Second Coming of Christ

Today, I will write what I believe will be the next to the last blog in the current series about the last days. In these blogs, I’ve presented what I consider to be an overview of what will happen at the end of this age. Some topics we’ve looked at up to this point include characteristics of the last days, the rapture, and the tribulation.

Now, let’s look at the Second Coming of Christ and the events leading up to His return.

At His first appearance, Christ came as a baby. He grew into a man with His purpose being to redeem humanity back to God. The next time He comes will be different from the first. Jesus will not come as a baby but as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He will be coming to destroy the forces arrayed against God and to deliver His people.

In order to get a good grasp upon His second coming, let’s take a look at the events leading up to His appearance.

Before Christ’s return, the world will be in a terrible period called “The Tribulation.” Terrible judgments from the hand of God will be poured out upon the earth during this period. As we said last time, one of the most terrible judgments will be the rise of a satanic leadership team which will rule most of the known world. Known biblically as the Antichrist and the False Prophet, these two men will seek to change the laws of the world under the guise of peace.

In the middle of the Tribulation, the Antichrist will come up with a plan to put a stop to the Jewish sacrifices that are being offered in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. Whether this is a response to animal activists demanding the stop of animal sacrifices or for another reason, the Antichrist will enter the Temple, stop the sacrifices and declare himself to be God.

 

Daniel 11:31-32: “And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation. Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.”

 While this is happening on earth, there will be a war in heaven. Michael and his angels will defeat Satan and his angels, confining them to the earth. (Revelation 12) This is the beginning of the three and one-half years in when Satan will persecute Israel and the true church of Jesus Christ. Jesus said of this period of time:

“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Matt. 24: 15-21

During this period, God will send two witnesses who will prophesy, perform miracles, smite the earth with plagues, and destroy any who try to stop them. At the end of their ministry, the Antichrist will kill them. Their bodies will lie in the streets of Jerusalem for three and one-half days. At the end of these days, the Lord will raise them from the dead and call them up to heaven.

At the end of the final three and one-half years of the Tribulation, the seven final plagues or judgments of God are poured out upon the earth. The sixth judgment is the gathering of the armies of the Antichrist together to invade Israel. The battle will be joined at the Plain of Megiddo, a place biblically known as Armageddon.

It appears, according to Zechariah, chapters 12-14 that Israel will fight valiantly but lose ground. The IDF will make its final stand in the city of Jerusalem; possibly even losing half of the city in the battle. With defeat appearing certain, the seventh judgment will be poured out upon the earth; Jesus will appear at the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4). When His feet touch the mountain, a great earthquake will occur splitting the Mount of Olives in two, killing seven thousand people in the process. Israel will recognize their Messiah and receive Him as Lord and God, fulfilling the word of the Lord given by Paul in Romans 11:25-26 – “and all Israel shall be saved.”

During this time, great hailstones will fall from the sky with each hailstone weighing approximately 75 LB. With the armies of heaven with Him, Jesus will but speak a word and the entire army of the Antichrist will be destroyed. Revelation 14:19 tells about the extent of the victory:

“So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trampled outside of the city and blood came out of the winepress, up to the horses’ bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs.”

One thousand six hundred furlongs is approximately 200 miles!

Then comes the end of the Tribulation.

The Antichrist is captured, along with the False Prophet. They are cast alive into the lake of fire. And the rest of the Antichrist’s army is killed with the sword from the mouth of Jesus.

The final event of the Second Coming is the captivity of the devil.

An angel comes down from heaven with a great chain in his hand. He binds the devil and casts him into the bottomless pit until the end of the millennium.

This ushers in the final period of the End Times called the Millennial Reign of Christ. This we will look at next time.

The Rapture

Are we truly in the last days of our world? How do we know we are? If so, what can we expect to happen in the days to come?

The Bible gives us signs that identify the period known as the “last days”. Last time we were together, I wrote about some of those signs.

We found according to scripture, that the last days actually began upon the birth of Jesus. The book of Hebrews begins by telling us that the last days began with the appearance of Jesus to His creation. Although the appearance of Jesus was an event that occurred nearly two thousand years ago, the apostle Peter in 2 Peter 3:8-10 teaches us that God counts time more in opportunities to repent than in days, weeks, months, and years. Suddenly, just as in the days of Noah, the end will come as a thief in the night with Jesus returning for His church and those left behind will encounter tragedy and pain like no other period in history.

