PRO:The second coming of Jesus Christ  by Tony Capoccia

   I. Introduction

   A. Christian Focuses

   For the Christian we have two major focuses in life. In one we are
always looking back to the time of Christ and the Cross of Calvary. The
other direction we look is to the time of our redemption, when Jesus
Christ will return to the earth to establish His Kingdom.

   Nothing more exciting will happen to the Christian than the return
of Jesus Christ. As new believers, many of us were excited about the
reality of this coming event. But like all things that we must wait
for, we find that the excitement wanes and we begin to lose our vision.
It is my intent to restore for you and for me the excitement of this
most blessed future event.

   B. Prophecies of the Second Coming

   One Bible Scholar has noted that the Second Coming of Christ is
mentioned in the Old Testament 1, 527 times! In fact, for everytime the
First Coming of Christ is mentioned in the Bible, the Second Coming is
mentioned eight times.

   II. Events Prior to Second Coming

   A. Rapture

   1) The Promise (John 14:2-3)

   "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would
have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with
me that you also may be where I am." Jesus promised that there would
come a day in the future when He would come back for the church and
take it off of the earth.

   2) The Event (1Thess 4:16-17)

   "The Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command,
with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and
the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive
and are left will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord
in the air." Jesus removes His Church for the time of His wrath has
come, "God did not appoint us [the church] to suffer wrath..." (1 Thess
5:9).

   Note that in this part of the Bible is something very exciting. If
you look deep into these verses describing the Rapture you will see
yourself in the Bible! Yes, if you have confessed your sins and
declared that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, yielding complete
control of your life to Him, then you are there in this wonderful event!

   These verses that describe the Rapture should be very precious to
the Christian for in them is the hope of our Salvation.

   B. Wrath On Earth

   1) Some of the Judgments

   a) AntiChrist Arrives

   b) War Breaks Out

   c) Famine\Inflation

   d) One Fourth of Earth Destroyed

   e) Hail, Fire and Blood - Third of Earth Burned up

   f) Third of Seas Destroyed

   g) Worldwide Darkness

   h) Locusts - Demonic Activity

   i) Sores on Beast Worshipers

   j) Seas, Rivers, Springs turn to Blood

   k) Scorching from the Sun

   l) Severe Earthquake and Hailstorm

   The scene on earth is very grim, for each of the preceding judgments
have been accumulative and the earth is in utter chaos. Read Isaiah
24:1-13. The only organization that seems to have survived is the
military and they are engrossed in the final battle of Armageddon.

   Scripture declares that during the final hours of the battle,
"Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the
sky... and all the nations will mourn" (Mat 24:29, 30). Then, all of a
sudden something happens up in the sky.

   III. Second Coming of Christ

   A. Heaven Opens Up (Rev 19:11a)

   Heaven has opened up at other times in the past, once when Jesus was
baptized (Mat 3:16), and also at the stoning of Stephen when heaven
open and he saw Jesus standing there (Acts 7:56).

   1) This is the Third Heaven

   The Bible declares that there are three heavens. The first is our
atmosphere, the second is outer space, and the third being the very
Throne Room of God where all the Saints and Holy Angels abide. I
believe that the opening mentioned in Revelation is the supernatural
opening that allows the third heaven to be seen clearly from the earth
and the immediate travel from one to the other. When heaven opened at
Jesus' Baptism a dove-like form descended from it representing the Holy
Spirit. This time the Glorious Son of God descends!

   B. Rider on White Horse (Rev 19:11-16)

   "They will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of the sky, with
great power and great glory" (Mat 24:29-30). "For as lighting that
comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming
of the Son of Man" (Mat 24:27)

   Suddenly, in an instant, the Lord Almighty will come with thunder
and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames
of a devouring fire" (Isa 29:5-6). "See, the Lord is coming with fire,
and His chariots are like a whirlwind; He will bring down His anger
with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For with fire and with
His sword the Lord will execute judgment upon all men, and many will be
those slain by the Lord" (Isa 66:15-16).

