The Promise of Second Coming: Settling Controversies of Christ's Second Coming

The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is not only the most significant event to transpire, it is the fuel and fire of the faith right after the personal relationship with Christ. It is expecting the Coming of the Son of God on the Clouds that keeps us vigilant and ready at any moment to risk and count all things lost but knowing Christ (Philippians 3:8). It is not the only reason, the longing to meet Christ in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17). The Return of Christ is the most anticipated event we Christians are waiting for, and yet many have become indolent and less than enthusiastic. So many doomsayers and false prophets have claimed Christ is coming at this date or that date (want to see the list, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictions_and_claims_for_the_Second_Coming_of_Christ). Worse there are those who are convinced Christ has already come spiritually and Millennial Reign is already happening in heaven, these are called Preterists and Post-Millennials. However, the obvious counter to every Preterist is the following verses, "So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him.  As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!," (Acts 1:1-11), "So if someone tells you, ‘Look, the Messiah is out in the desert,’ don’t bother to go and look. Or, ‘Look, he is hiding here,’ don’t believe it! For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes. Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near.Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken, And then at last, the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.And he will send out his angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather his chosen ones from all over the world—from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven," (Matthew 24:26-31), "BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen," (Revelation 1:17), "After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever," (1 Thessalonians 4:17). All of these verses verify that Jesus is actually, physically going to return on the clouds, and He even rebukes Preterism, by saying anyone who says Christ is desert or hidden is a liar, and that just as lightning flashes in east it will in west and all will see Him. 

Apocalyptic Blues is a serious spiritual disease (as in ill at ease). What happens is that cult leaders convince people they have an exact almost Kabalistic date for the Return of Christ, but then when Jesus does not appear people become disillusioned and even have been swindled out of their money. Others the issue is over the very unchristian fights between the different views on the end of days or eschatology ranging from Pre-Millennial (Millennial Reign of Christ is in Future and hasn't happened yet), Amillienal (connects Christ's Thousand Year Reign in Heaven at Right Hand of God with on earth reign in Revelation 20:1-7), Postmillennial (Millennial Reign of Christ is happening in Heaven, Preteristism, conquer the world for Christ, you will make the whole world Christian then Christ comes, but this conflicts with Revelation 13:7, Revelation 14:12-14), Pre-Tribulation (Rapture, don't go through Tribualtion), Mid-Tribulation (go through Trib, but not wrath of God, splits Trib in middle of 7 year trib), and Post-Tribulation (we are gathered after the Tribulation by Christ, backed by Matthew 24:28-31), and fringe groups like Partial Trib in between. In fact, the most fought over aspect of Christian life is the end times or eschatology. I have been in Christian forums and had fierce debates with brothers and sisters in Christ over the End of Days and the timeline, and when something happens or not; and this is part of problem, many brothers and sisters in Christ get caught up on exact timeline of end, that take their eyes off Emmanuel (Jesus). The focus of Revelation, and the end times Epistles and Eschatological parts of the Gospels is seeking, looking for, and desiring Jesus' Coming; desiring to be with Jesus. The church has become distracted with fighting over timelines and whose right about what sequence of events, they have taken their eyes of the point and focus of the end of Days, Jesus Return in the flesh! It reminds me of Pharisees, who became so fixated on following Law perfectly, they missed the One who made Law and everything else, Jesus Christ the Lord (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16). 

