2. And even though we know just how important an event it will be, we still struggle to give it the consideration it deserves.

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1 THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST (Acts 1:11) Rev 22:12, 20 And behold, I am coming quickly, & My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. 20 He who testifies to these things says, Surely I am coming quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! This text had a significant meaning to the first century church, i.e., Jesus promised to come in judgment against the enemies of the church, but His words should be taken to heart by those of us in the church today. There was a young preacher who decided to preach a sermon without notes on this text in Revelation. So he worked up a good introduction & memorized his points. On Sunday morning, he stepped into the pulpit & shouted the words, Behold, I am coming quickly! But then he forgot the rest of the verse! Trying to jog his memory he quoted the verse again a little louder, Behold, I am coming quickly! But still, he couldn t remember what came next! So in a last-ditch effort to salvage his sermon, he took a few steps back & then lunged forward shouting, BEHOLD, I AM COMING QUICKLY! His momentum carried him over the lectern & into the lap of a elderly sister on the front row. He sputtered, I m so sorry, sister. She replied, It s all right. You warned me three times you were comin! The Lord has warned us multiple times that He is coming! 2. And even though we know just how important an event it will be, we still struggle to give it the consideration it deserves. a. The elderly Christian thinks more often of physical death than the 2 nd coming. b. The middle aged Christian thinks more often about preparing for old age c. Young Christians think more of the moment; to them, the 2 nd coming of Christ is an event so far in the future that they cannot even imagine it ever occurring. 3. But when the Lord finally does return, it will be as real to us as the next breath we take. A. The 2 nd coming of Christ will be an event unlike no other that has ever occurred, or ever will occur. a. It will stop us in our tracks; it will bring an abrupt end to all of our plans! 1 1. It will be the last event in human history; the last event seen with human eyes. b. We will realize then that nothing else we could have done in life could equal the importance of having prepared for that moment.

2 B. Confusion abounds in regard to the 2 nd coming of our Lord & Savior. 1. Many will not be prepared for that event, & many do not really know what to expect, but it will be the day on which we meet God in judgment. Song: Careless soul, O heed the warning, for your life will soon be gone; O how sad to face the judgment - unprepared to meet thy God. 2 Cor 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Song: There s a great day coming, a great day coming, There s a great day coming by & by, when the saints & sinners will be parted right & left, Are you ready for that day to come? When Paul stood on Mar s Hill in Athens, he declared that God has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead (Acts 17:31). [These verses about the judgment strongly imply an event that must happen first. In this lesson we will look at the biblical facts regarding the return or 2 nd coming of Jesus Christ. The first fact is the most basic.] I. JESUS IS COMING AGAIN! A. The promise of Jesus returning is not just a polite gesture to give us hope; it is a major NT theme. Jesus: John 14:3 And if I go & prepare a place for you, I will come again & receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. Acts 1:11 This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven 1 Thess 4:16-17 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, & with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive & remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 2 Peter 3:3, 9-10 scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 & saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." 9 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.10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, & the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth & the works that are in it will be burned up. 1 John 2:28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence & not be ashamed before Him at His coming. 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God; & it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 2

3 II. THE TIME IS UNKNOWN A. For centuries, date-setters of the Lord s return have lived & died with their hopes dashed. 1. I read recently that in the 2 nd century many socalled believers sold their possessions in anticipation for the Lord s imminent return. a. Eventually, law enforcement officials had to disperse them because they had resorted to stealing to survive. 3. The Watchtower Society (JW s) predicted the end of the present order of things in 1914, 1918, 1925, & After WWII, numerous pre-millennial leaders predicted that the end would be within one generation of 1948 (when Israel became a nation). 5. Today, these same false teachers misapply OT prophecy, Matthew 24 & Revelation, to prime their listeners to expect a literal earthly reign of Christ at His 2 nd coming. 2. In 1843, William Miller (Adventist) set a specific day in that year for the Lord s return. a. When it failed, he revised his calculations to 1844, which also failed. b. As he faded from the scene, Ellen White began to make her false prophetic claims. B. The inspired writers of the NT make it clear that there will be no signs to indicate Jesus 2 nd coming (Read 1 Thess 4:13-5:11). 1. How do we know there will be no signs to indicate the time of Jesus return? a. Paul said it will occur as a thief in the night. 3

