SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
I. Introduction
A. Christian Focuses
For the Christian we have two major focuses in life. In one
we are always looking back to the time of Christ and the
Cross of Calvary. The other direction we look is to the
time of our redemption, when Jesus Christ will return to the
earth to establish His Kingdom.
Nothing more exciting will happen to the Christian than the
return of Jesus Christ. As new believers, many of us were
excited about the reality of this coming event. But like
all things that we must wait for, we find that the excitement
wanes and we begin to lose our vision. It is my intent to
restore for you and for me the excitement of this most
blessed future event.
B. Prophecies of the Second Coming
One Bible Scholar has noted that the Second Coming of Christ
is mentioned in the Old Testament 1,527 times! In fact, for
everytime the First Coming of Christ is mentioned in the
Bible, the Second Coming is mentioned eight times.
II. Events Prior to Second Coming
A. Rapture
1) The Promise (John 14:2-3)
"In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I
would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come back and take you to be with me that you also may be
where I am." Jesus promised that there would come a day in
the future when He would come back for the church and take
it off of the earth.
2) The Event (1Thess 4:16-17)
"The Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud
command, with the voice of the archangel and with the
trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be
caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air." Jesus removes His Church for the time of His wrath
has come, "God did not appoint us [the church] to suffer
wrath..." (1 Thess 5:9).
Note that in this part of the Bible is something very
exciting. If you look deep into these verses describing the
Rapture you will see yourself in the Bible! Yes, if you
have confessed your sins and declared that Jesus Christ is
your Lord and Savior, yielding complete control of your life
to Him, then you are there in this wonderful event!
These verses that describe the Rapture should be very
precious to the Christian for in them is the hope of our
Salvation.
B. Wrath On Earth
1) Some of the Judgments
a) AntiChrist Arrives
b) War Breaks Out
c) Famine\Inflation
d) One Fourth of Earth Destroyed
e) Hail, Fire and Blood - Third of Earth Burned up
f) Third of Seas Destroyed
g) Worldwide Darkness
h) Locusts - Demonic Activity
i) Sores on Beast Worshipers
j) Seas, Rivers, Springs turn to Blood
k) Scorching from the Sun
l) Severe Earthquake and Hailstorm
The scene on earth is very grim, for each of the preceding
judgments have been accumulative and the earth is in utter
chaos. Read Isaiah 24:1-13. The only organization that
seems to have survived is the military and they are engrossed
in the final battle of Armageddon.
Scripture declares that during the final hours of the
battle, "Immediately after the distress of those days the
sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky... and all the nations will
mourn" (Mat 24:29,30). Then, all of a sudden something
happens up in the sky.
III. Second Coming of Christ
A. Heaven Opens Up (Rev 19:11a)
Heaven has opened up at other times in the past, once when
Jesus was baptized (Mat 3:16), and also at the stoning of
Stephen when heaven open and he saw Jesus standing there
(Acts 7:56).
1) This is the Third Heaven
The Bible declares that there are three heavens. The first
is our atmosphere, the second is outer space, and the third
being the very Throne Room of God where all the Saints and
Holy Angels abide. I believe that the opening mentioned in
Revelation is the supernatural opening that allows the third
heaven to be seen clearly from the earth and the immediate
travel from one to the other. When heaven opened at Jesus'
Baptism a dove-like form descended from it representing the
Holy Spirit. This time the Glorious Son of God descends!
B. Rider on White Horse (Rev 19:11-16)
"They will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of the
sky, with great power and great glory" (Mat 24:29-30).
"For as lighting that comes from the east is visible even in
the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man" (Mat
24:27)
Suddenly, in an instant, the Lord Almighty will come with
thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and
tempest and flames of a devouring fire" (Isa 29:5-6).
"See, the Lord is coming with fire, and His chariots are
like a whirlwind; He will bring down His anger with fury,
and His rebuke with flames of fire. For with fire and with
His sword the Lord will execute judgment upon all men, and
many will be those slain by the Lord" (Isa 66:15-16).
1) The Horse (v. 11a)
It is a white horse which was the kind that conquering
leaders would ride after winning a great battle signifying
their great power and might. Notice also in verse 14 that
there is a whole army of white horses following Jesus. If
you look very close at that verse you can see yourself
again. We were there at the Rapture of the Church and now
we again appear on the pages of Scripture! The first time
we were ascending to join our most Precious Savior Jesus
Christ, but now we are coming back with Him to be a part of
His Victorious Kingdom.
