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.