Post by stormcrow on Jan 5, 2012 22:29:47 GMT -5
There is so much misinformation and disinformation out and around about Christ's second coming, I thought I would post this to help clear up some of the confusion over what Christ's second coming was really all about. It's something that most people don't understand, but it's one of the most important things we need to know because it helps us establish Christ is - in fact - God!
This is going to be a long post, so please bear with me.
Let's review a couple of verses:
In the OT, God sent the people messengers (prophets):
{15} The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place [the Temple]; {16} but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy.
and when God's prophets were mocked and killed, look at what happened:
{17} Therefore He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or infirm; He gave them all into his hand. {18} All the articles of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king and of his officers, he brought them all to Babylon. {19} Then they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles. 2 Chronicles 36:15-19 (NASB)
God sent the Babylonians against them in judgment upon them for their wickedness and idolatry (the first 23 chapters or so of Ezekiel detail their sin and what God would do to them at the hands of Babylon.)
This judgment at the hands of Babylon is prophesied by Isaiah this way:
{1} Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. {2} He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones.
{3} "And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge between Me and My vineyard. {4} "What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones? {5} "So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground. {6} "I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, But briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it." {7} For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel And the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress. Isaiah 5:1-7 (NASB)
Look familiar? (Compare it to Matthew 21:33-46.)
Isaiah continues:
{9} Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it. {10} For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light. Isaiah 13:9-10 (NASB)
This judgment - also called the "Day of the Lord" - is prophesied by the prophet Joel like this:
{1} Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the LORD is coming; Surely it is near, {2} A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a great and mighty people [Babylon]; There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it To the years of many generations. {3} A fire consumes before them And behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them But a desolate wilderness behind them, And nothing at all escapes them. Joel 2:1-3 (NASB)
Zephaniah gives us another view of Judah's coming desolation:
{14} Near is the great day of the LORD, Near and coming very quickly; Listen, the day of the LORD! In it the warrior cries out bitterly. {15} A day of wrath is that day, A day of trouble and distress, A day of destruction and desolation, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness, Zephaniah 1:14-15 (NASB)
Now, this is where people disconnect the OT from the New: they don't see Christ as God "the righteous judge" (even though He is presented that way in Revelation.)
So look at what Christ tells His disciples and compare it to the very first passage I cited above:
The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers...2 Chronicles 36:15-19
"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves... Matthew 10:16-23 (NASB)
He then tells the chief priests:
"Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city...Matthew 23:34-38 (NASB)
In the OT, God is seen sending His people messengers. In the NT, Christ is the one seen sending His people messengers. The result was the same:
37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 38 "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! Matthew 23:37-38 (NASB)
So now, with this background in mind, look at the language Christ uses to describe His second coming:
24 "But in those days, after that tribulation, THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, 25 AND THE STARS WILL BE FALLING from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken. 26 "Then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN CLOUDS with great power and glory. Mark 13:24-26 (NASB)
Christ describes His second coming using the same language the prophets used to describe God's coming in judgment upon Judah! (Isaiah 13:9-10, Joel 2:1-3, Zephaniah 1:14-15.)
And who would see His coming in this way?
His disciples, for one:
"Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." Matthew 16:28 (NASB)
And the Sanhedrin:
Jesus *said to him, "You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN." Matthew 26:64 (NASB)
Christ came in judgment upon the generation that both crucified Him and persecuted those whom He sent with His gospel. And just as God had used the Babylonians to execute His judgment upon apostate Israel in the OT, Christ used the Romans to execute His judgment upon apostate Israel in the New.
That, by the way, is what much of the book of Revelation is about.
Some may see a "third coming" in the Bible, but I don't. His second coming happened to judge Israel and take the kingdom of God away from them. He reigns now and forever. Amen.
This is going to be a long post, so please bear with me.
Let's review a couple of verses:
In the OT, God sent the people messengers (prophets):
{15} The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place [the Temple]; {16} but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy.
and when God's prophets were mocked and killed, look at what happened:
{17} Therefore He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or infirm; He gave them all into his hand. {18} All the articles of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king and of his officers, he brought them all to Babylon. {19} Then they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles. 2 Chronicles 36:15-19 (NASB)
God sent the Babylonians against them in judgment upon them for their wickedness and idolatry (the first 23 chapters or so of Ezekiel detail their sin and what God would do to them at the hands of Babylon.)
This judgment at the hands of Babylon is prophesied by Isaiah this way:
{1} Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. {2} He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones.
{3} "And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge between Me and My vineyard. {4} "What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones? {5} "So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground. {6} "I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, But briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it." {7} For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel And the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress. Isaiah 5:1-7 (NASB)
Look familiar? (Compare it to Matthew 21:33-46.)
Isaiah continues:
{9} Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it. {10} For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light. Isaiah 13:9-10 (NASB)
This judgment - also called the "Day of the Lord" - is prophesied by the prophet Joel like this:
{1} Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the LORD is coming; Surely it is near, {2} A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a great and mighty people [Babylon]; There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it To the years of many generations. {3} A fire consumes before them And behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them But a desolate wilderness behind them, And nothing at all escapes them. Joel 2:1-3 (NASB)
Zephaniah gives us another view of Judah's coming desolation:
{14} Near is the great day of the LORD, Near and coming very quickly; Listen, the day of the LORD! In it the warrior cries out bitterly. {15} A day of wrath is that day, A day of trouble and distress, A day of destruction and desolation, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness, Zephaniah 1:14-15 (NASB)
Now, this is where people disconnect the OT from the New: they don't see Christ as God "the righteous judge" (even though He is presented that way in Revelation.)
So look at what Christ tells His disciples and compare it to the very first passage I cited above:
The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers...2 Chronicles 36:15-19
"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves... Matthew 10:16-23 (NASB)
He then tells the chief priests:
"Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city...Matthew 23:34-38 (NASB)
In the OT, God is seen sending His people messengers. In the NT, Christ is the one seen sending His people messengers. The result was the same:
37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 38 "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! Matthew 23:37-38 (NASB)
So now, with this background in mind, look at the language Christ uses to describe His second coming:
24 "But in those days, after that tribulation, THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, 25 AND THE STARS WILL BE FALLING from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken. 26 "Then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN CLOUDS with great power and glory. Mark 13:24-26 (NASB)
Christ describes His second coming using the same language the prophets used to describe God's coming in judgment upon Judah! (Isaiah 13:9-10, Joel 2:1-3, Zephaniah 1:14-15.)
And who would see His coming in this way?
His disciples, for one:
"Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." Matthew 16:28 (NASB)
And the Sanhedrin:
Jesus *said to him, "You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN." Matthew 26:64 (NASB)
Christ came in judgment upon the generation that both crucified Him and persecuted those whom He sent with His gospel. And just as God had used the Babylonians to execute His judgment upon apostate Israel in the OT, Christ used the Romans to execute His judgment upon apostate Israel in the New.
That, by the way, is what much of the book of Revelation is about.
Some may see a "third coming" in the Bible, but I don't. His second coming happened to judge Israel and take the kingdom of God away from them. He reigns now and forever. Amen.
