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
***
(Today’s Reading)
The Implications of the Second Coming as Accomplished Fact
(Book Installment 21)
The Scope of the Second Coming
Chapter 1 – References to the Second Coming
References to the Second Coming in the Acts of the Apostles
Again, our purpose in walking through these verses from various sections of the Bible is to look for indications of the scope of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Note the emphasized words below from Peter’s quotation of the prophet Joel on the fateful day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, 50 days after Jesus rose from the dead.
Acts 2:20 ‘THE SUN WILL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS
AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD,
BEFORE THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS DAY OF THE LORD SHALL COME.
Acts 2:21 ‘AND IT SHALL BE THAT EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’
That “great and glorious day of the Lord” came sometime between 70 and 100 AD…and is ongoing today…and will be for all eternity! It is the day of our Lord Jesus Christ in His full glory, which is as the God and Father of all creation. I’ll explain in detail how the Bible teaches this when we get to the section of this book labeled “Implication: God Is One.”
The next phrase to notice in Acts is from another speech of Peter’s in the days following that Pentecost.
Acts 3:19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
Acts 3:20 and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you,
Acts 3:21 whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.
When Peter says “the period of restoration of all things,” he’s speaking of the beginning of “the great and glorious day of the Lord,” which was Creation 2.0. That is, the new heavens and new earth meant that the human race was being given a fresh start. God’s plan of redemption for the world through Jesus Christ – His crucifixion and resurrection – placed a safety net under life on earth. Everyone would be going to heaven from the Second Coming forward. Therefore, from that momentous event, invisible to human eyes, eternity future was given a new beginning.
This next Acts passage is taken from a message of Paul’s, delivered in Athens, Greece during the early 50’s AD.
Acts 17:30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,
Acts 17:31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
This eternal day of which Paul spoke, in which we ourselves are living, is being judged by the God who created the world, and who lived through it Himself…as one of us. He knows what human life is like. He knows what temptation is like. He knows what suffering is like. What better judge could we have asked for?
***
A Bible Reader's Website 