Now some Bible commentators would say that these are not
real horses. But oh, how foolish of them, for they need only
look at Zechariah 9:9 which prophesied that Jesus would come
into Jerusalem the first time riding on a donkey. And as
recorded in the Gospel of Luke, hundreds of years later, we
see that it occurred exactly as the prophet had declared,
Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.
Jesus will ride out of the third Heaven into our world on a
real Horse. And all of the saints will also be on white
horses. We need to look around the Church today to see
those who will mounted on horses next to us. Picture some
of our most senior saints who are bed-ridden and struggling
just to breath, the day is coming when they will be strong
and sitting erect on a beautiful white horse. I picture my
wife and little children mounted upon their horses with
their eyes focused on the King. What a blessed hope we have
in Jesus.
2) Faithful and True
Jesus the most precious Savior who has been so Faithful to
His Word about all that He would do. My heart is touched by
The faithfulness of Jesus to continue to love me despite my
weaknesses in this life. He is so faithful to us to help us
and to encourage us. God's Word declares that if we are
faithless, then Jesus will remain faithful for He cannot
disown Himself (2 Tim 2:13).
3) Armies of Heaven
But again, Jesus is not alone, for behind Him is an entire
army of redeemed sinners to include both the Old Testament
and New Testament saints. There is Moses, Joseph, David,
Bathsheba, Rahab, Peter, James, John, Mary, Martha, and Paul.
But looking even closer we also see Moody, Spurgeon, Billy
Sunday, Billy Graham, and many other great men and women of
God. But that is not all, for there are the brothers and
sisters from our church who have confessed Jesus Christ as
Lord and Savior. You can even see yourself sitting upon your
white horse descending in perfect ranks from heaven to the
earth. I am sure not many of us ever considered that someday
we would be inducted into the army----the Army of God.
Some may be surprised about being there with Jesus on the
pages of Scripture, yet this is what the Bible said would
happen, "When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you
also will appear with Him in glory" (Col 3:4).
Another impressive fact about this army is it's size. The
number of riders is very great indeed. We have all the Old
Testament Saints and all those from the New Testament era
too. It has been estimated that since the time of Adam and
Eve, that there have been approximately 41 billion people on
this earth. Now we know from Scripture that the overwhelming
majority of these people will have rejected the salvation of
God. In fact, it was Jesus who said that mankind travels
only one of two roads. The majority travel the wide
thoroughfare leading to Hell, while only a few will find the
narrow path leading to Heaven. I once did a study of this
and from the statistics about world religions concluded that
less than 1 percent of all mankind would ever yield to the
truth of the gospel.
Even 1 percent of 41 billion would equal roughly 410 million
believers if the end would be today. Now add to that figure
all the children who died before the age of accountability
to include those whose lives were taken in abortion, and we
have one very large army.
It will be a marvelous sight to "look around" as we mount
our white horses in the third heaven. We will see former
Apostles, and former homosexuals, and former murderers, and
former fornicators, former liars and drunkards, all sitting
on their horses dressed in pure white because of the
cleansing power of the Blood of Jesus Christ. There will
also be those who never walked on the earth but were murdered
by an act of abortion, they too will sit pure from the
original sin of Adam because of the Cross of Calvary. What
an incredible sight to see!
C. Judgment of Earthly Wicked
1) Response of Those on the Earth
"At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the
sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will
see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with
power and great glory" (Mat 24:30).
"Men will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the
ground from the dread of the Lord and the splendor of His
majesty..." (Isa 2:19).
2) Armies Set to Attack Christ
"...the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies
gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse
and His army" (Rev 19:19) It is incredible that those who
are fighting on the earth when confronted with the
supernatural return of Jesus Christ from Heaven would turn
their weapons on Him as if they could destroy God with their
weapons.
3) King of Kings and Lord of Lords
Jesus has returned for judgment of the earth and His eyes
are like the blazing fires of judgment. His clothes have
been dipped in blood, His blood on the Cross of Calvary.
The crowns on His head attest to His title as KING OF KINGS
AND LORD OF LORDS.
