LESSON NO. 7
THE SECOND COMING
SCRIPTURE: John 14:1-3
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so; I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be
also.
THREE REASONS FOR TEACHING THE SECOND COMING:
BECAUSE IT IS THE NEXT IMPORTANT STEP IN GOD'S CALENDAR OF EVENTS:
The first event was His birth.
The second and greatest of all, His death.
The third was His bodily resurrection.
The fourth was His ascending back to Heaven.
The next will be His return.
BECAUSE THE MAJORITY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THIS GREAT EVENT:
The average Christian of today knows very little if anything about the second coming of Christ, and to many who are leaders in the church, it is a strange doctrine.
BECAUSE IT CAUSES THE CHRISTIAN TO BE READY:
The Christian that is looking for Jesus to come any moment will live a separated and holy life.
'I John 3:2-3
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear we shall be like him we shall see h him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure."
THE SIGN OF HIS COMING:
Matthew 24:3
And as he sat upon the mount of' Olives, the disciples came unto him privately saying, Tell us, when shall these things he? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
While Jesus told them not to look for a sign, but to always be ready, He did reveal unto them some of the things that were coming to pass in the last days before His coming again.
THREE MAJOR SIGNS:
While there are a number of other signs, I want to use the three major ones that point to the immediate coming of our Lord.
MORAL SITUATION: Matthew 24:37-38
But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark."
Jesus was saying that the moral condition of the world will return similar to the days of Noah. All the things that Jesus mentions of the days of Noah are prevalent on every hand today. The drinking problem is out of control, marriage vows mean nothing and the moral condition is at the lowest state.
RELIGIOUS SITUATION: 2 Timothy 3:1 & 5
1. This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
More churches are being built today, more people are joining the churches than ever before and religi-3n is very popular, yet the spiritual condition of our world is dark. The reason is revealed in this Scripture. Religions today have a form of godliness, but denies the power of God.
JEWISH SITUATION: Luke 21:29-30
And he spoke to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.
The fig tree has always been the symbol of the Jews and the Jews are God's time clock, and anything happening evolving the Jew is a mark of time.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN JESUS COMES: I Thessalonians. 4:16-17
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ 8hall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with
the Lord.
THE CHRISTIANS WHO HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP WILL RISE
FIRST:
The soul and spirit has been separated from the body by death.
Corinthians 5:8
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Now the body comes forth from -the grave and is reunited with soul and spirit and changed into a glorified body.
THE CHRISTIANS WHO ARE STILL LIVING WILL BE CAUGHT UP.
The Christians who are still living when Jesus comes will be caught up to meet the Lord in the clouds.
THE LOST PERSON WHO HAS DIED WILL REMAIN THE SAME:
That lost man or woman's body remains in the grave and their soul and spirit in hell until the White Throne Judgment.
Revelation 20:5
But the rest of the dead l\vied not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
The lost person who is living will be left here when the rapture takes place.
Matthew 24:40-41
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST: 2 Corinthians 5:10
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
TAKES PLACE JUST AFTER THE RAPTURE:
This judgment takes place just after the church has been caught away to
EVERY CHILD OF GOD SHALL APPEAR:
be with the Lord.
This judgment is for the Christian and every child of God shall appear.
JUDGMENT OF OUR WORKS:
This is not a judgment as to our sin; our sins were judged at Calvary and when we received Jesus that was settled, but from the day we are saved until this time, we will be judged according to what we have done for God, and the use of the talents he has given us.
MARRIAGE SUPPER: Revelation 19:7-9
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and hi8 wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saint8; And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed ale they
which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
The marriage supper will be a glorious occasion and those present shall rejoice.
THE BRIDEGROOM:
Jesus, the bridegroom will be present.
BRIDE:
The bride, the church will be present.
THE INVITED:
The invited guest will be the Old Testament saints.
TRIBULATION: Matthew 24:21
For then shalt be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
While the church spends the seven years with the Lord in the sky, those who are left upon the earth will face the tribulation period.
THE THREE UNHOLY PERSONS:
Dragon: (The devil will rule with great power during this time.)
Beast: (The Anti-Christ who will be a Gentile ruler with great wonders.)
False Prophet: (Religious leader)
GOD'S WRATH:
Seven Seals: (War, famine, death, earthquake, sun and moon blackened)
Seven trumpets: (Hail, fire, mingled blood, wormwood, scorpions of death)
Seven vials: (Grievous sores, water to blood, scorching sun)
BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON: Revelation 16:16
And hue gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
At the close of the tribulation Satan has gathered the armies of the earth around Jerusalem to destroy the Jews.
THE PLACE OF THE BATTLE:
In the valley just north of Jerusalem.
THE PARTICIPANTS:
The Jew will not engage in the battle, for Christ will return with mighty power and destroy the armies with the sword from his mouth. Blood then will run through the valley as high as the horses bridle.
THE RESULTS:
Christ is victorious.
JUDGMENT OF THE NATIONS: Matthew 25:31-32
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
This is the judgment for those who are left upon the earth after the tribulation and after the battle of Armageddon.
SHEEP:
The Jews who have been preserved, the Jews who have now believed and the Gentiles who have believed the preaching of the Jews.
GOATS:
The sinners who have rejected the Word of God during this period. At this time some shall cry and say Lord, Lord did we not do many things.
THE MILLENNIUM: Revelation 20:6
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the fir8t resurrection: on' such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
This period follows the judgment of the nations and seven important things
will happen during this time.
Satan will be chained.
Ferociousness of the beast will vanish.
Wars will be no more.
Knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth.
Curse -on the earth will be removed.
Jesus will rule the earth.
The Saints will rule and reign with Christ.
Satan's Last Stand
Revelation 20:7-8
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
When Satan is loosed he will deceive the children born to the people who enter the millennium as humans. During the thousand years many shall be born and death will not be, so they shall be as the sand of the sea in number. When Satan gathers this host together to destroy Christ, fire comes from heaven and
consumes the host and Satan is cast into he lake of fire with the beast and the beast and the false prophet.
Revelation 20:10
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
THE WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT: Revelation 20:11
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
This is the final judgment for the lost of all ages; when the sea, death and hell give up their dead to be judged out of the books and be cast into the lake of fire.
HEAVEN:Revelation 21:1-2
And I raw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven- and the first earth were passed way; and there was no more 8ca. Anti I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
SEVEN NEW THINGS: SEVEN NO MORES:
1. New Heaven: 1. No More Sea:
2. New Earth: 2. No More Death:
3. New Jerusalem: 3. No More Sorrow:
4. New Tabernacle: 4. No More Crying:
5. New People: 5. No More Pain:'
6. New Light: 6 . No More Curse
7. New Paradise: 7 . No More Night: