The Parousia Protocols

“The Parousia Protocols”

Acts 1:1-11

1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;

11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Intro: Usually when you hear a message about the second coming of our Lord the focus is on the signs and sounds that will precede His return. I’m not going to spend any time debating whether He is coming again or when it might happen; the Scriptures declare that He is and that is our assurance of coming. This morning I want to share what the Word of God has to say about what will happen at His return. The return of the Lord will set in motion the last series of events in human history. It will have a ripple effect just like a stone thrown into a pond would create a series of ripples leading away from where the stone entered the water.

I. The Resurrection

In Acts 23:6 we read: "But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other part Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question."

Paul expressed a hope that has sustained man through the ages of time - that there is to be a resurrection from the dead. Job, from the agony of a decaying body, could cry, "If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to work of thine hands" (Job 14:14-15). As his condition worsened his hope but deepened: "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God" (Job 19:25-26).

When David was compassed by the wicked, lurking secretly as greedy lions of prey, his hope of a resurrection defied the temporal threat. "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake with thy likeness" (Psalm 17:15).

In the New Testament Jesus held forth this hope in unmistakable terms: ". . . The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live" (John 3:25). Again, "Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more: but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also" (John 14:19). Such a hope sustained Martha in the tragic loss of her brother: "Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day" (John 11:24); and Paul could affirm amidst increased persecution and imminent martyrdom, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven" (2 Corinthians 5:1-2).