THE SECOND COMING
by Dr. Charles L Feinberg
M uch has been written pro and con concerning the second com ing of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the final analysis, the Scripture is the only authority for our verification and understanding. There are those, even in theological circle®, who call the return of Christ mere specula tion. What a tragic fact, when the most blessed hope for our hearts is the reality of His return! Through out both Old and New Testaments we find such references as, “He shall come, and all the saints with Him.” Verses like Zechariah 14:5ff remind us that, “They shall look unto me whom they pierced and mourn Him as for an only son.” Did you know that the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ is specifically men tioned more than 300 times in the New Testament? Just as in a court case we can call witnesses to the stand, here we have from the Bible great testi monies of assurance on this stra tegic doctrine. Note His very words in John 14:1-3, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and pre pare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, ye may be also.” John records His exhortation in Revelation 20:12: “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me.” Then, we have the witness of the evangelists, writers, who un der the Spirit of God’s direction, prepared the four Gospels. Every single one of them mentions Christ’s coming back again, (Matthew 16: 26, 19:28, chapters 24 and 25; Mark 8:38; Luke 12:35ff; John 1:51). There is also equally good evidence of His return from the two angelic
visitors in white at the ascension of our Lord given to us in Acts 1 :10, 11. Then in distant advice, we have the witness of the apostles. Paul tells us in Philippians 3 that our citizen ship is inherited from one’s whole some relationship with the Saviour who shaH change the body of our human fashion, and make it like the body of His glory whereby he is able to subdue all things unto Himself. To the Thessalonian believers the ex hortation is to holy living, while they await God’s Son from heaven, “even Jesus, who has delivered us from the wrath to come.” Then, there is that great truth in Titus 2:13. I hope you will look up these and the other wonderful references in the Word of God. The other apos tles speak of this great event, too (James 5:7, II Peter 3:1-16, I John 2:28). Jude tells us in the last epis tle of the New Testament, “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and convict all ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds, which they have committed with all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him” (Jude 15. New Scofield Refer ence Bible). Then consider the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper. We are to ob serve it “until He comes.” That’s what’s happening every time you partake of the communion. If He had already come, there wouldn’t be any need for the remembrance. If this weren’t enough, consider the witness of God Himself. I haven’t lived one conscious hour over the 40 years since I was saved that was not influenced by the com- 29
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