You ever get something in the mail and wonder "How I the world did I get on this mailing list?" In July of 1988 I received a booklet via Canada Post entitled "88 Reasons Why The Rapture Could Be In 1988." Now the gist of the book dealt with numerous mathematical formulas based on the sabbatical theory combined with various Jewish holidays, several Biblical prophesies stretching from Daniel to the Revelation and a healthy dose of speculation.
The final theory of the Author was that the Rapture, or the time that Christians would be removed from this earth would be sometime before the end of September of 1988. Needless to say, he blew it.
One thing the book did bring to mind was this: We as Christians have lost the vision of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. When I first became a Christian I used to get up every day with the thought, "This could be it, perhaps this will be the day that Christ calls his church home" It’s been awhile since I’ve woken up with those thoughts, although sometimes I find myself wishing, "I hope he comes back soon"
Now we all believe that Christ is coming again or at least we say we do, but are we waiting expectantly for the return of Jesus Christ, I mean really expectantly.
I’m no expert on biblical prophesy, but I do believe that we need to look into the scriptures to see just exactly what the Bible says concerning the return of Jesus Christ.
The experts tells us, and we all know what an expert is right, anyone more then fifty miles away from home. The experts tell us that there are over 1800 references to Christ second coming in the Old Testament alone, and that for every one prophecy concerning the first coming of Christ that there are eight prophecies concerning his second coming. We are also told by the same experts that there are over 300 references about Christ return in the New Testament, or approximately one every 30 verses.
1) The Second Coming Is A Reality Biblical scholars tell us that the book of Mark was the first Gospel account put into writing. And according to Papias, who was one of the early Christian writers and a man who had known some of the apostles personally, Mark had acted as a scribe for Peter. Now taking that into account if we look into the book of Mark we see Christ making three direct statements referring to his return.
The first reference is found in Mark 8:38 Don’t be ashamed of me and my message among these unfaithful and sinful people! If you are, the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. The second was two days later, after Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem Mark 13:1 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Teacher, look at these beautiful stones and wonderful buildings!"
Boy it wasn’t hard to tell these guy’s were right off the boat. Talk about a bunch of hicks, Gawking around and staring. You can almost hear them, "Golly look at them buildings, aint got nothing like that in Galilee" Can’t say that I blame them, I have been all over Europe, North America and Australia and I still rubber neck in big cities.
Ten years ago I was in Washington D.C. for a day, one lousy day. And the guy I was travelling with knew a lady in the city and so he asked her if she would show us around. She said no problem but it would have to be on her lunch hour. 45 minutes, why bother right. But we took her up on it. In that time we drove by the capital buildings, the white house, and the Washington memorial, bought a poster at the Lincoln memorial, walked the length of the Vietnam memorial and took a quick trip through the Smithsonian Aeronautics Exhibit. And let me tell, people would never have mistaken the two of us for natives of D.C.
So for a few minute the apostles stood in awe as they looked at the massive temple building in front of them., and then Jesus told them in the next verse Mark 13:2 Jesus replied, "Do you see these huge buildings? They will certainly be torn down! Not one stone will be left in place." Now the disciples didn’t say anything right off but when Peter, Andrew, James and John were on the Mount of Olives they asked Jesus when this would take place. "You know Jesus we don’t want to pester you about this, but when you said the temple was going to be destroyed, did you mean like this afternoon?" And in reply Jesus gave them a three part answer. The first part is given in Mark 13:5-13 when Jesus spoke of the tribulation that the Apostles would personally go through. The second part is found in verses 14-23 and Jesus told them about the tribulation that Jerusalem would go through. And in 70 AD Jerusalem was totally destroyed by the Romans. One contemporary source claimed that a man could plow from one corner of Jerusalem to the other without hitting a rock.
In Mark 13:26-27 Then the Son of Man will be seen coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27 He will send his angels to gather his chosen ones from all over the earth. There can be no mistaking what Jesus was talking about. he was saying that there would come a time that he would return and mankind would see him coming.
Now then the third instance that Mark records Christ speaking about his return was in Mark 14:61-62 When Jesus was on trial before the high priest, let’s listen in 61 But Jesus kept quiet and did not say a word. The high priest asked him another question, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the glorious God?" Listen to the response of Christ 62 "Yes, I am!" Jesus answered. "Soon you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right side of God all-powerful, and coming with the clouds of heaven." Jesus couldn’t have made his message any plainer.
