The Promise Of Christ Second Coming

This is copied from the bulletin of Calvary Baptist Church on 472 Ocean Rd in Portsmouth NH 03801. (603) 436-7736. The bulletin is dated May 4, 2025.

The Promises Of Christ Second Coming

by T.J. Bach

It is the same today as it was when the apostle Peter wrote his epistle. There were those who asked, "Where is the promise of his coming?" (2 Peter 3:4-9). We can truthfully say, according to God's timetable, that Christ gave us on the actual fact when He said "I come quickly".

According to our calculation it is approximately 2,000 years since Christ gave that promise of His soon return, each year having 365 days. However, that is not according to God's calendar. We read: "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Peter 3:8). It is the same calculation of time that Moses gave when he said, "For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night" (Psalm 90:4) The measure of the true time estimate of time will be found, not in our eyes, but in the eyes of the Lord.

The certainty of of our Lord's return should stir us to more earnest watching, waiting and working. J. Hudson said "Very early in my life, the subject of the Lord's near return was brought before me. I went carefully through all the passages of the Bible and the result that it gave me that the hope of the coming of the Lord is the paramount motive given us in the New Testament for earnest, holy service.".

It is a blessed hope and message because it carries a cleansing and comforting power. It gives a son in the night to the Christian who is passing through suffering, sorrow and trails.

The Bible teaches that the following are events which will come to pass:

First - The coming of Christ for His saints

(Matthew 25:13; Acts 1:7). This is the great separation: the saved will go to Heaven: the unsaved will be left to go through the great tribulation.

Second - "The dead in Christ shall rise"

(1 Thessalonians 4:16). This is the rapture of the church (vss 14-17) Please observe that John 5:28 and 29 there are two resurrections: "... they that have done good ..." - who died in Christ - and "they that have done evil" - who died in sin. Over one thousand years separation these two resurrections.

Third - The living believers will be changed

(1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

Fourth - Believers will appear at the Judgement Seat of Christ, where accounts must be rendered and reward distributed (Romans 14:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10) During the last half of the period of seven years the covenant with Antichrist will be broken and the Great Tribulation will begin

(Matthew 24:21; Revelation 11:18).

Fifth - The battle of Armageddon take place

(Revelation 14:14-20; 16:13-16).

Sixth - The revelation of Christ's coming with the saints

(2 Thessalonians 1:7-8; Zechariah 14:3-4;

Revelation 1:7).

Seventh - The Antichrist and the False Prophet will be judged, sentenced and bound for a thousand years

(Daniel 11:36; Revelation 20:6).

Eighth - The Millennium (Isiah 11:9; Isiah 65:20;

Revelation 13;16; Revelation 20:6)

Ninth - Satan is again loosed (Revelation 20:7-9)

Tenth - The resurrection of those who died in their sins without Christ (John 5:29; Revelation 20:5)

Eleventh - The judgement of the unsaved at the Great White Throne, the doom of Satan and the ungodly, as well as the burning of this present world (Revelation 20:10-15;

2 Peter 3:10)