4) Beast, False Prophet, and Armies Judged
The AntiChrist and the false prophet are immediately
captured and thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning
sulfur. And the rest of the wicked army was killed by the
very command of Jesus as He spoke their judgment.
D. Chaining of Satan
After over 12,000 years of raining havoc and destruction on
mankind and the people of God, we see Satan captured and
bound with a chain and locked away for 1,000 years. The
place of his torment is referred to as the "abyss" which
means the "bottomless pit." It appears to be the same place
as the demons were sent too in 2 Peter 2:4, "to be held for
judgment." This is the same "bottomless pit" the demons
feared being sent too in Matthew 8:29 to be tortured before
their appointed time. Scripture also indicates that the
demons are also bound with Satan for the 1,000 years, "In
that day the lord will punish the powers in the heavens above
and the kings on the earth below. They will be herded
together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut
up in prison and be punished after many days" (Isa 24:21-22).
E. Kingdom Setup
1) Time period of 75 Days
There is recorded in the Book of Daniel, Chapter 12, a
statement that at the end of the 7 year tribulation period
there will an interlude of approximately 75 days before the
1,000 year Kingdom begins. I like to refer to this time as
a time when Jesus "sets up" His Kingdom. There are a number
of events that need to take place, according to Scripture,
before the Millennium begins:
a) The Judgment of the Living
Matthew declared that, "When the Son of Man comes in His
glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His
throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered
before Him, and He will separate the people one from
another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His
left" (Mat 25:31-33). The prophet Jeremiah affirms that
this place of judgment is in fact on the earth.
Those who will be judged will be those who were not killed
when Jesus first returned, meaning all those who were not
part of the opposing armies. They include both believers
and unbelievers as evidenced in Matthew.
The unbelievers are being judged because they, "...do not
know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They
will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out
from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His
power on the day He comes to be glorified in His holy people
and to be marveled at among all those who have believed" (2
Thess 1:8-10).
F. Thousand Years - Millennium
1) The Lord will Rule and Reign
We will see Jesus in all of His splendor, as Isaiah said,
"Your eyes will see the king in His beauty..." (Isa 33:17)
2) Earth is Restored to Beauty
"I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs
within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of
water, and the parched ground into springs. I will put in
the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the
olive. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the
cypress together..." (Isa 41:18-19).
3) A Kingdom of Light
The Bible proclaims that the Millennium will be truly a
kingdom of light, "The moon will shine like the sun, and the
sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of
seven full days..." (Isa 30:26). Note that there will still
be night in the Millennium but it will be as bright as the
noonday sun.
4) The Inhabitants of the Kingdom - Parents
After the final judgment of the living on the earth, the
only people left to populate the Millennium will be the
believing Gentiles and Jews. Imagine an entire world of
Christians with Jesus Christ reigning as the King of the
entire earth. But they will have children who like all
children since Cain and Able are born into the world as
sinners.
5) The Inhabitants of the Kingdom - Children
The children born to those living on the earth are in need
of salvation. But they have a distinct advantage in that
their parents are Christians, Jesus Christ is visibly on the
earth as King, and there are a multitude of glorified saints
(you and me) ruling and reigning with Our Master Jesus
Christ.
6) Life in the Kingdom
a) Long Life
The mortals who will live on the earth during the Millennium
"will live out their years" (Isa 65:20). These years will be
like those in the days prior to the flood when for example
Methuselah lived for 969 years! Those born at the beginning
of the Millennium could live for 1,000 years.
b) Death in the Kingdom
As incredible as it seems there will be death in that
glorious Kingdom of Light. The Bible tells us that during
this period that, "...he who dies at a hundred will be
thought a mere youth...and he who fails to reach a hundred
will be considered accursed [condemned to Hell] (Isa 65:20).
This appears to me to be a simple statement that children
will be given to the age of 100 to make a decision for
Christ and at that point if they remain in unbelief Jesus
will take their life in judgment.
c) Instant Answer to Prayer
Jesus promises in His Word to answer the prayers of the
Millennial saints instantly, "Before they call I will
answer; while they are still speaking I will hear" (Isa
65:24).
