Vous êtes sur la page 1sur 3

"The Second Coming of Christ"

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. 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."John 14:1-3 One of these days a startled world is going to experience the most glorious event in the entire history of time. Prophets have proclaimed it, angels have sang it, and the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. The skies will open, and with the voice of the Archangel, and the trump of God, nail pierced feet of the Man of Galilee will step out of the gates of Pearl to come back again to this world of sin and iniquity. Every nation will stagger beneath the unfolding of fulfilled prophecy when Jesus comes to claim His own. The devil has the world blinded and the Church asleep on the question of the Second Coming of Christ. It is a spiritual truth that only spiritual eyes can see and only spiritual minds can discern. it is a spiritual truth that an apostate Church does not want to believe because she will not be ready to meet Him when He comes. It is a glorious reality to the man who knows the cleansing power of the blood of Christ. It is an undying and unfailing hope to the one, who has been filled with the Spirit, Jesus is coming again because He said He was coming. He is coming because the scripture teach and declare that His Second Coming is an integral part of God's redemptive plan. Without the Second Coming of Christ God's revealed will for redemption of the lost would be incomplete. He came the first time to die; He is coming the second time to reign. He came the first time to climb the steeps of Golgotha; He is coming the second time to climb the steps to a royal throne. The prince of the house of David will once again behold Jerusalem, and where He once wept there will be a shout of victory. Where once He bore a cross he will wear a crown. What a glorious prospect for the overcoming Christian. Jesus is coming! Why is there so much doubt in the minds of so many people regarding the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ? The very mention of the fact that you believe in the premillennial coming of the Lord arouses more bitter antagonism in some quarters than the preaching of divine healing and the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. Yet out of the two hundred and seventy-six chapters in the New Testament the Second Coming is referred to no less than three hundred and eighteen times. The first prophet of the Old Testament prophesied relative to the Second Coming for we read in Jude verse 14; Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied saying, "Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints." From that marvelous declaration to the last two verses of the last book of the Bible which states, "He which testifieth these things saith surely I come quickly, amen," the Bible is full of His Coming. From the beginning to the end the Word of God literally shouts the fact of His Coming. In the next place He said Himself that He was coming again. He declared in no uncertain terms to the disciples when their hearts were broken because of the fact of His going away, "I will come again." The only provision made with the promise was "if I go away." Did He go away? Yes! We all know that He did. Climb with me the steeps of the Mount of Olives, stand with me in the Spirit with Peter, James, and John. Their eyes are looking up, even as ours will one day soon, the only difference they are watching Him go away, and we will watch Him return. Their Lord has departed, His words are ringing in their ears, "Ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you." It was a triumphant event, in His going He had conquered the grave, He had broken the powers of death. Death was now a captive in chains, in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, and because of that victory, down through the corridors of time has come a message of triumph to a world shrouded in death. It is a message of hope to the hopeless. "I am the resurrection and the life,

