Advent (4) The Second Coming of Jesus Christ (2)

“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope - the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” (Ti 2:11-14)


​Review
Thank you again for joining in our young adult worship service today. Since next Sunday is Christmas, today is the last Sunday of Advent. In fact, today’s worship is the last young adult worship of the year since we’ll have a combined worship service for Christmas next Sunday.
 
So I want to thank you for having been with me and for joining in young adult worship this year.
 
This week, we’ll continue to talk about the coming of Jesus. Advent is an important time when we remember the coming of Jesus. During this time, we not only celebrate the first coming of Jesus Christ, but also prepare for the second.
 
When Jesus ascended to heaven after finishing all His ministries on earth, two angels said that He would come back the same way He went to heaven. In addition,His return is also written about and prophesied in many passages in the New Testament and even in the Old Testament.
 
And we must believe that God is the God of covenant. He never fails to keep His promises. As Jesus said,
 
“Until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Mt 5:18)
 
And about the salvation God would bring through His Son and the kingdom of God, the prophet Isaiah said, “The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” (Is 9:7)
 
I really like the expression, “the zeal of the Lord,” because it reminds me that our salvation and the kingdom of God ultimately belong to God. The God we believe in is not passive. He’s different from other gods who just wait for people to seek them.
 
Our God’s love for us is so great that He came to the world to find us and save us. He has zeal and passion for us. And He has a plan for us. It has never changed, but has been faithfully fulfilled according to His great plan for our salvation.
 
And to help us understand it better, God didn’t just do things for our salvation but foretold them through many prophecies and symbols. When we read all the promises about Jesus written in the Old Testament hundreds of years before His birth and how they were fulfilled in Jesus’ life, we can’t help but praise God’s goodness, faithfulness, and love that we can’t even imagine.
 
And, what makes me even more excited is the fact that the Bible doesn’t only talk about what happened in the past. Not all the promises written in the Scriptures have been fulfilled yet.
 
Even though the promises of the first coming of the Messiah, the Savior of the world, were fulfilled, we still have the promises of the second coming of Jesus Christ.
 
And we can firmly believe with 100% confidence that Jesus will come back because we know that God, who had promised the first coming of Jesus and fulfilled it in His time, will bring about His promised return.
 
We should respond to God’s promise by saying “Amen,” which basically means, “so be it.”
 
As Paul said,
“For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you…was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.”  For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.” (2 Co 1:19-20)
 
Last Sunday, we read some passages about the promises of the return of Christ. It’s important for us to know about the second coming of Jesus, but it doesn’t mean anything until we actually accept it as truth and believe in it.
 
And that kind of belief must transform our minds, attitudes, perspectives, and lifestyles. How can people who look forward to eternity live just like those who only seek temporary comforts on earth?
 
So, just knowing about Jesus’ return is not enough. It should have a real impact on our individual lives. Therefore, we must continue to try to fix our eyes on Jesus so that our faith and our lives can be firmly built on God’s promises, eternal rewards and the kingdom of God.
 
We must believe that every promise about Christ is always answered with a ‘yes.’ It is so certain and so valuable that it’s worth investing everything we have. That’s what I want us to learn during this advent season.
 
Today, we’ll read some more passages about things that will happen with the second coming of Jesus. As I said last Sunday, everything we put our hope in as Christians—such as the last judgment, the completion of our salvation, resurrection, eternal life, the everlasting worship and the coming of the kingdom of God—is related to the return of Christ.
 
Each concept is important and there is a lot to learn about them. For today, we will read some passages about them and remind ourselves of the kind of hope we have as Christians regarding the second coming of Jesus Christ.
 
1. The Last Judgment
First, when Jesus returns, the Bible says that He will gather all people on earth and the last judgment will start.
 
Matthew 24:30-31 says,
“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. 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.” (Mt 24:30-31)
 
And Matthew 16:27 says,
“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 they have done.” (Mt 16:27)
 
Lastly, Paul said,
"In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge… be prepared in season and out of season” (2 Tm 4:1-2)
 
When Jesus first came to the world, He came as a powerless baby, the suffering servant of God, and the lamb of God who took on the sin of the world. But His return will be much different from His first coming since He will come as the One who has all the power and glory of heaven and earth, and He will judge everyone on earth with His justice and righteousness.
 
When He comes back, all people will see Him coming with power and glory, and they will mourn. It will be a day of great joy for those who have prepared and looked forward to His coming, but it will be a day of great sorrow for those who have rejected Him.
 
As I said before, God’s forgiveness is not everlasting. There will come a time when everything we’ve done will be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ. On that day, there will be no forgiveness but dreadful judgment.
 
So before that day comes, when we still have a chance for our sins to be forgiven, we should repent and return to God. And since we don’t know when that day will come, we should keep watch by praying.
 
2. The Resurrection of the Body
Second, when Jesus comes back, all the dead will be raised.
 
John 6:39-40 says,
“And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (Jn 6:39-40)
 
But the resurrection will not only happen to those who believe in Jesus, but to everyone so that all people can be judged by Him.
 
John 5:27-29 says,
“And he [the Father] has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out - those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.” (Jn 5:27-29)
 
Jesus’ resurrection gives us ultimate hope for the future because it shows us that we’ll be also resurrected like Him and join in His resurrection.
 
The apostle Paul said,
“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep… In Christ all will be made alive… each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.” (1 Co 15:20, 22-23)
 
The fact that Christ is the firstfruit of resurrection implies that there will be more fruits who will join His resurrection later. Some might say that Jesus is not the firstfruit in that He raised Lazarus from his death.
 
But Jesus is indeed the firstfruit of true resurrection. His resurrected body was different from that of Lazarus’. Jesus raised Lazarus, but Lazarus still had the same body that he had had. So he came out with “his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.” (Jn 11:44)
 
But Jesus’ resurrected body was different from our earthly bodies. It was physical but also spiritual and glorious. In that sense, only Jesus experienced true resurrection as the firstfruit to let us know what we’ll be like in Him and so that we can put our hope in Him.
 
Paul said in Colossians, “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Col 3:4)
 
And John said, “…We know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” (1Jn 3:2-3)
 
3. The Completion of Salvation
The resurrection of the body is closely related to our salvation because that is the last, complete step of salvation.
 
Paul said in Romans 5,
“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Rm 5:9-10)
 
As I said before, the Bible uses three tenses to describe our salvation. The past tense refers to what Jesus achieved on the cross—our justification. When we believed in Jesus, we became righteous in Him. But that’s only the start of a great journey toward the last step of salvation, namely glorification.
 
We were justified through the death of Jesus. That gives us confidence that we’ll be saved through His life, which refers to the resurrection of Christ.
 
We started our salvation when we believed in Jesus, but it hasn’t yet been completed. As the religious reformer Martin Luther said, we are “righteous and sinners at the same time.” We still see our sinful nature working powerfully within us, keeping us from following God’s good will in the world. That often makes us frustrated.
 
But there will come a time when this struggle will be over. When Jesus comes back, we’ll be resurrected and we’ll join in Jesus’ glorification and our salvation will be complete. Even though we’re weak and often stumble now, there will come a time when we will “be clothed with our heavenly dwelling” (2Co 5:2)
 
Even though “while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened,” we still have hope for the future and for perfect salvation because we know that “what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” (2Co 5:4)
 
 
4. The Kingdom of God
The last subject I want us to think about is the coming of the kingdom of God. When Jesus returns with His majesty, power, and glory, He will bring the perfect kingdom of God with Him.
 
When Jesus started His ministry on earth, the first thing He proclaimed was about the coming of the kingdom of God. He said,
 
“The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mk 1:15)
 
‘The kingdom of God has come near’ means that even though it started earnestly with the first coming of Jesus, it hasn’t yet been perfectly accomplished on earth.
 
There’s a phrase that refers to the nature of the kingdom of God: ‘Already, but not yet.’ The kingdom of God already started but it hasn’t yet been completed.
 
It’s the same way with our salvation. Our salvation already started through the death of Jesus, but it hasn’t yet been completed since it will be made perfect when we join in His resurrection on the last day.
 
Even though Jesus fulfilled the good news through His sacrifice and death on the cross, the good news hasn’t yet reached the ends of the earth. There are many people who still live in darkness without knowing that there’s a kingdom of light in Jesus.
 
So now, we see two kingdoms coexisting in the world—the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God. We still see many horrible, evil things happening in the world, which sometimes makes us frustrated and causes us to doubt God’s goodness and His existence.
 
But we still know that there will come a time when everything is restored. When Jesus comes back, He will bring the kingdom of God with Him. All darkness will be defeated and only His kingdom will stand eternally.
 
That’s what Jesus showed the apostle John in his vision. John said,
 
“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.” (Rv 21:1-2)
 
“There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”” (Rv 21:4-5)
 
That’s the kingdom of God that we must put our hope in. If we lose sight of this kingdom, we can become easily frustrated and disappointed by things happening in this world now.
 
But if we put our hope in the kingdom of God, we can trust Him and walk with Him no matter the situation with faith and confidence that He will restore everything in the end.
 
Conclusion
So, for two weeks, we’ve talked about the second coming of Jesus, which is the foundation of Christian hope for resurrection, eternal life, glorification, and the kingdom of God.
 
At the beginning of today’s sermon, we read a passage from Titus chapter 2, which says,
 
 
“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope - the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” (Ti 2:11-14)
 
Here, Paul talks about Jesus’ past and future appearances. The grace of God appeared through Christ in the past, offering salvation to all people and teaching and empowering us to live according to His will.
 
But we’re still waiting for “the appearing of the glory of our Savior Jesus Christ,” which refers to His return. This is the blessed hope we have as Christians. We’re living between His first and second appearances.
 
The first one gave us salvation, and the second one gives us hope for the future. Then, how should we live between these two comings? We are to be purified and eager to do what is good. That’s God’s will for us.
 
With the glorious future hope God is giving us in Christ Jesus, we’re to try to live as His holy people in this world, preparing and looking forward to the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
 
Let’s pray.
 
<Closing prayer>
Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us the blessed hope in Christ Jesus. Thank You for giving us hope for resurrection, eternal life, the completion of our salvation, and Your kingdom. Please continue to reveal to us what kind of hope You’ve given us in Christ so that we won’t be distracted or frustrated by worldly things but continue to fix our eyes on Jesus until He comes back.
 
Please open our eyes and restore our hope. Thank you for making every promise complete in Jesus. Let us prepare His way by discerning what’s good in Your eyes and carrying it out as Your holy people. When Jesus returns with power and glory, let us respond to Him, “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) Out of the four subjects we talked about in relation to the second coming of Jesus (the last judgment, the resurrection of the body, the completion of salvation, and the kingdom of God), which one sticks out to you the most? What kind of hope do you find in this, and how can it be applied to your present life?