Thoughts on the Second Coming

Matthew 24:1-11; Matthew 24:38-51 (Text 24:44 For this reason ["You do not know which day your Lord is coming"] you be ready too: for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

Preaching on prophecy, and any words about how this world is going to 'wind down' are all too often left to the self-proclaimed "experts." [How long has it been since someone explained the Book of Revelation to you?] There is a reluctance on the part of journeyman pastors to rush into the prediction business.

Honest scholars have to admit both that (1) there is a great deal of the Bible devoted to telling what shall happen, and at the same time, that (2) there is no way to be authoritative in saying "First this, then that..."

But with armies gathered this very moment in the general area in which many prophesies center, and with express hatred of the entire region for people now occupying Jerusalem, and, incidentally, Armageddon, there is renewed interest, if not anxiety, regarding what is going to happen. What does the Bible say?

Bookstores are having greatly increased sales on prophetic themes since the Arabian gulf crisis. Late Great Planet Earth in demand, other new books rushing to print. What does the word say?

I. THERE IS GREAT MYSTERY

  1. We like to have control, to think that we know and understand. Preachers and authors who are graphic, and certain of themselves get strong followings— for a short while at least. It is great when you "know" something!
  2. No one has control of the Second Coming. But it is an event in history exactly as sure and certain as Christmas! God's mysteries remain mysteries until HE reveals them. There are no special deals for special sects or groups. God will speak to His entire church.

II. THERE IS GREAT DEMAND ON FAITH

  1. End times will be a time of sifting. I used to think that the sifting would be overt violence. I recall hearing preaching as a small boy, just before WWII, and thinking of where I might hide if the Germans came...

    But the sifting of our day is to decide to believe that God is BOTH Transcendent AND Immanent; to believe that GOD MATTERS IN EVERY DAY LIFE AND LIVING! The sifting is a willingness to be considered a fool, perhaps, and to be a man or woman of faith. Many intellectuals reject the idea of an imminent God, a God who is both great and majestic and concerned with large-scale things like Creation and planets and continents and concerned with you and with me in the details of our lives, down to our attitudes and motivations.

    To believe that this God is coming back to earth— that He did come as one of us, and that He communicates with us by His own Spirit— but that He is coming back to set up His own government— is too fantastic to be given any credence.

    But this is exactly what every orthodox Christian believes! "That He shall come again to judge the quick and the dead..." is part of the Apostles' Creed, distilled from the Scriptures, and given allegiance to by Protestant and Catholic Christian alike!

  2. Several grand theories have emerged across the years, and have all been "proved" by sincere experts out of the same pages:
    • POST-MILLENNIAL RETURN OF CHRIST— the CHURCH brings in the age of Gold, and then Jesus returns— this pretty much died with Queen Victoria, and was buried with two World Wars and several genocides.
    • The PRE-MILLENNIAL RETURN, now accepted by evangelicals, has been split several ways:
    • PRE-TRIB RAPTURE when Christ returns secretly before all hell breaks loose on Planet Earth...
    • And POST-TRIB RETURN, when the Church wades through dark times before Christ returns at Armageddon..
    • Then there are MID-TRIB RAPTURE THEORIES, when the world experiences SEVEN years of hell, but in the MIDDLE Jesus returns...

    All these have had their ardent supporters... but the Bible is strangely silent. It says: BE READY!

  3. One conflict, or at least paradox— is the seeming conflict between "faith" and "works;" or between "grace" and "merit." If we are saved by faith, not of works, then once we have believed, have been saved, we are "in forever."

    And, so it would seem, we are. But to "believe" may mean much, much more than many have been giving it credit for— that's the rub! To "believe" may mean a total alignment of the life, of the will in accordance with the Word of God! And to make a profession of faith when there has been no change of heart and no change of the way of living is to deny the reality of "faith" and "believing."

    We will NOT be saved by our works. No matter how well we serve, we cannot earn our salvation. We will not be saved by hitting the bulls eye of perfection every time we act. But if we are not even shooting at the target, how can we say that we are persuaded that Jesus is Lord? How can we say we are HIS?

III. THE SUPREME CALL FOR THE CHRISTIAN IS FAITHFULNESS

One can never "get ready" for Christ's second coming; one must BE ready.

And that meeting is to be one of great JOY! Text 24:44 For this reason ["You do not know which day your Lord is coming"] you be ready too: for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

#78 (EH) When He Shall Come