THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS CHRIST

Acts 1:9-11 (Amplified Bible)
"And when He had said this, even as they were looking [at Him], He was caught up, and a cloud received and carried Him away out of their sight.
And while they were gazing intently into heaven as He went, behold, two men [dressed] in white robes suddenly stood beside them,
Who said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing into heaven? This same Jesus, Who was caught away and lifted up from among you into heaven, will return in [just] the same way in which you saw Him go into heaven."
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
"Now also we would not have you ignorant, brethren, about those who fall asleep [in death], that you may not grieve [for them] as the rest do who have no hope [beyond the grave].
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will also bring with Him through Jesus those who have fallen asleep [in death].
For this we declare to you by the Lord's [own] word, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall in no way precede [into His presence] or have any advantage at all over those who have previously fallen asleep [in Him in death].
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud cry of summons, with the shout of an archangel, and with the blast of the trumpet of God. And those who have departed this life in Christ will rise first. Then we, the living ones who remain [on the earth], shall simultaneously be caught up along with [the resurrected dead] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so always (through the eternity of the eternities) we shall be with the Lord!
Therefore comfort and encourage one another with these words."
Matthew 24
"Jesus departed from the temple area and was going on His way when His disciples came up to Him to call His attention to the buildings of the temple and point them out to Him.
But He answered them, Do you see all these? Truly I tell you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.
While He was seated on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately and said, Tell us, when will this take place, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end (the completion, the consummation) of the age?
Jesus answered them, Be careful that no one misleads you [deceiving you and leading you into error].
For many will come in (on the strength of) my name [appropriating the name which belongs to Me], saying, I am the Christ (the Messiah), and they will lead many astray.
And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened or troubled, for this must take place, but the end is not yet."

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"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
And these are the beginning of sorrows.
Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.
And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."
Titus 2:11-14
"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works."

OUR LESSON

The first coming of Jesus Christ to this earth was one of humiliation, "not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).
But even as the cross drew near, He encouraged His disciples with promises of a second, triumphal advent: "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels" (Matthew 16:27).
Similarly, He gave warning to His enemies, as they demanded Him, "Art thou the Christ, the son of the Blessed?" He answered, "I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven" (Mark 14:61-62).
Because He made such a claim they condemned Him to death! The New Testament closes with this promise: "Yea, I come quickly"; and the saints of the ages have responded, "Amen: come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20).
Christ, moreover, spoke of His second coming in relation to other matters. He related it to the lives of His disciples, saying that they should be "like unto men looking for their Lord" (Luke 12:36). He further cautioned that "immediately after the tribulation...the powers of the heavens shall be shaken" and that only then should they "see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Finally, and only after His appearing, would He "send forth His angels, with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds" (Matthew 24:29-31). Still other matters were related to this complex of events, as the Holy Spirit inspired the apostolic writings of the New Testament. Paul in particular gave admonition, "to wait for His son from heaven" (1 Thessalonians 1:10), assuring the early believers that those who had died "in

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Christ, will God bring with Him (1 Thessalonians 4:14). From these and from similar scriptures, the church down through the centuries has formulated its beliefs relative to the events that surround and take place at the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Prior to the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, the ancient church was characterized in general by two convictions respecting the sequence of events of Christ's second coming. In the first place, it expected that the Lord could appear in the clouds in immediate connection with any day of its own contemporary life. It must be observed at the outset, however, that imminency as herein defined does not mean that it had to be close at hand, only that it could be. The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians, written about 105 A.D., has these words: "The last times are come upon us, the end of the world comes suddenly. Weigh carefully the times. Look for Him who is above all time." In the Didache 16, written about the year 100 A.D., these words appear: "Watch for your life's sake. Let not your lamps be quenched, nor your loins unloosed; but be ye ready, for ye know not the hour in which our Lord cometh." The early church loved His appearing (2 Timothy 4:8) and was ready for it at any hour.
The second conviction of the early church was that they anticipated that the coming of the Lord to His Church would be subsequent both to their own persecution at the hands of the Antichrist and to the heavenly phenomena that would inaugurate the wrath of God against the evil one. Their belief was that the Church would not escape the tribulation.
With the Council of Nicaea in 325 and the official recognition of Christianity by the Roman Emperor Constantine, the hope of the church underwent a radical transformation!
Persecution having ceased, the Roman government could no longer be identified as the Antichrist. The man who exercised the greatest influence upon the course of subsequent prophetic interpretation was Augustine, author of THE CITY OF GOD. (about A.D. 420). In this monumental study of God and history, Augustine labeled his earlier premillennial persuasions as "ridiculous fancies" and changed his belief saying, "the millennium was not Christ's future rule, but the present church. In other words...the millennium has now arrived!
Augustine's emphasis upon the church as the kingdom or "city of God," and his removal of eschatology from the realm of imminent accomplishment, was well suited to the temper of the times.
(IT IS ALWAYS INTERESTING TO ME HOW THEOLOGIANS AND PROPHETIC STUDENTS CHANGE THEIR ESCHATOLOGY (study of coming prophetic events) TO SUIT THE HISTORICAL CLIMATE THROUGH WHICH THEY ARE PASSING!)
The first, though perhaps unwitting, herald of a return to the hope of the apostolic fathers was the monk and mystic, Joachim of Fiore (died 1202 A.D.). The sixteenth century witnessed a return to the teachings of the apostolic church. Above all else, Protestantism recaptured the fundamental doctrine of justification by faith. Faith solely in Christ, however, produced a

