Messianic Perspectives

Announcer (Female): 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? Stay with us as Dr. Gary Hedrick focuses on prophecy and the promise of His coming, today right here on Messianic Perspectives.

Liz Aiello: Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctively first-century Jewish point of view. This is 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: Thanks. It's good to have you with us today, listening friend, as we continue our series on the promise of His coming. The important thing to realize is that the second coming of Jesus Christ is not merely a hope, although it certainly is that. And it's not just an expectation, although it is that too. More than just being a hope or an expectation, the second coming of Jesus Christ is a promise.

Jesus Christ, before He left this earth 2,000 years ago, spoke to His followers and gave them His word that someday He would return. He said, "If I go, I will come again." It's a promise. The only condition was "if I go." Let me give you a little Greek lesson. In the Greek, this is a third-class conditional sentence. A third-class condition is like saying, "I may or may not go away, but if I do, mark it down. I will be back."

And since He went, fulfilling the condition, that means He's coming again, just as He said He would. The Apostle Peter mentions the promise of His coming three times in Chapter 3 of Second Peter. He says in Second Peter 3:3, "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers or doubters, walking after their own lusts and saying, where is what? The promise of His coming." For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

Do you know what that is? It's this pseudo-intellectual philosophy that precludes the possibility of divine intervention. This philosophy has carried over into the field of geology in what they call uniformitarianism. It's the idea that everything we observe today can be explained in terms of processes that are at work today. We don't need a supernatural creation. We don't need a worldwide flood. Everything can be explained without the necessity of believing that God has intervened supernaturally in history.

So, Peter says that in the last days, there will be scoffers or doubters who will extrapolate that same philosophy into the future. That same philosophy that says we can explain the past by observing the present also says we can explain the future by observing what has happened up until now. In other words, where's the promise of His coming? You Christians have been waiting for 2,000 years for your Messiah to come back. If He hasn't come in 2,000 years, that must mean He never will come.

You see, one of the signs that we're approaching the end is the fact that there are so many people who scoff at the idea of a second coming. To them, the idea that God will supernaturally intervene in human history, bringing it to a climax, is ludicrous. But that in itself is a sign of the approaching end. Look at verse 8: "But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

In other words, the passage of time means nothing to God. When He makes a promise, He might take a million years to fulfill it. But that promise is just as good a million years from now as it is today. And if God says He will do something, then that means He will do it. 2,000 years is like two days to the Lord. Then He talks about the promise again in verse 9: "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness."

And that means slowness. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise, as some people might think, "but He is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." That's the reason for the delay in His coming. He is calling people to repentance. He is calling out a people for Himself. We call it the Ecclesia, the church, the body of Christ.

Then Peter mentions the promise yet a third time in verse 13. He says, "Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." That's what the Scriptures refer to as the Day of the Lord. Remember, to the Lord one day is as a thousand years. This Day of the Lord, in fact, lasts slightly more than a thousand years—1,007 years to be exact. In fact, Peter gives us the parameters right here in verse 10.

Look what he says: "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." That's the secret rapture of the church. He comes and steals us away like a thief in the night. What does a burglar do? He comes and goes before you even realize he's been there. So, that's the point where it begins. Now, where does it end? Read on in the same verse: "In the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up."

When do the heavens and the earth pass away? At the end of the millennium when God makes a new heaven and a new earth. So, it covers a period of exactly 1,007 years from the rapture through the tribulation, through the thousand-year Messianic age, to the new heaven and the new earth. So, the next event on God's prophetic calendar will be the rapture of the church. Then there will be the time of Jacob's trouble, and finally, the glorious millennial reign of the Messiah.

In that glorious day of His reign, the age of vindication of the one whom they slew and hanged on a tree, all nature and all creatures will share in our redemption. Not a single thing which came under the curse because of Adam's sin will be forgotten. The last Adam will redeem that which the first Adam lost. Not only will the redeemed of this church age receive rewards and reign with Him, but God will fulfill every covenant promise made to Israel, from the first promise to Abraham to the last blessed assurance of the new covenant.

Of that future day, we read the words of Jeremiah the prophet: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The LORD Our Righteousness." In the Hebrew, Yahweh Tsidkenu.

"Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I have driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land." Jeremiah 23, verses 5 through 8. You say, "But Gary, the Jewish people are already in their own land."

No, not really. Three things: first of all, the Diaspora is far from over. There are many times more Jews outside of Israel than there are in Israel. Second, present-day Israel encompasses only a fraction of the land they've been promised. And third, the prophetic Scriptures teach that Yerushalayim will be trodden underfoot of the Gentiles one final time during the future tribulation period. And in our generation, we are seeing the stage being set in the Middle East for the fulfillment of all these end-time prophecies.

And when Israel is restored both spiritually and physically, and Jesus Christ reigns over the earth, then shall be brought to pass the promise that God made to Abraham when He said, "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Genesis 12:3. During the reign of Messiah Jesus, wars will be virtually unknown. There will be no battles, no navies, no nuclear arsenals, no munitions plants, no bombers, no cruise missiles, no scuds.

All the ingenuity and invention of man will be turned into useful production of implements of peace. Men shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, the Bible says. Peace and universal prosperity will abound, and they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, the Lord says. There will be no poverty or injustice. Sickness will be unknown, and death will be the rare exception, for as Isaiah says, the inhabitant shall not say, "I am sick." Isaiah 33:24. Isn't that great?

Even the soil will be transformed by the coming of the Messiah. The soil, the ground, the earth. 2,500 years ago, the prophet Isaiah predicted that the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. Isaiah 35:1. Even now in Israel, the desert is beginning to blossom like a rose. Could that be a sign that the coming of the Messiah is not far away?

And do you know something else that will be restored as we approach the kingdom age? The sign gifts: miracles, healing, and tongues. During the tribulation period when the gospel of the kingdom goes forth much as it did during the time of Jesus and the apostles, that word will be confirmed once again by miracles, healings, and tongues. That's why when Jesus was here on the earth offering the kingdom to Israel, it was the great age of miracles, healing, and tongues.

And we're not talking about phony miracles, or fraudulent healings, or counterfeit tongues, which is mostly what we see today in the religious world. There won't be any quackery or showmanship, no Elmer Gantry wizardry or high-tech deception. Just the pure, unadulterated supernatural power of Almighty God. And it'll be primarily for the same purpose as it was during the apostolic age, and that is as a sign for Israel.

The prophet Isaiah says that at the beginning of the millennium, "The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert." Isaiah 35, verses 5 and 6. That is the promise of His coming. Remember the words of Jesus. Let them sink deep down into your heart to comfort you in the dark days that are ahead.

He said, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14:3. Well, that's all of our time for today, and that concludes our study on the promise of His coming. This is Gary Hedrick hoping to see you next time. God bless you. Take care. Bye-bye.

Liz Aiello: Thank you, Gary. And thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. Well, listening friend, if you're interested in Bible prophecy, 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." It's available for your contribution of just six dollars or more to help us keep this program on your station.

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