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The Second Coming – Part 2B

Hi welcome back to the continuation of our series on the second coming of Jesus Christ. in our lesson today we are continuing with part 2, looking at the reasons why Jesus is coming back to Earth. In the first part of this lesson we discussed four out of the seven reasons why Jesus is coming,  and now we will conclude part 2 and discuss the remaining three reasons.

If you missed part 1 or the first part of this lesson part 2, then you can find these by going to our website at www.call2come.org, You can also follow us on Twitter or Facebook with the user name @call2come. But let’s continue now with our teaching, looking at the reasons why Jesus is returning.

Last time we looked at the first four reasons, and said these were: To Bring Salvation;  To Gather us to Himself;  To save Israel; and the fourth reason we looked as was Jesus is coming back to Conquer His enemies. And so in continuing we will look at Judgement, Jesus is Coming to Judge, He’s also coming to reign, and the last and most glorious reason for His return, is that Jesus is coming to marry His Bride.

So, let’s now look at fifth thing that Jesus will accomplish when he comes again. I refer here to the judgement. That when Jesus Comes he’s coming to judge.

A key characteristic of the nature of God is that he is just. And because he’s just there must be justice and for justice there must be judgement.

Psalm 9:7,8 but the Lord abides forever; He has established his throne of judgement.  And he will judge the world in righteousness;  He will execute judgement for the peoples with equity.

Isaiah 61:8 I the Lord love justice I hate robbery and wrong doing. In my faithfulness I will reward my people and make an everlasting covenant with them.

God the Father is not going to judge the human race but has delegated this role to his Son Jesus who is the Son of Man. Jesus fully human knows what it is like to live the life we have lived, and so we are without excuse and we will stand before the One who fully understands us.

John 5:20,27 for the Father judges no one but has committed all judgement to the Son ….  and has given him authority to execute judgement also because he is the Son of Man.

When Jesus returns he will be coming to judge. But this is not the same as the Great White throne judgement which happens after the millennium, instead, this judgement is known as the judgement seat of Christ and applies only to those who are saved and it takes place after the first resurrection, which is the resurrection of the righteous. The second resurrection doesn’t take place until after the millennium and we see that in revelation Chapter 20.

So this judgement is a different kind of judgement to the one we find at the Great White throne.  This judgement is not about sin for Christ himself has borne the punishment for our sin. The punishment that brought us peace as we read in Isaiah 53. Instead it is a judgement over works that we have done whilst we waited for his return.

2 Corinthians 5:10 “for we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done whether good or bad.”

Revelation 22:12 Jesus is speaking and he says “Look I am coming soon my reward is with me and I will give to each person according to what they have done.” This is a judgement of reward based upon what was done in the body whilst waiting for his Second Coming.

So, as we have seen when Jesus Comes again he is coming to judge the works done by believers whilst in the body this is also known as the  “Bema Seat” judgement of Christ. But it is important to add that there will be another judgement that will take place on the Second Coming and this is known as the Sheep and Goats judgement.

Ok what am I saying? I’m saying that on the second coming of Jesus we find in scripture two judgements described for us. These are the Bema Seat judgement of Christ which is the reward to those saved whilst in the body. But also, there is another judgement that happens when Jesus returns and this we find in Matthew 25 31-46 which is the Sheep and Goats judgement. let’s see what it says and will look at Matthew 25:31-33

“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him then he will sit on the throne of his glory.” (So here is describing the Second Coming of Jesus). “Before him all the nations will be gathered and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”

There are two judgements that happen when Jesus Christ Returns. Let’s take a few moments to compare these two judgements to see whether they are referring to the same event or actually they are indeed different, and two separate judgements. Well they both happen when Jesus Returns but in Revelation 22:12 it says “look I am coming soon my reward is with me and I will give to each person according to what they have done.” This is referring to the Bema Seat judgement because it’s a judgement of reward when Jesus Comes rewarding those who are his.

And now with a look in Matthew 25:31-33 but when the Son of man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him then he will sit on the throne of his glory. Before him all the nations will be gathered and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

And so a judgement not of reward not separation.

