Witnessing Activities
Special Lectures
| Lecture 39 : [Principle of the Second Coming 1] When and How will Christ Return? | |
|---|---|
| Date created : 2015-06-17/ Views : 1530 | |
Principle of the Second Coming 1
Chapter 39 When and How will Christ Return?
Welcome back to the path to happiness, an introduction to the Unification principle. I’m your host, Dr. Tyler Hendricks.
The battles we are facing today, around the world, are with the powers of fear, hatred and ignorance that call upon coercion, whether by statist authority or the barrel of a gun, to block the world of true peace, freedom and love.
We must absolutely win this war of ideas and culture, by living the Word of God.
The Lord of the Second Advent will show us the truth and spirit to win this war.
But this brings us back to the perennial question: how will we recognize the Lord?
It’s not an easy question to answer. Jesus said, “For the Son of man shall come” (Matt 16:27), and went on to say, “But about that day and hour no one knows.” (Matt 24:36) He said that the Lord “comes as a thief in the night” (Rev. 3:3). Therefore, so many Christians have made guesses about when, how and where Jesus will return, for they know that in Amos 3:7, it says that God does nothing without revealing his plan to his servant the prophets.
It is clear that God will reveal the Lord’s coming to the faithful who are living in the light (1 Thessalonians 5:4). At Jesus’ first coming, God revealed his coming to John the Baptist and his family (Luke 1:40-43), to the wise men from the east, to Simon, Anna and shepherds watching the fields at night (Luke 2).
Let’s be those shepherds, and begin with the question, when will Christ return?
From the standpoint of providence of restoration, Jesus will come at the conclusion of the two thousand year long period of restoration that displays uncanny parallels. By this parallel pattern, at the end of world war 1, the period of 400 years for the preparation period for the second coming of Christ concluded. And if we add the numbers of years in the parallels, the total is 1930. So between 1917 and 1930 would be set by God as the beginning of the new era of Christ; the time of the Second Advent.
************************************************************************************************
In what manner will the Christ arrive? Even today, some believe that he will come on the clouds. The origin of this belief is in the book of Revelation 1:7, “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the people of the earth will mourn because of him”.
But will he literally appear on the clouds? It is difficult to believe something that sounds like a fantasy to occur in real life. This is the reason people in our common sense culture lose faith and abandon Christianity.
Let us look at a biblical precedent. In the old testament, Daniel predicted,” In my vision I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven”(Daniel 7:13). Here, ‘one like a son of man’ directly points to the coming messiah, Jesus. But this same Jesus, who was prophesied to appear in the clouds, was born of a woman.
Let us consider another biblical precedent. The prophet Malachi predicted that Elijah would come on the day the Lord comes. Everyone knew that Elijah ascended to heaven in a chariot of fire, so they expected him to return that way. (Malachi 4:5)
************************************************************************************************
Elijah did come again as John the Baptist (Matt 11:14). But John the Baptist did not come in clouds, he was born as a son to Zechariah on this earth (Luke 1:13). Thus, through the example of birth of Jesus and second coming of Elijah as John the Baptist, we know that biblical prophecies of comings in the clouds are metaphorical, not literal.
In fact, there are words in the Bible that Christ will come in flesh and blood, that make sense only from the perspective that the messiah will come in the flesh. 2 John 1:7 says, ”I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist”. It declares that even after Jesus’ life, many denied that he came in flesh and blood. The tendency to spiritualize the messiah is very strong, but we cannot let it lead us to belief in the clouds prophecy.
Also Scripture says that Jesus will go through tremendous suffering at his second coming, the world will ignore Him as they did Noah. Luke 17:25 says, “But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of man”.
If the Lord really came in the clouds in front of the world, how is he ever going to suffer and be ignored? What Jesus said only make sense if the Lord comes in the flesh.
************************************************************************************************
Why did Jesus talk about going through suffering and being ignored at his second coming? He predicted it based on the suffering, mistrust and persecution he himself went through. The second coming is not happening on the clouds, with trumpets and glory, but since he will come as quietly, like a thief, in flesh and blood, he warned that the world will make him suffer.
Luke 18:8 says “I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”. As we approach the end of the last days, and the number of believers with strong faith will increase, they will surely give a grand welcome to the Lord who comes in the clouds. Why did Jesus question whether he would find faith on earth? This question makes no sense if the Lord comes in the clouds. It only makes sense if Jesus knew that he would return as a man of flesh and blood, who they don’t recognize.
According to the principle of creation, human beings are made up of a physical body and a spiritual body. We fell both spiritually and physically. Therefore we require not only spiritual salvation but physical salvation as well.
Jesus, who comes as a savior to give physical and spiritual rebirth, therefore cannot only come in spirit. He should come as a complete existence of both spirit and body. He needs to come as True Parents to renew us spiritually as well as physically.
If Jesus had not been crucified, that is, if his religion and government had accepted and served him, there would be no need for the second coming. The Old Testament says nothing about two comings of the messiah. But everyone distrusted Jesus and he was crucified. He resurrected in order to fulfill the mission of messiah, gathered his disciples who had lost faith, and handed over the keys to the spiritual kingdom and told them that he would return soon.
************************************************************************************************
Therefore the Lord has to come in flesh, just as he did in his first coming. Also, atonement is only possible for what is physically assumed on earth. Jesus redeemed individual spiritual life, but to restore our physical being he needs to come in flesh to accomplish marriage and family life, just like us. He cannot rescue human beings tainted with original sin by coming in spirit only. He must come in a physical body.
Well then, what then is the meaning behind Lord coming in the clouds? Clouds are formed when water evaporates and rises in the atmosphere. In the Bible, water signifies fallen human beings (Revelation 17:15), and also crowds or masses of people (Hebrews 12:1) and clouds signify higher values and higher love. The skies are called the heavens, even though we know that heaven is not out in space in orbit around the earth. Coming on the clouds signifies that the Lord will come as the central figure surrounded by crowds of faithful, God-centered believers. This is a momentous statement. Back when I was a teenager, there was a poster of Jesus walking into a Sunday service, and all the people avoiding him, looking away, feeling uncomfortable. It raises a serious question: if you lived in Jerusalem when Jesus was on earth, would you have recognized him? Would you have given up everything to follow him? If it’s true that Jesus will come back as the Bible says, this generation is going to have to answer this question.
Thanks for listening, and I pray that God will guide us all.
