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By George W. Sinquefield
Acts 1:6 through Acts 1:11 (KJV)
6When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7And 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. 8But 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. 9And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11Which 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. "Next to the plan of salvation and the Christian's responsibility to live to the glory of God, the second coming of Christ is one of the most important subjects confronting the world today." (Billy Graham)
His coming is mentioned 318 times in the New Testament and 260 times in the Old Testament. His second coming is taught three times as often as His first coming. Dr. Albert H. Cullen says, "Thus we can see this is not a matter of idle speculation. It is not the mouthing and the frothing of a fanatical preacher. It is supremely the grand truth revealed by the Holy Spirit and woven like a golden thread throughout the entire fabric of the Holy Scriptures."
L. Nelson Bell puts it this way, "As one reads the Old and New Testaments he is impressed with the overwhelming fact that the Christ to whom was delegated the authority and power of creation, who came back into this world to redeem it from sin, is certainly coming back to judge and to reign."
Dr. James Denny, speaking out of a lifetime of scholarship, declared that we cannot "Call in question what stands so plainly in the pages of the New Testament, what filled so exclusively the minds of the first Christians -- the idea of a personal return of Christ at the end of the age. If we are to retain any relation to the New Testament at all we must assert the personal return of Christ as Judge of all.
If we attribute any authority to the words of Jesus, if we deal sincerely with the New Testament, we must at least agree that Jesus and those who knew Him but believed in his return."
One gave us the following. Are you and I in that category? "There are those who say it is a creed only for those who are unenlightened, unsophisticated, unscientific. Anyone who has enjoyed the benefits of modern education and has kept up with science in the space age ought to know better."
A young man went off to war. He told the girl he loved good-bye and promised to come back and marry her. When the war was over the troops came marching home, the girl looked for him but in vain -- he had lost his life in battle. She kept saying, "H must come back. He promised he would." She lost her reason and for years before she died, she came daily to the gate to wait for her beloved who would never return. She was disappointed but Jesus will never disappoint us. He will keep His promise and one day He will return.
Romans 9:33 (KJV) Christ is coming to this earth again. There need not be the least ghost of a shadow of a doubt concerning this. It is not theory, but a well authenticated fact. He went away from this earth, and most certainly He is coming back to the earth again. This is fully and absolutely established by the sacred scriptures. The message of the Second Advent is given either by definite scriptural statements, or by type and symbol and portrait in nearly every book of the Bible. It is the glorious hope which God has constantly set before each generation of the human family. It is a hope and a message which occupies a larger place throughout the scriptures speak of this great doctrine.
As I've said, His coming is mentioned 318 times in the New Testament. Here are just a few of them.
Matthew 26:62 through Matthew 26:64 (KJV) John 14:1 through John 14:3 (KJV) 1 Peter 5:4 (KJV) James 5:7 (KJV) 1 John 2:28 (KJV) I. His Coming Will Be A Personal Coming.
Jesus said time and again that He would come again.
Matthew 16:27 (KJV) John 14:3 (KJV) 1 Thessalonians 4:16 (KJV) II. The Manner Of His Coming
He is coming back in the clouds as He went away to heaven.
Acts 1:9 through Acts 1:11 (KJV) Revelation 1:7 (KJV) III. His Coming Will Be Visible To All.
Every eye shall see Him when He comes again. There are those who believe that His coming will be secret -- that He'll slip in and get His people and the lost will not know anything about it. In 1 Thessalonians 5:3 we are told that He is coming as a thief in the night. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. They say the thief slips in and does his mischief without anyone knowing and that is the way it'll be when Christ comes. No, that is not what it means. The thief comes unexpectantly and Jesus will come when no one is expecting Him (We'll deal with this more later).
I read a sermon by one preacher whom I respect who believed His coming would be secret. He said, "Suppose the Lord were to come. Do you think unsaved people know anything about it? Let us just assume that there is a radio station and there is not a Christian in it. That may not be true, but let's assume it. They would not know one thing in the world about what happened. They would hear thousands missing, maybe hundreds of thousands. You would read all the details of this mysterious absence of literally multitudes of people. No little babies would be left in all the world, not a one. Planes without pilots, cars without drivers, trains without engineers, stores without clerks, homes without residents.
