THE SECOND ADVENT Making Sense Through a Review of the First Advent

WHAT DO YOU REALLY KNOW ABOUT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST? WHAT ARE THE MAIN TERMS RELATED TO THE SECOND COMING? RAPTURE MILLENNIUM TRIBULATION ANTICHRIST MARK OF THE BEAST How do you put all these together? 144,000 WITNESSES 24 ELDERS JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT ETC.

MAIN THESIS OF OUR STUDY TODAY: To understand the Second Coming of Jesus, We must understand his First Coming and how that worked. {Note: Those hoping for an exposition on the rapture, tribulation, millennium, etc. – SORRY TO DISAPPOINT YOU! MAYBE ANOTHER TIME…}

A LOOK AT 1 PETER 1: – Our Salvation & Living Hope – Anticipation of the Prophets 13-16ff – Our Response to Hope (purity, obedience, faithfulness) 10) Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11) inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12) It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

WHAT DID THE PROPHETS HEAR & KNOW? Prophecy from the Spirit of Christ/Messiah. Messianic Prophecies – where? Sufferings of Messiah. Name some passages… Subsequent Glories. Name some passages… Sufferings of Messiah = FIRST ADVENT Subsequent Glories = SECOND ADVENT In Between…. CHURCH HISTORY But, how could they have known?

WHAT DID THE JEWS BELIEVE ABOUT THE MESSIAH? Sadducees & Herodians Pharisees & Most Jews Essenes (Qumran; Dead Sea Scrolls) Did not believe in a Messiah – thus, free to cooperate with Rome. Believed in a delivering Messiah – prophecies of “Glory” TWO MESSIANIC FIGURES: 1.Suffering Messiah – Priestly (Aaron) 2.Glorious Messiah – Kingly (David)

CRUCIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR 1 ST ADVENT: Jews before and at the time of Jesus had two missing pieces: 1.The Resurrection of the Messiah after his death. 2.The SECOND Coming of the Messiah at a later point in history. Is there any way they could have known this? POINT: Everyone Got It Wrong (Including the 12 Apostles) Essential information was missing from their database of prophecies. In fact, many of the prophecies only made sense after the first advent.

CRUCIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR 2 ND ADVENT: Can Christians presume to have all the data related to the 2 nd Advent? CRUCIAL FACTOR: Humility Embrace what is “known” – Note the Nicene Creed! Resist dogmatism on what is “unknown” or “uncertain” ESSENTIAL POINTS OF THE SECOND ADVENT: Focus upon… “BLESSED HOPE” – “Christ will come again!” (restoration of all things) “HOLY LIFE” – “what manner of persons ought we to be…?” “OBEDIENCE” – urgency of the Christian mission.

TERMS USED IN RELATION TO THE SECOND COMING Second Coming = Second Advent = Revelation of Jesus Christ Millennium = 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ on the earth (Rev.20). Various Positions: Premillennial; Postmillennial; Amillennial Tribulation = a 7-year period of great tribulation upon the earth (Anti- Christ, etc.) Rapture = the removal of Christians or the Church prior to Christ’s Second Coming. Various Positions: Pre-Tribulational; Mid-Tribulational; Post-Tribulational

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE 2 ND COMING Will Jesus literally reign upon the earth for a period of time (1000 years)? If you say no – you might believe in no millennium at all (You are Amillennialist) If you say no – you might believe that the Church will bring in a time of peace upon the earth through its mission after which Christ will come again (You are Postmillennialist). If you say yes – you believe in the millennium and Christ comes to establish it (You are Premillennialist). For those who are Premillennial, will there be a 7-year period of tribulation before the second coming of Christ to establish his kingdom? For those who say yes, will there be a rapture of the church before the tribulation (Pre-tribulation)?