Finding Jesus in the Bible…So We Can Follow Him in Life
Bible Reading Plans
- Plan One: New Testament Only
- Plan Two: New Testament + Psalms
- Plan Three: New Testament + History
- Plan Four: The Entire Bible – Year 1 of 3, Year 2 of 3, Year 3 of 3
Don’t know which plan? Go to A Christ-Centered Bible Reading Plan: Quick Start.
Extras
Verse of the Day, Audio Capsule, and Video Minute
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(Today’s Reading)
The Biblical Case for the Second Coming as Accomplished Fact
(Book Installment 5)
Part One – The Second Coming of Jesus Christ
Chapter 1 – Sorting Out the Confusion
(continued)
Could the Second Coming Be a Spiritual Event?
Obviously, I have begun to speak to you about the Second Coming as a spiritual rather than a physical or fleshly event. Is this such a strange idea? If it seems strange to anyone it should not seem strange to Christians. Christians proclaim a resurrection hardly any of them claim to have seen physically. If we can accept the resurrection by faith, why not the Second
Coming?
Is there something unimportant about a spiritual event? Would it carry more weight with us if it were physical or fleshly? If so, what does that say about our spirituality? Certainly the resurrection “spiritualized” the first coming in a way some were not expecting. That is, Jesus ascended from a physical place to a spiritual place. The disciples had thought they were going to follow Messiah in earthly victory, vanquishing the Romans. But the resurrection meant they were to follow Him in spiritual victory through fleshly suffering, vanquishing the unseen forces of their own jealousy, strife, and pride. If to “spiritualize” something means to make it of no practical effect, then such spiritualizing is wrong. If, however, we take as spiritual something that is spiritual and apply it in our lives, have we not honored Him who taught us that spiritual things are more important than physical things? (See Luke 16:15.)
Spiritual things are not only more important than physical things, they are more enduring. “For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are forever.” (2 Corinthians 4:18.) The very reason that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is an event to last for eternity, never needing to be changed, altered, or improved upon, installing forever the reign of Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, is precisely because it is not an event of the flesh but rather of the spirit. That is, it was unseen and eternal. In other words, if God wanted something to last forever and be the foundation of all eternity, wouldn’t He choose to do something spiritual rather than something physical? How much did Moses’ tabernacle or Solomon’s temple keep the people from going astray? We see that, great as they were, they had little lasting effect.
How would the faith in the invisible God that Jesus was working so hard to inculcate in His followers be helped by a physical Second Coming? If He were to come again in the fleshly display which so many seek, faith would not be necessary to greet Him and yet He asks,
“…when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8
Jesus thus indicated the necessity to have faith in the Second Coming.
People who believe God is invisible and that Jesus is the Son of God should not find it so strange if Jesus should return as God, that is, invisibly. Since Jesus is who He is, isn’t it fitting that He should come the first time as man and the second time as God; the first time in the flesh and the second time in the spirit (2 Corinthians 5:16); the first time for sin and the second time
for salvation (Hebrews 9:28); the first time in suffering and the second time in glory (Luke 24:26)? Should we be disappointed that we do not see Him physically when He told the apostle Thomas,
“Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” John 20:29
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