Posted on 04/08/2024 5:22:39 PM PDT by grumpa
Most Christians think of the Second Coming of Jesus as a five-foot-five Jewish man (with long hair and ancient Jewish clothing) literally riding on a cloud down to earth—and walking around the streets of Jerusalem. But is this the correct understanding of what the Bible teaches?
Interestingly, of the two dozen passages about the Parousia in the New Testament, only one (Acts 1:9-11) does not have a specific or implied time limitation to occur during the lifetimes of those living in the first century.
Many Christians have misunderstood what Jesus meant by his Parousia, because they do not know their Old Testament. He was not to come physically, but rather to “come” in the sense of judging the Jewish nation—just as God came multiple times in the Old Testament to judge the Jews or their enemies. Compare the language in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:29-31) or John’s Apocalypse (Revelation 6:12-17) to the apocalyptic language set in cosmic language in the Old Testament of past judgments by God: Isaiah 13:10-13 (against Babylon), Isaiah 24:3 (against Israel), Isaiah 34:4 (against Edom), Jeremiah 4:23-31 (against Judah and Jerusalem), Ezekiel 32:7-8 (against Pharaoh and Egypt), Joel 3:15-16 (against the nations), Amos 5:20; 8:9 (against Israel), Micah 1:2-16 (against Israel and Judah), Zephaniah 1:14-15 (against Judah, Jerusalem, and Judah’s enemies). In these instances, nobody saw God, but certainly saw the effects of his coming.
(Excerpt) Read more at prophecyquestions.com ...
bro...just post the answer in several posts back to yourself.
The website on the chart is not mine. Furthermore Free Republic limits partial articles to 300 words. So, to offer an extra long article it is necessary to link to the original article. So glad to hear from you!
Why is the time of 1260 days in Revelation symbolic along with the 1/4 and 1/3 of humanity being killed, yet when exact numbers are used elsewhere in the NT it is literal? Why does any reference or warning to the church suddenly stop after the seven letters if the church is still present during the events depicted?
Acts 1:11
““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.”
Do like one of the RCs….just post multiple replies to yourself.
He’s not coming to us per se. We must go to Him. (He’s actually all ready here, but most cannot see or hear Him)
He prepared a place for us and is there waiting, while sending the Holy Spirit to help us find our way to Him.
The whole point is that Etenity will be PHYSICAL. It will not just be in clouds somewhere.
Ya beat me to it. I was gonna post that exact verse.
On the sunny side!
What if that's the side of Adam that God used to create Eve, the mother of all living. 😊
Isaiah 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
The second coming = the Day of the Lord
The second coming/Day of the Lord is the time period that immediately follows the Great Tribulation during which Christ rescues His elect and defeats Satan and his incarnation as the Antichrist.
It begins with the rapture and ends with Christ returning to earth, casting the Antichrist and his false prophet into the Lake of Fire, and sitting on the throne of His father David to begin His 1000-year earthly reign.
While some prophecies were fulfilled in 70 AD, many were not. Here are 3 big ones:
1) Elijah must come first.
Matthew 17:11 NKJV
Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.”
2) The Antichrist must come first.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 NKJV
Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition.
3) The cataclysmic sign Joel predicted (which was reaffirmed in the New Testament) must come first.
Joel 2:31 NKJV
The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
Matthew 24:29-30 NKJV
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Revelation 6:12-17 NKJV
I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
Isaiah 2:12-21 NKJV
For the day of the LORD of hosts Shall come upon everything proud and lofty, Upon everything lifted up— And it shall be brought low— Upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, And upon all the oaks of Bashan; Upon all the high mountains, And upon all the hills that are lifted up; Upon every high tower, And upon every fortified wall; Upon all the ships of Tarshish, And upon all the beautiful sloops. The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; The LORD alone will be exalted in that day, But the idols He shall utterly abolish. They shall go into the holes of the rocks, And into the caves of the earth, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily. In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver And his idols of gold, Which they made, each for himself to worship, To the moles and bats, To go into the clefts of the rocks, And into the crags of the rugged rocks, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily.
When Jesus publicly proclaimed Himself to be the Messiah, He read from this passage:
Isaiah 61:1-2 NKJV
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God.
Notice that He abruptly closed the scroll when He read this and left out this last phrase (and remainder), stopping mid-sentence:
Luke 4:17-21 NKJV
And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
The next line has not yet been fulfilled. When He comes a second time, it will be the Day of Lord/ “day of vengeance of our God”.
THIS HAS NOT HAPPENED YET.
For the elect the Day of the Lord is the Day of Salvation and Day of Christ, but for the world it is the Day of Wrath:
Hebrews 9:28 NKJV
So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
Isaiah 13:9 NKJV
Behold, the day of the LORD comes, Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, To lay the land desolate; And He will destroy its sinners from it.
2 Peter 3:3-4, 10, & 15 NKJV (excerpted)
Scoffers will come in the last days... saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation”...
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up...
and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you.
when I see comments like yours, I wonder about the humbleman who tended to comment similarly, do we know what’s become of him?
>> I wonder about the humbleman who tended to comment similarly, do we know what’s become of him?
IIRC, humblegunner enjoyed some sort of financial windfall and is happily running a ranch he bought somewhere in Texas.
Also:
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
King James Version
13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
And also:
One Corinthians :-) 15:
51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Is that the posters name?
OK You have convinced me.
Jesus has come again.
We are now in the blessed and happy Kingdom of God.
I can tell from seeing and hearing what is going on all around.
“Most Christians think of the Second Coming of Jesus as a five-foot-five Jewish man (with long hair and ancient Jewish clothing) literally riding on a cloud down to earth—and walking around the streets of Jerusalem.”
Really? Why a five-foot-five Jewish man (with long hair and ancient Jewish clothing)? I can’t say that resembles any vague concept of Jesus that I had, I pictured Jesus as fairly tall, and dressed in “modern” clothing or whatever they wear in heaven. And where did the author get a consensus view of what “most Christians” think Jesus would look like? I haven’t the faintest idea what anyone else would be expecting, but I have the feeling that short Jew is not up there in top spot. I have on occasion said “Jesus Christ” after watching Larry David but it wasn’t for that reason ... I recall hearing about a mile-high Jesus once, not sure if it meant a mile tall or he would return to earth in Denver.
The second coming of Jesus, and the first coming of alien life, is AI, alien intelligence. Everyone being able to chat two-way with the silicon incarnation of Jesus as a close personal friend all day long will be... different. If like Papa Francisco it starts spewing communist talking points, that would be Jesus’s evil twin. Everyone gets the God they deserve.
Physical is totally a matter of perception.
As you grow closer to God, even consciousness itself becomes physical and material.
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