COMING AGAIN

I Believe In The Second Coming Of Jesus Christ

     I believe Jesus is Coming Again. I have a hope of the future that goes beyond human history. Because I have this hope I can live without confusion amid the chaos and struggle and whatever stress or trial may come to me.

      1. Jesus Christ raised from death. 

      “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."  When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.^”  Luke 24:39-40

      Jesus came out of the tomb in His Resurrection Body.  Jesus was not a spirit, but had a real immortal and imperishable body. We will receive bodies like this at the final Resurrection (1 Cor 15:35-57).  Christ Jesus went up into Heaven from the Mount of Olives 40 days after His resurrection from the dead.  He is Coming Again at the End of the World.  He said so.  The prophets said so.  The angels said so. 

      “Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.  And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? 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 1:9-11

      “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.  "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." Rev 1:7-8

      “Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.”  Rev 3:11

A Prayer by Thomas Merton about Tomorrow

    “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going [in this journey of life].  I do not see the road ahead of me.  I cannot know for certain where it will end.  Nor do I really know myself [and the decisions I must make], and the fact that I think that I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.  But I believe that my desire to please You does in fact please You.  And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.  I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire [to please You].  And I know that if I do this You will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.  Therefore will I trust You always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.   I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone.”

2. I Believe He May Come At Any Time.

      "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”  Matt 24:36

      “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”2 Peter 3:8-9

      The Time is unpredictable.  We cannot know the day or the hour.  We are to earnestly haste the hour until the trumpet sounds and He comes down from Heaven with a shout!

3. I Believe He Is Coming For His Church.

      “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"  Rev 7:9-10

      “And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”  Matt 24:31

      The purpose of Paul's teaching about the end of the world is so believers will encourage each other in the face of death.  He is not promoting speculation about the end times.  As a believer, I will walk with Christ in constant fellowship, purifying myself as He is pure, living as one whose heart daily prays, saying, Your will be done.  Even so, Come Lord Jesus.

      “Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.  My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.  When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches. Because You have been my help, Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.”  Psalms 63:4-7