The Second Coming or Return of Jesus Christ
The angel told the disciples at Christ's ascension from the Mount of Olives, "This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven." [Acts 1:11]
Jesus told his disciples? "For the Son of Man [Jesus] will come in the glory of his Father [God] with his angels" [Matthew 16:27]. In the last days of Jesus’ ministry, Jesus told his disciples in Luke 21:27-28 "Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 "Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."
So moved by this GOOD NEWS the disciples started preaching Christ's Second Coming with great fervour in the temple in Jerusalem. "And that he may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, of which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." [Acts 3:20,21]
Here we see that not only did they believe it, but that it was rooted in the Bible (Old Testament) Scriptures!
The apostle Paul had been educated in those same Scriptures; did he teach anything different?
His many letters to the early believers set out his convictions very clearly. "Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time" [Hebrews 9:28 KJV]
In another letter he wrote, "Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom." [2 Timothy 4:1]
Again, he reminded the early believers that "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first" [1 Thessalonians 4:16 KJV]
The importance of the Second Coming for all the world was emphasised by Paul when he told the Athenians, "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained (Jesus). He has given assurance of this to all, by raising him from the dead" [Acts 17:30,31.]
Jesus, at his Second Coming will rule the world from Jerusalem. He was promised the throne of King David (the 2nd King of Israel). "And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob [Israel] for ever." [Luke 1:32,33]
The Bible has many prophecies about this rule of Jesus from Jerusalem over the earth. "Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion (Jerusalem). You are my Son, today I have begotten you... I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession." [Psalm 2:6-8]
Could anything be clearer? This Second Coming of Jesus should be the hope of all Christians, as it was the early followers of Christ.
One of the main beliefs of the early Christians was that Jesus taught that he would return to the earth again. So why is it that many reject the idea today? Simply, human beings are impatient and invented another story:
One distinguished churchman says this: "When the expected second coming of Christ did not take place within the lifetime of his earliest disciples the church had to settle down into a routine pattern of life. There were some who resented this: they tried to revive the early spirit; they continued to look for the second coming, usually in the form of the setting up of a visible kingdom of Christ." [The Churches' Search for Unity: Barry Till: Pelican Books.]
This theologian unfortunately goes on to denounce those who cling to this belief as heretics, but should we ignore the clear scriptural teaching on the subject? No! We would suggest ‘ignore at your peril’, Jesus is coming soon.
When is Jesus coming?
The signs that Jesus spoke about in Luke 21:10-11 and 24-36 (shown on this website under “What’s happening now”) are clearly visible now and have been for a few years! A key sign in verse 24 was the freeing of Jerusalem from Arab rule to be governed by Israel, this began in 1948 and finally in 1967. On 6 December 2017 President Trump announced that the United States recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel but only a few other nations have followed.
Many nations, if not all, are now certainly perplexed and distressed about what is coming on the earth. Many people, especially the vulnerable, and their families, are terrified and perhaps even fainting with fear as it says in verses 25 and 26. Over the last two years the young people of the world have been mobilised because they, too, are frightened about climate change and the environment—"what is coming on the earth and what we are doing to it?”
Why is Jesus coming back?
Jesus’ return to the earth will establish, forever, a Kingdom of peace and blessedness for all mankind. This was the gospel, or good news, of God's Kingdom about which Jesus preached when on earth nearly 2000 years ago. The Bible, which is readily accessible to everyone today, is God's message to man about His promised Kingdom on earth to be established by His son, Jesus. Please open/download other articles on this website which explain more detail about this coming worldwide Kingdom.
The choice for us
By nature, the human race has no hope beyond the grave; the Bible makes this quite clear. [Ecclesiastes 9:5,6,10] But, through the love and mercy of God and the sacrifice of his son Jesus, a place in the coming Kingdom can be ours if we believe God's word, are baptised [Mark 16:16] and then endeavour to obey His commandments: " For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." [John 3:16].
For a more detailed explanation of the role of Jesus Christ and why he is our only hope of being saved from eternal death please download “Light on Jesus Christ”
Unless otherwise stated "Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
This is article is published by Bramerton Christadelphians www.b-c.org.uk
For further reading start with the Bible – you can get further helps to reading it and understanding it from the above website and the following websites:
Light Magazine www.lightmagazine.org and www.dawncp.co.uk
Jesus told his disciples? "For the Son of Man [Jesus] will come in the glory of his Father [God] with his angels" [Matthew 16:27]. In the last days of Jesus’ ministry, Jesus told his disciples in Luke 21:27-28 "Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 "Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."
