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 49)
Part Three – The Nature of the Second Coming
Chapter 8 – How the Old Testament Prophets Set the Stage
The Language of the Prophets (continued)
Daniel was not the only prophet who communicated using this sort of imagery. Moses had written some thousand years before Daniel that
“There is none like the God of Jeshurun,
Who rides the heavens to your help,
And through the skies in His majesty.” Deuteronomy 33:26
There is no record that anyone took Moses to be describing the physical sight to be seen whenever God was coming to someone’s help.
Moreover, if Jesus must come to physical Jerusalem as those who teach the “future, physical” Second Coming say, how are people in the Western hemisphere even going to see it? Some have gone so far as to say that the Second Coming will be televised – as if it were an extravaganza you could watch on TV! When will such teaching nonsense end? What will it take before we recognize that God would rather we forgive one sin, show compassion to one person in need, do one act of spontaneous kindness…than to wait for Him to put on such a physical show for physical eyes?
Has God not already proven that His displays of power are unequaled? The wonder of a rainbow, a thunderstorm, a sunrise – who could do such things but God? Yes, He could put on a physical display of Jesus that would dazzle every eye, but is that what God wants? If physical displays of His power and glory were sufficient to make people believe, then all humanity would be converted at every sunrise, for no human architectural or scientific feat was ever half as glorious. And all of Israel would have been converted every time Jesus did a miracle. Unfortunately, we humans have shown a remarkable resistance to being moved by physical displays of God’s glory. So could this be God’s crowning act through Jesus Christ? That’s not what the prophets of Israel said. They said He wanted us to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8). That’s the display He put on through Jesus when He humbly walked this earth. Indeed, some people rightly appreciated the spectacularly spiritual nature of it, for the apostle John said, “and we saw His glory” (John 1:14). John had come to appreciate that spiritual glory was greater, more meaningful, more significant, more lasting, and far more important than physical glory.
Surely Daniel would be disappointed if all we received from his vision was hope for a physical display of God. The main point was that this Son of Man was coming into authority – the authority of God. Didn’t Jesus say, “My kingdom is not of this realm” (John 18:36)? If He was going to reign on earth in a physical body then the crucifixion was unnecessary, for there was no flaw in Him – spiritual or physical. He was perfectly qualified to reign before He was crucified, if that was the type of kingdom God wanted to establish. But Jesus declined such a kingdom for a place instead with the Father, for he said, “The Father is greater than I” (John 14:28).
(This section of the chapter to be continued tomorrow)
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