And so, it seems to me that these are talking about two different judgements. They both happen when Jesus Returns but the Bema Seat is about reward whilst the Sheep and Goats judgement is not about reward it’s about separation. The Bema Seat is for the saved whilst the Sheep and Goats judgement in our reading of Matthew 25 speaks about the nations.

The word nations in Greek is the word “ethnos” and means a people group.  It’s the same word used in Matthew 28:19 which if we remember says “go ye therefore into all the world and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit.”  But the word here “ethnos” is the word used for nations. Well, obviously we’re not baptising a nation but rather, we’re baptizing the people of the nation.

So when it says in the Sheep and Goats judgement that He will bring the nations before him, he’s saying that the people of those nations, will be brought before him, or another way of saying this is that the people of the world will come before him.  This is a different description to those who are saved and the judgement is a different judgement because in the Sheep and Goats judgement it’s not a matter of reward but a matter of separation. For those who are deemed to be good they are all invited into the kingdom of God. But for those who are deemed to be unrighteous or evil they are shut outside.

The Sheep and Goats judgement will be for everyone (the people from all Nations) who are alive when Jesus returns again in glory which will be at his Second Coming. The basis of this judgement is on how those living treated the “brethren” of Christ.in Matthew 25 verse 40 “and the King will answer and say to them assuredly I say to you in as much as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren you did it to me.”

We’ll come back to this another time but for now what I’m saying is that the Sheep and Goats judgement will be for everyone the Greek word “ethnos” or nations is the word used here.

I should also mention again that this is not the Great White throne judgement because we know that happens after the millennium. This judgement as we’ve already seen happens after Jesus returns in glory with his angels which is before the millennium at his Second Coming. This judgement differs from the Bema Seat judgement because it also includes the wicked.  And the result of this judgement is not about reward but whether the person being judged will be separated from the Lord into eternal punishment. Remember that the second Resurrection doesn’t take place until after the millennium as revelation 20 teaches. We know this judgement takes place at the Lord Second Coming and so therefore cannot include those who have already died because they haven’t yet been resurrected. Instead I therefore see this as applicable to those who are alive when Jesus Returns and not those who have died previously. Because the rest of the dead, those who are not his and therefore not raptured, will not rise until after the millennium.  So this judgement that happens when Jesus comes is for those who are alive at that time. This would be after the great tribulation but before the millennium.

We know that during the great tribulation untold millions of people will die. Both saved and unsaved but not everyone. There will be some who will have survived both saved and unsaved. Those that are saved will have been raptured in the clouds when he comes, but what about those left upon the Earth? Some of these will be destroyed because they will be amongst those who come against Jerusalem as in the Battle of Armageddon, but what about those who are neither yet saved but neither have they bloodied themselves with the blood of the Saints. What if they instead have shown kindness to those who belong to the Lord. By visiting them in prison, by feeding them, by clothing them when they were naked. As we know during the tribulation there will be tremendous persecution against those who refuse the mark of the beast, they will be put to death, they will be persecuted and there will be tremendous suffering of the people of God. Is it that this passage refers to such people who will show kindness during this time?  I believe it’s possible that yes, it is possible this passage is speaking about judgement for those who were alive when he comes but specifically referencing how these people have treated those who belong to the Lord or as Jesus himself called them my brothers. Those that are his, those that are saved, surely they know that when they show love to their fellow man that they are loving and serving God. Why is it then, that in this teaching they should seem so surprised? If you remember in the passage it says Lord when did we do these things? Interesting isn’t it. Why is it in this teaching that those who are classed as the sheep did not know this fundamental truth of the Christian Faith? Well there’s a thought, but we’ll leave it there and come back to this another time.

in our discussion of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ the next reason why Jesus will be coming back is that Jesus is coming back to reign.

