Before I get to the message on Christ’s Return, I want to let people know that I realize this message will be hard for most people to take in. Because of this, I would like to challenge everyone to be open to discarding the lies they have learned and believe only in God’s Word. I know the masses of people that believe these lies have human reasoning on their side, but we are called to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding (Prov 3:5)”. We cannot listen to our own reasoning, because our selfishness will always lead us into a trap of believing the devil’s lies. This fight against evil is not against any person, but it is a fight against the lies of the devil. Even though I know this message will probably be hard for people to believe, I believe that if people come to believe in God’s Word alone, then there will be some very positive results. This challenge is for God’s glory and will have a benefit to all who believe. I write this message in the hopes that God’s Truth will reign once more in our land. It is not the human’s version of the truth that sets people free, but it is God’s Truth alone that sets people free.
Now getting to the subject of this message, which is the Truth of Christ’s return. Many people (believers) are waiting for Christ’s return, but what return of Christ are they waiting for?
There is the return of Christ that has already happened after He ascended to His heavenly Father and upon His return He set up His Kingdom here on earth. Most people call this “the second coming of Christ”.
A person could also consider the return of Christ as being when Christ and His Kingdom overthrows the devil in the end, where Christ throws the devil, death, hell, and everybody not found in the book of life into the eternal lake of fire. We could call this return of Christ “the final return of Christ”.
I have learned that most believers are still waiting on “Christ’s second coming”. People call it Christ’s second coming because He came once already to be a sacrificial Lamb and died on the cross for all our sins. Most people and even most theologians are still waiting for Christ’s second coming, where Christ is to set up His Kingdom. This “second coming of Christ” is the subject I will concentrate on in this message. My goal in this message is to show by God’s Word that most believers have been deceived by the devil into believing lies about God’s Kingdom. Most people are waiting for Christ to return, but God’s Word says Christ’s second coming has already happened. Most people are waiting for God’s “physical” Kingdom to be brought to earth, although God’s Word says His “Spiritual” Kingdom has already come and is here now. Most believers have been deceived into looking for a physical kingdom of God, so this has brought them to believe that Christ and His Kingdom hasn’t come yet. This lie of the devil worked on most of the Jews in Jesus time, and now this same lie seems to be working in the devil’s favor again. Are we ever going to learn, God is Spirit and His eternal Kingdom is also Spirit.
God’s Word says when He would return. In fact, Jesus Christ Himself told us about the time He would return.
Matt 24:30-35 - 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. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Matt 24:30-35 has many spiritual happenings at the time Jesus Christ returns, but I don’t want to get side tracked by these spiritual meanings at this point. I would like to stay focused on the timing of the physical things that happen during this time when Jesus Christ returns. In Matt 24 we have God’s Word and it spoken directly from Jesus Christ. Jesus says He would return before that current generation of people passed away. We can’t ignore this. This is God’s Truth, but most have ignored this verse or just say they don’t know what Jesus really meant by this. Jesus Christ meant exactly what He said. If this was the only verse of God’s Word that indicated that Christ had already returned, then we would have to believe that Christ returned already based on this verse, because it is God’s Word and God’s Word cannot lie to us. But for the doubters out there, there is more scripture that backs up the truth that Christ has already returned.
John 21:20-23 - Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is going to betray you?") When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?
Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me." Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?
These verses indicate that the disciple John (the one whom Jesus loved) would not die before Jesus Christ returned. These verses back up the verses in Matt 24:29-30 that say Jesus Christ would return before the current generation passed away. These words were said by Jesus to His disciple Peter after Christ had already died on the cross and ascended to His heavenly Father. Even though Christ had returned to His disciples to teach and encourage them some more, this was not Christ’s second return, because Jesus told the disciples then that He would return again in the future. When Jesus told of a disciple not dying until He returned, how are we sure that Jesus was talking about one of His disciples (11 disciples at that time), it is because God’s Word says “disciple whom Jesus loved” and the words “This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is going to betray you?”. The supper discussed here is the Last Supper with His 12 disciples. So, by this we know that it was one of the disciples that were with Christ at the last supper and this one disciple would not die until after Christ returned.
Here is another verse of God’s Word to backup this Truth. Again this is Jesus Christ talking.