   1) The Horse (v. 11a)

   It is a white horse which was the kind that conquering leaders would
ride after winning a great battle signifying their great power and
might. Notice also in verse 14 that there is a whole army of white
horses following Jesus. If you look very close at that verse you can
see yourself again. We were there at the Rapture of the Church and now
we again appear on the pages of Scripture! The first time we were
ascending to join our most Precious Savior Jesus Christ, but now we are
coming back with Him to be a part of His Victorious Kingdom.

   Now some Bible commentators would say that these are not real
horses. But oh, how foolish of them, for they need only look at
Zechariah 9:9 which prophesied that Jesus would come into Jerusalem the
first time riding on a donkey. And as recorded in the Gospel of Luke,
hundreds of years later, we see that it occurred exactly as the prophet
had declared, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.

   Jesus will ride out of the third Heaven into our world on a real
Horse. And all of the saints will also be on white horses. We need to
look around the Church today to see those who will mounted on horses
next to us. Picture some of our most senior saints who are bed-ridden
and struggling just to breath, the day is coming when they will be
strong and sitting erect on a beautiful white horse. I picture my wife
and little children mounted upon their horses with their eyes focused
on the King. What a blessed hope we have

   in Jesus.

   2) Faithful and True

   Jesus the most precious Savior who has been so Faithful to His Word
about all that He would do. My heart is touched by The faithfulness of
Jesus to continue to love me despite my weaknesses in this life. He is
so faithful to us to help us and to encourage us. God's Word declares
that if we are faithless, then Jesus will remain faithful for He cannot
disown Himself (2 Tim 2:13).

   3) Armies of Heaven

   But again, Jesus is not alone, for behind Him is an entire army of
redeemed sinners to include both the Old Testament and New Testament
saints. There is Moses, Joseph, David, Bathsheba, Rahab, Peter, James,
John, Mary, Martha, and Paul. But looking even closer we also see
Moody, Spurgeon, Billy Sunday, Billy Graham, and many other great men
and women of God. But that is not all, for there are the brothers and
sisters from our church who have confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior. You can even see yourself sitting upon your white horse
descending in perfect ranks from heaven to the earth. I am sure not
many of us ever considered that someday we would be inducted into the
army----the Army of God.

   Some may be surprised about being there with Jesus on the pages of
Scripture, yet this is what the Bible said would happen, "When Christ,
who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory"
(Col 3:4).

   Another impressive fact about this army is it's size. The number of
riders is very great indeed. We have all the Old Testament Saints and
all those from the New Testament era too. It has been estimated that
since the time of Adam and Eve, that there have been approximately 41
billion people on this earth. Now we know from Scripture that the
overwhelming majority of these people will have rejected the salvation
of God. In fact, it was Jesus who said that mankind travels only one of
two roads. The majority travel the wide thoroughfare leading to Hell,
while only a few will find the narrow path leading to Heaven. I once
did a study of this and from the statistics about world religions
concluded that less than 1 percent of all mankind would ever yield to
the truth of the gospel.

   Even 1 percent of 41 billion would equal roughly 410 million
believers if the end would be today. Now add to that figure all the
children who died before the age of accountability to include those
whose lives were taken in abortion, and we have one very large army.

   It will be a marvelous sight to "look around" as we mount our white
horses in the third heaven. We will see former Apostles, and former
homosexuals, and former murderers, and former fornicators, former liars
and drunkards, all sitting on their horses dressed in pure white
because of the cleansing power of the Blood of Jesus Christ. There will
also be those who never walked on the earth but were murdered by an act
of abortion, they too will sit pure from the original sin of Adam
because of the Cross of Calvary. What an incredible sight to see!

   C. Judgment of Earthly Wicked

   1) Response of Those on the Earth

   "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and
all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man
coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory" (Mat
24:30).

   "Men will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from
the dread of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty..." (Isa 2:19).

   2) Armies Set to Attack Christ

   "...the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered
together to make war against the rider on the horse and His army" (Rev
19:19) It is incredible that those who are fighting on the earth when
confronted with the supernatural return of Jesus Christ from Heaven
would turn their weapons on Him as if they could destroy God with their
weapons.

   3) King of Kings and Lord of Lords

   Jesus has returned for judgment of the earth and His eyes are like
the blazing fires of judgment. His clothes have been dipped in blood,
His blood on the Cross of Calvary.

