Today, we continue our series on the Second Coming of Christ. When was the last time you heard a message on this topic? When was the last time you heard a man of God call the church to repent? Time is drawing short, the Antichrist is coming, and the great apostasy is happening now. In this series, we will explore the signs of His coming, the manner of His coming and much more. Today, we focus on "The Certainty of His Coming." This will be a series that may read like a daily news broadcast because we are living in the last days. These messages will establish that point beyond any reasonable doubt. This lesson will study false teachings on the Second Coming as well as the words of Christ Himself testifying of His coming again. The texts are undeniable. He is coming again, and soon! Are you ready?
Introduction
Everywhere you turn today the Second Coming of our Lord back to earth again is denied, made fun of, or laughed at. It is no longer the "blessed hope" of the church, as the church today is not looking for the Lord. The church is married to the world so why should it be looking for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ? But bless the Lord, those who are married to Christ are looking for His coming, and we can say with the Apostle Paul that we "LOVE HIS APPEARING." Every born-again believer has no sympathy for or fellowship with those who seek to explain away the Second Coming of Christ, and we will begin with several false explanations about the Second Coming of Christ.
Part 1: False Explanations of the Second Coming
There are several common explanations for denying the Second Coming:
1. It has been taught that Christ came on the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came, and that is the only time Christ will ever come back to earth again. The Lord's statement about the coming of the Holy Spirit is a sufficient answer to this error: "If I go not away, the Comforter (Holy Spirit) will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send Him to you." Christ definitely said, "If I go, the Spirit will come." The coming of the Holy Spirit does not mean the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of the Holy Spirit is the GOING of the Lord, and the COMING of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost was not the return of the Lord.
2. Some teach that the Lord Jesus Christ came during the siege of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, when the city was destroyed by the Roman prince Titus. In Matthew 24, Christ foretold of the destruction of Jerusalem, but He never said anything about His personal return at that time. When Titus destroyed the city of Jerusalem in A.d. 70, Christ did not return in Person in the clouds of heaven with power and glory. The Scripture teaches us that as Christ went away in the clouds, so He will come back in the clouds and with His cohort of angels. My friend, that has not taken place yet. Christ said, "I WILL COME AGAIN." The Lord Jesus Christ is coming back in Person. You can't explain that away. The thing for you to do is to be ready for His coming. Turn to Christ now as your Lord and your Savior.
3. Some teach that our Lord Jesus Christ comes each time a Christian dies. They will mistakenly say: "I believe Jesus comes back every time a Christian dies, and that is all there is to a Second Coming of Christ." The Bible makes it so plain that when a Christian dies, the Lord does not come to the believer, but the child of God goes to the Lord. II Corinthians 5: 8 reads: "Absent from the body, and present with the Lord." When Stephen was being stoned in Acts 7, he said, "LORD JESUS, RECEIVE MY SPIRIT." He did not say, "Lord Jesus, come to me."
The Bible is so clear as to expose these false teachings for what they are. There is no other book on earth that is twisted and taken out of context as the Bible. The average person does not approach the Bible with an unbiased mind, but instead they read it to prove their opinion. Unbelievers read the Bible to prove their unbelief. Skeptics read the Bible to prove their skepticism. Every false cult uses the Bible to prove their error and uphold their followers in sin. Christ assured the Pharisees of that one thing: "YE SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES TO PROVE YOUR OWN OPINIONS."
Part 2: Old Testament Texts of the Second Coming
Yes, our Lord is coming back again. The whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation, speaks with no uncertain voice about our Lord's coming back again. He must come back! He will come back! He said, "I WILL COME AGAIN." In Genesis you will find the story of Joseph, the son of Jacob in his old age. One day Joseph visited his brothers, and they rejected by them. They cast him into a pitv and sold him into slavery. He was taken to Egypt, sent to prison on false charges, and was ultimately promoted to prime minister of Egypt. He took a wife from among the Gentiles, and at a given hour he went forth with her in his chariot to bring his father into the "promised land" of Egypt. This is a type of our Lord's return for His own. Here in the story of Joseph is typified our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and from the ancient land of Egypt comes the cry, "Behold, He cometh; go ye out to meet Him!" And our cry is, "Come quickly, Lord Jesus, come." Everywhere in the Bible you will see the story of the second coming of our Lord.
