The Promise of Christ's Second Coming

LESSON 1

You are welcome to another edition of Insights from God's Word, a Bible study programme that is committed to sharing God's Word by allowing the Bible to speak for itself.

In this edition, we continue with our series on The Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ. The topic for this study is: The Promise of Christ's Second Coming. In this study we are going to glean from Scripture some of the promises in relation to the Second Coming of Christ.

Many in our world today, mock at the certainty of Christ's second coming. In fact, this attitude was prophesied by the apostle Peter in the early days of the Christian church. From the 2 Peter 3:3-4, we read the following in relation to scoffers in the last days: "3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." Beloved, from the apostle Peter, we are told clearly that in the final hours of this earth’s history, people are going to mock at the certainty of Christ's soon return. But friends, this mockery by the ungodly in relation to Christ's return should not discourage us; for the Bible gives us a solid foundation on which we can build the hope of our Saviour's soon return.

Friends, from the testimony of patriarchs and prophets, apostles and disciples, angels and even from the lips of Christ Himself; we receive great assurances in the Word of God that our Lord and Saviour will soon come again. At this point, I want us to go through some of the evidences from Scripture that solidify our faith that Christ will come again:

A) TESTIMONY FROM PATRIARCHS AND PROPHETS

1. "25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: 26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: 27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me" (Job 19:25-27).

2. "When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory" (Psalm 102:16).

3. "8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. 9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation" (Isaiah 25:8-9).

4. "14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him" (Jude 1:14-15).

B) TESTIMONY FROM APOSTLES AND DISCIPLES

1. "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 shall rise first" (1 Thessalonians 4:16).

2. "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Hebrews 9:28).

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; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2).

4. "7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh" (James 5:7-8).

5. "And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away" (1 Peter 5:4).

6. "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen" (Revelation 1:7).

C) TESTIMONY FROM ANGELS

1. "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" (Acts 1:9-11).

D) TESTIMONY FROM JESUS CHRIST

1. "1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 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. 3 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" (John 14:1-3).

2. "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works" (Matthew 16:27).

3. "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matthew 24:30).

4. "Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven" (Matthew 26:64).

5. "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:" (Matthew 25:31).

6. "For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels" (Luke 9:26).

7. "Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book" (Revelation 22:7).

8. "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be" (Revelation 22:12).

9. "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20).

I thought you were going to say an Amen to that; for Christ Himself said: "Surely I come quickly". Beloved, these are not the only promises in God's Word that affirm the certainty of Christ's second coming. However, I believe that the ones we have captured in this study are more than enough to affirm our faith in the certainty of our Lord's second advent. Friends, whatever our situation might be on this earth, it is my prayer that the Lord will strengthen us so that one day at a time, we will rest in the comforting assurance that soon and not too far away, our Lord will come and redeem us from this world of sin, sorrow and death.

Exhortation: "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).

"35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. 36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry" (Hebrews 10:35-37).

In our next study, we will consider the topic: The Signs of Christ's Second Coming. The Bible Study references for this study are Mathew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. Please do well to go through these passages before the next study is released.

Stay blessed and keep shining for King Jesus.

Maranatha!

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