In the last blog, we looked at some characteristics of the last days; attitudes and happenings that will be signs of the prophesied spiritual condition of those days.

Today, I want to look at another event of the end times: an event known by the church throughout history as “the rapture.”

1 Corinthians 15:51-58 details the event we have come to know as “the rapture.” It is interesting to note that the word, “rapture” is not in the scripture. But, neither are several words we use to describe biblical realities like the words, “Trinity” or “missionary.”

The word “Rapture” in Scripture is taken from the Latin “rapio” for the two words “caught up” used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. 

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17: “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.”

A day is coming when a shout shall come from heaven followed by a trumpet blast and the graves of all those who knew Jesus as their Lord and Savior will arise from the dead and those who are still alive will be “caught up” with them; flying like Mary Poppins without the umbrella and we shall be united together with the Lord in the air never to be separated from Him or one another again!

The word “rapture” is used to describe:

An intense feeling of pleasure or joy.

The book of Titus describes the appearing of Jesus for His children “the blessed hope.” The birth of Jesus started the beginning of the last days. The rapture of the church will signal the beginning of the end times.

Just like many doctrinal positions, the rapture of the church is an event that has several viewpoints.

I want to share those quickly with you now.

1. Partial Rapture

Belief in this view is that those who are saved and sanctified (living an obedient life) will go to be with Christ while saved, yet unsanctified Christians will remain behind to be purified through the Tribulation. I have problems with this view due to our salvation being a work of Christ alone and the fact that the body of Christ is to be undivided.

2. Post Tribulation Rapture

Belief in this view is that Christians will go through the Tribulation to receive their inheritance at the end. While I can see why some people believe this, I have some problems with this view. The Tribulation has a purpose: to judge the world and reveal the wrath of God.

1 Thessalonians 5:9: “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Revelation 3:10: “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”

The Old Testament story of the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt which according to 1 Corinthians 10 is a type of what is to come shows the Israelites protected from the judgments of Egypt. At this point, I believe we will not go through the Tribulation.

3. Mid Tribulation Rapture

Again, while I can see why some believe this view, I don’t believe it for the same reasons I don’t believe in post Tribulation Rapture.

4. No Rapture

There are some that believe that the church will become so victorious that it will usher in the Millenial Kingdom of Christ.

2 Timothy 3:12-13: “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

2 Timothy 3:1: “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come..”

In Matthew, chapter 24, Jesus gives His disciples a glimpse of the events of the end times and of His coming. War, persecution, offense, false prophets, apostasy…….these are the events foretold by the One who knows the end from the beginning! Sounds slightly different from what is known in church circles as “Kindgom Now.”

5. Pre Tribulation Rapture

In this view, Jesus will return for His church and that event will usher in the beginning of the Tribulation.

When you are studying the rapture of the church, there are several things you need to keep in mind. First of all, the second coming of Christ is in two parts, separated by a period of seven years. 

The first part is sometimes referred to as the “Rapture” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 1 Corinthians 15:52-58). The second part occurs when Christ physically, bodily returns to this earth on the Mount of Olives from which He ascended. The interval between these two events, known as the Tribulation and Great Tribulation, is divided into two, three-and-a-half year periods each. The seventy weeks described in Daniel 9:24-27 speaks of this period as well. The term “week” meaning a seven year period.

The Great Tribulation is the “wrath to come” from which the believer is delivered by the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10). The children of God, “because they have kept the word of His patience, will be kept from that hour of trial.” (Revelation 3:10).

I believe that the Scripture teaches that Christians will not be judged with the world when God pours out His wrath in the day of the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 5:9 says, “God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.” Scripture teaches us to look for the Lord’s return, not for the tribulation (1 Thessalonians 1:10 and Titus 2:13).

Whatever God has in store for us, it will be for His glory and could happen at any moment!

Jesus said regarding His second coming, “But of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” We should live like Jesus is coming today. As we saw through looking at the characteristics of the last days, we are closer than we dare dream!

