18.February.24

Of the many covenants God made in the bible, the final fulfilment of what we are waiting for is His return. Hebrews 9:27-28 summarises the whole redemption history from the fall to His return.

Although the term “Second Coming” is not found in the bible, the bible tells us He will return. Those who have received Jesus’ blood and forgiven, are the ones eagerly awaiting His return.

At Jesus’ ascension, the angels told the people intently gazing into the sky, why were they gazing at the sky? It is not launching a shuttle into outer space. The people were gazing into the sky because they could not see Him. To those people, the angels said, Jesus will come again the same way you have watched Him go into the sky. (Acts 1:9)

They only saw a cloud receiving Him and He disappeared. It was probably puzzling to them when the angel said He would return the same way He went. It is not a physical place. Jesus went into the spiritual realm, a heavenly place. He disappeared from this physical world.
We will look at a few points in the bible about the Second Coming.

1. He will come at night

It must not be a physical timeline. (1 Thessalonians 5:1-8)
How would a thief come in the night? Would he announce that he is coming at a certain time? He would come at a time when the owner does not see him. Likewise, Jesus will come out of sight.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-8 is saying He will come when no one is expecting Him. This is spiritually not falling asleep. Jesus gave many parables of His return too. He compared it to a bridegroom coming to take the bride, one parable is in Matthew 25:1-14. The parable of the 10 virgins, the 5 prudent and the 5 foolish. The difference between them is preparation.

Prudence in Greek means: to be thinking. Foolish means you are not thinking ahead. In the Jewish culture especially during the time of Jesus, weddings took place in the night. The Jewish bridegroom would come and take the bride at night time, and the bride is the one with the lamp, the light. The bridegroom will come and look for the one with the light, that is the bride. Likewise, may we be prudent, with the wisdom of God, to be able to prepare enough oil so that we will be shining brightly with the light of God’s Word.

2. There will be tribulation before the Second Coming

There will be tribulations even for believers. For the people of God, tribulations will make them grow, tribulations will make them repent, and tribulations will make them come out pure. (Acts 14:22, Revelation 7:13-14)
If you are going through tribulations today, I would like to dare to ask you to give thanks to God, because it is through tribulations that we enter the kingdom of heaven.

God will give you a hiding place until this tribulation runs its course. We need to persevere. (Isaiah 26:20)
Reverend Abraham Park was preaching about the Second Coming and tribulations in the end times, he said, there is no corner on this earth where you can hide from this tribulation. The only hiding place is Jesus Christ our Rock. (Matthew 24:13, James 5:7-8, James 1:4)

3. Number of martyrs has to be filled. (Revelation 6:9-11)

Martyrdom comes from the death of keeping the Word of God and having the testimony. Not just dying. There is literal martyrdom and figurative martyrdom.

Apostle Paul said I die daily. We need to live a life of sacrificing our sinful selves daily.
True believing saints must not be afraid of being martyred, whether spiritually or physically. Being martyred is a great blessing for the saints. During the great tribulations, martyrdom is a way of God’s protection.

Who are the true martyrs? Whether they die physically or not, those faithful of the heart with readiness to sacrifice their own self, sacrifice their ways, even benefits, and sacrifice all of their fleshly desires before the will of God. I have been emphasizing faith is not about the last day only. It is about every day. Martyrdom too. (Romans 13:12-14, Romans 6:2, 1 Peter 2:24, Colossians 2:20-21)

Martyr comes from the Greek word μάρτυς martus – “martus” which means witness. Those who are martyred are martyred for the Word of God and their testimony. (Acts 4:17-20)

What is the blessing for those who become martyrs? (Revelation 20:4-6)
(i) First blessing of reigning with Christ 1000 years
(ii) Second blessing, first resurrection
(iii) Third blessing, no second death (hell)

Before the Second Coming will come the second resurrection.
Jesus is the first fruit of resurrection. The first resurrection is taking part in Jesus’ resurrection, they will be liberated from trespasses and sins. (Ephesians 2:1, 5)

For us to look forward to transfiguration, we must go through our spiritual resurrection first.
At the 1st Coming, more than 500 people witnessed Jesus’ resurrection and saw Jesus ascending to heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:6)
But how many people were at the Pentecost, in the upper room receiving the Holy Spirit? 120 people. Where did the 380 other people go? This shows how difficult it is to be the remnants who stayed until the end.

Jesus’ second parable of the prodigal son. Let’s think of the repentance that needs to take place in us for us to take part in the first resurrection. (Luke 15:11-24)

This Father symbolizes our Father in heaven. We can relate ourselves to the prodigal son, we all want to go distant from our Father, get out of His boundaries and His jurisdiction and His rule, spiritually we all want to be guilt-free by going far away from the roof and control of my Father. But biblically, the Father is the provider and protector. We come out of Father’s rules, we need to come under someone else’s rules. The prodigal son is serving the swine (pigs), defiled animals, and unclean animals according to the Jews.

“Serve” connotes worshipping. If we reject God in worshipping Him, we will end up worshipping something else. Agreeing with God = righteousness.
Father’s house is abundant and sufficient. This is repentance. Coming back to the Father. Coming back under His roof. “Arise” in Greek is unistemi: Which means resurrection. This is the true resurrection. I will get up (resurrect) and go to my Father. The core of the message is repentance and resurrection. Repentance is resurrection. When we sin, we don’t have sin to face God our Father, but the Father is already running to you. The best robe in original Greek is protos = first robe. The Father is saying “Bring me the robe for the firstborn.” Jesus kept on emphasising that heaven belongs to those who repent. Those who repent become the firstborns. This killing of the fatted calf symbolises the sacrifice in worship. Like the heavenly banquet lavishly provided by our Father when we come to Him.

Conclusion: What happens during the Second Coming?

We prepare the light, and we repent. At the Second Coming, He will break the 7 seals from the scroll. (Revelation 5:1-8)
The book was sealed with 7 seals and nobody was able to open it and no one knew what it was saying. Meaning the contents will be revealed. Revelation 10, He will bring the opened book in His hand. Who received it? Apostle John in Revelation 10 received it. Apostle John was writing revelation and getting to be martyred on Patmos Island.

Throughout the Bible, God has His people proclaim the Word, He waits until then. God could have made the ark but He waited until Noah finished the ark. (Matthew 24:14)

Where will it happen? (1 Thessalonians 4:17) The air biblically means neither heaven nor earth. It is in between. It is a mediating place. It was the place where Adam was in the Garden of Eden, a place where he could enjoy the heavenly blessing while still on earth.

AMEN.