Matt 16:27-28 - For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.
If we believe God’s Word to be infallible and true (which it is), then we must know and believe that Jesus Christ already returned as He said. It doesn’t matter whether we understand this Truth or whether we cannot accept this Truth; it is the Truth, because God and His Word never lie.
Now, you might say, how can this be true? How can almost everybody be wrong? Let us look at some more proof in God’s Word. Let us look back at Matt 24 verse 29.
Matt 24:29 - 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 the heavenly bodies will be shaken.
Again this verse has spiritual happenings (not physical happenings). The actual sun doesn’t darken, the actual moon doesn’t stop giving its light, the actual stars don’t fall from the sky, and the actual heavenly bodies aren’t physically shaken. For this message we want to concentrate on what was said, the timings of things, and the consistency in God’s Word and not get side tracked by what these spiritual happenings really mean, even though it would be a great study to do at a later time. This verse (Matt 24:29) directly preceded Matt 24:30-35 (stated previously), where Jesus Christ said the generation that was currently living with Him would not pass away until He returned. We see a great similarity in Matt 24:29 (the above verse), which is saying what will come before and after Pentecost, which is found in Acts 2.
Acts 2:14-20 - Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel”:
“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
Matt 24:29 Acts 2
the sun will be darkened ……………. wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth
sun will be turned to darkness
the moon will not give its light ………. wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth
the moon to blood
stars will fall from the sky ……………. wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth
the heavenly bodies will be shaken … wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth
What Jesus Christ prophesied in Matt 24:29 already happened, some of it at the cross and its aftermath (the distress) and some of it at Pentecost and some of it after Pentecost. Let us look closer at the scripture in Joel (the prophet) to see how this ties together. Remember Peter stood up at Pentecost and said: “this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel”
Joel 2:28-31 - I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days (This all happened at Pentecost and after Pentecost). I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
What was said in Acts 2 by Peter at Pentecost and what was said by the prophet Joel matches exactly, except the scripture of Joel says that these events will happen “before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” So what happened at and before Pentecost, marked the beginning of the coming of the Lord, or to say it another way, marked the “second coming of Christ”.
Now I know this goes against what most people have been taught and have come to believe. I am sure people must be saying; how can this be? Christ was to return and setup His Kingdom. Yes, that is exactly what Christ did when He returned. Christ did not return “physically” to setup a “physical” kingdom like most are looking for, He returned spiritually to setup His spiritual Kingdom. God’s goal was to extend His heavenly Kingdom down to earth. Our heavenly Father and Jesus Christ never wanted a physical kingdom. God is Spirit, so their Kingdom is also Spirit. The physical realm is for the flesh, not for the Spirit. The Spirit can use the physical realm, and it does, but God’s Kingdom does not need the physical realm, except for a place for souls to pick which spiritual kingdom they want to be a part of.
We can see that God’s Kingdom is not of the physical realm, but in the hearts of men. God resides in heavenly places and in the spirit of men, at least men and women that are born of God.
John 18:36 - Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."
Luke 17:20-21 - Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you."
Anyone that says and/or is waiting for Jesus Christ to return and setup His Kingdom is woefully misled. Anyone that is teaching believers to wait for Christ’s return and/or teaching believers to wait for God’s Kingdom to come is ignorant of God’s Word and Truth. Christ has already returned and setup His Kingdom. Anyone that has the true knowledge of God’s Word cannot claim to be waiting for Christ’s return and His Kingdom to come. Anyone that is teaching others that Christ second coming hasn’t occurred yet, is teaching a lie, even though they are most likely not doing this out of an evil intent, but out of lack of knowledge and a lack of knowing God.
I know this belief that Christ has already returned is not the belief of most believers, but it is God’s Truth. I know I am going against the crowd on what most believe, but the crowd is usually wrong. I pray everyone stops believing what the crowd believes and believes God’s Word instead. This is a message about God’s Kingdom, I pray you take it to heart and believe. Otherwise the evil one will snatch it away from you.
Matt 13:19 - When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.
