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 28)
The Scope of the Second Coming
Chapter 2 – Dichotomies of the Second Coming
I have presented you an extensive and representative sampling of biblical references to the Second Coming in order to lay a foundation for a description of its various themes. But before taking that next step, I want to sensitize you to some features of the Second Coming that will help you avoid confusion when we get to those themes. I’m calling these features “dichotomies.”
A dichotomy is, of course, a contrast between two things. The Second Coming involves more major dichotomies than any other single Bible topic I can call to mind. Pointing them out and explaining them is not difficult, but a failure to do so makes all that the Bible says about the Second Coming harder to understand than it needs to be. I’ve identified six of them. You’ve probably already noticed some of them yourself, and maybe even noticed others, as we’ve sampled Second Coming references. But let’s dwell on these six for a bit, one kind at a time.
The Dichotomy of Perception
Jesus said…
John 3:6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
He went on to ask…
John 3:12 “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
People who see the Second Coming as a physical event have, of course, seen nothing so far. That’s why they don’t think it’s happened yet. But people who see the Second Coming as a spiritual event, can see enormous changes in the spiritual landscape. The first group thinks nothing has changed; the second is staggered by the degree of change.
This same dichotomy exists when people read and study the Second Coming in the Bible. For example, consider this promise by Jesus.
Mark 8:38 “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
Most people have been taught that Jesus will appear at the Second Coming personally, visibly, and bodily. I suppose the “glory of the Father” will mean personal, visible, and bodily angels, too. And plus maybe Jesus will glow.
A spiritual man, however, will remember that Jesus said…
Luke 18:8 “…when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
And so, a spiritual man thinks of God’s glory as something invisible – and therefore can conceive of an invisible coming. And thus a spiritual man can comprehend that Jesus came the first time as a man and the second time as God.
Let the prophet Jeremiah paint a picture of the dichotomy between viewing things in the flesh and viewing them in the spirit.
Jeremiah 17:5 Thus says the LORD,
“Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
And makes flesh his strength,
And whose heart turns away from the LORD.
Jeremiah 17:6 “For he will be like a bush in the desert
And will not see when prosperity comes,
But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness,
A land of salt without inhabitant.
Jeremiah 17:7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD
And whose trust is the LORD.
Jeremiah 17:8 “For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
That extends its roots by a stream
And will not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
Nor cease to yield fruit.
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