   The crowns on His head attest to His title as KING OF KINGS AND LORD
OF LORDS.

   4) Beast, False Prophet, and Armies Judged

   The AntiChrist and the false prophet are immediately captured and
thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. And the rest of the
wicked army was killed by the very command of Jesus as He spoke their
judgment.

   D. Chaining of Satan

   After over 12, 000 years of raining havoc and destruction on mankind
and the people of God, we see Satan captured and bound with a chain and
locked away for 1, 000 years. The place of his torment is referred to
as the "abyss" which means the "bottomless pit." It appears to be the
same place as the demons were sent too in 2 Peter 2:4, "to be held for
judgment." This is the same "bottomless pit" the demons feared being
sent too in Matthew 8:29 to be tortured before their appointed time.
Scripture also indicates that the demons are also bound with Satan for
the 1, 000 years, "In that day the lord will punish the powers in the
heavens above and the kings on the earth below. They will be herded
together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in
prison and be punished after many days" (Isa 24:21-22).

   E. Kingdom Setup

   1) Time period of 75 Days

   There is recorded in the Book of Daniel, Chapter 12, a statement
that at the end of the 7 year tribulation period there will an
interlude of approximately 75 days before the 1, 000 year Kingdom
begins. I like to refer to this time as a time when Jesus "sets up" His
Kingdom. There are a number of events that need to take place,
according to Scripture, before the Millennium begins:

   a) The Judgment of the Living

   Matthew declared that, "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and
all the angels with Him, He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory.
All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the
people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the
goats.

   He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left" (Mat
25:31-33). The prophet Jeremiah affirms that this place of judgment is
in fact on the earth.

   Those who will be judged will be those who were not killed when
Jesus first returned, meaning all those who were not part of the
opposing armies. They include both believers and unbelievers as
evidenced in Matthew.

   The unbelievers are being judged because they, "...do not know God
and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished
with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord
and from the majesty of His power on the day He comes to be glorified
in His holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have
believed" (2 Thess 1:8-10).

   F. Thousand Years - Millennium

   1) The Lord will Rule and Reign

   We will see Jesus in all of His splendor, as Isaiah said, "Your eyes
will see the king in His beauty..." (Isa 33:17)

   2) Earth is Restored to Beauty

   "I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the
valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched
ground into springs. I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia,
the myrtle and the olive. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir
and the cypress together..." (Isa 41:18-19).

   3) A Kingdom of Light

   The Bible proclaims that the Millennium will be truly a kingdom of
light, "The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be
seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days..." (Isa
30:26). Note that there will still be night in the Millennium but it
will be as bright as the noonday sun.

   4) The Inhabitants of the Kingdom - Parents

   After the final judgment of the living on the earth, the only people
left to populate the Millennium will be the believing Gentiles and
Jews. Imagine an entire world of Christians with Jesus Christ reigning
as the King of the entire earth. But they will have children who like
all children since Cain and Able are born into the world as sinners.

   5) The Inhabitants of the Kingdom - Children

   The children born to those living on the earth are in need of
salvation. But they have a distinct advantage in that their parents are
Christians, Jesus Christ is visibly on the earth as King, and there are
a multitude of glorified saints (you and me) ruling and reigning with
Our Master Jesus Christ.

   6) Life in the Kingdom

   a) Long Life

   The mortals who will live on the earth during the Millennium "will
live out their years" (Isa 65:20). These years will be like those in
the days prior to the flood when for example Methuselah lived for 969
years! Those born at the beginning of the Millennium could live for 1,
000 years.

   b) Death in the Kingdom

   As incredible as it seems there will be death in that glorious
Kingdom of Light. The Bible tells us that during this period that,
"...he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth...and he who
fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed [condemned to
Hell] (Isa 65:20).

   This appears to me to be a simple statement that children will be
given to the age of 100 to make a decision for Christ and at that point
if they remain in unbelief Jesus will take their life in judgment.

   c) Instant Answer to Prayer

   Jesus promises in His Word to answer the prayers of the Millennial
saints instantly, "Before they call I will answer; while they are still
speaking I will hear" (Isa 65:24).

