sundayword :BY PROSPER TINGINI
I have listened to many preachers talking about the second coming of Jesus Christ. There seems to be many versions put forward to validate this doctrine. In all instances passages from the scriptures are quoted to support one’s line of thinking on this topic.
However, our Bible is a composition of various topics on a variety of subjects compiled from numerous original authors who are believed to all have been under the inspiration of the Lord our God. Unfortunately some verses of the scriptures can be used out of context to support particular beliefs. Satan and his children can also quote from the very same Bible to twist its meaning to suit their practices. The first head of the Christian Church, St Peter, also pointed out to the fact that some verses could be arm-twisted in interpretation to align even with the devil’s beliefs.
II Peter 3:15-18, St Simon Peter writes: “There are some things in Paul’s letters hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. You, therefore, beloved, knowing this before hand, beware lest you be carried away with the error of lawless men and lose your own stability.” Let us be guided by St Peter’s warnings in our reading and interpretation of the scriptures.
There exists some confusion on the teachings of the second coming of Christ. To some Christians it would mean that Christ is coming again to live among us just as he did some 2 000 years ago. However, I have a problem with that line of interpretation. All of us Christians accept and talk of the resurrection of Christ after his crucifixion and death. He rose up from the dead and physically lived among us again as witnessed by his apostles and verified by Apostle Thomas in person. Was that not in essence a “second” coming?
Despite verification by St Thomas himself that Christ came back again in flesh on this planet on that resurrection, and thereafter ascended to Heaven, are we erasing that scenario and continue to cling to the verses which have already passed their time?
All of Christianity believes that Christ is the Messiah mentioned in the scriptures. However, most of the Jewish community still believes that the Messiah is still to come. It is written that from the house of David, Jesus Christ was to be born and rule, yet Christ is still rebuked by most people of his own ancestry. In the same vein, are we the followers of Christ ourselves not rebuffing his resurrection as a thing of little or no significance, in the same manner as the majority of Jews are still reproving of the coming of the Messiah? Jesus’ resurrection is meant to prove to mankind that there is still life after death and that people can be made to rise up again to a second life. His 2nd coming, that physical event, could already have come to pass. Are we not still wearing the Thomas mentality of not believing until we see him again with our own eyes? I know this will attract a lot of criticism, but so be it.
I do fully believe on the reappearance of Christ on Judgement Day. If the “second” coming is linked with the Day of Judgement, then I humbly subscribe to that doctrine. I have written an article from parts of the book of Revelation and its links with “the road to Armageddon”, leading to Judgement Day. I titled the article, Insight into the Book of Revelation, interpreting what was revealed to the author, St John the Apostle, illuminating the dwelling of God the Father and of the Son, of the present and of what is to become.
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In Revelation 4:1, a voice spoke to St John: “Come up hither, and I will show you what must take place after this.” Immediately he was transformed into a spirit and began to see the glitter of God the Father seated upon a throne in the Heavens. In the hand of God was a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Only the spiritual being in the likeness of Jesus Christ was qualified to take and open the scroll to reveal messages held in each of the seven seals. Revelation 6:1-17 talks about what John saw when each of the seven seals was opened. The opening of the sixth seal signalled the dawn of the Day of Judgement. St John recounts: When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became as black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale; the sky vanished like a scroll that is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the Kings of the earth and the great men and generals and the rich and the strong and everyone, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountain, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne (God the Father), and from the wrath of the Lamb (the Son); for the great day of the wrath (Judgement Day) has come, and who can stand before it?” Without doubt, Christ will accompany his Father, in person to appear again to effect judgement upon mankind for both the living and the dead. Heaven and Earth will become one.
A mini trial run or stimulation of the dead resurrecting to face judgement, when Christ will reappear to judge is reflected in Ezekiel 37:1-10 when Ezekiel narrated: The Lord said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, say to the breath, thus says the Lord God; ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breath upon these slain, that they may live’. So I (Ezekiel) prophesied as commanded, and the breath came into them and they lived, and stood upon their feet (flesh and all), and exceedingly great number.”
Christ has already resurrected to live again in person on the Earth and the Heavens. His other appearance is linked to Judgement Day, of which he spoke, “of that day or that hour no one knows not even the angels in the heaven, nor the son, but only the Father” (Mark 13:32). Jesus Christ also foretold of many other signs that would signal the impending Day of Judgment, on which he will reappear again beside his Father. In Corinthians 5:10, Apostle Paul wrote on the reappearance of Christ: “For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body.”
l Prosper Tingini is the Scribe of the Children of God Missionary Assembly — God’s messengers. Contact details: 0771 260 195. Email address: [email protected]
