Advent (3) The Second Coming of Jesus Christ

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”” (Ac 1:8-11)


​Review
Thank you again for joining in our young adult worship service today. Today is the third Sunday of Advent, when we remember and celebrate the coming of Jesus.
 
So, for the past two weeks, we’ve talked about the first coming of Jesus Christ through His virgin birth and incarnation.
 
The virgin birth of Jesus Christ allows us to know fundamental truths about Him. He is fully God and fully human without sin and thus He is the only One who is able to serve as the Mediator between God and us. He was the perfect sacrifice of atonement for the sins of all human beings.
 
The virgin birth of Jesus Christ is closely related to the concept of ‘incarnation.’ It derives from a Latin word that means ‘to make into flesh.’ So, the incarnation of Jesus Christ refers to when Jesus, who is in His very nature God, became flesh by taking human form.
 
We learned about the incarnation through John chapter 1, which gives us significant insights into who Jesus is. John starts his gospel by declaring that God created the world through His Word.
 
But John also said that the Word was with God, the Word was God, and that “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14).
 
This is one of the most wonderful and beautiful declarations about Jesus. Through this verse, we know that Jesus has always existed, even before He was born to the virgin Mary. We know that Jesus was with God before creation and that He played an important role in creation.
 
 And we know how great God’s love and grace for us is since the Word, Jesus, who is the Lord of the universe, chose to become like us by taking the form of a human being. We’ll never fully know what Jesus sacrificed to save us. No words will be ever enough to describe His love and sacrifice for us.
 
But we at least know that His love for us is great and that it was manifested in His coming to the world. These are the truths that we should always remember and hold on to as Christians.
 
The Second Coming of Jesus Christ
All right. That’s what we’ve talked about regarding Jesus’ coming for the past two weeks. During the remaining two weeks of Advent, I want us to think about the future coming of Jesus Christ.
 
The Bible says that Jesus was to come and is to come, which means that Jesus’ coming happens twice.
 
Jesus’ first coming had been promised and prophesied in the Old Testament before it took place. To fulfill these prophecies, Jesus came to the world in human form. He lived a perfect life on earth and died on the cross for our sins. He then rose from the dead and ascended to heaven.
 
But before He left, Jesus promised that He would come again. However, this hasn’t happened yet. We call this the second coming of Jesus.
 
So, for the next two weeks, we’ll read some verses about Jesus’ second coming and learn what will happen when He comes again and how we can prepare for it.
 
There are many important concepts that are related to the second coming of Jesus, such as the resurrection of the body, the completion of our salvation, the last judgment, the new heaven and earth, and the kingdom of God.
 
These are all important concepts in Christianity. They all show the kind of hope for the future we have as Christians. We believe that we will be resurrected from the dead. We believe that the present suffering will pass, and eternal glory will come to us. We believe that our salvation will be complete, and we’ll see Jesus face to face and worship God together eternally. And we believe that the kingdom of God will be established on earth with the new heaven and the new earth and that we’ll join in God’s reign as His people.
 
And all these things will happen at the same time when our Lord Jesus Christ comes back to the world with His mighty power and sovereignty. So, it’s very important for us to keep in mind the hope we have for the future, because it allows us to focus on what’s truly essential and eternal, and by doing so, it helps us to avoid sin and temptations in the world and live the holy life that we are called to live. So, the importance of reminding ourselves of the second coming of Jesus cannot be overemphasized.
 
Now, let’s dig deeper into the promise of Jesus’ return. The Bible says that Jesus was born as a baby, lived on earth, and died on the cross. But He was raised from the dead, and He lived in His glorious, resurrected body with His disciples and followers for forty days.
 
Before ascending to heaven, Jesus promised His disciples two things. First, He promised that He would ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit. And, second, He promised that He would come back. We see these two promises in Acts chapter 1.
 
Acts 1 describes how Jesus ascended to heaven. One day, Jesus was eating with His disciples. Then He said to them,
 
“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about…  in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Ac 1:4-5)
 
Then the disciples asked Him,
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Ac 1:6).
 
This question implies that the disciples still didn’t understand the restoration Jesus would bring about. They thought Jesus would restore the kingdom of Israel, but Jesus’ purpose was to restore the kingdom of God that would reach to the ends of the earth.
 
But, rather than correcting them, Jesus replied,
“It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Ac 1:7-8)
 
Here, the times and dates the Father has set refer to the moment when God restores everything according to His plan and when His kingdom is perfectly established on earth. So the time refers to the second coming of Jesus.
 
