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 Implications of the Second Coming as Accomplished Fact
(Book Installment 17)
The Scope of the Second Coming
Chapter 1 – References to the Second Coming
References to the Second Coming in the Gospel of Matthew
Recall that I showed you the two quotes below when I showed you the proclamation about the Messiah and His kingdom in our coverage of Isaiah 9:6-7 (“For a child will be born to us…the government will rest on His shoulders…”). I’m showing them again here to emphasize that the coming of the kingdom of God/Heaven was the headline of the preaching of both John the Baptist and Jesus. Thus, the coming of the Lord wasn’t a peripheral subject. Of course, the term “Second Coming” per se wasn’t being used, but one of the purposes of our extensive survey of Bible verses is to demonstrate many of the different ways it was constantly being mentioned – whether explicitly or implicitly.
Matthew 3:1 Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,
Matthew 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Notice next that the coming kingdom was given to the apostles to be the headline of their preaching as well.
Matthew 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: “Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans;
Matthew 10:6 but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Matthew 10:7 “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
This constant refrain of God’s kingdom being imminent in that age sent a clear message to the Jewish population: the time for the fulfillment of messianic prophecy had come. The judgment that Daniel and other biblical prophets wrote about was soon to take place. In that light, consider the following repeated references to “the day of judgment” – which the coming of the kingdom would be.
Matthew 10:15 “Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.
Matthew 11:20 Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent.
Matthew 11:21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Matthew 11:22 “Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.
Matthew 11:23 “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day.
Matthew 11:24 “Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”
Matthew 12:36 “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.
Thus the great judgment that was in the distant future for the Old Testament prophets was in the foreseeable future – that very generation – for John the Baptist, Jesus, and the apostles. It would shake the whole world, with Israel as its epicenter.
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