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 29)
The Scope of the Second Coming
Chapter 2 – Dichotomies of the Second Coming
The Dichotomy of Perception (continued and concluding)
Paul describes the dichotomy of perception this way:
1 Corinthians 2:14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
1 Corinthians 2:15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things…
Thus a believing man would see Second Coming events that an unbelieving man would not recognize. It was for this reason that Paul and the other apostles labored with the churches, inculcating in the congregants the spiritual attitudes necessary to see the spiritual events that were approaching.
In Jesus’ long description of the run-up to the Second Coming in what is called His Olivet Discourse, He said…
Matthew 24:43 “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
This “thief in the night” imagery seems to stand in stark contrast to other descriptions of the Second Coming which made it seem like it would be plain for all to see – like this one:
Revelation 1:7 BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.
Paul makes it easier for us to reconcile the contrast by presenting both sides of the dichotomy in the same passage:
1 Thessalonians 5:1 Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you.
1 Thessalonians 5:2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.
1 Thessalonians 5:3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.
1 Thessalonians 5:4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief;
1 Thessalonians 5:5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness;
1 Thessalonians 5:6 so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.
1 Thessalonians 5:7 For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night.
1 Thessalonians 5:8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.
1 Thessalonians 5:9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
1 Thessalonians 5:10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.
Those who are in the darkness don’t see. Those who are in the light do. It’s that simple. And remembering this dichotomy of perception will help you unravel what would otherwise seem to be contradictions in the Bible’s many testimonies about the Second Coming.
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