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 46)
The Scope of the Second Coming
Chapter 3 – Themes of the Second Coming
Judgment
The most sobering, and sometimes ominous, theme of the Second Coming of Christ is judgment. However, judgment’s dichotomous nature means that wrath for the unrighteous will be accompanied by deliverance for the righteous. Hence Noah survived the Flood, Lot escaped Sodom in time, Joseph found respect in Egypt, and so on.
The Second Coming did not introduce the idea of God’s judgment. We see it throughout Old Testament times. From the very beginning, we see God’s reckoning in the affairs of men: Adam and Eve were banished from the garden, Cain’s primary occupation was cursed, and the builders of the tower of Babel were reduced to confusion and babbling. And so many divine judgments played out in Old Testament times. But the judgment coming with the kingdom of God was to be far more comprehensive and lasting…and therefore distinctive from all prior judgments.
First and foremost, references to the Second Coming clearly and emphatically put Jesus – a man, albeit an utterly unique one – in the judgment seat. This was unprecedented.
Acts 10:38 “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
Acts 10:39 “We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross.
Acts 10:40 “God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible,
Acts 10:41 not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.
Acts 10:42 “And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead.
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.”
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
As for how this Man would execute divine judgment, He promised that His judgment would be most exacting.
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.
Romans 2:16 …the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.
The judgment associated with the Second Coming was not only going to be exceedingly thorough, it was also promised to be ongoing…forever! In fact, the very phrase “the kingdom of God” implies ongoing justice for all concerned – not just a one-time event. This is why “fire” – which is one of the primary biblical metaphors for judgment – is often described as “consuming” or “unquenchable” when referring to the Second Coming.
(to be continued tomorrow)
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