Many cannot believe God’s Kingdom is here, because they don’t see it. To all these people I say, I can understand your thoughts. God’s Kingdom has been hard to see in the last fifty or so years. Our selfishness and the rejecting of God and His Word has made this world into a pretty bad place, at least when we compare it to God’s Kingdom. Even though this world has a lot of evil, I want to assure everyone that God’s Kingdom is still here. Individuals can still enter it if they search for God and His pure righteousness in their lives through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Once a person enters God’s Kingdom, they will find it bright and shining as the Son. It is my hope that this world comes back to God’s true Word as what they believe and live by. Then the whole world would see His Kingdom shining and there would be no more doubt about God’s Kingdom.
When Jesus Christ told us the Lord’s Prayer and said: “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, Jesus Christ was not wanting us to pray His Kingdom come in a hundred or a thousand(s) years later, He intended His Kingdom to be on earth and His Kingdom’s will to be done on earth at the time when they spoke this prayer and now as we speak this prayer. His Kingdom came down to earth a long time ago and it is still here through every truly born again Christian.
The churches of our world need to stop waiting for God’s Kingdom to come and actually get into God’s Kingdom.
God’s servant,
Michael W Reid
Monday, September 14, 2009
Christ's Return - Part I
With everything that is happening in our country and world today, there is more and more enthusiasm for “Christ’s return”. There are many churches proclaiming the rapture, where the righteous are taken up to God in an instant before God’s judgments fall upon all the unrighteous people on the earth. There are churches and organizations holding prayer vigils and they are praying for Christ’s return and His kingdom to finally come. While most “believers” are waiting and praying for Christ’s return – I am scared that His final return might soon be upon us. While I am not scared for my self, I am scared for almost everyone else. On the latest censes of the world as of Aug 2009, it was estimated that there were 6.781 billion people on this earth. How many of these billions of people are ready to meet their Maker and Judge?
I am not aware anywhere in God’s Word where God instructs us to pray for His return. God says to watch for the signs of His return, get ready, but should we really be praying for His return? Most “believers” are looking forward with enthusiasm to Christ’s return, but should we really be looking forward to Christ’s return? Do we really want to see or know about the condemnation of many of billions of people upon His final return? Do we realize the state that the world will be in when Christ returns to make a new heaven and earth? Jesus Christ Himself told us how it would be.
Matt 24:36-39 - No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood , people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
What Christ is saying in Matt 24:36-39 is that no one will know when Christ’s final return will be, only the heavenly Father. Christ will come back when the conditions of the world are like it was before the great flood of Noah. There will be all sorts of evil and almost everyone’s heart will be feeding on the evil to fulfill their own selfish desires. When Noah closed himself and his family inside the ark and it started to rain and flood the whole earth, what do you think Noah and his family felt like when they could here multitudes of people whaling and crying out for help? Noah and his family knew all life would be destroyed except for them. All those people outside the ark would forever be condemned to an eternal hell. If you were Noah, how would you of felt?
Luke 17:28-30 - It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
When the LORD and two angels came to Abraham and told him that they were going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of their unrighteousness, did Abraham delight and look forward to the destruction of all those unrighteous people? No, Abraham pleaded with God over and over again until God agreed to not destroy those cities if He found even 10 righteous men there. When Abraham saw from a distance the fire come down from heaven and destroy the cities, how do you think he felt? Abraham didn’t know those people (except for Lot and his family), but he felt for his fellow man and for the many souls lost on that day.
Jesus Christ Himself said it would be like this when He returns. So how will it be when Christ returns? Evil will rule the lives of most men. For the most part, people will be fulfilling their selfish desires and ambitions. So if the stipulation for Christ’s return is that almost all people will have corrupted themselves and will be living a very unrighteous life, how many souls do you think there will be to rapture? The bottom line is that when Christ does finally return, it will be because God no longer sees a reason to keep a world going that is mostly unrighteous and evil. Like the days of the flood and the days of Sodom and Gomorrah.
How about we stop looking forward to and stop praying for Christ’s return (or waiting on our left behinds) and start living like Jesus Christ and showing His light and His love again to this world. Maybe if we start loving our neighbors with God’s love, they will see that love and want it for themselves also. Maybe if we repent and decide to live a righteous life for God, maybe God won’t end up only finding a few righteous people, but many righteous people instead. Maybe if God sees enough righteous people, God will decide to give us more of His grace and patience and decide not to return yet. Wouldn’t it be great if Christ decides to give this world more time to repent, so some of the billions of people might be saved. I don’t know about you, but I care about the lost souls that will be lost if Christ returns soon. I also want my children, grand children, and great grand children to have enough time to get to know God and come to love God with all their hearts, souls, and minds.