One day David climbed the slopes of Mt. Olivet bareheaded, barefooted, his back bending low, his face washed with tears, a man of sorrows, bowed down with grief--a rejected king. One day later he returned with ab great host, with the shout of victory, crossed the Jordan River, entered the city of Jerusalem, and sat a king on Zion's heights. David here is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was a "Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Our Lord one day, climbed Mt. Olivet, which overlooked the city of Jerusalem, and sat weeping over the city with love crying, "O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem...how oft would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not." (Luke 13: 34) Our Lord was a rejected King, but He knew that one day He would come again with a Victor's shout and the song of triumph! Read 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18. He will cross Jordan from the East, enter Jerusalem, and receive the throne from His Father, and reign as "King of kings, and Lord of lords." The Bible is clear: THE LORD IS COMING AGAIN!!! "The Lord God omnipotent reigneth!" is the cry of every believer.
As David meditated upon the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ back to earth again, he was inspired to sing the following: "Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together before the LORD; HE COMETH TO JUDGE THE EARTH: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity." (Psalm 98: 7-9) Yes, David proclaimed to the world, "THE LORD IS COMING AGAIN TO REIGN."
Across the centuries comes the voice of the prophet with the choicest words to speak and portray the Second Coming of our Lord. Isaiah, looking down through time, saw Jerusalem as the center, or the capital of the new world, and he said: "And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he shall teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." (Isaiah 2: 3)
This will take place when our Lord returns. Again, the old prophet saw the nations of the world at peace, their armies disbanded, war implements scrapped, and he cried out: "And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." (Isaiah 2: 4) This will take place when our Lord comes back to earth again. I wish every listener could realize that great truth and throw yourself completely upon the mercy of the Lord. Yes, He is coming, my friend!
Then the old prophet Micah announced very positively that when the Lord comes the second time, war will cease and men shall learn its ways no more, and eacj man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, none daring to molest or make afraid (Micah 4: 3, 4). "Come quickly, Lord Jesus." Satan has ruled long enough, "Come, Lord Jesus, come."
From across the centuries comes the voice of the old prophet Zechariah, who testifies that the Lord is coming, that He is coming with all His saints, and that His feet in that day shall stand upon the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14: 4), fulfilling that promise that "this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall come in like manner as ye have seen Him go to heaven." (Acts 1: 11) He went away from Mt. Olivet; He'll come back to Mt. Olivet. One day His feet shall stand again on the old Mount of Olives, from whence He went back to glory. My friend, are you ready for His coming?
When we open the book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, we do not see our Lord Jesus as the suffering servant, as the crucified One in His first coming; but we see Him in His second coming as the Sun of Righteousness rising with healing in His wings (Malachi 4: 2). The greatest thing in this life is to know Him, and then to wait for Him to come again.
Part 3: The Certainty of His Coming According to the Lord Jesus Christ
The New Testament opens with the voice of angels announcing that the Messiah has been born, and the wise men went their way from the East looking for the Infant King., the Child Jesus, the King of the Jews. Christ grows to manhood, and as He walks over the Judean ills, along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, up and down the streets of Jerusalem, we hear Him proclaiming, "I will come again." He speaks of His second coming in open discourses, He tells His disciples, "I am going into a far country, but I am coming again in an hour when you think not. It may be at evening, morning, or midnight. We are to watch because we do not know the hour of His coming.
Then He compares His coming to that of the bridegroom who comes at midnight to meet the waiting bride, and He cries unto them to be ready "with your lamps all trimmed and burning, for ye know not what hour I may arrive. It may be in the blaze of morning, or at midnight darkness, but be ye ready, as one who watches for the return of His Lord. ARE YOU WATCHING FOR HIM, MY FRIEND? IF YOU ARE SAVED, YOU ARE.
Again, our Lord declares He will come as the King of Glory to sit upon the throne of His glory, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. In the last discourse to His disciples upon Mt. Olivet, He tells them of multiplied wars, of famine, and pestilence, of shattering earthquakes, of false prophets, of deceitful worker, and distress of nations with men's hearts failing them for fear. "Watch; I'll come as lightening that shines from the east to the west, and with all my holy angels," He declares, "Two will be in the bed; one shall be taken and the other left. Two shall be in the field; one shall be taken and the other left."
