What is the sign of Christ's coming?
What is the sign of Christ's coming?
Last edited by Highlyfavored; 01-20-2008 at 03:10 PM.
Isaiah 45:7: I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
I was thinking more along the lines of Biblical Signs of Christ coming in power and deliverance/salvation Matt 24:29-31, Mark 13:24-27, Luke 21:25-28.
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Ok, I was wondering how you folks understand the signs Christ talks about in the Matt 24:29-31.
The disciples ask, “…what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Jesus responded by giving an out line of events that will occur before His return. We are told that many will be deceived by false christ’s, we would hear of wars and rumours of wars, famines, pestilence and earthquakes, but this was just the beginning. One cannot study Matthew 24 without noticing the signs directly preceding the return of the Lord, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.” The Holy Spirit commanding the pens of the prophets wrote of this day that it would be darkness and not light, signs would be seen in the heavens and on earth, gloom and darkness, and a day of clouds and doom for the nations [Amos 5:20; Joel 2:6, 2:2a; Ezekiel 30:3]. Christ then continues on to say, “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” After these cosmic signs we are told that Christ will return with power and glory, and they who are alive will see our Lord.
The "Day of the Lord" appears twenty-one times in the Old Testament and in all cases it refers to the future when the wrath of God is poured out in judgment on the unrighteous (Isaiah 13:6-9, Isaiah 13:11). This time of judgement is not a literal 24-hour day but a period of time that will be unlike any other time in history (Joel 2:1-2). Before this time the rapture removes the true spiritual believers from the outward professors of the faith (Amos 8:3-5), this is also a time of judgment on ethnic Israel (Jeremiah 30:11, Zephaniah 1:11-12, Zephaniah 1:17-18, Amos 5:18-19, Jeremiah 4:10). This judgement has a purifying affect (Zep 2:1-3, Zep 3:8-9) and causes a remnant to return to God by faith (Isaiah 10:20, Isaiah 14:1) and find deliverance (Joel 2:10-13, Joel 2:31-32).
The signs of the Day of the Lord are linked with the cosmic disturbances, Christ coming in power and deliverance/salvation. Joel 2:10, Joel 2:31, Joel 3:14-15, Amos 8:9, Matt 24:29-31, Mark 13:24-27, Luke 21:25-28, Acts 2:20-21
It's my understanding that we find the cosmic disturbances mentioned in Rev 6:12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; 13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. 14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
[bracketed comments are mine]
Mat 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall [cosmic signs] the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 [gathering of the elect] And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. We find the same information of Christ’s coming in Mark 13:24-27 and Luke 21:25-28 with Peter mentioning it in Act 2:20 The [cosmic signs] sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: 21 And it shall come to pass, that [deliverance] whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
I think if we compare Matt. 24 with Rev. 6 we can see where Christ returns to pour out His wrath upon the earth, it seems the sixth seal and the breaking of it [Rev. 5:1-2] is the sign of Christ’s coming to rapture His elect before the Day of the Lord and the seventh seal. I was just wondering what you guys were thinking on this issue.
j
Many of us just don't see the evidence of a significant delay between the sign of the Son of Man, the final resurrection ('rapture') of the just, and the actual appearing of Christ in glory before the nations. By 'significant delay' I mean a further period of history on earth between the resurrection and Christ's final appearing. None of the scriptures cited imply that in my thinking.
Now see here how sleepy-headed all our opponents are, and how little it helps a man to rely on the ancient fathers, for all their repute down the course of the ages! Were they not all equally blind to, yes, and heeldess of, Paul's clearest and and plainest words?
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Originally Posted by Robert R. Higby
I agree.
In a nutshell I understand the rapture will occur after the Tribulation begins, after the persecutions of Antichrist and before the wrath of God is poured out upon the earth.
Side note, I listened to a sermon by Pastor Don Fortner the other day and he mentioned how when we see one person of the Holy Trinity in Scripture it's related to judgement, do you agree?
Peace.
j
Could you elaborate with just one or two more sentences (on Fortner's concept)? Is he saying that pouring out wrath is the function of only one member of the Trinity or what exactly?
Now see here how sleepy-headed all our opponents are, and how little it helps a man to rely on the ancient fathers, for all their repute down the course of the ages! Were they not all equally blind to, yes, and heeldess of, Paul's clearest and and plainest words?
--Martin Luther
I'll try to find his notes in pdf., thanks Robert.
Sorry Robert, I looked around and couldn't remember where I downloaded it from or the title.
John 5:18-27 supports such a concept but I wasn't sure if that was what was being referred to. Thanks. --Bob
Now see here how sleepy-headed all our opponents are, and how little it helps a man to rely on the ancient fathers, for all their repute down the course of the ages! Were they not all equally blind to, yes, and heeldess of, Paul's clearest and and plainest words?
--Martin Luther
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