A lot of people believe they will be raptured up and won’t have to experience Jesus’ wrath. Don’t you find this a bit (or a lot) selfish? If we really loved our fellow man and we loved them as much as ourselves (as God commands us), then we would put ourselves in their place. If we loved them as ourselves, wouldn’t we be praying for God not to return just yet, but instead show more mercy and grace for the billions that will be lost forever? Are todays Christians mainly thinking about themselves and not the lost anymore?
Just some thought to show how far we’ve come,
Michael W Reid
I am not aware anywhere in God’s Word where God instructs us to pray for His return. God says to watch for the signs of His return, get ready, but should we really be praying for His return? Most “believers” are looking forward with enthusiasm to Christ’s return, but should we really be looking forward to Christ’s return? Do we really want to see or know about the condemnation of many of billions of people upon His final return? Do we realize the state that the world will be in when Christ returns to make a new heaven and earth? Jesus Christ Himself told us how it would be.
Matt 24:36-39 - No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood , people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
What Christ is saying in Matt 24:36-39 is that no one will know when Christ’s final return will be, only the heavenly Father. Christ will come back when the conditions of the world are like it was before the great flood of Noah. There will be all sorts of evil and almost everyone’s heart will be feeding on the evil to fulfill their own selfish desires. When Noah closed himself and his family inside the ark and it started to rain and flood the whole earth, what do you think Noah and his family felt like when they could here multitudes of people whaling and crying out for help? Noah and his family knew all life would be destroyed except for them. All those people outside the ark would forever be condemned to an eternal hell. If you were Noah, how would you of felt?
Luke 17:28-30 - It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
When the LORD and two angels came to Abraham and told him that they were going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of their unrighteousness, did Abraham delight and look forward to the destruction of all those unrighteous people? No, Abraham pleaded with God over and over again until God agreed to not destroy those cities if He found even 10 righteous men there. When Abraham saw from a distance the fire come down from heaven and destroy the cities, how do you think he felt? Abraham didn’t know those people (except for Lot and his family), but he felt for his fellow man and for the many souls lost on that day.
Jesus Christ Himself said it would be like this when He returns. So how will it be when Christ returns? Evil will rule the lives of most men. For the most part, people will be fulfilling their selfish desires and ambitions. So if the stipulation for Christ’s return is that almost all people will have corrupted themselves and will be living a very unrighteous life, how many souls do you think there will be to rapture? The bottom line is that when Christ does finally return, it will be because God no longer sees a reason to keep a world going that is mostly unrighteous and evil. Like the days of the flood and the days of Sodom and Gomorrah.
How about we stop looking forward to and stop praying for Christ’s return (or waiting on our left behinds) and start living like Jesus Christ and showing His light and His love again to this world. Maybe if we start loving our neighbors with God’s love, they will see that love and want it for themselves also. Maybe if we repent and decide to live a righteous life for God, maybe God won’t end up only finding a few righteous people, but many righteous people instead. Maybe if God sees enough righteous people, God will decide to give us more of His grace and patience and decide not to return yet. Wouldn’t it be great if Christ decides to give this world more time to repent, so some of the billions of people might be saved. I don’t know about you, but I care about the lost souls that will be lost if Christ returns soon. I also want my children, grand children, and great grand children to have enough time to get to know God and come to love God with all their hearts, souls, and minds.
A lot of people believe they will be raptured up and won’t have to experience Jesus’ wrath. Don’t you find this a bit (or a lot) selfish? If we really loved our fellow man and we loved them as much as ourselves (as God commands us), then we would put ourselves in their place. If we loved them as ourselves, wouldn’t we be praying for God not to return just yet, but instead show more mercy and grace for the billions that will be lost forever? Are todays Christians mainly thinking about themselves and not the lost anymore?
Just some thought to show how far we’ve come,
Michael W Reid
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