Jesus and the 2nd Coming - Are You Ready ? - Notes - Sunday Meeting 4-25-21

 

The 2nd Coming –

The physical return of Jesus has been the subject of speculation and controversy since His ascension into the clouds, which is recorded in the Book of Acts. Knowing that countless millions still have studied the gospel, Food 4 Thought Bible Study Ministry is humbly committed to doing its part to complete Christ’s Great Commission before His imminent return. We say forewarned is forearmed.. Jesus said ye do err not knowing the scripture nor the power of God…

Lets pray….

Our Father in heaven we thank thee for this gathering this Sunday morning and our fellowship. We ask Lord that you recognize the needs of all those this morning who are struggling, as Hilda and her family are dealing with the deaths of children, we ask that you are with Bob this morning and minimize his pain and provide for him a speedy and uncomplicated recovery… We ask that Robert get the surgery that he needs to increase his mobility and improve his over-all well being…We ask that Marvin get relief form the torment of his eyes and that Theril find his way to balancing out his life while caring for his people….We ask this morning that we may all find peace and rest with you and in your word. Bless our humble bible study ministry and give us a broader , deeper understanding of your word. Give us your blessing on our outreach efforts so that we may lead more people to you.. We are grateful for everything this morning because we understand profoundly that but for you we are nothing….

We ask these things in Jesus’s name…

Amen

Relvent references to, , are as follows:

Savior

Acts 4:12

Sanctifier

1 Corinthians 1:30

Healer

James 5:15

Coming King

Acts 1:11



2 Angels from heaven said to the chosen Apostles “Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way that you have seen him go into heaven (Acts 1:11).

Many Great men , world wide have come to the understanding that we must be prepared daily for the 2nd coming…A Brit ,in exile and near the end of his life, Anthony Ashley Cooper, the seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, is reputed to have said: “In the last 40 years, I do not believe that I have had one conscious thought that did not include the idea of the return of Jesus Christ..

That same preoccupation is evident throughout the New Testament. It is the stated or implied reason behind nearly every ethical injunction in the writings of the apostles, and without question, it framed the life of the Early Church. The first generation of Christians even began their ordinary interactions with the greeting “Maranatha,” an Aramaic expression meaning “The Lord is coming”!

“Jesus Christ, Our Coming King” is the expression that captures the same passion exemplified by the apostles, and other devoted followers of our Lord throughout the centuries. It is, to use the words of the apostle Paul, “our blessed hope.”

Do you remember the parable of the 10 virgins..5 wise and 5 foolish ?

First of all, I’d like to look at the context of this parable with you.

Jesus had been talking to His disciples at some length about His return and when He will set up His kingdom and His marriage to His Bride (Matthew 24).

Of course, there were no chapter divisions when Matthew wrote his gospel, so we should view this parable as being connected to the last chapter. It carries on with the theme of readiness at the time of His second coming. Remember that, in the previous parable we studied, The Parable of the Wedding Feast, Jesus talked about a man at the wedding feast without a wedding garment. These stories being told together are in a similar vein of thought. To just shine a little brighter on this short story ;since it refers to the bride groom and wedding we’ll take a moment and delve into a bit of history…

Marriage customs in the days of Jesus were very different from what we are accustomed to in Western culture. This parable is a story about a typical wedding celebration in the Middle East, 2000 years ago. So this is how a typical wedding would go then.. We’ll look at that and then connect it to the parable of Jesus..

The bridegroom, along with his close friends, would make the trip to the bride's house where there would be festivities. A procession would follow this to the new home, where the couple would be the king and queen and celebrate for a week (Genesis 29:27). The bride's close friends were ten virgins or bridesmaids whose job it was to light up the way and welcome the bridegroom and his close friends to the house of the bride. They would then enter the wedding and celebrate with the bridegroom. The bridesmaids would know to go out and light up the way when they heard the sound of the bridegroom’s friends calling out, “Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!” (v. 6).

To show the way to the place of the wedding, the bridesmaids (virgins) were to trim their lamps as soon as they heard the call that the Bridegroom was near. To trim one's lamp was to cut off the burnt part of the wick so it would burn evenly again. Then, they would pull out more of the wick from the inside of the lamp causing the light to shine more brightly. Of course, this usually meant that one needed to pour more oil from the receptacles they carried (v. 4). They then welcomed the bridegroom and his friends and went to the wedding with them….

So I’ll refresh your memory on how the parable goes from Matthew 25.. this is the King James Version..

25 “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.

9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”

All ten virgins fell asleep while waiting in the dark. We might not know everything that our enemy is planning as he increases the darkness over men’s souls, but our part is to be ready, awake, watchful, and concentrate on being lights in the world to those around us. The darkness in our day has already incrementally descended to the point that many in our day are saying that those holding forth the light of God's truth are foolish. It is a prevailing thought that those who call themselves Christians are out of step with today’s reality and that we should give up such ideas that Christ would ever come and set things right. Those who are spiritually awake are admonished by the world to “go back to sleep.”

Remember the mockers who are prophesied about in the last days..??

All ten virgins represent all those that profess to be believers, but only some have the light of life while others do not. Some people are empty lamp stands that do not bear the light of Christ’s life. In any church, there are good actors and hypocrites. Among the band of disciples, Judas acted the part of a disciple, but he never truly repented—he was a hypocrite, an actor on the stage of life (John 12:4-6, John 6:70-71). Only those who have genuinely repented (turned around from sin) and received Christ and the provision of His Spirit are lights in the world (Matthew 5:14). “The human spirit is the lamp of the LORD that sheds light on one’s inmost being” (Proverbs 20:27). Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12).

