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 6)
Part One – The Second Coming of Jesus Christ
Chapter 1 – Sorting Out the Confusion
(continued)
Making the Case
We may be getting ahead of ourselves. The case has only begun to be made that Jesus Christ has already come again. The overwhelming evidence comes in the next two parts of the book as we examine in detail the statements of Jesus and His apostles on the subject. The next part of this book will look at everything they said about “when” the Second Coming could be expected. Nothing they said would let us date it anytime past the 1st Century A.D. To say then that it has not occurred some 1,900 years later is to say that we know more about the Second Coming than they did!
Part Three of the book will look at what Jesus and His apostles said about “what” the Second Coming would be like. We will see that to regard their descriptions as referring to a physical event leads to all sorts of contradictions and inconsistencies – the very situation we find in the multiplied opinions about what the “future, physical” Second Coming will be like. If, however, we take their descriptions as referring to a spiritual event we will find that their teachings harmonize to present a clear, consistent, and undeniably magnificent portrait of our Savior’s enthronement and His eternal reign.
At this point, therefore, it is only necessary for you to maintain an open mind. For in the acceptance or rejection of any Bible teaching, one must engage his or her conscience. We must ask ourselves, “Am I willing to stand before God and say this is what I truly believe?” If we believe the crowd is right, we should stand with the crowd; but if we believe the crowd is wrong,
then we must stand alone. It is that sort of honesty before God that tends to break up crowds.
Part Two – The Timing of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ
This part of the book will address the timeframe of Jesus’ Second Coming. We will survey the entire New Testament. We will begin with what the Gospels say, then cover what the book of Acts says, then what the epistles say, and last what the book of Revelation says. We’ll do this by dividing this part of the book into separate chapters according to the different genres we find in the New Testament: the four “biographies” (that is, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), the one “history” (that is, the Acts of the Apostles), the 21 letters (that is, the epistles of the apostles), and finally the circular letter to seven churches called the book of Revelation. Then there’ll be a concluding chapter, summarizing what all the texts have said. By the time we’re finished, you’ll wonder how anyone ever got the idea that the Second Coming might be delayed or otherwise not occur by the end of the New Testament age – that is, the 1st Century A.D.
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