SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/7/2015
3:18 PM
My Worship Time Focus: The
Necessity of the Second Coming
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
1:7a
Message
of the verse: As we read through the book of Revelation we
will see that there is a lot of drama in it, and there is a lot of other things
in it that make up for a good book to read.
When we read books today we will sometimes see that the author gives a
little bit of information at the beginning of the book that he will bring to
light as the book goes on. John does
that in verses 7-8 of chapter one and he will preview the theme of this book in
these two verses which is the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 1:7a: “Behold,
He is coming.” As we look at these words
we see the first prophecy found in this book, and this comes right after John’s
introduction to the book. Now as we look
at this section or verse seven we see that John chooses the word “behold” to
begin this verse, and this is a word that will get our attention which is what
John wants to accomplish. We will see
this word “behold” twenty-four more times as we study this book. John uses this word to catch our attention to
tell us most wonderful news, and that news is that Jesus is coming again. John MacArthur writes the following about
these words: “The present tense of erchomai (is coming) suggests that
Christ is already on the way, and thus that His coming is certain. The present tense also emphasizes the imminence
of His coming.”
When John the Baptist was in prison he wondered if Jesus
was truly the messiah and so he sent some of his disciples to Jesus and asked
this question: “2 Now when John, while
imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and
said to Him, "Are You
the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?"” MacArthur continues “Encomia is used nine times in Revelation to refer to Jesus Christ;
seven times by our Lord in reference to Himself. Thus, the theme of the book of Revelation is
the coming One, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
There are many prophecies that speak of the first coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus fulfilled all of them. There are many prophecies that speak of the
second coming of Jesus Christ and we can be assured that just as He fulfilled
the prophecies of His first coming, He too will fulfill the prophecies of the
second coming.
Now we will look at several reason why the Lord has to
return to planet earth. First we have
already touched on and that is that the prophecies of God tell that this will
happen. There are many prophecies in the
OT that predict the second coming of Jesus Christ. Here is the first one and it is found in
Genesis 49:10 “"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s
staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the
obedience of the peoples.” I will
mention some more from the OT, but will not quote all of them. Psalm 2:6-9; Isaiah 9:6-7 Jeremiah 23:5-8. Let us look at Psalm 2:6-9 as it is what is
called a Messianic Psalm: “6 “But as for
Me, I have installed My
King Upon Zion, My holy mountain." 7 "I will surely tell of
the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ’You are My Son, Today I have begotten
You. 8 ’Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And
the very ends of the earth as Your possession. 9 ’You shall break them with a
rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’"” This is not an exhausted list from the OT by
any means. 1/7/2015 3:53 PM
1/7/2015 6:06 PM
The second reason that MacArthur gives for the return of
Christ is that Jesus Christ has promised that He would return. Again I won’t go into all of the Scripture
references for as far as I am concerned on reference would be enough for after
all we are talking about the Lord saying
that He would return and that is good enough for me. John 14:2-3 says “2 “In My Father’s house are
many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to
prepare a place for you. 3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” Now don’t think that it will take Him 2000
years to complete our new dwelling place.
Everything we see around us was created in six days.
For the third reason we move to the ministry of the Holy
Spirit and we know from Scripture that the Holy Spirit is the “Spirit of Truth”
as we see in John 15:26 and 16:13. It
was the Holy Spirit who inspired the authors of Scripture to write what they
wrote and as we have seen they wrote many times about the return of Jesus
Christ to planet earth.
Revelations 3:10 gives us the fourth reason: “’because you have kept the word of My
perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is
about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” The Church demands the return of Jesus
Christ. We know that the Church began on
the day of Pentecost and will end at the rapture of the Church which is the
first part of Christ’s second coming.
Then at the end of the seven year tribulation period the church will
return with the Lord to planet earth as seen in Revelations 19:14, as we are a
part of the armies of our Lord.
