement to the Son of man. Jesus Christ will also judge the world and every one of us must appear before the throne judgement of God.
3. According to the apostle Peter
In 2 Peter 3:3-4 we are also told about the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their owns lusts. And, where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” Peter knew that there would be people who would be asking in that way because they have doubted concerning the promises of God. For this reason Peter gave the answer in 2 Peter 3:5-6 “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.” Furthermore Peter describes the details of the fulfilment of God’s promises (2 Peter 3:7-9). Indeed God never forgets His promises but He will come to judge the world. In the past because of the wickedness of the people the Lord has judged the world with Genesis’ flood and He will judge and destroy the world again for the same reason at the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now Peter warned the recipients of his epistles to be ready in any time for the Coming of the Lord because no one will know when He will return. Thus 2 Peter 3:10-12 tells the absolute truth of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus. It says “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?” Every material and substance in this world will be destroyed automatically by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ then followed by the new heaven and new earth that is the prophetic program of God who can not lie. Everything will be fulfilled according to what the Lord said in His word.
4. According to the Apostle Jude
The apostle Jude has a testimony for the coming events connected to the coming of our Lord. We notice the whole book of Jude is talking about the apostasies that will happen in the church as the signs of the nearest return of the Lord Jesus to this earth. As Jude explains what those apostates will do in the church and to the believers, Jude reminds his recipients that they have a God who is able to keep them from falling. As we read in Jude 24 saying “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.” Thus despite of the wickedness of this world by the power of God we who believe in Him will be preserved and saved for God’s glory. The Lord will preserve us till the Lord Jesus Christ returns where we can see Him face to face.
5. According to the apostle John
The apostle John whom Jesus Christ loved was exiled at the land of Patmos until the end of his life. However it was during his exile in this island, sixty years after Jesus had died and returned to heaven, Jesus gave him the panorama of the coming events connected to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle John before the Lord gave him the marvellous revelation of God concerning the coming events in the book of Revelation; Paul has reminded the believers in his first epistle concerning the coming of the Lord. This is to prepare us for the book of Revelation as we read in 1 John 2:28 “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.” Furthermore John said in 1 John 3:2-3 “but we know that, when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” Thus we need to get ready for His coming. We must not be ashamed when He comes but we must be purified by looking and having anticipation, long for the coming of the Lord.
In the book of Revelation chapter 1, Christ gave us a symbolic presentation of His Second Coming and chapter 2-3 is representing the church of the age. In these two chapters of Revelation we see the warning that the Lord gave to each of the seven churches that they might listen with their spiritual ears because Christ will come. Every church is tested according to their works and faithfulness to His word and not according to what they have achieved in this world.
Beginning from Revelation 4 to 19 we see that God sends forth the horse. The seventieth year week of Daniel namely seven years period between the Rapture of the church and the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with His glorified church and during these seven years, fantastic things will happen upon this earth and the planets in heaven above where the church will be purified at the judgement seat of Christ. It is during this period of time that the people of Israel in this earth will make a covenant with the Antichrist. In the midst of troubles and war in Israel, two witnesses will come down from heaven to Jerusalem prophesying about the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result of their preaching there will be 144,000 Jews shield by God. They will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and as soon as they are saved they will be evangelists in Jerusalem and the whole world. Some people will be saved as a result of their evangelistic preaching but in those days they will be persecuted and martyred. Thus there will be horrible chaos and destruction for the whole world that never be known before. Everything that the Lord has said will be fulfilled.
Having seen what will happen in the seventieth year week of Daniel, in Revelation 20:1-6, we see the great promise of the great millennium. This event will follow immediately after the end of the seven years of the great tribulation. One thousand years of the reign of Christ in this earth will be inaugurated by His Second Coming in which those who trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ will be allowed to enter His kingdom for a thousand years. After the millennial, Satan will be loosed from the bound and even those who reject Christ in their heart will be resurrected, facing the Lord Jesus Christ as a Judge in the great white throne for the final judgement of the world.
Lastly in Revelation 21-22 we see the new heaven and the new earth, the New Jerusalem, the marvellous promise of God about His kingdom. It is marvellous to know that the whole last book of the Bible devoted to the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, which Paul never knew because he had already died before the book of Revelation was written. Therefore the Thessalonians knew the times and the seasons perfectly, which they knew nothing about the book of Revelation as we have in the completed Bible. Thus we may conclude with this question, why did Paul, James, Peter, Jude and John write so much about the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ? The answer is because the Lord Jesus Himself emphasised so much about His Second Coming to this world. In Matthew, Mark, Luke and John we are told so much about the Lord’s coming. Therefore just before Jesus went to heaven He gave the terminuses command to the apostles as the great commission. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world (Matt 28:19-20). These are the things that Paul, John, Jude and Peter were doing. All the apostles have committed to obey what the Lord Jesus Christ has commanded to them in the great commission. As for us believers in the Lord Jesus Christ the same command is given that we must do as the apostles have done. We need to have the proper emphasis of the Second Coming of Christ otherwise the church has not done and preached the whole counsel of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment