The Second Advent (12/17/2023)

So this morning we are going to begin a two -part message on the advent of Christ, or the advents, plural.

The word advent simply means arrival or coming. So next week for Christmas we'll look at the first advent, but today we're going to focus on the second advent and the promise that Jesus made that he will come again.

So let's turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 14. We'll start here,

John chapter 14, but before we read from John, one of the most memorable verses that you hear around Christmastime is

Luke chapter 2, verse 14, which says, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.

So the idea was supposed to be when the Messiah arrives on earth, he would bring peace.

But instead, what Jesus offered, men rejected.

The scripture says he came unto his own, but his own did not receive him. So 2 ,000 years later, because mankind did not receive the

Prince of Peace, what, still no peace on earth, even after Christ came. Another verse we hear around Christmastime is

Isaiah 9, 6, which says, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.

So it kind of begs the question, when are all these things going to happen? When will we finally have peace on earth?

Well, the earth will not know peace until it first receives the

Prince of Peace. So that hymn, ironically, that hymn, Joy to the

World, that we sing around Christmastime, it's actually talking about not the first advent, but the second advent.

That line, let earth receive her king. What happens then?

That's when heaven and nature will sing, when Jesus arrives back on this earth.

But before then, a lot has to happen. Jesus is going to take his people home.

Towards the end, there's going to be a time of tribulation upon the earth. A great end times battle will have to be fought.

But seeing as though it's Christmas, we're not going to focus on those darker things. We're going to focus on those things that bring us joy.

So we're going to be looking at Christ and his coming again, and the second advent.

So let's begin. John 14, verses 1 through 3. Jesus speaking to his disciples.

He says, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.

In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you.

I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

So where is Jesus today? He promised he would come again. He will come again.

And when he comes again, he's going to take his people to be where he is. So where is

Jesus today? Well, he's in heaven today. So whenever he comes back, he's going to first take his people to heaven.

But of course, the term second advent is right. His arrival implies his arrival back to earth.

So there's actually going to be two phases of the second coming, if you will.

The time where Christ takes his people to be with him in heaven, and then when he actually returns to the earth.

So that's not all going to happen at the same moment. But let's first focus on this statement, this promise that Jesus will come again.

He tells his disciples in verse one, let not your heart be troubled.

So this is one of the most common sayings of Jesus. You know, fear not. Don't be afraid.

Let not your heart be troubled. He's constantly saying this through the gospels, and that's still true today.

The message of Christ for his people is, you know, don't be afraid. You have nothing to fear. Let not your heart be troubled.

He says, if you believe in God, believe also in me. So just as you believe in God and believe what

God says, he's telling his disciples, believe in me as well. Believe what I am about to tell you, because Jesus was going to tell them something amazing.

Well, first he says in my father's house are many mansions. So the father's house, we understand he's talking about heaven.

So in heaven, he's giving us a little foretaste, a little glimpse of what it's going to be like in heaven.

There are many mansions. You know, the term could be interpreted rooms or dwelling places.

But the translators of the King James Bible decided to go with mansion because it really helps to, you know, a room.

Hey, there's many rooms in heaven. Well, you think of your room here on earth, and maybe it's not all that wonderful.

But in heaven, it's going to be amazing. So it might not be a literal mansion as we would think of it.

Maybe it will. I don't know. But the point is, heaven is going to be beyond your comprehension.

It's going to be that wonderful. So in my father's house are many mansions. If we're not so,

I would have told you. So Jesus, let's just start out here. Jesus is affirming the idea of an afterlife.

Now, that's important because not all the Jews of his time believed in an afterlife.

And that's actually true for professing Christians today. I know it's kind of hard for us to imagine that being part of a

Bible -believing church. But there are many churches where you go and you talk to the people there and even the leadership.

And they don't actually believe in a literal heaven or an afterlife. And that was true for the

Jews. There were many Jews who believed in life after death. And then some that didn't.

There are two main groups among the Jews. Two theological camps. There were the

Pharisees and the Sadducees. And we know the Pharisees are a group that Jesus often sparred with them.

But actually, Jesus affirms that the Pharisees were correct in that, yes, there is life after death.

As opposed to the Sadducees, which said what? There is nothing supernatural, no angels, no life after death.

And, of course, the joke is that's why they're sad, you see. So if you can't remember the difference between the

Pharisees and Sadducees, the Sadducees are sad because there's no heaven.

So let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 for a moment. And we'll get a little information, a little detail of what it's going to look like when

Jesus does return. This has been called the Christian's blessed hope.

And it's certainly my blessed hope. As I get older and my body doesn't cooperate with me,

I look forward to a new body, as many of you, I'm sure, can relate.

1 Corinthians chapter 15, let's begin in verse 35.

So Jesus already, in John 14, he promised to his disciples, I will come again. We saw that, right?

Okay, so here's a few more details. 1 Corinthians 15, look at verse 35.

The apostle Paul says, but someone will say, how are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?

So this is the question that Paul is addressing. The afterlife, but more specifically, the resurrection from the dead.

Not Jesus' resurrection, but the resurrection of Christians. Skip ahead to verse 49.

Paul writes, and as we have borne the image of the man of dust, that is, Adam, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man, that's

Christ. Verse 50, now this we say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption.

That is, you're not going to get to heaven the way you are now. You are not suitable for heaven the way you are.

So there has to be a change. Look at verse 51, he says, behold, I tell you a mystery.

This is something that people in time past didn't understand. We shall not all sleep, that is, we shall not all die, but we shall all, that is, all

Christians, shall be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is your sting? O Hades, or the grave, where is your victory?

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our

Lord Jesus Christ. You realize what he's saying, that just as Jesus conquered death, so Christians will also.

If we're in him, we also will conquer the grave. Therefore, my beloved brethren, verse 58, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the

Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. So this is what happens when

Jesus comes back. He's going to take his people to be where he is.

So in a moment, there's a transformation. Those who are alive at that time will be transformed.

Those who have died will be raised, be transformed, a new glorified body to go and be with the

Lord in heaven. So now let's go back to John 14 with that in mind. And hopefully you can see why this is called the blessed hope of the believer.

Doesn't that give you hope? So here in the gospel of John, Jesus, the context, he's been trying to get across to his disciples, really the whole purpose of his first advent.

Jesus came the first time for several reasons to reveal the father, to teach the truth to Israel about the gospel, to offer them the kingdom, knowing they wouldn't receive it.

But ultimately, the real purpose, the main purpose, Jesus, he came into this earth to live a sinless life and to die an atoning death.

And of course, his disciples didn't understand that. They found it hard to accept that reality.

So the whole Old Testament sacrificial system up until this point, it was all prescribed to make a point.

And Jesus is that point. The lambs, the animals were all meant to picture Christ in his death.

But his disciples did not understand that. And then Jesus had to, after he died, he would be resurrected and then sent to heaven, he would leave them.

And they didn't understand that either. And that's really why their hearts were troubled. The idea of Jesus dying and then leaving them,

I mean, that was almost too much for them to bear. As you can imagine, they gave their lives, three and a half years of their life to following Jesus.

And then he says, I have to die and I have to leave. You can imagine how they must have felt.

That's why he's saying, let not your heart be troubled. Okay, look at John 14, verse 3.

He's trying to comfort them. He says, if I go, that is, if he goes where?

Heaven. If I go, I will come again. Notice that he doesn't say

I might come again. You know, I'll try to come again. He says, I will come again.

So he's saying to them, we will be reunited together in that place that I have gone to prepare.

Now, you know, as for the timing of all of this or the order of events, you probably know this.

This is where Christians start disagreeing. Good brothers and sisters in Christ, other church. You know, there's those churches that I said don't believe in an afterlife.

It's like, I wouldn't even recognize a church like that as being a

Christian church. If you don't believe in an afterlife, something so basic. But there are many churches that are good churches, good brothers and sisters who have a differing view of the order of events with Christ's return.

So just know that there are some people out there who would have a slightly different view of this. But when

Jesus comes back, from looking at scripture, studying it, taking it literally, here's what we find.

That when Jesus comes back, his coming again happens in what you might call two phases.

Two phases. The first, when Jesus comes in the clouds to catch his saints up in the air to meet him.

That's described in 1 Thessalonians 4. So let's turn there, if you would, 1 Thessalonians 4.

So there's that first phase of Christ's coming where he takes his people to be with him in heaven.

And then the second phase, which I would call the second advent, when

Jesus actually arrives back here on earth. So two phases, if you will, of the second coming.

So remember, advent means arrival. So Jesus is gonna come back, fulfill

John 14, and then after that, after a period of seven years of tribulation and the battle of Armageddon and all of that stuff, then he's gonna come back to this earth.

All right, look at 1 Thessalonians 4 .13. Again, this is talking about what

Jesus was describing in John 14. It's like a parallel passage, if you will.

1 Thessalonians 4 .13. This is Paul writing to the church. He says, but I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.

Okay, so you see that term sleep. They have fallen asleep. Some of you, while I'm preaching, you fall asleep.

Only one or two. And then that's when I, okay, it's time to wake up and get with it here.

This is a different type of sleep. The sleep that Paul is talking about is you die.

Hopefully nobody's dying when I'm preaching. First, somebody's probably felt like they wanted to.

There must be an unbeliever if they feel that way. Anyways, back to the text, verse 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus.

So the Greek word translated sleep is koyama or koyamo, and it's a reference sometimes to sleep, but here it clearly means what?

Death. Just like we read in 1 Corinthians 15, it's a reference to death, and death is called sleep for obvious reasons because when a person is sleeping, unless they're snoring, they look like they're dead.

That's why it's compared to sleep. So in scripture, sometimes it refers to sleep, sometimes physical death.

That's what Paul is saying, that some people in the church at Thessalonica, they had died.

So he's addressing some concerns. People had been taught in the church by Paul that Jesus would come again.

Nobody knew when, but they knew that Jesus would come back and there would be this resurrection, and they were all looking for Christ to come back.

However, some people in the church had died. So the question is, well, what about them? Jesus hasn't come back yet, so what about all the people that have died in Christ?

They're concerned. Are they going to miss out on the coming of the Lord? And Paul is saying, no, they do not miss out on Christ's coming.

Just a few verses. If you take notes, you can write these down. Just a few verses on Christ's return.

Matthew 24, 42 says, Watch therefore, Jesus says, for you do not know what hour the

Lord is coming. Jesus says in Matthew 24 also, but know this, that if the master of the house had not, or had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.

So the coming of the Lord is described as what? It's compared to a thief in the night.

So when a thief breaks in, they don't announce their coming. So the point is, when

Jesus returns, you're not going to, there's no signs. When Jesus comes back for what we call the rapture, there's not going to be any signs.

It's going to happen quickly, suddenly. You're not going to know it. But as Christians, we're looking forward to it.

Amen. The Bible also says in Titus 2, 11 through 13, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope.

That's where you get that term, the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ.

So back to the Thessalonians, they were taught these things about the Lord's return, that it could happen at any moment.

It could happen in their lifetime. So they were looking forward to it, as we should all be looking forward to Christ's return.

But again, some church members had died. Some of natural causes, maybe there was a wave of persecution.

We're not sure. In Paul's second letter to the church, the members had thought they had missed the rapture.

They thought they had missed the Lord's return and they believed they were living in the tribulation because persecution had got so bad.

That wasn't the case. Paul is trying to comfort them. But basically, he's saying all these people that have died in Christ, don't sorrow for them.

You know who you should be sorry about? All those people that have no hope. You know, feel bad for the people of this world that don't know

Christ. Feel bad for the people that are headed towards a Christless eternity.

The people that have died without Christ, especially. So Paul is trying to comfort them.

And again, he's saying not only do those who have died in Christ, not only do they not miss the

Lord's return, they're in a sense going to get a front row seat. Look at 1 Thessalonians 4 15.

He says, for this we say to you by the word of the Lord. In other words, this is true.

Jesus promised it that we who are what? What does it say? We who are alive.

Okay. So he was talking about those who died. Now he's talking about those who are alive and remain until the coming of the

Lord. They will by no means precede or go before those who are asleep.

Verse 16 for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will what?

Rise first. So the people that you know, we're Christians who have passed on.

They're not with us today. If Jesus were to come back today, they would go up first. Then we look at it.

We who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the

Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words.

And these are great words of comfort. You know, I've done a lot of funerals over the past 10 years.

And when I do a funeral for a believer, it's so much different than the funeral for the unbeliever.

Totally different atmosphere. When a saint who has been faithful, they died in faith, they died in fellowship.

I mean, it's not like a party, but you know, there's a feeling of, hey, they're not suffering anymore.

This is a good thing in a sense, because they're with Christ. I mean, we still mourn.

We miss them. We're sorry, but it's totally different. You understand the person who dies without Christ, without hope.

I mean, what do you say? You try to give people words of comfort, and you try to preach the gospel that you can go to heaven.

The people that are alive right now can go to heaven, and you want to give them that hope. But again, totally different situation.

So I can read 1 Thessalonians 4 at a funeral for a believer. It is a great comfort.

It's a great comfort for us right now. And just knowing that Jesus will come back a second time.

