1st
and 2nd Coming of the Messiah,
Confusing to the Jews,
Our Hope For Now and the Future
All
kinds of beliefs about the end of the world and the 2nd
coming of Jesus Christ are prevalent, both amongst Christians
and non-Christians alike. Then again, more people focus
on the 2nd coming of Jesus than on the fascinating prophecies
of the Messiah’s first coming, born as a virgin, destined
to die to pay for our sins, and then after three days and
nights be resurrected as the savior of all who would desire
a relationship with him. The
Prophecies of Jesus Christ’s 1st Coming focus
on who he was before his human birth, his miraculous birth,
a bit about his life, his crucifixion, death, burial and
resurrection--all of which was prophecied many hundreds
of years before his birth. If you want proof that the Bible
is real and Jesus is really the Messiah this study will
do it for you. The Prophecies
of Jesus Christ’s 2nd Coming focus
on just that. It’s a three-part study. Part I is a
general survey of Old Testament 2nd coming prophecies. Part
II covers Daniel chapters 2 & 7 and Revelation 13 &
17, which show the prophecied rise and fall of all the main
world-ruling Gentile empires up to the 2nd coming of Jesus
Christ (and kind of shows Christians where we are in the
overall historic-biblical scheme of things). Part III zeroes
in on the very day of Jesus Christ’s 2nd coming, a
period of time highlighted in the book of Revelation as
the seven last plagues. This part cross-references with
many of the 2nd coming prophecies given in the Old Testament
which were featured in part I. These studies do not focus
on rapture theory or a place of safety during the tribulation
for believers. There is sufficient biblical evidence pointing
in either direction--rapture and place-of-safety, which
can mean only one thing--such theories are just that, theories--not
central to the knowledge of salvation, not solid Bible doctrine.
The Lord doesn’t want Christians to be going nuts
over how they can escape the tribulation. It’s enough
to know he will protect his own, and that is his responsibility
how he does it, not ours. He doesn’t want us focussing
on how or when all these things are going to come about.
He does want us to know they will occur and that justice
in the end will prevail against all evil-doers. And his
main purpose for us in our lives is that we develop a relationship
with him and the Father with the help and aid of the indwelling
Holy Spirit, and that we evangelize to the world until he
returns. Rapture/Place-of-Safety theory focuses Christians
on the wrong concepts, saving one’s butts, often to
the exclusion of all else, rather than encouraging believers
to focus on the weightier matters of Christian faith, love
and mercy that Jesus spoke of and exemplified in his life.
The
two studies linked to this short article, Prophecies
of Jesus Christ's 1st Coming and Prophecies of Jesus Christ's
2nd Coming, are considered by some few denominations
to fall into the symbolic meaning of the two major Holy
Day seasons, the spring and fall Holy Day seasons of Leviticus
23. The Prophecies of Jesus Christ's 1st Coming are believed
by some to fall into the historic/prophetic meaning of the
Passover/Unleavened Bread/Pentecost spring Holy Day season.
The fall Holy Day season of Trumpets/Atonement/Tabernacles
are believed by some Christians and to represent the glorious
2nd coming of Jesus Christ, and the coming of his glorious
Millennial Kingdom to this earth. The Jews also believe
this Holy day season represents this, but think this is
the 1st coming of the Messiah, since they don't recognize
Jesus Christ as the true Messiah yet. So for those Christians
who don't believe the Holy Day seasons hold any particular
prophetic or historic significance, that's great. These
two articles are merely what they are, the prophecies of
Jesus Christ's first and second coming. For those who do
believe these Holy Day seasons have prophetic and historic
significance, these two articles that follow are merely
what the Bible calls meat
in due season. For Jews who may be curious
as to whether Jesus of Nazareth is the real Messiah, the
first article should be of particular interest to them.
Each
study will help you know for sure, beyond a shadow of a
doubt that God is real, and that he alone authored the Bible--
for no one could have predicted all these prophecies, thousands
of years in advance in some cases, and made them all come
to pass, as many of them have already-logged in our history
books as evidence of a Creator God who is beyond time and
space as we know it. The finger-print of God are in the
prophecies of the Bible, there to confound the skeptic and
draw believers into a loving relationship with him.