   "How gracious He will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears,
He will answer you" (Isa 30:19).

   d) Peace on Earth

   "They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the
earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the
sea" (Isa 11:9)

   "The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many
peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears
into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor
will they train for war anymore" (Isa 2:3-4).

   e) Peace in the Animal Kingdom

   Truly the "Lion will lie down with the Lamb, " for the Bible
declares, "The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will
eat straw like an ox" (Isa 65:25).

   "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with
the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little
child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will
lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox" (Isa
11:6-7).

   "The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young
child put his hand into the viper's nest" (Isa 11:8)

   G. Satan's Doom

   At the end of the 1, 000 year period Satan is released from prison
and immediately goes out to deceive the nations to war against Jesus
and His people. He actually gets an attacking force [youth army ?] to
surround the city of Jerusalem, but God sends fire down from heaven and
devoured them. The devil is then thrown into the lake of burning
sulfur, his final resting place, to be tormented for ever and ever (Rev
20:7- 11).

   H. The Total Destruction of Heaven and Earth

   Immediately following the judgment of Satan, God then removes all
living humans from the earth and causes the "rest of the Dead" to come
to life (Rev 20:5). These are those who have been in torment waiting
for the day of judgment.

   The earth and heavens are then destroyed by fire, "The heavens will
disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire...That
day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the
elements will melt in the heat (2 Pet 3:10-12).

   I. Great White Throne Judgment (Rev 20:11-15).

   God then brings all the unsaved people from all generations to stand
before the Great White Throne for judgment by Jesus Christ who is
seated on the throne. Each person is judged according to what they had
done as recorded in the books. I see this as God having the Book of
God's Law, be it the Old Testament, or the Bible itself, but a document
that declared God's perfect truth for man. Then other books are opened
which contain all the recorded sins of each unbeliever. The judgment
will be complete and perfect. Each unbeliever will be cast into the
Lake of Fire to be tormented for ever an ever.

   At this point then there is only God, the Angels, and the redeemed
remaining in Heaven. The old earth and heavens are destroyed and all
those who rejected Christ are in the Lake of Fire. Then God makes a New
Heaven and a New Earth and brings down from the third heaven the
Glorious jewel-like city called the New Jerusalem. Eternity then begins
and we will live in utter bliss and joy forever.

   IV. Conclusion

   What should be our response to these truths of Scripture?

   A. Renewed desire to serve Jesus

   As we begin to see all that our Salvation entails we must see that
it is overwhelming that God would include us in all that He does. We
must respond to His call in this phase of our eternal life to serve Him
with all our mind, soul, and strength.

   B. Renewed Compassion for the Lost

   We have seen what awaits the unbeliever when Jesus returns to the
earth. And those judgments, as terrible as they are, are mild compared
to the endless torment and agony of the eternal Fiery Lake of Burning
Sulfur.

   We must attempt, by the power of the Holy Spirit within us, to live
holy lives before our lost families, friends, coworkers, and neighbors.
We are their only hope, for if they don't see Jesus Christ in us, then
they will not see Him at all. This will cost us, for we must be
different than the world in order to "stand out as light."

   1) Our Conversation

   It must be gracious and yet seasoned with the salt of the truths of
the Bible. In Ephesians 5:4 God reminds us of what must never be a part
of our conversations, "Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or
coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving."

   2) Our Life Styles

   In this age of sexual freedom God reminds the Christian that in our
lives, "...there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of
any kind of impurity..." (Eph 5:3). In fact, God clearly tells us what
we should have uppermost in our thinking, "...whatever is true,
whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy--think about such things..." (Philippians 4:8).

   We must keep ourselves pure, for the evil one is constantly
attempting to corrupt us. Nearly all that is on TV today is things that
would not please God. A Christian cannot be entertained by the world
and still please God. To watch TV's murders, adulteries, violence,
drunkenness, and crime is to literally be entertained by what God calls
sin.

   We must be a holy people in order to be used of God.

   C. Final Thoughts

   Jesus is coming back soon for us with the Rapture and then we will
return with Him to take total control of the earth. He has privileged
us to be an integral part of His plan, may we do all that we can by the
power of the Holy Spirit to help those lost around us to also share in
this bliss.

   Tony Capoccia Bible Bulletin Board
