They did not
find out about the second coming until He had disappeared in a cloud after the
resurrection (Acts 1:11).
John the Baptist asked, “Are You
the Coming One, or do we look for another?”
Where did he get that expression? What did the disciples mean when they asked,
“What will be the sign of your coming…” (Mat 24:3)? Since they did not even believe that He would
die and arise from the dead, how could they be asking about His second coming?
The only coming they knew about before that was the one mentioned in Daniel
7:13. In that coming He was ascending to the heavenly court scene of the
Ancient of Days. He was going up; not down.
“I was watching in the night visions, And
behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He
came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him” (Dan 7:13).
Jesus
said to the high priest, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the
right hand of the Power, and coming with
the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62). [When did the high priest see this? He
saw it when He died 10 years later, in A.D. 40.]
“For
the Son of Man will come in the glory of
His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his
works” (Mat 16:27). [Coming in the Father’s glory has to do
with rewards on Judgment Day.]
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy
angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory” (Mat 25:31).
[When did He sit on the throne of His glory? It was when He
ascended and sat down at the right hand of God the Father.]
“Behold,
He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him,
even they who pierced Him” (Rev 1:7) [Every eye will see this on Judgment
Day.]
Time
Indicators
“As I looked, thrones
were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat… a thousand thousands served
him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in
judgment, and the books were opened” (Daniel 7:9-10).
“The Ancient of Days came, and a
judgment was made…” (Daniel 7:22).
When
Did This Judgment Take Place?
“Now is the
judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if
I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself. This He said, signifying by what death He would
die” (John 12:31-33).
Jesus said this a couple
days before He was crucified. The judgment mentioned by Daniel 7:9 & 22 then
took place at the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. He ascended to
the Ancient of Days, the court was seated, the books were opened, and a
judgment was made against the beast and in favor of the saints. At that time He
came in the glory of His Father and sat down at the right hand of power “from
that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool” (Heb 10:13). “Then comes
the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to
all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all
enemies under His feet. The last enemy that
will be destroyed is death” (1 Cor
15:24-26).
Jesus cursed the scribes and Pharisees
seven times while in the temple and said,
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem… your house is left to you desolate” (Matthew
23:37-39 ESV). Then He walked out and told His disciples that a day was coming
when not one stone would be left standing in that place. The disciples asked
when that would happen and what would be the sign of His coming and the end of
the age. He answered that it would be fulfilled in that generation (Mat 24:34).
Forty years later (A.D. 70) His prophecy was fulfilled. The destruction of
Jerusalem was not His coming. It was the sign of His coming. It was the sign
that He had come. They did not ask when He would come. They asked what would be
the sign of His coming and the end of the age. The destruction of Jerusalem was
both. It was the end of the Old Testament age.
Stephen was stoned to death for saying,
“Jesus of Nazareth will destroy
this place and change the customs which Moses
delivered to us” (Acts 6:14).
Jesus came in His glory to the Ancient
of Days, and all the angels with Him. “A thousand thousands ministered to Him”
(Dan 7:10 & 13).
The
Nations Are Now Gathered Before Him
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and
all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him
will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:31-32 ESV).
God tells His Son, “For the nation and
kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, And those nations shall be utterly ruined” (Isaiah 60:12). “Ask of Me,
and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of
the earth for Your possession. You
shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a
potter’s vessel” (Psalm 2:8-9). He is doing it by converting them. The stats
below prove it.
churchofthekingmcallen.com
http://ronsmithmission.blogspot.com/