Again, it is our what? Blessed hope. So the salvation, again, if you take notes,

I would write this down. Something that I don't know that this is a revelation to me or anything.

But when Jesus came back, when Jesus came the first time, he came to die on the cross, right?

He came to save our souls. So at the first advent, Jesus came to save our souls.

At the second advent, Jesus comes to save our bodies because we are body, soul, body, soul, and spirit.

So the first advent, we can be saved, right? We're saved by faith. But what saved our spirit?

So when we die, our spirit goes to be with the Lord, absent from the body, present with the Lord. But our body is not saved, is it?

Because our body dies. It goes into the ground. It is corrupted.

So our body really is not saved until Jesus comes back. So again, first advent saves our soul.

Second advent saves our bodies. So we need the second advent.

In the meantime, Christ has gone to prepare a place.

And when he comes again, he is going to take believers to be with him in that place.

And of course we could look at Revelation 21 and 22 and read about what that place will be like, the street of gold and gems and just beautiful.

I'm sure far greater than what John could describe and write.

But this, this we've been talking about. First Thessalonians four, first Corinthians 15. Is this the first stage of Christ coming or the second, second phase, first phase or second?

First, right? These are the first phase. A lot of things happened in phases.

I was thinking about this. You know, Jesus came once and then he's going to come again. When he comes again, there's going to be two phases, right?

Let's turn to Isaiah chapter 65 just to kind of show you what I mean. And to give you a glimpse of what things are going to be like when

Jesus does come back to this earth, because right now the earth is, but there's at least two wars, two major wars going on right now.

There's poverty and hunger and bloodshed. I mean, this world, like I said, we don't have peace on earth.

So Isaiah 65. So like I said, Jesus came once he's coming again.

When he comes again, there's going to be two phases, the rapture and then the second advent. And then even when

Jesus comes back and sets up his kingdom, it's like, there's two phases for the kingdom.

There's the kingdom. And then the new heaven and the new earth. Look at Isaiah 65 17 for behold,

I create a new heavens and a new earth. And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.

Now I want you to skip down a little bit, skip down to verse 25.

It says the wolf. So this is when Jesus comes back. I believe this is talking about the millennium, but the millennium lasts for a thousand years.

That's the first phase. And then it goes into the second phase, which is the new heaven and new earth here in Isaiah.

It's all kind of being pushed together as though it's one event. Verse 25, the wolf and the lamb shall feed together.

The lion shall eat straw like the ox and the dust shall be the serpent's food.

And they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my Holy mountain says the

Lord. You've heard that term. You know, when Jesus comes back, the lion will lay down with the lamb.

Well, that's not actually in the Bible. The wolf will lie down with the lamb, but you get the idea. It'll be a time of peace.

Not only will men not be fighting amongst each other, even the animals won't fight cats and dogs.

They'll be friends. The lion shall eat straw like the ox.

So this is what we have to look forward to when Jesus comes back. It really will be peace on earth.

Okay. So we talked about the first phase of the second coming. This is again, what

I would call the rapture. And I realized, like I said, there's going to be people out there who are brothers and sisters in Christ, but they'll say, you know,

I don't believe it in the rapture. I don't believe in any of that rapture stuff. Well, it's in the

Bible. Can we at least agree that the saints at some point will be what caught up to meet the

Lord in the air. If you want to argue and debate about the timing and the order of all the events,

Hey, fine, but we are going to be caught up. And that term caught up in Greek is Harpozo.

And that's where you get the term going through the languages from Latin, Greek to Latin, to French, to English.

You get the word rapture. Rapture simply means to be caught up. So when Jesus comes back, I believe firmly, this is what he's teaching in John 14.

We go to be, we're going to be raptured, taken to be where Christ is. Now I'm going to ask you to do something a little different because we're going to talk about the second advent.

Let's open in your hymnal. All right. To him. Number one, 25.

Of course, we don't get our doctrine from the hymnal. I understand that the scripture is our authority, right?

But still a good hymn is going to reflect what the

Bible teaches. And I believe you get that in this wonderful hymn that we sing around Christmastime joy to the world.

So we've talked about the first phase of the second coming, the rapture. Now let's spend a moment talking about what earth is going to be like, what things are going to be like when

Jesus actually is ruling and reigning here upon this earth.

Look at verse one. It says joy to the world. The Lord is come again.

This is a song we sing around Christmastime. And I guess a lot of people might assume, well, yeah, this is talking about when

Jesus came in Bethlehem's manger. Is that what this is talking about? I don't think that's what it's talking about.