 

The Last Days

“The sun comes up; the sun goes down, and then the sun comes up again.”

Things in this world seem to go on in an endless cycle. There is a “sameness” that permeates life that seems to lull the occupants of our world to sleep. This type of attitude was foretold by the Scriptures:

2 Peter 3:3-4: “Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

Certainly, there are cycles to life, but we cannot forget that in the beginning, God created the world out of nothing. We cannot forget that on a day like any other day, God opened the windows of heaven and sent a flood that destroyed the earth. The same God who accomplished both of these events has announced that a day will come when this world will be destroyed in its current form.

This apocalyptic event is scheduled for a time the Bible calls, “The last days.”

What period of time is the Bible speaking of when it mentions, “The last days?”

Are we near that period?

Hebrews 1:1-2: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.”

The writer of Hebrews says to us that the period known as, “the last days” began at the appearance of Jesus. The same God who created the world out of nothing and destroyed it through a flood also sent His Son, Jesus to signal the beginning of the last days of this earth.

Some may say, “Well, that was two thousand years ago. That’s a lot more than a few days.”

2 Peter 3:8-10: “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”

God counts time in terms of opportunities to repent. One day, the time of grace to repent will end and suddenly, the earth as we know it will pass away. According to scripture, the period known as “the last days” began at the birth of Jesus and will end at His Second Coming.

Scripturally, it is easy to see  that we are in the last days. There are many events spoken of in the Bible that are scheduled for this time. For the next several weeks, I would like to write about some of these events. I also want to look at some things that characterize the last days so that we can recognize them in the time that we live.

Some subjects that we will talk about in the coming weeks are events of the last days that have not happened yet; things like the Rapture, the Tribulation, The Second Coming of Jesus, and the Millennial Reign of Christ.

Today, we will look at what is going on right now.

Some of what we will look at are descriptions of the prevailing attitudes present in the last days. Others are accomplishments or achievements that reveal that the last days have arrived.

So, let’s get started.

Daniel 12:4: “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

God told the prophet Daniel that a sign that the end of time is nearing will be something called, “The increase of knowledge.”

People that study trends and events say that 80% of the world’s total knowledge has appeared in the last one hundred years. 90% of all scientists who have ever lived are alive today. I found this quote regarding this issue:

 “We’re all striving to keep up with the quantum leaps being made in all areas of knowledge. It’s estimated that medical knowledge, for example, doubles every seven years, and scientific knowledge doubles every twenty years. The total written knowledge in the world is said to have doubled between 1450 and 1750, and then to have doubled again between 1750 and 1900. Between 1900 and 1950, human knowledge doubled once more, and then again from 1950 to 1975. Now, it is believed to double every 900 days. By the year 2020, global knowledge is predicted to double every 72 days!”

We live in a time of the rapid increase of knowledge. God told us through Daniel that this is a characteristic of the last days.

Another characteristic of the last days is the exploitation of people and resources.

James 5:3-4: “Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields , which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the Lord of Sabaoth.”

The rich get richer and the gap between rich and poor grows. The top 1% of the world’s wealthiest people own over half of the world’s wealth. The top 20% of the wealthiest people in the U.S. own 85% of the country’s wealth! This is a biblical sign of the end.

Another characteristic of the last days is apostasy.

1 Timothy 4:1: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.”

A recent poll in Church Leaders.com reflects church attendance at 17.7% While many still report belief in Christ, the amount of those who corporately express that faith is at a low point.

Finally, let’s look at the condition of mankind.

2 Timothy 3:1: “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come.”

2 Timothy 3:13: “Evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

2 Timothy 3:1-4 describes the prevailing characteristics of society in the last days. People will be:

Lovers of themselves

Lovers of money

Boasters

Proud

Blasphemous

Disobedient to parents

Unthankful

Unholy

Unloving

Unforgiving

Slanderers

Without self-control

Brutal

Despisers of good

Traitors

Headstrong

Haughty

 Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God

Having a form of godliness but denying its power

It is not hard to read these characteristics and know that we are right in the middle of the period that is being described in the Bible. So, what is next?

We’ll talk about that next time!