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 62)
Part Three – The Nature of the Second Coming
Chapter 10 – Conclusion on the Nature of the Second Coming
We started our discussion of the Second Coming by remembering that some Jews (certainly not all) missed the coming of the Messiah for whom they were looking. And they continue to miss it only when they refuse to believe it could be missed. For it is common knowledge that there are Jews who even today open their minds to the possibility that Jesus was and is their Messiah. Then when they examine the evidence, they embrace Him. It is as if a veil has been lifted from their eyes (2 Corinthians 3:16). Seeing such a phenomenon in our Jewish brothers, are Gentile brothers not adequately forewarned of the dangers of closing one’s mind about a coming of Messiah (be it His first or second)?
This is especially so now that we have seen that the description of the Second Coming is spiritual and not physical. For if the first coming which was partly physical (Jesus came in an earthly body) was “missable,” how much more the second coming, being entirely spiritual, would be “missable.” The first coming had certain physical aspects to it that could be verified (e.g. Messiah had to be a physical descendant of David) whereas the second did not. But we who live almost twenty centuries later have a benefit those in the first century did not. That is, we can see how monotheism has displaced polytheism as the dominant worldview among humanity. Even the God that atheists don’t believe in and agnostics aren’t sure about is one God – not many gods. That is, atheists today insist that there’s insufficient proof of God’s – not the gods’ – existence.
In case there is any believer in Christ who has read this far and still doggedly maintains that Jesus Christ must appear again in the flesh for the promises of the Second Coming to be fulfilled, please consider Elijah. In Matthew 17, Jesus says that the prophecy of Elijah’s returning to precede Messiah was fulfilled in John the Baptist preceding Him. If you insist on the Second Coming being physical then you must reject Jesus as even being the Messiah in the first place. For He produced no physical Elijah as His forerunner. In other words, you would have to disown the One you have called Savior because he “spiritualized” the prophecy about Elijah and the Messiah. (The quotation marks are to indicate that the word is used as a pejorative when it shouldn’t be.)
I have good news for you! It is not necessary to reject or disown this Holy One. He has kept His promises. He was Israel’s Messiah and He is just as surely God. The faithfulness of God is revealed once again, this time in the glorious keeping of His promises regarding His coming again. Let us therefore happily acknowledge His presence in the earth as well as heaven. Let us not wait until some future date to show constant reverence toward Him. Let us live every moment for His pleasure. We were created to know Him and to make Him known. Another way of phrasing this is to be aware of His presence and to make others aware of it. Let us break free from this stifling existence of acknowledging only what we can see with our physical eyes. Let us break free from the smothering dominance of flesh and breathe in the life of His Spirit.
(This is the end of the chapter and of Part Three.)
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