'The Coming of the Lord'
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Contents
Introduction
Some churches and Christian fellowships give great prominence to teaching on the 'Second Coming' of Jesus Christ. You can hardly get through a meeting without at least a reference to this great event, and frequently whole messages or sermons are preached on the subject. Other fellowships hardly mention the 'second coming' and many of their members are almost entirely ignorant of what the Bible has to say about it.
For some people then this writing will be an introduction to the subject, while for others it may be a re-examination of what they believe. We will examine various Bible passages on which the teaching of the 'second coming' is based, and see if they mean what at first sight they may appear to. I have put the phrase 'second coming' in quotation marks as, surprisingly for many people, it occurs nowhere in the New Testament.
It helps to compare today's situation with the way it was in New Testament times. The Pharisees of those days were expecting the Messiah to come. Not only were they expecting him, but they also had clear ideas about his coming. In spite of this they failed to recognise Jesus as the Messiah when he came. They could state confidently through their knowledge of the scriptures that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem. The fact that Jesus appeared to come from somewhere else - Nazareth - was one of the reasons why they rejected him.
The disciples of Jesus heard the scriptures (what we call the Old Testament) read every week at the synagogue, and they probably knew them better than most people do today. However they had nowhere near the level of scriptural knowledge that the Pharisees had. In spite of this Peter recognised Jesus as the Messiah and the Pharisees failed to do so. This was not because Peter had studied all the scriptures more diligently and more carefully than the Pharisees. It was because he was drawn to Jesus himself, and he received a revelation from God. He said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God'. Jesus replied, 'Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven' (Matthew 16: 16, 17).
So today, as then, we know nothing properly unless we know it from God. The scriptures confirm what we have learnt from him inwardly in our hearts.
How Prophecies are Fulfilled
God reveals to his servants the prophets what is to come. That much is plain from the pages of the old testament. But prophecies were not always fulfilled in the way their recipients expected. God's ways are higher than our ways, and this is particularly true in the fulfilment of prophecy. Let us look then at how some ancient prophecies were fulfilled.
From the book of Genesis on there are prophecies of the coming Messiah. God told Eve that her offspring would bruise the serpent's head. Eve was greatly consoled and encouraged with this word from God, but she had no idea how it would happen. Probably she imagined some physical conflict. Perhaps she envisaged dead snakes lying around on the ground. With hindsight we can look back on events enormously greater and more significant than anything she could have imagined. Her far off descendant defeated all the powers of darkness, not by force of physical arms, but by offering himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.
God told Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore, and that through his offspring all nations on earth would be blessed. Millions of people today claim Abraham as their physical ancestor, and probably this is what Abraham understood the promise to mean. Four thousand years on we know that God's eye rested primarily on the multitudes of spiritual descendants that would be followers of Abraham's faith. The true fulfilment of the prophecy was better and higher than Abraham could have seen at the time.
God told Moses to tell the people that he would raise up a prophet like him from among their brothers. Jesus was like Moses in ways that a spiritual mind would understand. In other ways he was very different and many people would have totally failed to recognise the similarity. Moses delivered his people from the yoke of slavery in Egypt. Jesus did not deliver his people from their hated Roman overlords. Instead he delivered them from a far worse tyranny. He broke the yoke of sin and Satan from their backs.
God told David that he would establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I imagine David was wonderfully happy to think of his descendants for hundreds and thousands of years sitting on his throne in Jerusalem. The fulfilment was very different, but much better than he had imagined. His throne was occupied for several hundred years by his descendants, but not for ever. A tragic day came when after a long siege the Babylonians breached the walls of Jerusalem. They put out king Zedekiah's eyes and led him captive to Babylon. They set fire to the royal palace and every important building in the city. What had happened to the prophecy God gave to David? The physical throne of David became desolate, but the spiritual throne of David will be occupied for all eternity. Jesus will reign, and his saints will reign with him, till he has put all enemies beneath his feet. The earthly Jerusalem has been trodden down by the gentiles for centuries and its throne left vacant, but the heavenly Jerusalem has Jesus on its throne. The fulfilment of the prophecy was better than David could have ever dreamt.
We can learn from these past fulfilments of prophecy. Before events take place we may know that wonderful things are coming, and we must prepare ourselves as best we can to play our part in God's purposes. Only with hindsight if ever will we fully understand God's plans, and, like the faithful of old, we will find they are far greater and more wonderful than we have ever imagined.
I will come again and receive you to myself
The best starting point in the study of any teaching is Jesus himself. What did he have to say on the subject, and how does it relate to his life, death and resurrection? So we will begin with what people have taken to be a plain statement from his mouth with regard to his coming.
'In my Father's house are many dwellings; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am' (John 14: 2,3).
When I was young I learnt many Bible verses by heart, and I have never regretted the time I spent so doing. Sadly the practice is much less common now than it was then. However the disadvantage of learning verses by heart is that they can easily be taken right out of their context. This is particularly true of the verses just quoted. It occurs near the beginning of a long discourse recorded by John on the night of the last supper. It occupies part of chapter 13 and all of chapters 14, 15 and 16. We will look now at what Jesus said before and after these familiar verses.
Troubled Hearts
John 14:1 reads: 'Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.' Jesus was about to depart from this world and was preparing his disciples for the trauma that lay ahead and his physical absence from them. Telling them that he was going to come back physically very soon and take them away to their heavenly home, when he was not going to do that for 2000 years, would not be very good or honest comfort! It would simply be a false promise. If a friend promised to come and see me, and then waited till a long time after I was dead before he rang my door bell, I would hardly think (if I were still thinking about it) that he had kept his promise. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life (Proverbs 13:12).
Did the disciples have troubled hearts for the rest of their lives, because Jesus had left them and hadn't come back? Should we have troubled hearts until he returns in person and takes us away to our future home with him? That is certainly not the impression you get from reading the book of Acts, or from hearing the testimonies of many saints from that day to this.
Their hearts were very troubled when Jesus was arrested and tried and put to death. When he came back from the grave and walked and talked with them, and when 50 days later the Holy Spirit came on them with wonderful power, their hearts were troubled no more. Jesus was no longer with them but in them, and unbelievably they had gained more than they had lost.
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