Acts 1:6 Therefore when they had come together they asked him saying Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

It’s an interesting question isn’t it?  Jesus had been with them for three and a half years, he had performed all of those miracles, he’d raised the dead, cleansed the leper, gave sight to the blind and walked on the water.  And yet here we find the disciples asking “Lord are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” There was so much more that was yet to be fulfilled with the messianic promise. So they were asking this question knowing that the kingdom had not yet come to Israel. That there was not yet a king on the Davidic throne. The messianic promise has not yet been fulfilled until the throne of David has been restored and the branch of Jesse sits upon the throne in Jerusalem. Until that point in time there is still an expectancy, a longing, there is still unfulfilled prophecy relating to Israel. So the disciples are asking Lord are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

He is not yet reigning physically upon the Earth and scripture teaches that his throne shall be established in Jerusalem. Also, every knee has not yet about before him. Isaiah 45:23 by myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return ” to me every knee shall bow every tongue shall swear allegiance”  that hasn’t happened yet.

When Jesus Returns he is coming as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That means he is coming to reign upon the Earth. There is a sense in which he is already reigning now but there is yet to be a consummation of his Kingdom.

Revelation 11:15 then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven saying “The Kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and He shall reign forever and ever!”

Rev 19:12 His eyes were like a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns 

Rev19:16 and He has on his robe and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords

Make no mistake, Jesus Christ has always been the king. That was his final revelation to John in revelation 22 when he said I am the root and the Offspring of David I am the bright morning Star.  I am the Eternal King I was King before David I will be king after David. David was King because I am King. Jesus is always King. He is the King. He is the King of Kings.  He wasn’t received as the king not by the majority at his first coming. The Crown that was placed upon his head at his first coming was the crown of thorns, but when Jesus Comes again it will not be a crown of thorns that graces His royal brow, it will be a crown like no other crown and a name like no other name. The name of Jesus Christ, He is coming in the fullness and glory of all that he is as the king coming to reign as the king of kings and Lord of Lords.

And the final reason the reason that Jesus is coming back in what we call His Second Coming is to marry his bride. This is what Call2Come is all about the message that has captivated our hearts. The one that we carry with us if we speak or preach nothing else it is to understand and to proclaim that Jesus is the bridegroom King. He is King. But he is the Bridegroom King. And he’s coming back for his bride. He’s coming back for those that are his. Those that long for his return for him to marry his bride. He’s coming back for his bride. This is the mystery of the ages that we are restored into a relationship with the Father through the Son but it doesn’t end there. That the Father might give away the bride to his Son.  Who is it that gives away the bride at a wedding? It is the father who gives the bride away!

We know this passage in Ephesians 5 well, where it speaks of husband and wife. “Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church” but Paul is using the relationship between husband and wife to teach us a higher truth about the relationship that Jesus has with his church. For his church is none other than his bride. And for this reason a man the man Jesus will leave his father’s house and go and be united to his wife. The man Jesus will leave his father’s house and shall become one with us his bride. That is our destiny to be one,  married to Jesus Christ. The great mystery that Paul spoke of and captivated his life and his message was to let people know, to let the church know, that they were the Bride.

Paul knew that the church was more than a body of believers and understood that she was destined for absolute oneness with the Lord the kind of oneness that is only possible and best described through the marriage relationship.

2 Corinthians 11:4 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband that I might a present you as a chaste or pure virgin to Christ.

It is necessary for Jesus to come again because his Bride is prepared upon the Earth.  Wow, let’s take a look at something Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians.

Ephesians 4:13 until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

For the bride to be made one with the bridegroom she must be just as he is. For he cannot unite with anyone other than that which is of his own flesh. That was what Adam and Eve taught us in Genesis 1 and 2. If you remember in the creation story it says that God made man male and female he created them both and yet in Genesis 2 when we see Adam who names all the animals that pass by him and it says that Adam was alone and there was no suitable helper for him. This raises the question where was Eve? Eve was within Adam, that’s why the Lord put Adam to deep sleep and opened his side and from his rib he brought forth the Bride. The Bride of Adam came from Adam when Adam awoke he said, “this is flesh of my flesh bone of my bone”.  And the two shall become one. And we find here in the Creation the first prophetic declaration of Jesus Second Coming, for in that very chapter it says for this reason a man shall leave his father’s house. Well Adam had no father’s house that he could leave. He was the first man. It was a prophetic foretelling of Jesus and his bride.  What I am saying is that Jesus cannot wed or be united to anything other than that which comes from him. That which is of the same kind of flesh as his flesh the same Spirit as his Spirit.

