RoparnaThe Second Coming – The Blessed Hope
PURPOSE: The Second Coming of Christ is imminent, visible, audible and glorious.
FOCUS: The Second Coming of Jesus is the climax of salvation history.
Introduction
Today we will look at the climax and the blessed hope of the Plan of Salvation – the second coming of Christ. We will look at the questions of why, when and how Jesus will return.
Let us begin with the why…
Joh 14:1-3
Why is Jesus coming back? Collect His children to their REAL home. Aren’t you tired of this world? There is a better place that Jesus has prepared. He is coming back to bring you there. Why? He longs to be with you.
Let us now look at the when…
Matt 24:35-37
IE: Maya Calendar 2012. Can we tell the exact day?
Does the fact that we can’t tell the exact day mean that we cannot know anything about the timing?
Matt 24:32-33
IE: Birch trees. Can we know when it is near? See what things? Answer: Signs.
Jesus described the signs of the times previously in the chapter…
Matt 24:3, 6-8
IE: Labor pains. POLITICAL STRIFE: 2 world wars, cold war, WMD’s, revolutions. 20th C: 200M. 19th C: 45M. 18th C: 18M. Rome: 13M. FAMINE: 22 M. casualties’ famines: 13 in the 20th C. 18 in the 19th & 20th C. Approx. 1 Billion are starving today. 16 000 children/day. EARTHQUAKES: 12/20 deadliest quakes in 20th C. 4 in 21st C. 250 000 in one quake. Tsunami, Haiti, Japan, China.
Let us look at what the religious landscape would look like prior to the Second Coming…
Matt 24:11-12
RELIGIOUS DECEPTION: False Christ’s a new phenomenon: Spiritualism, Matreya, Bahaullah, Rastafari (Haile Selassie), David Koresh, Marshall Applewhite, Jim Jones, José Louis de Jesus Miranda. MORAL DECAY: Divorces (Sweden): 95/20 000 (1831), 25 000/50 000 (2010). 10 500 % increase.
Paul describes the moral decay in the end times as well…
2 Tim 3:1-4
In what moral condition will the world be in when Christ’s return is imminent? Lovers of money, brutal (shootings), disobedient to parents, slanderers (gossip magazines), lovers of pleasure (sports, alcohol, sex). Christ’s return is imminent! He could come in our lifetime!
How does Christ return? First of all, He will literally return…
Acts 1:9-11
Not in a “spiritual” sense. IE: Age of Aquarius.
The Second Coming will be visible…
Rev 1:7
Do even the wicked see Him return? (Matt 24:30)
The Second Coming will be audible…
1 Thess 4:16-17
So loud it wakes the dead! (Matt 24:31, 1 Cor 15:51-53)
The Second Coming will be glorious…
Matt 25:31
IE: Angel at the tomb. (Matt 24:30, Luk 9:26)
What a glorious Day to look forward to!
2 Pet 3:3-4, 9-12
Why has Jesus not returned yet? A sinful man cannot endure the glory that surrounds Jesus at His Coming (2 Thess 2:8).
APPEAL
In mercy Jesus is waiting for us to be ready to meet Him. He waits for as many as possible to repent and be cleansed from their sins in His blood. [Name] is it your desire to be ready for the Second Coming?