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corollary anticipation of His imminent return to complete the redemption of His chosen people. Luther was a major figure in the protestant reformation and he held that Christ would not return immediately, yet he demonstrated the possibility of such a coming. The Scripture points out certain "signs of the times" which Luther felt provided a positive basis for hope in the Lord's imminent appearing. He wrote: "My own belief and sure hope is that the majority of these signs have happened already and that we have not to expect many more." He was very cautious to set dates and took open issue with Michael Stiefel who had raised furor by predicting Christ's second coming in judgment at 8:00 am on October 19, 1533! Luther did insist, "I will not permit anyone to rob me of my opinion that the day of the Lord is not far hence."
Another prominent figure in the protestant reformation was Calvin. In his writings are found some of the clearest formulations of the classical Christian hope of the Lord's imminent appearing. Calvin was horrified by the apocalyptic fanaticism of some of his contemporaries and shunned all calculations designed to set dates for the second advent. This very sense of caution may account for a by-passing of this doctrine in the INSTITUTES and for his commission of the Book of Revelation from his series of commentaries!
Examination of the sources shows that the Reformers wrote relatively little on the Lord's return; more fundamental matters were pressing continually upon them.
The past-reformation period produced extremes that included preachers setting dates such as the Millerites who stated that Christ would come on April 23, 1843. Of course, when the event did not happen, new dates had to be established which only further brought skepticism on the whole subject of the second coming.
As noted earlier, history changes and so do the positions and explanations of prophecy!
But the whole teaching of the second coming of Christ probably has suffered most at the hands of the liberal theologians. They rose to power at the turn of the century and well-nigh eliminated the blessed hope from organized Protestantism. Their theory eliminated the prophecies of the Bible by eliminating the supernatural Book itself, and without a valid Bible, there cannot be a valid basis for knowledge of the future, and particularly for the sequence of events surrounding the appearing of Christ the second time in glory.
NOW, LET US CONSIDER SOME OF THE SCRIPTURAL ASPECTS OF THE RETURN OF CHRIST. Jesus often spoke about His return. "You also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect" (Matt. 24:44). He said, "I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also." (John 14:3). The author of Hebrews wrote that Christ "will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him" (Hebrews 9:28). James wrote, "the coming of the Lord is at hand" (James 5:8). Peter said, "The day of the Lord will come like a thief" (2 Peter 3:10). This theme, then, is frequently mentioned throughout the New Testament and was the domin-

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ant hope of the New Testament church. These verses predict a sudden return of Christ that will be dramatic and visible. ("He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him" (Revelation 1:7).
WE SHOULD EAGERLY LONG FOR CHRIST'S RETURN.
John's response at the end of Revelation should characterize Christians' hearts in all age: "Amen, Come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20). True Christianity trains us "to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world, awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:12-13). Paul says, "our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil. 3:20).
Question! Do we eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus to return? The more Christians are caught up in enjoying the good things of this life, and the more they neglect genuine Christian fellowship and their personal relationship with Christ, the less they will long for His return. To some extent, the degree to which we actually long for Christ's return is a measure of the spiritual condition of our own lives. We can get so earthly focused that heaven and eternal realities are not even a part of thoughts and concerns.
THERE IS ONE THING THAT IS VERY CERTAIN...WE DO NOT KNOW WHEN CHRIST WILL RETURN. "The Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect" (Matthew 24:44).
"Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour" (Matt. 25:13). Jesus said, "But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch; for you do not know when the time will come" (Mark 13:32—33). The point of these passages is that Jesus is telling us that we cannot know when He is coming back. Anyone who claims to know the date on which Christ will return—from whatever source—should be rejected as a false prophet.
One of the significant areas of disagreement is over the question of whether Christ could return at any time. Is His return imminent? On one hand, there are many passages encouraging us to be ready because Christ will return at an hour we do not expect. On the other hand, there are several passages that speak of certain events that will happen before Christ returns. Let me note some of the verses that suggest a sudden and unexpected coming of Christ.
"Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect" (Matthew 24:42-44).
"The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know" (Matthew 24:50).
"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and all the works that are upon it will be burned up (2 Peter 3:10).