So moved by this GOOD NEWS the disciples started preaching Christ's Second Coming with great fervour in the temple in Jerusalem. "And that he may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, of which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." [Acts 3:20,21]
Here we see that not only did they believe it, but that it was rooted in the Bible (Old Testament) Scriptures!
The apostle Paul had been educated in those same Scriptures; did he teach anything different?
His many letters to the early believers set out his convictions very clearly. "Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time" [Hebrews 9:28 KJV]
In another letter he wrote, "Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom." [2 Timothy 4:1]
Again, he reminded the early believers that "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first" [1 Thessalonians 4:16 KJV]
The importance of the Second Coming for all the world was emphasised by Paul when he told the Athenians, "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained (Jesus). He has given assurance of this to all, by raising him from the dead" [Acts 17:30,31.]
Jesus, at his Second Coming will rule the world from Jerusalem. He was promised the throne of King David (the 2nd King of Israel). "And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob [Israel] for ever." [Luke 1:32,33]
The Bible has many prophecies about this rule of Jesus from Jerusalem over the earth. "Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion (Jerusalem). You are my Son, today I have begotten you... I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession." [Psalm 2:6-8]
Could anything be clearer? This Second Coming of Jesus should be the hope of all Christians, as it was the early followers of Christ.
One of the main beliefs of the early Christians was that Jesus taught that he would return to the earth again. So why is it that many reject the idea today? Simply, human beings are impatient and invented another story:
One distinguished churchman says this: "When the expected second coming of Christ did not take place within the lifetime of his earliest disciples the church had to settle down into a routine pattern of life. There were some who resented this: they tried to revive the early spirit; they continued to look for the second coming, usually in the form of the setting up of a visible kingdom of Christ." [The Churches' Search for Unity: Barry Till: Pelican Books.]
This theologian unfortunately goes on to denounce those who cling to this belief as heretics, but should we ignore the clear scriptural teaching on the subject? No! We would suggest ‘ignore at your peril’, Jesus is coming soon.
When is Jesus coming?
The signs that Jesus spoke about in Luke 21:10-11 and 24-36 (shown on this website under “What’s happening now”) are clearly visible now and have been for a few years! A key sign in verse 24 was the freeing of Jerusalem from Arab rule to be governed by Israel, this began in 1948 and finally in 1967. On 6 December 2017 President Trump announced that the United States recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel but only a few other nations have followed.
Many nations, if not all, are now certainly perplexed and distressed about what is coming on the earth. Many people, especially the vulnerable, and their families, are terrified and perhaps even fainting with fear as it says in verses 25 and 26. Over the last two years the young people of the world have been mobilised because they, too, are frightened about climate change and the environment—"what is coming on the earth and what we are doing to it?”
Why is Jesus coming back?
Jesus’ return to the earth will establish, forever, a Kingdom of peace and blessedness for all mankind. This was the gospel, or good news, of God's Kingdom about which Jesus preached when on earth nearly 2000 years ago. The Bible, which is readily accessible to everyone today, is God's message to man about His promised Kingdom on earth to be established by His son, Jesus. Please open/download other articles on this website which explain more detail about this coming worldwide Kingdom.
The choice for us
By nature, the human race has no hope beyond the grave; the Bible makes this quite clear. [Ecclesiastes 9:5,6,10] But, through the love and mercy of God and the sacrifice of his son Jesus, a place in the coming Kingdom can be ours if we believe God's word, are baptised [Mark 16:16] and then endeavour to obey His commandments: " For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." [John 3:16].
For a more detailed explanation of the role of Jesus Christ and why he is our only hope of being saved from eternal death please download “Light on Jesus Christ”
Unless otherwise stated "Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
This is article is published by Bramerton Christadelphians www.b-c.org.uk
For further reading start with the Bible – you can get further helps to reading it and understanding it from the above website and the following websites:
Light Magazine www.lightmagazine.org and www.dawncp.co.uk