The following scriptures tell me that His coming will be a visible coming -- that everyone will see Him.
Matthew 24:27 (KJV) Luke 17:24 (KJV) One pastor tells of meeting a holiness preacher from Kansas City on the Mount of Olives in the Holy Land who was living in a shanty. When the pastor asked him what on earth he was doing there, got a straight reply. "I want to be here right Johnny on the spot when the Lord comes down."
Then this pastor said, "Man, don't you know I'll see Him in Louisville, Kentucky as soon as you see Him here? He quoted this verse of scripture.
Matthew 24:27 (KJV) The lost will see Him.
Matthew 26:64 (KJV) Matthew 24:29 through Matthew 24:30 (KJV) Revelation 1:7 (KJV) Revelation 6:12 through Revelation 6:17 (KJV) All will see Him.
1 John 3:2 (KJV) We shall see Him as He is, not as He was: Walking the dusty roads of Galilee, Betrayed and deserted by the prominent people of His day. Not as He was -- lonely in the garden of Gethsemane, not as He was, carrying the cross of shame up the Golgotha incline. Not as He was, bruised and battered and weary and wounded as He expired for our sakes. But we shall see Him as He is. His He now? Sitting at the right hand of God the Father. He is now wielding the scepter over all creation. He is now wearing crowns and diadems. We shall see Him as He is -- coming in all His glory.
One has said, "He'll be a sight for sore eyes. Our eyes have beheld many beautiful rights in our sojourn on this earth. We have seen electric sunsets that have elicited sighs of delight from our souls. We have contemplated serene sunrises announcing the genesis of a new day. We have observed a simple smile on the face of an innocent child. We have gasped with wonder at some masterpiece of art. We have stood in awe at the magnificent glory of gigantic mountains. But human vision will reach its apex of seeing when we behold the face of the Christ of eternity."
Dr. Cullen, a pastor in Mississippi, says, "Gather together all earthly beauty, the spotless wonders of a winter scene, the scintillating stars shining like diamonds upon the purple curtain of the night, the blushing beauty of the setting sun going to rest in an ocean of gold in the midst of rivers of splendor, the fragrant flowers adorning the gardens of loveliness, the sevenfold colors of the rainbow spanning the eastern sky like a ribbon of glory and after we shall have finished we must still confess that all earthly beauty fades and all brightness is eclipsed in comparison with Him who gathers unto Himself all grace and goodness and glory of both time and eternity.
His coming will be signaled by a great noise.
Matthew 24:29 through Matthew 24:31 (KJV) 1 Corinthians 15:52 (KJV) 1 Thessalonians 4:16 (KJV) The Living Bible puts it like this. "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a mighty shout and with the soul-stirring cry of the archangel and with the great trumpet call of God."
2 Peter 3:16 (KJV) No one knows when He is coming again.
Matthew 24:36 (KJV) Matthew 24:44 (KJV) The weather forecast column of a certain news paper read, "There is a 90% chance of tomorrow." There is, according to the Bible, a 100% chance that Jesus will come anytime.
Are we ready to meet Him? Are we looking forward to his coming?
Many stories are told of the beautiful world famed Queen Victoria. One day as she listened to the chaplain preach a sermon on the significance of the coming again of Jesus to the world, those near her noticed that the queen shook with emotion, her lips quivered and her eyes were filled with tears. At the close of the service she asked to see the chaplain alone. When he saw her great emotion and asked her why she said, "Oh, sir, what you said about the coming again of the world's rightful King." And he asked, "Why are you so moved?" She said, "I could wish to be here when He comes" and with great emotion she continued "that I might lay this crown at his blessed feet." We do not have a crown but we have a life which we can lay at his feet.
As the hymn puts it. "Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord to Thee. Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love. Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee. Take my voice and let me sing. Always, only, for my King. Take my silver and my gold. Not a mite would I withhold, take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my will and make it thine, it shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is thine own, it shall be thy royal throne."
1 John 2:28 (KJV)