Peter’s testimony to the second coming of Jesus extends even after the book of Mark. In Acts 2:35 on the day of Pentecost Peter declared that Jesus had been exalted to the right hand of God to reign until his enemies are made into his footstool. And again in Acts 3:11-26 when Peter preaches in Solomon’s portico he states in verse 20 Then that time will come when the Lord will give you fresh strength. He will send you Jesus, his chosen Messiah. What Peter preached about in the book of Acts, he writes of in the two letters that he wrote. 2 Peter 3:4-9 and say, "Didn’t your Lord promise to come back? Yet the first leaders have already died, and the world hasn’t changed a bit."
5 They will say this because they want to forget that long ago the heavens and the earth were made at God’s command. The earth came out of water and was made from water. 6 Later it was destroyed by the waters of a mighty flood. 7 But God has commanded the present heavens and earth to remain until the day of judgment. Then they will be set on fire, and ungodly people will be destroyed.
8 Dear friends, don’t forget that for the Lord one day is the same as a thousand years, and a thousand years is the same as one day. 9 The Lord isn’t slow about keeping his promises, as some people think he is. In fact, God is patient, because he wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost.
It is pretty evident that Peter, one of Christ’s closest friends and confidants was convinced that Jesus would return. But what about other writers in the New Testament? Glad you asked. The conversation on top of The Mount of Olives is also recorded by Matthew and Luke with only minor variations.
And John records in His gospel in John 13:36-38 Simon Peter asked, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered, "You can’t go with me now, but later on you will." 37 Peter asked, "Lord, why can’t I go with you now? I would die for you!" 38 "Would you really die for me?" Jesus asked. "I tell you for certain that before a rooster crows, you will say three times that you don’t even know me." But then in the next chapter, only three verses later we read John 14:3
3 After I have done this, I will come back and take you with me. Then we will be together.
And when Jesus shows himself tot he disciple at the sea of Tiberius in John 21:21 Peter asks Christ "Hey what about my old buddy John" and John 21:22 Jesus answered, "What is it to you, if I want him to live until I return? You must follow me." and in 1 John 3:2 My dear friends, we are already God’s children, though what we will be hasn’t yet been seen. But we do know that when Christ returns, we will be like him, because we will see him as he truly is. Not if he returns, but when he returns, John was evidently pretty certain that Jesus was coming again.
And in the final book of the Bible, John wrote in Revelation 1:7 Look! He is coming with the clouds. Everyone will see him, even the ones who stuck a sword through him. All people on earth will weep because of him. Yes, it will happen! Amen.
When Luke records Christ’s return to heaven in Acts 1:9-11 Christ has ascended into the clouds and the Apostles are standing staring dumbfounded into the sky, which when you think about it is a pretty appropriate response and two angels appear and say to them Acts 1:11 "Why are you men from Galilee standing here and looking up into the sky? Jesus has been taken to heaven. But he will come back in the same way that you have seen him go."
The new testament is full of references concerning the second coming, both direct and indirect. As a matter of fact out of the 27 books in the New Testament the second coming is mentioned at least in passing in 23 of them. Of them four where the second coming is not mentioned Philemon and 2 & 3 John were personal letters and Galations had a very specific thrust.
For the scholars out there the Greek word most commonly used for the return of Christ is Parousia, which was used in referring to a visit from the emperor or governor. The word Epipheneia is also used and it means "The Appearing", while John is fond of referring to the return of Christ as the Apokolypis, or the revelation.
The early church was so convinced of the second coming that they actually greeted one another with the word "Maranatha", which is actually two words, "Maran" and "Atha" which when put together meant "Our Lord Comes". The return of the Lord is a certainty, the Bible and early church tradition lend authority to that fact, the question that remains then is: When?
The apostles themselves wondered that same thing and demanded an answer to the question in Mark 13:4 They asked, "When will these things happen? What will be the sign that they are about to take place?" And in verse 32 of the same chapter Jesus answers them by saying, "It’s none of your business" well actually that isn’t exactly what he said, but it’s close because he says Mark 13:32 No one knows the day or the time. The angels in heaven don’t know, and the Son himself doesn’t know. Only the Father knows.
But that reply hasn’t kept men and women from playing neat little mathematical games with Biblical prophecies over the past two thousand years in an effort to figure out some kind of time frame for the last days. Through the years many sincere men have sought by various formulas and mathematical techniques, primarily using the prophecies of Daniel to arrive at if not the day and hour of Christ’s arrival then at least the month and year.