"How gracious He will be when you cry for help! As soon as
he hears, He will answer you" (Isa 30:19).
d) Peace on Earth
"They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as
the waters cover the sea" (Isa 11:9)
"The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will
settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their
swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they
train for war anymore" (Isa 2:3-4).
e) Peace in the Animal Kingdom
Truly the "Lion will lie down with the Lamb," for the Bible
declares, "The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the
lion will eat straw like an ox" (Isa 65:25).
"The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down
with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling
together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will
feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and
the lion will eat straw like the ox" (Isa 11:6-7).
"The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the
young child put his hand into the viper's nest" (Isa 11:8)
G. Satan's Doom
At the end of the 1,000 year period Satan is released from
prison and immediately goes out to deceive the nations to war
against Jesus and His people. He actually gets an attacking
force [youth army ?] to surround the city of Jerusalem, but
God sends fire down from heaven and devoured them. The devil
is then thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, his final
resting place, to be tormented for ever and ever (Rev 20:7-
11).
H. The Total Destruction of Heaven and Earth
Immediately following the judgment of Satan, God then removes
all living humans from the earth and causes the "rest of the
Dead" to come to life (Rev 20:5). These are those who have
been in torment waiting for the day of judgment.
The earth and heavens are then destroyed by fire, "The
heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be
destroyed by fire...That day will bring about the
destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will
melt in the heat (2 Pet 3:10-12).
I. Great White Throne Judgment (Rev 20:11-15).
God then brings all the unsaved people from all generations
to stand before the Great White Throne for judgment by Jesus
Christ who is seated on the throne. Each person is judged
according to what they had done as recorded in the books. I
see this as God having the Book of God's Law, be it the Old
Testament, or the Bible itself, but a document that declared
God's perfect truth for man. Then other books are opened
which contain all the recorded sins of each unbeliever. The
judgment will be complete and perfect. Each unbeliever will
be cast into the Lake of Fire to be tormented for ever an
ever.
At this point then there is only God, the Angels, and the
redeemed remaining in Heaven. The old earth and heavens are
destroyed and all those who rejected Christ are in the Lake
of Fire. Then God makes a New Heaven and a New Earth and
brings down from the third heaven the Glorious jewel-like
city called the New Jerusalem. Eternity then begins and we
will live in utter bliss and joy forever.
IV. Conclusion
What should be our response to these truths of Scripture?
A. Renewed desire to serve Jesus
As we begin to see all that our Salvation entails we must
see that it is overwhelming that God would include us in all
that He does. We must respond to His call in this phase of
our eternal life to serve Him with all our mind, soul, and
strength.
B. Renewed Compassion for the Lost
We have seen what awaits the unbeliever when Jesus returns to
the earth. And those judgments, as terrible as they are, are
mild compared to the endless torment and agony of the eternal
Fiery Lake of Burning Sulfur.
We must attempt, by the power of the Holy Spirit within us,
to live holy lives before our lost families, friends,
coworkers, and neighbors. We are their only hope, for if
they don't see Jesus Christ in us, then they will not see Him
at all. This will cost us, for we must be different than the
world in order to "stand out as light."
1) Our Conversation
It must be gracious and yet seasoned with the salt of the
truths of the Bible. In Ephesians 5:4 God reminds us of
what must never be a part of our conversations, "Nor should
there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are
out of place, but rather thanksgiving."
2) Our Life Styles
In this age of sexual freedom God reminds the Christian that
in our lives, "...there must not be even a hint of sexual
immorality, or of any kind of impurity..." (Eph 5:3).
In fact, God clearly tells us what we should have uppermost
in our thinking, "...whatever is true, whatever is noble,
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy--think about such things..." (Philippians 4:8).
We must keep ourselves pure, for the evil one is constantly
attempting to corrupt us. Nearly all that is on TV today is
things that would not please God. A Christian cannot be
entertained by the world and still please God. To watch TV's
murders, adulteries, violence, drunkenness, and crime is to
literally be entertained by what God calls sin.
We must be a holy people in order to be used of God.
C. Final Thoughts
Jesus is coming back soon for us with the Rapture and then
we will return with Him to take total control of the earth.
He has privileged us to be an integral part of His plan, may
we do all that we can by the power of the Holy Spirit to help
those lost around us to also share in this bliss.
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 115
Galveston, IN 46901
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SYSOP: Buggs Bugnon
FOR THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH, BUT THE GIFT
OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST
OUR LORD. Romans 6:23