Joy to the world. The Lord has come. Let earth receive her king. Did the earth receive her king?

No, John one, 11 and 12. Jesus came unto his own, but his own received him not.

Okay. So he said joy to the world. The Lord has come. And the refrain is in heaven and nature sing and heaven and nature sing and heaven and heaven and nature sing.

Safe to say that's not happening right now. That will happen at the second advent when

Jesus comes back. So Jesus is not on earth when he is on earth, ruling and reigning, then heaven and nature sing.

I did a three part series on heaven on Wednesday night, several months ago. You can find that online where I went over the separation that occurred in Genesis chapter three and kind of realizing this,

I was excited. I never really thought about it this way, that heaven and earth were like one joined as one.

God walked in the cool of the garden. Like they like Jesus, the Lord was with Adam and Eve.

It's like heaven and earth were joined together. And then when Adam sinned, the two were separated and now you have the mess that the world is now.

But when Jesus comes back for the second advent, certainly in the new heaven and the new earth, it's all put back together.

And heaven and nature sing. The next part of the song, verse two, joy to the world.

The savior reigns is the savior reigning right now. Again, you'll have, you know, you'll have good brothers and sisters in Christ.

We'll see this a little differently. Yes, Jesus is reigning in heaven. God is sovereign. I believe all that.

But Jesus is not reigning here on the earth. All you got to do is turn on the television. Take a look around.

Jesus is not reigning on earth. Joy to the world. The savior reigns.

This will happen when first advent. No, it happens. The second advent, let men, their songs employ while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy.

So again, second advent, the third verse, let no more sins and sorrows grow.

Well, sins and sorrows are growing. It's actually, it's getting worse. The earth, it's getting worse and worse.

Paul talks about this before the Lord returns at the rapture. There we will be a great falling away from the faith.

I think I believe we are living in that great falling away. Things are getting worse.

Clearly, this is not talking about the first advent. Let no more sins and sorrows grow.

Nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make his blessings flow as far as the curse is found.

When Adam sinned in the garden, what happened? The Lord said, part of the curse is that you're going to work.

You're going to till the ground and it's going to produce thorns and thistles. It wasn't meant to be like that. So that's the way it is now.

Again, second advent, everything will change. And then finally, Christ ruling as king in the fourth verse, which is described in that passage.

I read from Isaiah nine, six, again, a good praise song, a good hymn, a good hymn will reflect sound doctrine, what the scripture teaches.

The two should line up. So Isaiah nine, six for unto us, a child is born unto us. A son is given.

That was the first advent. Then the words describing the second advent, that the government will be upon his shoulder.

We're still waiting for that. And he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace.

Look at the final verses of joy to the world. It says he rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and the wonders of his love.

You know, the nations, if you want to see what the world is like now, read Psalm chapter two. Why did the nations rage?

You know, they're trying to break free from the Lord and they just want to go their own way. Well, when Jesus comes back at the second advent, you know, he came the first time to save souls.

He came the first time to save sinners. When he comes the second time, he's going to save the very creation.

He's going to save the world, not as in just the people of the world. He's going to save the planet itself.

And then heaven and nature will sing. So this final statement, he rules the world with truth and grace, wonders of his love, wonders of his love and wonders, wonders of his love.

The word wonder in conclusion is described as a feeling of surprise, mingled with admiration caused by something beautiful, unexpected or incomprehensible.

So I pray this Christmas season, as we think about not just the first advent, but what we're looking forward to at the second advent.

I just pray this would inspire wonder in your heart, that God's love would have that effect, that he has come to save our souls.

He will come back to save our body. And one day he will save the creation itself.

This is the believers. Blessed hope. Amen. Let's pray.

Heavenly father, we thank you that you, in your character, you are a savior.

You loved us so much that you sent your only son. This was the first coming.

And Lord, as we celebrate it this Christmas season, I pray if there's someone listening who, for whatever reason has been wandering from Christ, maybe someone who has never fully put their trust in him.

And Lord, I pray that the miracle of regeneration would happen this Christmas season, that even today at this moment, someone would make

Christ Lord and savior of their life. And Lord, for those of us who know you, I pray that you would fill our heart with love, fill our hearts with joy and with wonder, not only concerning the things you've done, but concerning the things you are going to do, knowing that our best days are ahead of us.

Earth's best days are ahead. And we pray that you would come and that earth will finally receive her