At the Last Supper, our Lord knew that the disciples were troubled. They did not understand all that was taking place., but they knew they were facing an hour they had never faced before. Everything was uncertain. Then, the Lord Jesus Christ turned to them with a heart of love and compassion and said, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me." Further, He said, "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, I WILL COME AGAIN, and receive you unto myself: that where I am, there ye may be also." (John 14: 1-3)
"I WILL COME AGAIN." "I will receive you...." What comforting words. The word "receive" means to be "taken by force." Our Lord was saying that He is coming back someday, and He will kidnap you away! He will take His believers out of the world by force. If you know people struggling with world events today, this is the message to bring comfort. HE IS COMING AGAIN! Satan will be powerless to stop our Lord from taking us away. I so long for that day. Do you? Do you long to leave this world to be with our Lord forever and throughout eternity? Shortly after He said these words, He was betrayed by one of His disciples in the Garden, Judas Iscariot. They brought Him before judges and political and religious leaders to accuse Him. He knew what He was facing and what He would do for His sheep. He said to them, "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven." (Matthew 26: 64) Wherever you met the Master, He was always referring to His second coming, "I am going away, but I am coming back."
IF THIS MESSAGE WAS SO FREQUENTLY GIVEN BY OUR LORD, WHY DO NOT PREACHERS TODAY GIVE THE SAME MESSAGE? IT IS BECAUSE THEY ARE HIRELINGS AND IMPOSTERS. THEY ARE WORKING FOR THE SIDE OF DARKNESS.
Yes, they crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. He was buried and, in the tomb, and on the third day, He arose again. He spent forty days with His disciples, and as He walked to the Mt. of Olives, and from their midst He was taken up to heaven and received out of sight in a cloud. The disciples stood there gazing into the clouds until He was lost to view, when two heavenly visitors addressed the disciples and said these words:
"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 o into heaven." (Acts 1: 11).
Notice the words, "THIS SAME JESUS." The same Jesus that was: born a baby in Bethlehem, at the age of twelve astounded the doctors, who was baptized in the River Jordan, who fasted 40 days and nights in the wilderness and tempted by Satan, who for 3 1/2 years walked up and down the shores of Galilee, over the hills of Judea, Who performed miracles of raising the dead, healing one born blind, casting out mute and deaf demons, who healed lepers, forgave the harlot, who preached the gospel to the poor-yes, "THIS SAME JESUS," who was betrayed by Judas and led captive by His own people, Who bore the cross of Calvary IS COMING AGAIN! I don't know about you, but this stirs me up. Time is running short; we must do all we can to tell everyone of the true message of salvation and of the Certainty of His Coming Again!
"THIS SAME JESUS," who died on the cross as our substitute, who was buried as our Scapegoat and rose again as our Justifier; "THIS SAME JESUS," Who stood in the midst of His disciples the night after His resurrection and held forth His scarred hand, His badge of identification--"THIS SAME JESUS" who walked with His disciples out to Mount Olivet and then went back to heaven SHALL COME AGAIN AS HE WENT AWAY. Yes, He shall come "in like manner as He went away." He went away in a cloud; He'll come back in a cloud. Revelation 1: 7 reads: "Behold, He cometh with clouds!" He went away in bodily form; He'll come back in bodily form. His disciples saw Him when He left and if you are born-again, you will see Him with great joy when He comes back. Praise His Holy Name!
Conclusion
My friend, I am not looking for an event; I'm looking for the personal return of my Lord to earth again. I want to see Him. Do you? We have learned about the Old Testament Scriptures that speak of His return. We have heard the words of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself about His promised return. May every saint of God proclaim, "BRING FORTH THE ROYAL DIADEM, AND CROWN HIM LORD OF ALL." Do you want Him, my friend? To every lost soul hearing this message, I want to throw an obstacle in front of your rush to hell fire. I want you to hear the Gospel message. There is no salvation apart from Christ. Every Buddhist, Muslim, Mormon, Jehovah Witness is headed to hell. I want to help you. Come to Christ before He comes again.
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IS CERTAINLY COMING AGAIN! ARE YOU READY?
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