Blue Lake Presbyterian | 11-19-2017
Good morning,
Welcome to the Blue lake Presbyterian Church.
Today’s message is titled “Second Coming.”
I like to kick it off with something funny.
A pastor went to visit one of his elderly church members. They got into some deep conversations about the “End days” and the “Second Coming” of our Lord. At one point the pastor, spotted a bowl of peanuts on the coffee table. He loved peanuts and couldn’t resist. So while talking away, he grabbed a handful of peanuts and started nibbling on them.
Those peanuts were pretty good, and he really enjoyed them, but he couldn’t help himself, while talking he grabbed another handful of peanuts and kept eating them. At one point when the elderly woman went to the kitchen to make some coffee, he grabbed every last one from the bowl and ate them all.
When the lady came back with the coffee, he apologized for eating all of her peanuts. She replied, that quite alright, I love chocolate, and from time to time my son brings me chocolate covered peanuts. At my age, I can’t chew those peanuts, so instead I just suck all the chocolate around them and put the peanuts into the bowl.
The calendar year runs from January 1 through December 31. But the church year starts with the Advent season, marking the coming of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. John‘s Gospel so eloquently described the first coming: “He was with God in the beginning. And the word became flesh and lived among us…
That was 2000 years ago. But the message today is about the second time that Jesus is coming back.
Last week I drove to Willow Creek on a Saturday afternoon to check up on the crops at the farm there, like Ilex for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was a beautiful peaceful sunny afternoon. I stopped a checked our cabin quickly to make sure all is well. After about 10 minutes hopped in the truck and drove back to Arcata. Soon after getting back in town I started looking for my coat.
Suddenly I realized, I had left it in the cabin in Willow Creek. It wasn’t just the coat I was missing, but in it, was my wallet, with driver license and everything else. Talk about an abrupt end to a happy afternoon…There was no other option but to get into the truck and drive back to Willow Creek a second time.
At first it felt like 90 minutes completely wasted, but were they truly wasted?
That hour and a half of driving provided time for reflection during an otherwise rushed and busy schedule. Having to go back a second time, also gave an opportunity to reflect on Jesus going back a second time.
Jesus is going back, from the Kingdom of Heaven, where he is seated at the right hand of God. He is coming back to us a second time to our universe as we know it.
The “Second Coming” is a hotly debated topic and source of much controversy.
A poll conducted by Pew Research in 2006 found that 41% of adults in America believe that Christ will return to earth before 2050.
79% of Christians in America believe that Jesus will come back a second time.
Earlier this week I spoke with a Dutch cousin, who is also a part-time preacher and I asked him, how the “Second Coming” is perceived in a secularized society like Holland. He indicated that few people, even main stream Christians talk about, let alone believe in it.
In a survey called “Likely to happen” conducted in England in 2010, only 3% of the respondents were confident that Jesus would return in 40 years.
But there is a solid biblical basis for the “Second Coming”. Jesus on multiple occasions foretold his disciples about coming back.
In John 14:28 he said: You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you. If you loved me, you would be glad, that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
The entire chapter of Matthew 24 and a portion of 25 are devoted to the “Second Coming”: Jesus said in Matthew 25:30: then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
In Luke, Mark and Mathew, Jesus uses 5 parables to illustrate and underscore his “Second Coming”.
The ultimate book in the bible that covers the “Second Coming” of Christ from front to back, is Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians which brings us to today reading of 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 which can be found in your pew bible on page…………..
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. 2For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3When they say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! 4But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; 5for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.
6So then, let us not fall asleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; 7for those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. 8But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. 9For God has destined us, not for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live with him. 11Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing…………
Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians is considered one of his earliest letters, possibly the very first. Paul wrote this letter soon after arriving in Corinth on his second journey, somewhere around 52 A.D.
Thessalonica was located at the head of the Thermaic Gulf. It was a coastal town on a major Roman road, called the Via Ignatia, running eastward from Rome. It was a seaport, and in close to a coastal plain with fertile soil. These three advantages made Thessalonica the largest, most important commercial and political center in Macedonia.
Today Thessalonica is known as Salonika and it still is an important city in Greece.
In the days of Paul, it was inhabited by people from all over the known world, including (1) Barbaric Germanic peoples from the north, bringing with them their pagan religion and culture.
(2) Greeks, bringing their refinement and philosophy.
(3) Romans from the west, with wealth and political power.
(4) Jews that had come in large numbers from the east; eventually one third of the population was Jewish.
Thessalonica, with a population of about 200,000, was truly a cosmopolitan city. It was a resort and health center because of its hot springs. It was a commercial center, because of its seaport, fertile plains and the proximity of the Ignatian Way.
Paul’s ministry in Thessalonica followed his usual pattern of going to the Jews first and then turning to the Gentiles.
