Rescue from the Stars
Notes
Transcript
11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Is the Second Coming Fiction?
Is the Second Coming Fiction?
1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
Jesus spoke of heaven as a real place, thus his coming is a real event. “God is no mere human! He doesn't tell lies or change His mind. God
always keeps His promises” (Numbers 23:19, CEV)
19 God is no mere human! He doesn’t tell lies or change his mind. God always keeps his promises.
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.
11 “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.”
Verse 9 says “a cloud hid him from their sight.” When used symbolically, clouds in scripture represent a large gathering of angels.
7 Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.
Christ Coming in Glory
27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.
What are the Signs of Jesus’s Coming?
What are the Signs of Jesus’s Coming?
3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
Jesus teaching on the Mount of Olives
Deception
Deception
4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.
5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.
11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
False Christs arise frequently—David Koresh, Jim Jones, Sun Myung Moon, the modern prophet Joshua, etc.
Increase of Supernatural Activity
Increase of Supernatural Activity
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
14 For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
Increased focus on witchcraft and sorcery
Financial Collapse
Financial Collapse
1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.
4 Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
5 You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.
Greed
War
War
6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
War
Disease & Disasters
Disease & Disasters
7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
25 “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring;
26 men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Disease
Earthquakes
Haven’t we had these things from the beginning of time?
3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts,
4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”
5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water,
6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Intense Religious Persecution
Intense Religious Persecution
9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.
10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
False Accusations
Self Centeredness and Pleasure Seeking
Self Centeredness and Pleasure Seeking
1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
The Gospel to all the World
The Gospel to all the World
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Gospel lived like never before
The Bible is being translated into all the languages of world very rapidly. November, 2008—“Wycliffe USA, a ministry known for its efforts to
translate the Bible into all of the world's known languages, has received a
$50 million contribution by an anonymous donor. Wycliffe Bible Translators consists of dozens of organizations with more than 7,000 people working to make the Bible accessible to all people of the world in a language
most meaningful to them. Using cutting-edge translation techniques, the
Last Languages Campaign will accelerate the pace of language development
and Bible translation for the world's remaining language groups from 125
years to 17 years” (from their website). This is just one element of how the
gospel is speeding to all parts of the globe. It is also going via TV, radio,
satellite, internet, print, and missionaries
Will the Second Coming of Christ be Secret?
Will the Second Coming of Christ be Secret?
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
Doesn’t the text say that Jesus will be coming as a thief?
2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.
3 For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.
4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.
15 “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”
How Can I Be Ready for the Second Coming?
How Can I Be Ready for the Second Coming?
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Ready for His coming