Sound The Trumpet : Yet Two Comings of Christ ?

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“Yet Two Comings of Christ ?”
by Art Sadlier
June 1st, 2009

There are Yet Two Comings of Christ to the Earth

There is a question often asked: “Where in the New Testament does it say there are yet two comings of Christ?” We respond with another question, “Where in the Old Testament does it say there would be two comings of Christ?”

The fact is that it does not state in so many words in the Old Testament that there were yet two comings of Christ. However the O.T. teaches clearly that there was to be two comings of Christ. The same situation applies in the New Testament, it does not plainly state that there will yet be two comings of Christ, but it does clearly teach that there are yet two comings of Christ.

In the Old Testament we read about Christ (Messiah) coming to die, even the method of His death, crucifixion, is described in detail. In contrast to that we also read that He is coming in glory to rule this world, these are of necessity two separate comings. We have a classic verse that presents this idea, Isaiah 61:2 refers to both comings without any explanation, “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, (First Coming) and the day of vengeance of our God”, (Second Coming). We have the same principal in Mat. 24, we have, without explanation, reference to both the rapture and the second coming.

In the New Testament we have two irreconcilable accounts of Christ’s coming, the only way they can be reconciled is to realize that they are talking about two separate comings of Christ. They are talking about the rapture and about the second coming.

Christ has two purposes in His comings.

At that time the Judgment seat of Christ is to take place and marriage of the Lamb is to be prepared for.

2. A second purpose is to come to the earth visibly in power and glory to destroy Antichrist, to bring judgment upon an unbelieving world at Armageddon, to rescue Israel’s surviving remnant and to set up the millennial kingdom, Zech. 13:9 Zech. 14:1-4,9.

These two purposes could never fit into one event. They involve a sequence of events and a time lapse.

When Christ comes He will meet the saints in the air and return to Heaven with them. When Christ comes, His feet will “stand in that day upon the mount of Olives”. It is obvious that these are two separate events separated by a period of time.

Jude 14, “....the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed,...” That is irreconcilable with 1 Thess.4:17 where we are told that we will “meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord”. These of necessity must be two separate events.

Christ comes when “no man knoweth the day nor the hour”. Christ comes when “every eye shall see him”. Which is it? They are two separate events.

Christ takes His Bride home to heaven with Him. Christ comes with His Bride arrayed in fine linen, having been purged at the judgment seat of Christ. These are two separate events.

When Christ comes life will be normal, they will be marrying and giving in marriage and eating and drinking, there will be no expectation of impending judgment. Men will be working in the fields and grinding at the mill. When Christ comes, men will be hiding in the caves of the earth in fear of the impending judgment of God. These are two obviously different scenarios and two different time frames.

Christ comes when even Christians are sound asleep, Matt. 25:5. No one will be sleeping when the battle of Armageddon is raging and the world is destroyed, and Christ comes, again we have two separate comings.

Christ comes to take the church back to Heaven to be with Him, John 14:3 and Christ brings the church to earth to reign with Him a thousand years, Revelation. 19:11-14, Revelation 20: 4, 6.

As Noah was taken off the earth prior to the flood and lifted up in the ark of safety, and as Lot was taken up to the mountains to escape the judgment of God. In like manner the church, the bride of Christ will be taken from the earth before the awful world-wide wrath of God falls upon this world during the tribulation period.

Woven into the warp and woof of all of the scriptures is the teaching and promises of God that the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will inherit the Promised Land forever. Christ will rule and reign on the throne of David in Jerusalem, He will reign over Israel and the world.

The scripture is also a record of a great warfare that has been raging since the fall of Adam. The battle is over who will rule this world, Satan or God? God is not just going to destroy this world so that Satan cannot rule over it, which would be the defeat of God’s purpose. God had a purpose when He created this world as a home for man, and He will fulfill His purpose.

Psalm 104:5, 148:6, along with other scriptures tell us that the earth will stand forever. At the end of the Millennium, the Heavens and the Earth will be renovated, Psalm 102:26, Rev. 21:1. To teach, as the Amills teach, that the earth is just going to cease to exist, is to attack the program and purposes of God.

Amillenialism is an attack on God’s word, an attack on the purposes of God and an attack on Israel. It is an attack on the church today, an attempt to confuse the church about what God is doing and going to do in the world. It is an attempt to prevent the church from living in anticipation of Christ’s any moment return, which Paul tells us is a purifying hope. It is an attempt by Satan to discredit what God is doing and intends to do through Israel. It is a source of confusion for the people of God.

The Amillenialists have no message; they occupy their time in discrediting what God’s word teaches. They set up straw men and attack them. What J.N. Darby taught and where he learned it has nothing to do with what the scripture teaches about the premillenial rapture and the whole program of God for Israel. To say that the tribulation period took place in 70AD, and that the Devil is now bound and that we are now in the Millennium is foolishness. Where today do we see the wolf lying down with the lamb, where do we see the lion eating straw like the ox? Satan is not bound; in fact his power and influence are growing by the day.

I acknowledge that there are Amillenialists who are sincere in what they believe, but they are sincerely wrong and are dishonouring God, His word and His purposes and bringing great confusion at a crucial hour in the church’s history.

Replacement Theology is the child of Amillenialism; it replaces Israel and does away with her altogether; that is the program of the devil. Satan hates Israel and has constantly sought to destroy her. He seeks to destroy Israel to prevent God from fulfilling His purposes for Israel. Christ will reign over this world from Jerusalem, ruling over Israel on the throne of David. Satan desires to rule this world in place of God. Amillenialists join with Satan in seeking to reject Israel.

Amillenialism is Roman Catholic Theology, invented when the Roman Emperor Constantine became head of the church. The Roman Church of that day transferred the promises of God to Israel to themselves, making the church and the pope ruler of an earthly kingdom.

When the reformation came, the Mainline State Churches restored some of the great truths that had been lost, for example, salvation is by grace and not by works. The same reformation churches failed to complete the reformation, for example they held on to infant baptism. They also held on to Roman Catholic eschatology. That explains why premillenial eschatology was not taught during the long dark ages of the Roman Church, and why it was not taught during the era of the reformation church. Just as the reformation churches recovered the doctrine of salvation by grace without works, so the Philadelphian Church of the 18th and 19th centuries recovered the doctrine of the premillenial rapture.

The eschatology of Rome, which is seeking to build a world kingdom based on religion, will ultimately produce the world wide apostate harlot church of Revelation 17.

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13