02-06-11 AM - The Return of Christ
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THE RETURN OF CHRIST
1Thess.4:13-18
When He came the first time He came to redeem fallen man back to the Father.
When He comes the second time He will retrieve believers from a very chaotic world.
And then He will come with a great heavenly host another time to wage war at the battle of Armageddon to reign.
www.yeshuatyisrael.com/end1.htm
I Thess. 4:13-18
13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
15 According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.
1. THE WEIGHT OF SCRIPTURE
more than 300 times in the N.T.
one in every twenty five verses.
There are 8 times more references to the second coming than to His first.
- So important is this subject of the Second Coming that it is connected to the two main ordinances of the church;
(1Cor. 11:26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.) and
Water Baptism (Mt. 28:19-20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”)
These are the two ordinances of the church. And in both of them Christ points us to His return.
- The Lord’s Coming will be a PERSONAL return.
“I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I WILL COME AGAIN, and receive you unto MYSELF; that WHERE I AM, there ye may be also.”
Acts 1:11b
“This SAME JESUS, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven”.
- It’s clear that the Lord’s Coming will be a visible, bodily coming.
“Behold He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him …”
- His Second Coming provides motivation for practical living.
1Thes 3:12-13
12 and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all men, just as we also do for you;
13 so that He may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.
b) For faithfully gathering together:
Heb. 10:25
Not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.
c) For a continued passion for souls:
1Thess. 1:9-10
9 for they themselves concerning us do declare what entrance we had unto you, and how ye did turn unto God from the idols, to serve a living and true God,
10 and to wait for His Son from the heavens, whom He did raise out of the dead--Jesus, who is rescuing us from the anger that is coming.
d) For comfort in bereavement:
1Thess 4:14-18 (our text)
14 for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also God those asleep through Jesus he will bring with him,
15 for this to you we say in the word of the Lord, that we who are living--who do remain over to the presence of the Lord--may not precede those asleep,
16 because the Lord himself, in a shout, in the voice of a chief-messenger, and in the trump of God, shall come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first,
17 then we who are living, who are remaining over, together with them shall be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in air, and so always with the Lord we shall be;
18 so, then, comfort ye one another in these words.
BLESSED HOPE.
Titus 2:13
Waiting for the blessed hope and manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
2. WHAT IS THIS SECOND COMING
a) We know it will be a Literal Return
b) We are uncertainty of its timing
Matthew 24:36
And concerning that day and the hour no one hath known--not even the messengers of the heavens--except my Father only;
Further in the same chapter we read…
Matthew 24:40-44
40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.
41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
“It is the sins of the people which prevent the coming of the Messiah, If Jews would genuinely repent for one day the Messiah would come.”
“If Israel would perfectly keep the Torah for one day the Messiah would come.”
Matthew 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
c) We will be caught up to meet Him
1 Thess. 4:17
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Caught up – To seize, to catch (away, up) pluck, pull, take (by force)
3. SIGNS OF HIS RETURN
1.The re-gathering of Israel in Palestine
2.Perilous times
2 Tim 3:1-7
1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.
2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,
4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.
6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires,
7 always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth
3.The rise of Communist Russia
Ezek prophecies about this in the 38the chapter.
Ezek. 38:2-3
2 "Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; prophesy against him
3 and say: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.
According to the Hebrew Lexicon:
Meshech- Moscow; Tubal Tobolsk; Rosh- Russia
4. The rise of Communist China
5. Science/Technology and Transportation Increase
Daniel 12:4
But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge."
posted by Mr. Carlson at 10:15 AM
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