The five wise virgins represent true believers. The oil in their lamps represents the Holy Spirit living in them, and of course, no one can be a believer without having the Holy Spirit: Jesus is telling us to be ready.. If we only refer to the Lord’s prayer from last week we see “give us this day our daily bread” We need to seek Him everyday. Araw – Araw

Belief in the Second Coming of Christ is rooted in the experience of the followers of Jesus who, a few days before Pentecost, gathered on a mountain to listen to the last teaching of the resurrected Christ. He commissioned them to be His “witnesses” to the entire world, and then, as they watched breathlessly, He ascended into heaven. While they stood gazing at the sky, two angels appeared and delivered this message: “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way that you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11b).

The clear implication (and the equally clear teaching of the entire New Testament on the subject) is that Christ’s Second Coming will be personal—He Himself, not some representative, will return to the earth. Further, His return will be both public and visible; that is, we will be able to see Him come. In fact, the writer of the Book of Revelation says that “every eye will see him . . .” (Rev. 1:7). We are also told that when Christ returns, He won’t be alone. He will be accompanied by “thousands of his holy ones”—angels (Jude 14)—and by “those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thess. 4:15).

Many volumes have been written exploring the events that will occur when Christ returns, but here are a few things the Bible says will happen and that’s what we’re concerned with…Jesus Christ will be vindicated in the eyes of those who crucified Him (Rev. 1:7); the whole of creation will be liberated from the curse imposed upon it after the sin of Adam in the garden (Romans 8:20–21); the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord (Isa. 11:9); God’s righteous reign will be established upon the earth for a thousand years (Rev. 20:1–6); and, ultimately, the final destruction of Satan will be accomplished (Rev. 20:7–10).

Since it is clear that the writers of the New Testament expected the Lord’s return very quickly, many skeptics have suggested that nearly 2,000 years ought to be enough time to convince us that they were mistaken. The Scripture, however, anticipates that attitude and warns us (2 Peter 3:8–10) that while God restrains His judgment (just as He did in the time of Noah) so that more time can be given for men and women to repent, this gesture of patience will be misinterpreted. Most of humanity will likely conclude that the promise of Christ’s return is nothing more than pious fiction. These will be among the mockers… His return will catch them off guard like the coming of a thief!

Over the last four decades we have seen a great many books about the Second Coming of Christ. Some we have discussed here already… Unfortunately, most were devoted to predicting when this cataclysmic event will occur (something the Bible explicitly tells us NOT to do), to debating the order of events connected to His return or to splitting the eschatological “hairs” that separate one group of evangelical believers from another. All of this speculation entirely misses the point of what the Bible says about the matter. The whole focus of the New Testament’s teaching about the return of Christ can be summarized in two simple propositions: first, because Christ is coming, we need to be ready—living lives that are pure, steadfast, prayerful, holy and reverent; and, second, because Christ is coming, we need to finish the task He has given us—the ministering of the gospel.

Maranatha! The Lord is coming. Are you ready?

As we live our lives daily, as we become a light in the world through Christ, we may consider in our prayers and in our work a set of twins so to speak. Actually it is really a coin with Truth on one side and tolerance on the other.. Not only are these concepts important for us in our Christian lives they are vital to the next generation in which you are the senior members..This morning I will be speaking of only on side of this coin..that being truth…. We believe in absolute truth including the existence of God and the right and wrong established by his commandments…We believe in all truth, no matter the subject…

I would say that no sect or domination in the world hold truths that, as Christians, we do not accept or that we will reject.. Truth will stand..truth will always endure…Jesus told Pilot that he came into the world to bear witness unto the truth..And he did. That’s good enough for me…

The unbeliever, however, may quickly respond to this by asking what is truth and how can you know it or recognise it… Jesus said “I am the way , the truth and the life”..Truth is a a knowledge of things as they were, as they are and as they will be to come…We know that the existence of God and the existence of truth are fundamental to life on this earth whether they are believed or not…We also know that evil exists and that some things are simply , seriously and everlastingly wrong…As ministers of God’s word we need to assist our brothers and sister with making the right choices in a world that has become increasingly polarized… Why is this so important? Because one of the signs of the end of times is apostasy .. This would include false Christ’s, false messages from within our own churches.. Even many of our minister and priests will be imposters, because they will have become unbelievers.. Deception is a powerful tool of Satan; and he is a master. For us to be ready we must hold fast to our righteous truths, our God and our faith.. As believers we have the challenge today of living in an amoral world where any truth including the concept of God is relative…They teach this moral relativism in the universities today.. When Jesus said I am the light of the world he was talking about a light so multidimensional that it is difficult to conceive of. The shining of truth in our pathway is but one dimension…You know, this light that of Jesus’ that will shine through us not only shows us the way it is a light which surrounds everybody around us and lights their path according to their need… As we go forward and consider the 2nd coming of our Lord through faith, love, brotherhood and the willingness to follow the example of Christ as has been left for us in the scriptures his miraculous light will shine through us. The imposters or traitors within our churches will be exposed not by shining a flood light on them but through contrast will they be exposed. This is a portion of The light gifted to us if we are living an honest and righteous life… ..

In closing let us pray,

Lord in heaven we are thankful for so much this day. We feel your presence among us and we ask for your blessing upon all of us and on this gathering of souls before you this morning and their loved ones. We are eternally grateful for prayers answered, for your love, guidance and your word.. Open our hearts this morning and allow each one of us to receive the substance that will lift them higher. Help us each day to reach out to our brothers and sisters in need and to spread the good news of the gospel as was the mission 2000 years ago. We are grateful this morning for your grace and generosity toward us ..for your forgiveness and for your steadfast love.. even though we do not deserve it…

We give thanks and ask all in Jesus’ name

Amen