The Second Coming of Christ is 'quickly' becoming a the event that many in Church roll their eyes at. It is sad, because I fear the church is going to end up like religious leaders of Jesus' First Coming, the Pharisees and Sadducees missed Jesus' Birth and the Savior who is God. I think there has been a deliberate goal of devil to divide the church over what should be a topic of jubilation! Why? Because devil full well knows his fate when Jesus Returns is this, "Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever" (Revelation 20:10). Our enemy knows that when Emmanuel comes on clouds of heaven the Antichrist (Beast, Man of Lawlessness) and the False Prophet will be thrown in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 19:20) and destroyed (2 Thessalonians 2:8). Just as the devil deceived and kept people fighting over the Messiah during Jesus' First Coming, so the devil has made disciples of Christ fight fiercely and with fury over details of the Second Coming. The truth is there is suppose to be blessing for those who expect with anticipation and excitement the Return of Christ, "waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ," (Titus 2:13), and there is blessing for reading aloud the Book of Revelation, "God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church, and he blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time is near." (Revelation 1:3), but few Pastors and teachers will read Revelation out of fear of starting a huge debate in their congregation and perhaps starting a schism over eschatology. What a shame, the most important future event of our faith and relationship with Jesus Christ our God has become a fighting point that divides Christians. 

The Apostle Peter addressed with great wisdom from Holy Spirit why Jesus delays returning, "Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. ⁴ They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created. They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. ⁶ Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. ⁷ And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. ⁹ The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment. ¹¹ Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, ¹² looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. ¹³ But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. ¹⁴ And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight. ¹⁵ And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— ¹⁶ speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction." (2 Peter 3:3-16). The Apostle Peter with Wisdom (Jesus, Colossians 2:2-3) reveals that Christ's Second Coming is only delayed because God the Trinity (Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit) want all people to believe and repent of their sins (meaning He is giving enough time for every single person who will believe to believe, perhaps this is another interpretation of this verse Matthew 24:14). Besides we are told by Jesus himself, "But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father," (Matthew 24:36), However, counter verse is, "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come." (Matthew 24:42); the tension between two verses is the first one is to discourage kabala and date predicting, and second is to get us focused on receiving and expecting Jesus with great love and desire.The problem is that brothers and sisters in Christ are obsessed with the event, and timeline, getting the signs right and knowing just when and how, rather than having their eyes fixed on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) and being ready spiritually for Him, "Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is he who stays awake and who keeps his clothes [that is, stays spiritually ready for the Lord’s return], so that he will not be naked—spiritually unprepared—and men will not see his shame" (Revelation 16:15). Its fine tension line, we need to be ready and expect Jesus' return any moment (Matthew 24:44), and yet not get 'caught up' in minute details that we forget the whole point, Jesus Christ and His Coming. It is so easy for us to get bogged down in eschatology maze, and forget to just keep watch (Matthew 25:13) and know Jesus (John 17:3, Philippians 3:8), and be ready to meet Him at any moment. Instead people become experts in end times and fight over exactly how to splice the Tribulation and interpreting the more opaque visions from Alpha and Omega. To put it another way, people get caught up and focused on the rapture, rather than being ready to receive their Redeemer at any moment when He comes on the clouds; its reason versus relationship, end times experts are focused on details and predictions of end times, rather than focusing on Emmanuel and being ready to meet Him at any second and lovingly expecting His Coming. 

We need to be more concerned with being ready to receive Jesus Christ on the Clouds (Revelation 16:15) and having such deep relationship with Jesus that we are more interested and excited about being with Him, rather than being right about the sequences of events and all the details that remain elusive to us for a reason. Focus on relationship, and the Return of Christ becomes exciting! Apocalypse as Pitre reveals in his book "Jesus The Bridegroom: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told" means in Greek, "The Unveiling of a Bride," its suppose to be Bridegroom Jesus coming to get the Bride of Christ who is the Church; a glorious and wonderful event. But eschatologists have made it about each event leading up to this and "Apocalyptic blues" is robbing people of a zeal for the Return of Jesus Christ. Remember, the point is to want Jesus and Second Coming is suppose to make us elated, to be at last in flesh with our God, Savior, Best Friend, and Loving Lord. Don't miss the point, its the relationship, being ready to receive Jesus with joy, not getting too bogged down in details; the point of those details is to better know when more likely our Lord Jesus comes; but don't lose the "forest for the trees" or lose sight of Jesus when trying to figure out the sign of times of His Second Coming. Amen.