Messianic Perspectives

Liz Aiello: Peter prophesied that in the last days scoffers will say, where is the promise of Christ's coming? Is this prophecy being fulfilled in our generation? We'll talk about it today right here on Messianic Perspectives.

Shalom, and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctive first-century Jewish point of view. I'm Liz Aiello. Today we're talking about the promise of his coming with our Bible teacher Dr. Gary Hedrick. I'll be back a little later with information about a special offer, so have your pencil and paper ready. Now with today's study, here is Dr. Gary Hedrick.

Dr. Gary Hedrick: Thank you. It's good to have you with us today, listening friend, as we continue our series on the promise of his coming. Did you know that the Bible contains far more information about the second coming of Jesus Christ than it does about his first coming? Did you know that the great bulk of Old Testament prophecy deals with the events surrounding his second coming?

Isaiah to be sure deals clearly with the glorious first coming of Yeshua HaMashiach to suffer and to die, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, but there is far more in Isaiah about his second coming to reign in majesty and power. The prophecy of Ezekiel is almost entirely occupied with the setting up of the glorious millennial kingdom at the second coming of Jesus. The same is true of Daniel, Jeremiah, Joel, Amos, Hosea, and the rest of the Old Testament prophets.

Then you turn over to the New Testament or the New Covenant. Did you know that there are over 320 passages in the New Testament dealing with the promise of our Lord's second coming? Have you ever considered the significance of the fact that the last book in the Bible, the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, deals almost entirely with the end-time events of this age to be climaxed and culminated by the glorious coming again of Jesus Christ?

So the second coming of Christ is preeminent throughout the scriptures. Now this does not detract from the importance of his first coming because without the first coming there could be no second coming. You say why is that? Simply because it would have been pointless for the Messiah to come and set up the kingdom without first dealing with the sin problem.

Without first dealing with the problem of sin and evil, it would have been pointless to attempt to set up the kingdom because eventually sin would have reared its ugly head again and the whole process would have started all over again. So the Messiah came first to offer himself as the sacrifice for sin to make it possible for sin and evil to be done away with once for all and forever. So without the first coming of the Messiah as the suffering servant, the second coming as the Messianic King would have been futile.

We've said first of all that what we believe about the first coming is the test of orthodoxy and what we believe about the second coming of Jesus Christ is the test of spirituality. Then secondly, we said the hope of the second coming is a purifying hope. We said it's an incentive to holiness in the church, and thirdly, it's a blessed hope. The word blessed means happy. No matter how dark and bleak the world around us becomes, we have the blessed hope of Messiah's coming.

When we were in Israel this last time, one of our tour guides was an orthodox Russian Jew. His family had come from Russia in the days of the tsars and moved to Palestine even before Israel became a state in 1948, and you could just tell that the coming of the Messiah was something that was always on his mind because he talked about the Messiah over and over again. When the Messiah comes, he will do this. When the Messiah comes, he will do that.

So one day I said, Itzik, didn't you know that the Messiah has already been here once? When he comes again, it will be the second time. And he looked at me and smiled and said, Well when he comes, we will ask him if he has been here before. So even among the orthodox Jews, the coming of the Messiah is a blessed hope. For one thing, it's their hope of being delivered from their enemies in the Middle East.

You say Gary haven't you heard, the Jews and the Arabs aren't enemies anymore? Peace is just breaking out all over the place in the Middle East. No it's not. In spite of all the rhetoric about the peace process, things haven't really changed. The Arab world is still boycotting Israel. The borders are still closed, just like they were before. The same people who've always wanted Israel destroyed still want Israel destroyed.

Now don't get me wrong. I applaud the brave men and women on both sides, Jews and Arabs alike, who have put their lives on the line in the Middle East to try to come to some sort of agreement, but there just isn't going to be any peace until the Prince of Peace comes, and in the meantime you can talk all you want to about the peace process, but those of us who know what's really going on over there know that what's happening right now is only the prelude to what will eventually someday be the most awesome Mid-East conflict in history.

It will climax in the battle of Armageddon, and frankly, it's amazing that the orthodox Jews in Israel have more insight into some of these issues than a lot of American evangelicals do. The orthodox Jews know that their only hope at this point is the coming of Mashiach, and they're hoping and praying and fasting and waiting for the coming of the Messiah.