he that believeth on me, though he were dead yet shall he live," and then referring to the day in which He would come again He said, "He that liveth and believeth in me shall never die." Further angels proclaimed the fact of His coming. Thank God they were not mistaken. They came to earth to give emphasis to the glorious truth that the watching disciples already knew. It was while they were watching Him go that God the Father sent two white robed beings from Heaven to remind them that Jesus would come back. While they were watching Him go the angels declared to them that "this same Jesus," thank God for that. The same Jesus, not a spirit, not an influence, not a system, not a power, but this same Jesus. The same Jesus who walked the shores of Galilee, who healed the sick, cast out the demons, fed the multitudes, who walked and talked among the sons of men, that same Jesus is coming back to earth again. Having settled the fact of His coming we come to the question; how is He coming? The only place we have the right to get the answer is the word of God. The Word of God has the answer to all of our question if we will but look. All of the great doctrinal truths of God's word are set forth in plain every day language, so that those who are hungry for the truth may not miss them. How is He coming? The scripture is just as plain on this point as they are regarding the fact of His coming. Why do people spiritualize the plain literal statement of the word of God? Why do people try to rob the Church of this blessed hope of the Savior's coming by taking a plain matter of fact Bible statement and twist it out of its pure meaning? In the first chapter of Acts verses 10 and 11, we read the manner of the Lord's return. Let us examine for a moment the scene. The disciples were standing gazing steadfastly into heaven, their emotions aflame as they watched the ascending Lord. As they stood gazing suddenly there appeared two white robed angels of God. The angels said, "why stand ye thus gazing into the Heavens." What made the angels say that? It was as if they said, "He is gone now, it is time to stop looking at the ascension and start looking for the decension." Hardly had He disappeared that the news was flashed to earth that He was coming back. This was not the massage of some hair-brained fanatic; these are messengers from God. This same Jesus, said the angels, is coming back again. But how is He coming back? Hear the angels, "In same like manner." In the same way He went He would return. There is no room for argument, in the same like manner as He went up; in that same identical manner will He return. How did He go? He went away visibly, bodily, and personally, they watched Him go. So shall He return in a visible bodily form. He went in the clouds, (Acts 1:9) Revelation 1:7 says, "Behold He cometh with the clouds: and every eye shall see Him." He went with the clouds He will return with the clouds. How is He coming? He is coming with a shout. "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first." (1Thess. 4:16) If ever all the host of Heaven are gathered to do Him honor it must be in that great day, the day of His triumph, the day of victory, for He is coming back for the redeemed. No wonder the trumpet will blow, no wonder the voice of the Archangel will sound, no wonder the shout will echo and reecho throughout the universe. He is coming with a shout. In same like manner. His coming will be two fold. He will come for His Church and He shall return with His Church. First His appearance in the air, we shall rise to meet Him, while the wicked sinful world reels under the terror of the tribulation we shall be with Jesus. The tribulation will head up in that terrible conflict known as Armageddon. The warfare will only stop when the Prince of Peace comes to establish peace. "And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives." (Zech. 14:4) In like manner, He went from the Mount of Olives and He will come back upon the Mount of Olives. He went with the clouds, He will return with the clouds. Not another but this same Jesus.

What will happen when He comes? Again we go to the Word of God. We read in 1 Thess 4:16-17; "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." In every town and village there is the city of the dead. Side by side saved and unsaved have been placed beneath the turf, old men have lived out their lives, and children have died early in life, old and young, saint and sinner, lay side by side in the silent city. The cemetery has been the scene of terrible sorrows, broken hearted parents have laid their sons and daughter away, children have laid their parents away, many are the tears that have been shed here and the devil has laughed with glee as he watched. Flowers decorate the mounds, but even the flowers must die. Death reigns, now is the day of the devil, now is a day of sorrow, but there will dawn another day. It is the day of the resurrection; it is the day of Jesus come again. The world will echo with the trump of God, the corridors of human lives will vibrate with the voice of the Archangel, Jesus will appear brighter than the brightness of the Sun. In an instant where the years have packed the earth there is now a gaping hole. The graves are opening; men and women, young and old are rising because He came to break the power of death. Looking upward they behold Him and with a shout of joy upward they go to meet Him. Death where is thy victory Grave where is thy sting. What a day that will be, and surely that day is not to far in the future. Not all will rise; not all will come out of the tomb. Only the dead in Christ shall rise. Only those who are alive and remain alive, not those who were once alive, but those who are spiritually alive at that moment in time. The rest of the dead, those who have rejected God's offer of pardon, will stay in the grip of death until the thousand years are past. Will the entire Church go to meet the Lord? Yes the real Church will, not the cold, formal, ritualistic, imitation Church; not the theatre going card playing type of Church. Not the lukewarm, Christ said He would spew the lukewarm out of His mouth. But the real Church, the Holy Ghost filled, the Bride of Christ, the Church that has on the wedding garment shall go to meet Him. The question is; will you be ready to meet Him? Will your heart be washed in the blood of the Lamb; will you be filled with the Holy Ghost? The only way to be ready then is to get ready now.
B. H. Clendennen

Vous aimerez peut-être aussi