Jesus – First and Second Coming
Yes, Jesus is coming twice. His first coming was about 2000 years ago and His second coming is still in our future. His first coming was such an event that even our calendar is based upon it. His second coming will usher in a new event that will change history.
His First Coming Was a Real Event
Almost everyone, even those who do not believe in who Jesus was and is, still believe that He was born on the earth. Even Muslims accept the fact that Jesus was a real person that lived on the earth. This is even true of the Jews, even though they don’t accept Him as their Messiah.
The first coming of Jesus was a very humbling experience for Him. He purposely humbled Himself and made Himself a human servant so that He could taste death for all human beings.
Jesus Left His Divinity In Heaven
Hebrews 2:7 (NIV) says: “You made him a little lower than the angels.” Then verse 9 restates the same fact. Jesus brought Himself down to our level so that He could raise us up to His own level.
Hebrews 2:14 (NIV) says: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death–that is, the devil.” Jesus allowed Himself to become fully human so that He could do what we could not do, that is, defeat Satan and his power that he had gained over us.
Jesus then gives us the opportunity to simply accept what He did for us and then accept Him as our Lord and Savior. When we do this, He gives us eternal life, as John 3:16 says. Jesus permitted Himself to be persecuted, rejected, abused, and finally crucified, so He could become “the sin bearer” of God and thus save the world.
Yes, at His first coming, Jesus humbled Himself and became a human, with a body exactly like ours.
By the way, when Jesus arose from the dead, He had a new body. This was not an earthly body, made from the dust of the earth, but rather a heavenly body created in heaven. And guess what? We who have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior will have that same kind of body when we die (or are raptured). 1 Cor. 15:49 (NIV) says: “And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.”
Jesus’ Second Coming Will Also Be a Real Event
Yes, just a surely as He came the first time, Jesus will come again. But his time He will come in “power and glory.” Luke 21:27 (NIV): “At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”
When Jesus ascended into heaven, an angel appeared to those who were watching and said “Acts 1:11 (NIV): “’Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘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 you have seen him go into heaven.’”
This second time He comes as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Rev. 17:14 (NIV): “They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings.”
Most people did not recognize Jesus at His first coming. But everyone will be aware of His second coming. Rev. 1:7 (NIV): “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him.” And again in Jude 1:14 (NIV): “Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones.”
Jesus Comes With The Full Power Of His Godhead
God, the Father, has given Jesus the full power of the Godhead. John 5:26-27 (NIV): “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.”
Jesus has the authority over all creation. 1 Peter 3:22 (NIV) says of Jesus: “who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand–with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.”
His first task will be to reap the harvest, that is, to rapture all born-again Christians from the earth. This is the Rapture.
Rev. 14:14-16 (NIV): “I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one ‘like a son of man’ (Jesus) with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in His hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to Him who was sitting on the cloud, ‘Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.’ So He who was seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.”
His second task will be to destroy the evil in the world. Read Rev. 19:11-21. Thus, the dragon (Satan), the false prophet and all whose who followed them will be destroyed.
His third task will be to set up His kingdom on the earth. Rev. 11:15 (NIV): “The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.’”
Are You Looking Forward To This?
I don’t know when Jesus will come again, either for His Church or to set up His Kingdom here on the earth. But all the signs point to the fact that it is going to be really soon. Be prepared by going to “How To Live Forever” and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
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