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 24)
The Scope of the Second Coming
Chapter 1 – References to the Second Coming
References to the Second Coming in Paul’s Letters (continued and concluding)
Some biblical references to the Second Coming are more subtle than others, and some even span more than one text. Take, for example, the two passages below from Paul. In the first (taken from Paul’s letter to the Philippians), scholars believe he is quoting one of the earliest confessions used in Christian gatherings. In the second (taken from his letter to the Ephesians), he is writing about the eternal age to be inaugurated by the Second Coming. Note that the first passage refers to a three-tiered universe, and the second refers to a two-tiered universe. That’s because the Sheol/Hades tier below (“under”) would be done away in the Second Coming. (No one would be going there, because the re-routing of death to heaven would have been achieved.)
Philippians 2:9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
Philippians 2:10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
Philippians 2:11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Ephesians 1:8 …In all wisdom and insight
Ephesians 1:9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him
Ephesians 1:10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth…
The elimination of Sheol/Hades did indeed make for “an administration suitable to the fullness of the times!”
Notice in the next passage how momentous Paul considered the Second Coming to be! It would be the climax that had been building since “the foundation of the world” – it would be nothing less than “the consummation of the ages.” What could be more momentous?
Hebrews 9:26 Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
Hebrews 9:27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,
Hebrews 9:28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.
And yet, as magnificent a climax as that would be, it would only be the beginning of something greater: an eternal age with Jesus Christ at the helm, never to let it go.
Ephesians 1:19 …These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might
Ephesians 1:20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
Ephesians 1:21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
Paul and the other apostles weren’t just preparing people to endure the great tribulation; they were preparing those who survived to live on the other side of the great tribulation – the side on which we live.
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