When the first world war broke out even the secular press was asking the question: Is this Armageddon? There seemed to be further confirmation when Jerusalem was delivered from Turkish rule in 1917. Dr. C.I. Schofield of the Schofield study Bible fame actually wrote a book in 1918 proposing that the world would come before the war to end all wars came to an end. Obviously he was wrong.
In 1939 World War Two broke out and the next year B.F. Atkinson wrote a book called "The War With Satan" In his work Atkinson speculated that the end was near. Now both men based at least a part of their theories on the "Seven times" that Daniel spoke of in Daniel 4. They multiplied the seven by the number of days in the Jewish prophetic year which was 360 and came up with a total of 2520 years. The author of the book that I received in the mail used the same figure. The only problem is that three men used the same figure and one comes up with 1918, one 1941 and one 1988. The reason for the difference is that they all have different theories on when we should start counting off the 2520 years.
Now my favourite theory was put forth by Dr. Joe Kanzlemar my professor in my college course on the revelation. Joe figured that everything in God’s plan goes back to the sabbatical concept. And this goes back to Daniel’s seven days again. Joe then adds to this Peter’s comment in 2 Peter 3:8 Dear friends, don’t forget that for the Lord one day is the same as a thousand years, and a thousand years is the same as one day. So he figures that from the book Genesis to the last curtain will be seven thousand years. Now if we count the millennium as the last day, or the day of rest and we use Bishop Ushers date to put Genesis 1 at 4004 BC, then we only have to find another 2000 years and since this is 1998 it narrows it down real quick.
But the truth of the matter that Dr. Kanzlemar doesn’t know when Christ will return and neither does anyone else. Seven different times in the New Testament it says that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. And how does a thief come? Well if he is a good thief then he comes very very quietly. Now realise that the second coming is not what is referred to as the rapture which is the when Christ calls the church to be with him, you’ll remember it from the scripture that Angela read this morning, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 My friends, we want you to understand how it will be for those followers who have already died. Then you won’t grieve over them and be like people who don’t have any hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and was raised to life. We also believe that when God brings Jesus back again, he will bring with him all who had faith in Jesus before they died. 15 Our Lord Jesus told us that when he comes, we won’t go up to meet him ahead of his followers who have already died. 16 With a loud command and with the shout of the chief angel and a blast of God’s trumpet, the Lord will return from heaven. Then those who had faith in Christ before they died will be raised to life. 17 Next, all of us who are still alive will be taken up into the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the sky. From that time on we will all be with the Lord forever.
Christ paints a picture of what that event will be like in Matthew 24:40-41
40 Two men will be in the same field, but only one will be taken. The other will be left. 41 Two women will be together grinding grain, but only one will be taken. The other will be left. Now if you happen to believe like I do that this will happen before the great tribulation that is spoken of in the book of Revelation then you are what is affectionately referred to in evangelical churches as a Pre-triber. Now not everyone believes that so if you believe that the church will be raptured half way through the tribulation then you are what is referred to as a mid-triber. And if you believe that the church will go through the tribulation and then be raptured then you are a post-triber. But I’m here to tell you something very very very important, are you ready for this: It don’t matter.
Eschatology or the study of the end times is like golf, it’s fun but it’s pointless. And just like anything else it can become an obsession and prevent us from doing what we were put here to do and that is to win people to Jesus Christ. But one thing is certain and that is that he is coming back again. He may not of come in 70 or 1918 or 1941 or 1988 but he is coming again. And when he does he will be more pleased with the Christian who led one person into a relationship with God then with the person who spent all his time debating and writing books about the end times.
Jesus made it very plain that the timing of the day of the Lord is neither our responsibility or our business, and personally I think that we border on blasphemy when we try to wrestle that information from God. We look very much like Adam and Eve who ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil so that they could become like God.
Let me end this morning with two quotes the first was made a hundred and thirty years ago by French Scientist Pierre Bercelt, "Within a hundred years of physical and chemical science man will know what the atom is, and it is my belief that when science reaches this stage, God will come down to earth with his big ring of keys and say, ’Gentleman it is closing time’ ". The second quote comes from G. Campbell Morgan a preacher from the last century who said "To me the second coming is the perpetual light in the path which makes the present bearable. I never lay my head on my pillow without thinking that: maybe before the morning breaks the final morning may have dawned. I never begin my work without thinking perhaps he may interrupt my work and begin his own."