Paul preached for three weeks on three Sabbaths in the synagogue. His message was “Jesus is the Messiah.” He used Old Testament Scriptures to show that the Messiah was destined to be a suffering Messiah. Paul emphasized the resurrection and offered salvation to all.
The Jewish leaders didn’t like what they heard, and drove him out of town. That abrupt departure from Thessalonica left Paul anxious about the condition of his brothers and sisters in Christ.
He wrote the letter to praise the Christians in Thessalonica for their unwavering belief in Jesus Christ. Despite persecution they had remained strong and proved to be an example to others.
This letter is unique, as every chapter, ends with a reference to the “Second Coming” of Christ.
Paul writes in verse 2; For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
The day of the Lord, what does that mean?
It is a term that was used in the Old Testament mainly by the prophets Isaiah, Zephaniah, and Joel.
None of the Gospels directly use this term, but it describes “Armageddon”, “The end times”, “The last days” and by extension it implies the “Second Coming”.
Jesus said in Luke 21:9:“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” 10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.
In January, North Korea president Kim Jong-un said that his country is in the final stages of developing long-range guided missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
In July, North Korea test fired a long-range missile into the Sea of Japan, with some experts expressing concern that the missile could potentially reach Alaska.
In October a senior North Korean official issued a stern warning to the world, that it should take “literally” his country’s threat, to test a nuclear weapon above ground.
A powerful hydrogen bomb could be detonated at a high altitude, to create an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) capable of taking out parts of the American power grid and communication network.
The recent war of words between presidents of the North Korea and USA, makes one wonder about those words in Luke 21:10: Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.
In Luke 21:11 Jesus predicted: there will be “great” earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful warnings and great signs from heaven.
According to a report of the Geological Society of America, the annual number of “great” (8+) earthquakes nearly tripled over the last decade, providing a reminder to Americans that unruptured faults, like those in the Northwest might be due for a “Big One”.
Between 2004 and 2014, 18 earthquakes with magnitudes of 8.0 or more, rattled subduction zones around the globe. That’s an increase of 265% over the average rate of the previous century, which saw 71 “great” quakes,
In Luke 21:26 Jesus said: People will faint from fear and darkness of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
He warns in Luke 21:34 “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with indulgence and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly.
Despite increased earthquake activity and the North Korean threat, I am in no way suggesting a prediction of the timing of the “Second Coming” but for the last 2000 years there have been countless predictions about the end of the world and the “Second Coming”
-The Jewish Essene sect of ascetics, saw the Jewish revolt against the Romans in 66-70AD, as the final end time battle, which would bring the arrival of the Messiah.
-French bishop Hilary of Poitiers, announced that that the end of the World would happen in the year 365AD.
-Hippolytus of Rome predicted Jesus would return in the year 500.
-Various Christian clerics, including Pope Sylvester II predicted the end of the World in the year 1000.
-Pope Innocent III predicted the world would end in 1284, precisely 666 years after the rise of Islam.
-Christopher Columbus in his “Book of Prophesies” predicted the world would end in 1658.
-John Wesley founder of Methodist church foresaw Christ return in 1836, referring to Revelation 12:14
-Jim Jones, founder of people’s temple predicted that a nuclear holocaust would take place in 1967
-Pat Robertson predicted in his 700 club TV program, that the World would come to an end in 1982.
-Isaac Newton predicted in his book “Observations upon prophesies of Daniel and the Revelation” that Christ’s millennium would begin in the year 2000.
Harold Camping of “Family Radio” in Alameda, made several predictions of the end days, the most publicized one was his May 21 2011 prediction.
These predictions of the “Second Coming” used great detail in some cases. Many books have been written on the subject. But they were all wrong. There is no reason to listen to anyone making predictions, because scripture is crystal clear on the timing of the “Second Coming”.
Paul wrote in verse 2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
Paul knew, because Jesus had said so, as recorded in Mark 13:32 — “But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take notice, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.
He said in Matthew 25:13 — “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
The Lord said to John in Revelation 3:3: remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
Folks, this is the question of the hour. Are we ready for the “Second Coming” no matter what the circumstances are?
Don’t guess or speculate about the time, it could be another 100 years from now, but it could be tomorrow, or even today.
Are we prepared if it happens today, are we ready?
Benjamin Franklin said: the only thing two things certain in life are death and taxes.
Inevitably at some point, the end of our world is coming for us, when we die. That could happen at any time for any of us. What have we done, to prepare for that moment?
You may ask: what do I have to do?
Jesus said Mark 1:15 “The time promised by God has come at last!” “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”
Are we willing, to change the way we live our life.
Acknowledge that we have sinned. Talk to God, and say we have sinned, and I am sorry, and I will change the way I have been living, but I need your help.
Jesus said in John 14:1 don’t let your heart be troubled, believe in God, and believe in me also.
Don’t wait any longer, start a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Accept him as your Lord and Savior today.
Then we are no longer in darkness, for we are children of light and children of the day..
Thank you,
God Bless you,
Amen
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