MacArthur writes “God’s program for the church—to rescue it from the
terrors of the Tribulation, reward it for faithful service, and vindicate it in
exaltation in His kingdom before the world—requires that Christ return.” 1/7/2015 6:19 PM 1/7/2015 9:31 PM
The next reason that Christ must return is found again in
the second Psalm which tells us that the nations must be judged by Him. In this Psalm we find a promise from His
Father that He will someday rule over the nations and this did not happen when
He first came to earth. This however was
what many of those close to Him desired for Him to day. In the book of Acts we read the following
question from His disciples: “6 So when
they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this
time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?"” Where do you suppose that His disciples came
up with this question? Well they knew
the prophecies that the Messiah would someday rule the whole world from
Jerusalem. Here are some mover verses
that show this truth: Joel 3:1-2, 9-17
(Cf. Isa. 11:1-5; Mic. 4:1-8; Zeph. 3:8; Matt. 25:31-46).
The sixth reason that Christ must return is because God’s
program with His people Israel is not yet complete. Paul speaks of this in the 11th
chapter of Romans and Jeremiah also speaks of this in Jeremiah 33:25-26 “25
"Thus says the LORD, ’If My covenant for day and night stand not, and the
fixed patterns of heaven and earth I have not established, 26 then I would
reject the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, not taking from his
descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But I will restore their
fortunes and will have mercy on them.’"” This is a very interesting two verses as we
can see that God’s promises will always be fulfilled. Daniel was wondering something similar as we
read from the 9th chapter of his book and he receives an answer that
went from his time all the way to when Messiah came and was killed, to then
speak about the Tribulation period and beyond.
As I have mentioned in other SD’s this is perhaps the greatest prophecy
found in the Scriptures.
Number seven reason has to do with Christ’s humiliation
as that demands His return, and we spoke earlier that the last time that the
world say Jesus was when He was dying on the cross, and so because of that He
must come back to earth to show all that He truly is the Son of God having all
the power He had before He came to earth in His humiliation. Paul writes “at the name of Jesus every knee
will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and
every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father
(Philippians 2:10-11).”
Number eight reason is to judge Satan as this also
demands the return of Christ. As we go
through the end chapters of Revelation we will see how this happens as Satan is
put in chains by Christ when He returns and then let out of his fiery home
after the 1000 years are done, the thousand years when Christ is ruling the
world from Jerusalem. Satan is let out
to led a quick war which he will lose and then put back into hell where he will
be for eternity.
The ninth and last reason that John MacArthur speaks
of: “the expectation of believers
demands that Christ return. ‘If we have
hoped in Christ in this life only,’ wrote Paul to the Corinthians, ‘we are of
all men most to be pitied’ (1 Cor. 15:19).
Believers are those who are constantly ‘looking for the blessed hope and
the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus’ (Titus
2:13); those ‘who have loved His appearing (2 Tim. 4:8). The hope that Christ will one day return and
take believers to heaven to live forever in His presence provides hope and
comfort (John 14:1-3; 1 Thess. 4:18).”
As I think about the second coming of Jesus Christ I can’t
help but go back to almost 41 years ago when I went to Florida and that is
where the answers to many of my questions began to be answered when I learned
about many of the end time prophecies that are in the Word of God. I had never heard of the Rapture of the
Church, never knew that my body would be changed to an immortal body as Paul
speaks of in 1 Cor. 15, and never knew much about the nation of Israel and how
God had some many great plans for that nation.
Every since that wonderful day I have had the hope that Paul writes to
both Titus and Timothy about and I still have that same hope and as we go
through this study on the last book of God’s Word hopefully those who do not
have this hope will learn how they can have it.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Continue to share
this hope with others.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Love the Lord with all my heart soul and
strength and also to understand how much God loves me and live that way.
Memory verses for the
week: 2 Peter 1:5-8.
5 Now for this very reason
also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in
your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in
your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in
your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are
increasing, they render you neither useless, nor unfruitful in the true knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Get himself a wife” (Genesis
28:2).
Today’s Bible
question: “In what should one not be
wear?” (2 Thess. 3:13)
Answer in our next SD.
1/7/2015 10:06 PM
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