4 2. There is a TV commercial that will serve to make this point: a devious looking fellow drives by a house & asks the owner, who is packing his car to go on a trip, What time are you leaving, we re going to rob your house tonight? a. The owner, NOW knowing what to expect, can prepare himself against the thief. b. But if the owner had NOT known, he would have been caught by surprise & lost many of his possessions to the thief. 3. Paul & Peter both tell us that the 2 nd coming of Christ will be as a thief in the night. a. Either that day will overtake us in a state of being unprepared to meet Him, or we will have taken the necessary precautions in preparation for that event. b. But either way, we don t know the time! III. THE EVENTS ARE KNOWN A. First, there are some events that will NOT occur: 1. It won t be a second chance for the Jews to turn to Christ (Heb 9:27-28). 2. It won t signal the start of an earthly kingdom (Lk 9:27; Acts 2:29-36; Col 1:13; 1 Cor 15:24). B. What WILL occur at the 2 nd coming of Christ? 1. Jesus Christ the Lord will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an arch angel, & with the trumpet of God (1 Thess 4:16). 2. All who are in the graves will hear His voice & be raised from the dead; some will be given life, the rest will be condemned (Jn 5:28-29). 4

5 3. Every soul of man will be given an incorruptible, spiritual, body prepared for one of two places (1 Cor 15:22-46; 2 Cor 5:1). 4. The dead in Christ will rise first (1 Thess 4:16). 9. Jesus will judge their works according to His word (Matt 25:31-33; Jn 12:48; 2 Cor 5:10; Rev 20:11-13). 10. Jesus will render a verdict on each soul & send it to its eternal destination (Matt 25:31ff). 5. The living in Christ will rise next (1 Thess 4:17). a. Together they will glorify the Lord while they are with Him in the air (2 Thess 1:10). 6. The angels will separate the righteous from the wicked & Jesus will take vengeance on those who did not obey Him (Matt 13:41-43, 49-50; 2 Th 1:7-9). a. Hell; everlasting fire, everlasting punishment (Matt 10:28; 25:41, 46). b. Heaven; eternal kingdom; eternal life (Col 1:5; Matt 25:34, 46). 11. Jesus will do away with death & Hades by casting it into the lake of fire (Rev 20:14). 7. The universe will be destroyed with fervent heat (2 Pet 3:10-12; cf. Isa 34:4; Rev 6:14). 8. Jesus will bring all the nations before Him; He will separate each person into two groups (Matt 25:31ff). Summarizing the 2 nd coming of Christ: A bodily resurrection A change of appearance; a new body 5

6 A destruction of all things material A judgment of accountable souls A separation of souls Eternal condemnation Eternal life CLOSING A. Let s go back to that young preacher who so zealously wanted to warn people about the 2 nd coming of Christ that he stumbled over himself to get the message out. 1. When we laughed at that, we were sort of laughing at ourselves, because we re not too different from him. IV. HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND? WHAT CAN WE EXPECT? 2. The world will laugh at us too for considering the 2 nd coming of Christ to be so important that we would alter our lives so differently from everyone else. A. We need to remember that if we are saved at His coming, it will be through much difficulty (1 Pet 4:18). 1. But the difficulty can be lessened if we will obey the word of God & work out our salvation with fear & trembling (Phil 2:12). Gen 19:14 Lot went out & spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, & said, "Get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!" But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking. Noah, the preacher of righteousness, obeyed God & built the ark while he preached the coming of God s judgment on the disobedient. 2 Pet 2:5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly 1 Pet 3:20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 6