If the coming of the Messiah is a blessed hope for Jewish people who don't even know his name, how much more should it be a blessed hope for those of us who know him personally? And what a wonderful blessed hope it is. One of these days, he will come. The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever, the Bible says.

Then indeed shall peace flow like a river. Men shall beat their swords into plowshares. Nature shall be at peace while the lion and the lamb lie down together. The leopard and the goat shall feed and even the poisonous serpents shall become the harmless pets of playing children. The earth shall be delivered from the curse. There will be plenty for all and they shall know more hurt nor destroy in all God's holy mountain the Bible says. And we shall be with the Lord. What a grand reunion it will be when all of God's children from previous generations are all gathered together around the throne.

Not long ago, someone said to me Gary I don't believe in the universal church. I said well why don't you? And he said because the universal church doesn't have any deacons, doesn't have any buildings and has never held a service. I said you don't believe in the universal church because it's never had a church service? He said that's right.

I said boy are you ever in for a big surprise. Because one of these days you see, my friend, we're going to have a meeting. All of God's people from the days of the apostles up to the present time will be resurrected and caught up to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. We're going to have church. We'll have the marriage supper of the lamb in heaven during that seven-year time of tribulation on the earth, and what a wonderful glorious time that will be.

Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 if you're following along with us in your Bible. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 beginning in verse 13. Here's what it says: "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." Verse 14: "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."

Verse 15: "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent," or precede, "them who are asleep." Verse 16: "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first." Verse 17: "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

Now what's Paul talking about here? Well, Thessalonica was one of the places Paul visited on his missionary journeys. While he was there, a good number of people came to faith in Christ. They became the church at Thessalonica, and Paul took the time to disciple them, to train them, to teach them. Among other things, he taught them about the hope of the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ and the establishing of his kingdom on the earth.

So even after Paul went on his way, the Christians at Thessalonica encouraged each other with the hope that the Lord would soon return and all their troubles would be over. But as the weeks turned into months and the months turned into years, something happened that disturbed the church at Thessalonica. Some of their people got sick and died, or got old and died.

But as they carried their dead friends to the cemetery, these believers at Thessalonica began to wonder if Paul had made a mistake. Had not Paul told all of them that Jesus was coming and that when he came they would share in his kingdom? You see, they knew there would be a general resurrection of the dead at the end of time, but that's after the thousand-year kingdom period.

So some of the Thessalonian Christians started thinking, what a shame that poor old Eutychus died before Jesus could come back and set up the kingdom. But Eutychus was sitting right there when Paul said that we all would share in the blessings of Messiah's kingdom. So it was hard for these people to resolve how some of their brethren could hear the promise of the kingdom but then die before they could share in the fulfillment of the promise.

But the reason they were having this difficulty was that they didn't yet have all the information. It was like trying to put a puzzle together without having all the pieces. You see God's revelation at this point was still unfolding. Well by this time, Paul had gone on to Berea and Athens and finally to Corinth, and that's where he was when word reached him about the problems in Thessalonica.

In this letter he explains that contrary to what they might have thought, the dead in Christ will not be denied the glories of Christ's kingdom on the earth. Instead, he says the dead shall be raised at his coming and then we shall be changed and caught up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air. That's why he said in 1 Thessalonians 4:13: "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep," that is those who are physically dead, "that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope."

You see, even as believers we sorrow when a loved one dies, but we sorrow not as others who have no hope. We have the hope of the resurrection at the rapture of the church and the second coming of Jesus Christ. Well we're just getting started here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, but we're out of time already, so we'll continue this on the next program. Until then, this is Gary Hedrick saying God bless you, take care, bye-bye.

Liz Aiello: Thank you, Gary, and thank you listening friend for tuning in today. If you liked what you heard today, you will be pleased to know we've taken all of the programs in this series and placed them on one convenient CD entitled "The Promise of His Coming," and it's yours for a gift of just six dollars or more to Messianic Perspectives. Just visit our secure online store at messianicspecialties.com to place your order.

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Have you enjoyed this edition of Messianic Perspectives? Why not continue to learn about the Jewish roots of your Christian faith by inviting a speaker from CJF Ministries? Call our toll-free number 1-800-926-5397 and we'll be happy to handle all of the details. And as always, when you're in touch, please mention the call letters of this station. If you're listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. I'm Liz Aiello. Join us next time won't you, as Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series of studies on the promise of his coming, right here on Messianic Perspectives.

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