WHEN JESUS COMES AGAIN
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
Jesus is not too popular in the world. "He came unto His own and His own received Him not."
As the ages roll along, Jesus is less and less welcome in His own world.
But when Jesus returns for the second time, it will be not as the Servant, but as the planet’s Monarch. Prophesies are replete throughout Scripture. The major portions are in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. In these passages Jesus is recorded as speaking plainly — literally — not in the symbolism He envisioned to the apostle John on the Isle of Patmos.
Therefore, in those Gospel clear-cut sections, Jesus sets forth His predictions. He says that prior to His second return, there will be "wars and rumors of wars." There will also be an increase in earthquakes as well as environmental pestilence. Brother will turn against brother, father against son, and so forth with family fall-outs escalating. Sin will abound. Evil will be tolerated en mass. Famine will spread its ugly paw across the Earth.
Then there will come the "abomination of desolation," that is the desecration of Jerusalem’s next Temple to be constructed. The abominable act will take place when the Antichrist commits sacrilege in the Holy of Holies, similar to Antioches Epiphanes’ spoiling of the Holy of Holies by sacrificing a pig there, thus sparking the Maccabean Revolt commemorated in Hanukkah.
At the height of the Antichrist’s political rule, in which demonic forces will engulf the world, Jesus will leave the right hand of the Father in heaven. He will cascade through the atmosphere, accompanied by angels and the redeemed of all time.
At that time, the sun will blink out its light in homage to the Light of the World returning to His turf. The moon thereby will not give light. And the stars, as if dancing in space, will careen thither and fro. It’s as if the universe celebrates the return of its Creator in defiance of mortals’ madness against the holiness of Jesus.
Jesus will return as the Armageddon Battle rages in the Valley of Megiddo, located in the northwestern section of Israel. There those who are anybody militarily will have gathered for a fight at "the navel of the planet," not realizing it to be the last conflict of the Church Age.
Jesus will win the battle by speaking His Word. With that the Antichrist will be thrown alive into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone. Along with him will be caste the False Prophet, the planet’s religious leader who will have swayed his populous by the doctrines of hell.
During that time prior to the second return of Jesus, the Antichrist will hold power politically. The False Prophet will hold power religiously. However, there will be a righteous remnant battling against such evil till the close. That holy gathering for Jesus will hold forth the gospel truth midst much persecution. It will be that remnant that will await His return as the bride awaits the coming of her Groom.
Just as the Antichrist and False Prophet will hold demonic authority for politic and religion, Jesus will return to assume under His millennial reign both politic and religion — King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Jesus’ redeemed will rule with Him as kings and priests. The planet, not yet enveloped in the perfect holiness of the New Heaven and New Earth ushered in at the close of the millennial reign, will at least have a breather from the desperate devilment prior to the second return.
The devil himself, pictured symbolically in The Book of Revelation as the dragon (that bloated snake of Eden, now filled with the souls of the damned), will be thrown into hell’s Bottomless Pit for the one thousand year reign of Jesus on Earth.
At His first coming, Jesus was born a baby, laid in a manger for there was no room for Him in the inn. At his second coming, Jesus will return as Monarch, ridding the planet of His enemies to rule in righteousness from Jerusalem, His Holy City.
Jesus is not too popular in the world. "He came unto His own and His own received Him not."
As the ages roll along, Jesus is less and less welcome in His own world.
But when Jesus returns for the second time, it will be not as the Servant, but as the planet’s Monarch. Prophesies are replete throughout Scripture. The major portions are in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. In these passages Jesus is recorded as speaking plainly — literally — not in the symbolism He envisioned to the apostle John on the Isle of Patmos.
Therefore, in those Gospel clear-cut sections, Jesus sets forth His predictions. He says that prior to His second return, there will be "wars and rumors of wars." There will also be an increase in earthquakes as well as environmental pestilence. Brother will turn against brother, father against son, and so forth with family fall-outs escalating. Sin will abound. Evil will be tolerated en mass. Famine will spread its ugly paw across the Earth.
Then there will come the "abomination of desolation," that is the desecration of Jerusalem’s next Temple to be constructed. The abominable act will take place when the Antichrist commits sacrilege in the Holy of Holies, similar to Antioches Epiphanes’ spoiling of the Holy of Holies by sacrificing a pig there, thus sparking the Maccabean Revolt commemorated in Hanukkah.
At the height of the Antichrist’s political rule, in which demonic forces will engulf the world, Jesus will leave the right hand of the Father in heaven. He will cascade through the atmosphere, accompanied by angels and the redeemed of all time.
At that time, the sun will blink out its light in homage to the Light of the World returning to His turf. The moon thereby will not give light. And the stars, as if dancing in space, will careen thither and fro. It’s as if the universe celebrates the return of its Creator in defiance of mortals’ madness against the holiness of Jesus.
Jesus will return as the Armageddon Battle rages in the Valley of Megiddo, located in the northwestern section of Israel. There those who are anybody militarily will have gathered for a fight at "the navel of the planet," not realizing it to be the last conflict of the Church Age.
Jesus will win the battle by speaking His Word. With that the Antichrist will be thrown alive into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone. Along with him will be caste the False Prophet, the planet’s religious leader who will have swayed his populous by the doctrines of hell.
During that time prior to the second return of Jesus, the Antichrist will hold power politically. The False Prophet will hold power religiously. However, there will be a righteous remnant battling against such evil till the close. That holy gathering for Jesus will hold forth the gospel truth midst much persecution. It will be that remnant that will await His return as the bride awaits the coming of her Groom.
Just as the Antichrist and False Prophet will hold demonic authority for politic and religion, Jesus will return to assume under His millennial reign both politic and religion — King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Jesus’ redeemed will rule with Him as kings and priests. The planet, not yet enveloped in the perfect holiness of the New Heaven and New Earth ushered in at the close of the millennial reign, will at least have a breather from the desperate devilment prior to the second return.
The devil himself, pictured symbolically in The Book of Revelation as the dragon (that bloated snake of Eden, now filled with the souls of the damned), will be thrown into hell’s Bottomless Pit for the one thousand year reign of Jesus on Earth.
At His first coming, Jesus was born a baby, laid in a manger for there was no room for Him in the inn. At his second coming, Jesus will return as Monarch, ridding the planet of His enemies to rule in righteousness from Jerusalem, His Holy City.
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