Jesus is coming again!
There is an old song we used to sing when I was a kid lilting through my mind:
Coming again!
Coming again!
May be morning, may be noon
may be evening, and may be soon
Coming again!
Coming again!
Oh what a wonderful day that will be
Jesus is coming again!
My Dad believed Jesus would return in his lifetime. He lived with that anticipation, and I grew up in that climate of perpetual anticipation.
At some point I decided to focus on the reality that Jesus would certainly one day come for me (at the death of my body) - and I stopped focusing on Jesus' meeting His faithful followers in the sky in what has been termed "The Rapture." I still believed it - but felt I needed to focus on living instead of leaving. After all, living with just that in mind can keep Christians from living their lives intentionally in the here and now.
The truth is we live life on a tight wire. Both ways of thinking are legitimate and true. We need to plan ahead for the future, and we need to live in the moment with expectation and immediacy.
I believe Jesus' is coming again - and I believe it could be in 2014! That is not an absolute prediction or prophecy. It's just an issue of looking at the prophecies of the Bible in light of what we see in our world.
What I learned from my study of the Feasts of the Old Testament is that Jesus fulfilled the first 3 Feasts in the events surrounding Passover, His death and His resurrection. The 4th feast was fulfilled with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and the next Feast to be fulfilled is Rosh Hashanah - - the feast that is announced with the blowing of the shofar (aka trumpet in our translations). That feast in 2014 begins at sundown on September 24. In 2013, it began on September 3, and after the 5th, I knew we had to wait another year!
Another song:
In these the closing days of time
What joy the glorious hope affords
That soon oh wondrous truth sublime
He shall reign King of Kings and Lord of Lords
He's coming soon
He's coming soon
With joy we welcome His returning
It may be morn; it may be night or noon
We know He's coming soon.
And the chorus of another old song:
Raised in the twinkling of an eye
Raised in the twinkling of an eye
The trumpet shall sound
The dead shall be raised
Raised in the twinkling of an eye.
And my last one for the day:
One glad morning when this life is o'er
I'll fly away
To my home on God's celestial shore
I'll fly away
I'll fly away! Oh glory!
I'll fly away!
When I die, hallelujah by and by
I'll fly away!
Coming for His church is not to be confused with His Second Coming when Jesus will come back to the earth and set up his Millenial kingdom. And - - if I am wrong that they are separate events, that's O K - - the point is being ready. He knows what He is doing, even if some of the precise timeline is still uncertain to me. I am not a scholar - but I am a student, and His Spirit witnesses with my spirit that the time is very short! Several times recently God has reminded me, "Work for the night is coming when no man can work."
Jesus first coming was promised by prophets throughout the Old Testament - and He came! Prophecy declares He will come again - and He will!
Oh what a wonderful day that will be!
Jesus is coming again!
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