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Luke 12:36-40 "Be ye yourselves like unto men looking for their Lord, when He shall return from the marriage feast: that, when He cometh and knocketh they may straightway open unto Him. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching...and if He shall come in the second watch, and if in the third, and find them, so, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming He would have watched...be ye also ready; for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh."
James 5:7-8
"Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand."
Revelation 16:15
"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame."
PLEASE NOTE!
There have been, it is true, extremists throughout the course of church history who have interpreted imminence to mean that the Lord's advent MUST be soon, or even at some set date; but no such impropriety rest upon imminence when it is understood in its basic definition of "ready to befall or overtake one," that is, that Christ's coming could be at any time.
It is obvious from reading the various scriptures on the subject of Christ's return that certain signs will precede this event. We are told that...the gospel must first be preached to all nations" (Mark 13:10), and that also "And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed, this must also take place, but the end is not yet (Mark 13:7-8).

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At the bottom of this page, I have presented two very popular teachings concerning the possible historical setting in which the return of Christ is to take place.
It has been the effort of many Bible scholars to fit all the verses of the Scripture into a time-line of history and then seek to determine the most likely time frame in which the second coming of Christ could happen.
The first time-line shown is known as the AMILLENNIALISM view. According to this position the passage in Revelation 20:1-10 describes the present church age. This is an age in which Satan's influence over the nations has been greatly reduced so that the gospel can be preached to the whole world. Those who are said to be reigning with Christ for the thousand years are Christians who have died and are already reigning with Christ in heaven. Christ's reign in the millennium, according to this view, is not a bodily reign here on earth but rather the heavenly reign He spoke of when He said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" (Matthew 28:18). This view is called "amillennial" because it maintains that there is no future millennium yet to come. Since amillennialists believe that Revelation 20 is now being fulfilled in the church age, they hold that the "millennium" described there is currently happening. According to this position, the present church age will continue until the time of Christ's return. When Christ returns, there will be a resurrection of both believers and unbelievers. The bodies of the believers will rise to be reunited with their spirits and enter into full enjoyment of heaven forever. Unbelievers will be raised to face the final judgment seat of Christ and eternal condemnation. At this time also the new heavens and new earth will begin.

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On the previous page, I have shown two time-lines which have been presented by Bible scholars which could determine the approximate time frame in which the second coming of Christ could take place.
The second diagram shown at the bottom of the page is known as PRETRIBULATIONAL PREMILLENNIALISM or Dispensational Premillennialism. According to this position, Christ will return not only before the millennium (Christ's return is premillennial), but also it will occur before the great tribulation (Christ's return is pretribulational). This position is similar to the classical premillennial position, but with one important difference; it will add another return of Christ before His return to reign on earth in the millennium. This return is thought to be a secret return of Christ to take believers out of the world.
According to the pretribulational premillennialism view, the church age will continue until, suddenly, unexpectedly, and secretly, Christ will return part way to earth, and then will call believers to Himself. "The dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thess. 4:16-17). Christ will then return to heaven with the believers who have been removed from the earth. When this happens, there will be a great tribulation on the earth for a period of seven years. During this seven-year period of tribulation, many of the signs that were predicted to precede Christ's return will be fulfilled. The great ingathering of the fullness of the Jewish people will occur, as they trust Christ as their Messiah.
At the end of the tribulation, Christ will then come back with His saints to reign on the earth for one thousand years. After this millennial period there will be a rebellion, resulting in the final defeat of Satan and his forces, and then will come the resurrection of unbelievers, the last judgment, and the beginning of the eternal state!
One further characteristic of pretribulational premillennialism should be mentioned: This view is found almost exclusively among dispensationalists who wish to maintain a clear distinction between the church and Israel.
Another characteristic of pretribulational premillennialism is its insistence on interpreting biblical prophecies "literally where possible."
There are other prophetic theories that could be considered, but they are only theories...constructed by man with various theological prejudices that influence their position.
We can conclude our brief study today with two certainties: JESUS CHRIST CAME TO THIS WORLD TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO IN HUMILIATION TO DIE ON THE CROSS THAT MEN AND WOMEN MIGHT HAVE FORGIVENESS AND THE PROMISE OF ETERNAL LIFE.
JESUS CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN FOR THE PURPOSE OF TAKING THOSE WHO HAVE BELIEVED IN HIM INTO HIS ETERNAL PRESENCE TO BE WITH HIM FOREVER. It will also be a time when those who have rejected Christ and ignored the teachings of Scripture to be judged eternally.
JESUS CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN! And we are wise if we live that expectation always in our hearts and minds!