What we at least know from this verse is that God has set the time when He will restore everything. Just as the virgin birth of Jesus had been promised and took place “when the set time had fully come” (Gal 4:4), God has not only promised to restore everything with the return of Christ but has already set the time to do so.
 
This gives us confidence of our hope for the future. We know that God is faithful to His promise. And we know that God can’t lie. So, the fact that God, who is always truthful and never fails to keep His covenant, promised the second coming of Jesus and already set the time shows how certain the future hope we have as Christians is.
 
As Jesus said, “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory… Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father… Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”  (Mt 24:30, 35-36, 42)
 
In Acts 1, after Jesus talked to his disciples about God’s timing of restoration and the promise of the Holy Spirit, “he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.” (Ac 1:9)
 
The disciples looked up into the sky as Jesus ascended to heaven. Then suddenly two men appeared and told the disciples,
 
“Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)
 
This promise wasn’t only given to the disciples who saw Jesus ascend to heaven, but also to every believer who longs for His return.
 
There are many more verses throughout the Bible that talk about Jesus’ second coming.
Hebrews 10:35-37 says,
 
“Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay”” (Heb 10:35-37)
 
 
Revelation, the last book in the Bible, is full of the promise of Jesus’ return.
 
It says, “Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen.” (Rv 1:7)
 
The Bible ends with the promise,
“He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” (Rv 22:20)
 
These are the promises we have regarding Jesus’ return. But  we find the promise of His return in the Old Testament as well.
 
During the past week, I read the book of Daniel. The stories of faith of Daniel and his three friends were very interesting. I learned lots of great lessons from the book, and it challenged me a lot.
 
But many people have difficulty reading the latter part of Daniel since it is filled with visions and prophecies God gave Daniel about things to happen in the future.
 
When I read Daniel 7:13-14, I was surprised. It says,
“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” (Dn 7:13-14)
 
The words in this passage are so perfectly in harmony with the promises of the second coming of Jesus Christ in the New Testament  that I felt like I was reading the New Testament.
 
It was amazing that Daniel saw ‘a son of man’ coming with the clouds of heaven. What God showed him was not the first coming of Jesus, but the second one. We can find many prophecies related to the first coming of the Messiah in the Old Testament, but prophecies about the second coming of Jesus are not as common.
 
That reminded me of the fact that God didn’t only plan the first coming of Jesus, but His return as well, even before His birth. How amazing God’s plan is for our salvation!
 
Daniel saw all nations and peoples of every language worshiping the Son of Man. This reminds me of Revelation 7:9-10, which says,
 
“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (Rv 7:9-10)
 
And Daniel saw the Son of Man rule over the world with His authority and sovereign power given by God in His eternal kingdom.
 
It reminds me of Jesus’ kingship and His sovereignty over the whole world and the church. Ephesians 1:20-22 says,
 
 
“[God] raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church” (Eph 1:20-22)
 
It also reminds me that we, as God’s people, will join in Jesus’ reign when He comes back. For Revelation 20:6 says,
 
“Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.” (Rv 20:6)
 
So, it’s amazing to see how, in the book of Daniel, God promised Jesus’ return with clouds from heaven, the last worship that endures forever, and Jesus’ ruling over the whole world with His power and authority.
 
So, all of these verses and promises allow us to know with certainty that Jesus will come back. It is so certain that they serve as an anchor for our souls. These are the promises that we’re to remember. We’re to remember that this world is not the end because there’s a new world to come that Jesus will bring. We’re to remember that our lives here on this earth are very temporary compared to the life we’ll have when Jesus comes back.
 
Our faith in that hope allows us to fix our eyes on Jesus rather than on the world, overcome our weaknesses and sins, and live by God’s will, seeking His eternal life and His kingdom in our lives.
 
Today is the third Sunday of Advent. During this period, we not only celebrate the first coming of Jesus, but also remember that He is coming back. I want every one of us to stand firmly on this truth so that we won’t be shaken by worldly concerns but live by faith, on the basis of the glorious, future hope God gives us in Christ Jesus. Let’s pray.
 
<Closing prayer>
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us this great opportunity to think about the second coming of Jesus. We believe that He is coming again because You promised it in the Scriptures and we know that You’re faithful to Your promises.
 
We thank You for the glorious and eternal future hope You’ve given us through Jesus. Please open our eyes and help us see Your wonderful plans for our salvation so that we can live for You, trusting in Your promise for us.
 
We ask You to open our hearts and give us the faith to respond to Your promise, saying, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus”
 
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
 
<Sharing>
Today, we talked about the second coming of Jesus. Here are the questions I want us to think about.
 
1) Do you believe in the return of Christ? How do you think it is related to your faith and your life now? What kind of hope can you find from His return?