And so when Paul teaches in that verse we’ve just read in Ephesians 4:13 (and we know this passage well because it talks about the five-fold ministry having been given to the church for the equipping of the Saints,) but if we carry on the reading in verse 13 we find the word “until“. In other words, the five-fold ministry and the equipping of the saints will continue until as the Bible says, until what? Until we all come into unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. To become a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

For Jesus to be united, to marry his bride, for the bride to be ready, is this accomplishment in Ephesians 4:13. That she has become the perfect man. That she has attained to the full measure of who Christ is. That’s when the Bride is ready, when she’s like Him. That is only possible when Jew and Gentile have come together. As this verse tells us there is to be unity of the faith and of knowledge of the Son of God. There isn’t unity of the knowledge of the Son of God until both Jew and Gentile recognise who is Jesus Christ really is as the Messiah and the Son of God.

That preparation for the Bride therefore is not something that happens in obscurity in heaven but is something that takes place, and can only take place upon the Earth. And therefore, when the Bride is getting ready she is getting ready upon the Earth, and therefore the Bride, the Gentile bride isn’t raptured before the Jewish. There is no Gentile and Jewish bride there is only one bride and she was both Jew and Gentile, but now will come together as One New Man. It is necessary for Jesus to return to wed and marry and rapture his bride. When she has reached unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

And so, in summary this final and most glorious reason for the return of Jesus Christ we see that just before the Lord’s return in

Revelation 19 7 “let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory for the marriage of the lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready.”

Oh Lord how we long for that day. We give ourselves for that day oh Lord. And we call upon you to come now that we in this time shall become ready for your return. The bride is central to all scripture. She is all glorious. As the Word says the woman is the glory of the man. The bride is the glory of the bridegroom and the church is the glory of Jesus Christ.

In Psalm 45:13 a beautiful Psalm, it says All glorious is the princess within her chamber; her gown is interwoven with gold., and yet she is at this time hidden in Christ. Why is it that today we can see the church, but who is it that can see the Bride? Well she is hidden of course in Christ. As Eve was hidden in Adam so also the Bride is hidden in Christ. Colossians 3 4 for we are hidden in Christ we are not yet revealed. Until he is revealed. And Jesus will not be revealed until his Second Coming. In the same way the Bride is not yet on full display but she is for his eyes only. But the day will come and will not be long when together with him, when he shall appear in Glory, she shall be with Him. Hallelujah.

We thank you Lord for these truths. I pray this word has touched your heart. I pray your heart may be quickened to understand the eternal truths of the reasons that Jesus Christ is coming back. He’s coming back to bring Salvation to us. To gather us together to meet the Lord together in the air. To save Israel. To fulfil the messianic promise that Israel still longs and waits for. There may be those who gather against us and against Israel, and they may say and think to themselves that they will annihilate Israel but they will come against the King of Kings and suffer defeat. When Jesus comes, he is bringing his reward with him, hallelujah. That we shall receive the rewards of things that we have done, even those that no one else sees, he sees, and Jesus is coming back to reward the faithful. But this time he is not coming and returning back to Heaven, but this time he is coming to reign upon the Earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And this King is no ordinary king he is the Bridegroom King. And we together with him shall reign forever and ever and we shall be his bride when he comes.

So, I pray you have been blessed by the continuation of this second part of this series on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. I know we’ve covered a lot of things, so please don’t forget you can get a hold of the notes, the video or the PowerPoint presentation. Make sure you do and take time to study these things. Please keep in contact with us at Call2come and you will see our details there on the screen. There will be a third part, a concluding part to this series so I won’t take any more time now but I just want to thank you for your patience and I pray that you will be blessed. We will see you again next time. Maranatha.