The Promised Victory of Jesus’ Second Coming

PRAY OVER THIS

“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.”

(1 Thessalonians 4:14)

 

PONDER THIS

There are two aspects of Jesus’ return. First of all, He’s coming secretly for His bride, and then He is coming with His bride. He’s coming sweetly like a bridegroom and He’s coming sovereignly like a King. There was no room for Jesus in the inn the first time He came, but when He comes again, He’s coming as King of kings and Lord of lords.

The unfinished story of Christmas is this: Jesus is coming again. Paul’s message was that when Jesus comes, 777 is going to take care of 666. Our Lord shall reign. Jesus came the first Christmas to die in the sinner’s place. Jesus is coming the second Christmas to receive the sinner to Himself. Our faith looks backward to a crucified Savior. Our love looks upward to a crowned Savior. And our hope looks forward to a coming Savior.

On a daily basis, where do you find it hard to remember and believe Jesus will return again?

How would your life look different if you believed this fully each day?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of ways your life would change if you fully believed Jesus could come again at any moment. Submit these things before God in prayer and ask Him to help you live in faith and obedience before Him.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Glory Is the Goal

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:2)

Seeing the glory of God is our ultimate hope. “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2). God will “present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy” (Jude 24).

He will “make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory” (Romans 9:23). He “calls you into his own kingdom and glory” (1 Thessalonians 2:12). “Our blessed hope [is] the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

Jesus, in all his person and work, is the incarnation and ultimate revelation of the glory of God. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3). “Father, I desire that they . . . may be with me where I am, to see my glory” Jesus prays in John 17:24.

“So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed” (1 Peter 5:1). “The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).

“We impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7). “This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17). “Those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30).

Seeing and sharing in God’s glory is our ultimate hope through the gospel of Christ.

Such a hope, that is really known and treasured, has a huge and decisive effect on our present values and choices and actions.

Get to know the glory of God. Study the glory of God and the glory of Christ. Study the glory of the world that reveals the glory of God, and the glory of the gospel that reveals the glory of Christ.

Treasure the glory of God in all things and above all things.

Study your soul. Know the glory you are seduced by, and know why you treasure glories that are not God’s glory.

Study your own soul to know how to make the glories of the world collapse like the pagan idol Dagon in 1 Samuel 5:4. Let all glories that distract you from the glory of God shatter in pitiful pieces on the floor of the world’s temples. Treasure the glory of God above all this world.

John Piper 

Bible Study

2 Peter 3:12

[12] waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!

2 Thessalonians 2:8

[8] And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

1 Corinthians 1:7-8

[7] so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, [8] who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 17:24

[24] For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.

Are You Anticipating Jesus’ Return?

PRAY OVER THIS

“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 rise first. Then 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.”

(1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

 

PONDER THIS

I preached a funeral a while back. A man in our church died; he was a dear and beloved man. I sat there. I saw all those flowers. I saw the children. I saw the grandchildren. I watched that sweet widow who lived with that man for so long, and they had both come up to a full, ripe age. These folks had lived together for more than fifty years. I watched her as she just put her hand on his coat sleeve, gave it a little tug, and then turned and walked away.

And I thought, “How terrible it must be to be an atheist.” This woman wasn’t; she was a true believer. But what do atheists do in times like that? Is this all it is? Are we just going to get sick and die and go into the ground and that’s it? No! Jesus is coming again. His first coming without the Second Coming would be like an engagement without a wedding. No, He is coming again, and I thank God for that.

How are you comforted by the promise of Jesus’s Second Coming?

How do you need to refocus your mind on this promise today?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time today to encourage someone you know who is struggling, with the reminder of Jesus’s promised return.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

What Is Your Aim?

Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. . . . And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (1 Corinthians 10:31; Colossians 3:17)

When you get up in the morning and you face the day, what do you say to yourself about your hopes for the day? When you look from the beginning of the day to the end of the day, what do you want to happen because you have lived?

If you say, “I don’t even think like that. I just get up and do what I’ve got to do,” then you are cutting yourself off from a basic means of grace and a source of guidance and strength and fruitfulness and joy. It is crystal clear in the Bible, including these texts, that God means for us to aim consciously at something significant in our days.

God’s revealed will for you is that when you get up in the morning, you don’t drift aimlessly through the day letting mere circumstances alone dictate what you do, but that you aim at something — that you focus on a certain kind of purpose. I’m talking about children here, and teenagers, and adults — single, married, widowed, moms, and every trade and every profession.

Aimlessness is akin to lifelessness. Dead leaves in the back yard may move around more than anything else — more than the dog, more than the children. The wind blows this way, they go this way. The wind blows that way, they go that way. They tumble, they bounce, they skip, they press against a fence, but they have no aim whatsoever. They are full of motion and empty of life.

God did not create humans in his image to be aimless, like lifeless leaves blown around in the backyard of life. He created us to be purposeful — to have a focus and an aim for all our days. What is yours today? What is yours for the new year? A good place to start is 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

John Piper 

Bible Study

Colossians 3:17

[17] And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

1 Peter 4:11

[11] whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 5:19-20

[19] addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, [20] giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Colossians 4:2-4

[2] Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. [3] At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—[4] that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

Looking Toward Jesus’ Return

PRAY OVER THIS

“All things were created through Him and for Him. …And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.”

(Colossians 1:16b, 18)

 

PONDER THIS

In Colossians 1:16, “For” is a preposition that speaks of direction. We in America have been invaded by Eastern religions. Eastern religions are circular. Everything goes round and round. Followers of these religions believe in reincarnation. And so you have to live with good karma. And if your karma is not good, then in your next life you may come back as a roach. But if you’ve been good, you might come back as a cow. That’s the reason someone might not eat meat. He might be eating his ancestor.

But life and history are not circular. It is all headed in a direction. The Bible is linear. We’re moving to the time when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. That’s the reason He taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10 KJV). I can hardly wait.

What are some ways you might inadvertently be living according to the belief that you will be paid back for how good or bad your life was?

How does following Jesus differ from this? How does following Jesus and looking forward to His Second Coming motivate you to live differently?

PRACTICE THIS

Take some time to journal any ways you might be living to earn rewards in the next life. Confess these to the Father and thank Him that Jesus has done everything needed to secure your eternity and has promised to return again soon.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers