9/09/07 – 36LAW “The Real Truth About the Second Coming of Jesus“– Pt 2
Victory Ministries International presents:
Awesome Truths and Amazing Facts
Treasures of awesome truths from God’s Word
and facts that affect you!

Hello!  This is Richard Vaughn

Today’s message is “The Real Truth About the Second Coming of Jesus – Pt 2”

Before we begin, let us seek God’s guidance, “Heavenly Father, as we continue this most important subject regarding the real truth about the second coming of Jesus, I pray that You bless those listening today with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, so that we may understand that you Jesus is coming far sooner than expected and in a manner the church is not preparing for. We pray for wisdom, knowledge and understanding so that we may live in the center of Your revealed will, as we ask in Jesus Name, Amen.”

Right now, I continue to keep my pledge, to cry aloud and spare not, to lift up my voice like a trumpet and to show God’s people where they are transgressing God’s law.

Last week we showed from the Bible that when Jesus returns that He will be appearing in the clouds of heaven with power and glory and every eye in the world seeing him. In Matthew 24 when asked by the disciples about His second coming, Jesus warned 4 times about deception. So last week we exposed the two counterfeit teachings that Satan will put almost the entire Christian world under. First - that Jesus is already here—you can see Him in the desert, or somewhere else. Second - He's in the secret chambers—coming secretly. A secret rapture if you please. The devil brings in those false theories because he can't duplicate the genuine way that Jesus is going to come. That is clear. 

Now we know from what we studied last week: His coming is #1. literal; #2. personal and He's coming #3. visibly.  And now that brings us to fact number four.  As Jesus comes for His saints, He is also coming audibly. You're going to be able to hear it take place. 

Notice Matthew 24 verse. 31. This is powerful. "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." The trumpet blast of victory will sound from one end of earth to the other.  

To broaden our Bible picture of Jesus' coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, let's look at what Paul wrote in First Thessalonians 4:15-18. I don't want you to hear what I'm saying, I want you to hear and see what God says. 1 Thessalonians 4:15, “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (that means go ahead of) them which are asleep.” (that is the dead in Christ)  
verse16 “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God:  and the dead in Christ shall rise first:”
  
verse 17 “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in (the what?) the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:  and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  
  
verse 18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words." Paul wanted us to understand that this revelation of the truth in the manner of His coming should comfort us. And it will, if we are studying His Word. 
  
Here again we have just read about the gathering up of the redeemed taking place, but notice that it happens when 1) the Arch-angel shouts, and 2) the trumpet blows,  3) the dead in Christ rise, and 4) we are caught up to meet the Lord in the air.   Satan couldn't possibly duplicate that!  

 In Jeremiah 25:30 we read, “The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout…” This shout is the same “voice of the archangel” in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God:  and the dead in Christ shall rise first:”

The passage tells us that the trumpet is blowing. Have you ever heard of a silent trumpet? A trumpet is noisy, producing the loudest, most penetrating sound of all musical instruments.   

Matthew 24:31 describing the same event, Jesus speaks of the "great sound of a trumpet."  
  
And in 1 Corinthians 15:52 the apostle Paul says, "the trumpet shall sound"! These verses have been called the noisiest of all in the Bible!  To say that both the trumpet and the shout are silent is not only against Scripture but it is against common sense. There's absolutely no doubt, it will be heard by all.
  
1) He's coming literally. That means it's real. No imagination is required. It's an actual event occurring at a precise moment in time.
2) He's coming personally.  (Jesus, Himself will come)
3) It's visible. That's because it's dazzling in brightness and every eye sees it.  
4) It's audible.  Not only does every eye see it, but every ear will hear it.
  
Our fifth fact is that it is a resurrecting  event.  
  
 In 1 Thessalonians 4:16 the Bible tells us that after the trumpet blows the "dead in Christ will rise first." There will be a world-wide resurrection of the faithful from every land and generation. Satan can never duplicate this. 

And now the 6th fact, He is coming gloriously. Look here at Psalms 50:3
David was a prophet. "Our God shall come and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him." His second coming will not be a silent one. No secret rapture here!

 2 Thessalonians 2:8 “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming” His second coming will be a glorious event.

As we read in Matthew 25:31 “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:”

The Bible tells us in Matthew 16:27 “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.”  

Revelation 5:11 tells us there are ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of angels. Multiplied out that equals over 100 million angels with Him when He comes. Christ’s coming is indeed glorious. 

Many have been taught Satan’s lie that when Jesus comes, the rapture takes place, that He's coming secretly. The word "rapture" is not even in the Bible. Many use the word simply because it means to be "caught up" just like we have read here in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.   
     
The Bible says the Arch-angel is shouting, the trumpets are blowing, the dead in Christ rise, every eye sees Him, He comes in the clouds of heaven with power and glory, with all the holy angels— Does that sound secret?  

Remember what Jesus said? "If they say he is in the secret chambers, believe it (what?) not."  So how did this false theory of a secret, silent, invisible rapture become so popular? There are two men that are largely responsible for promoting this idea in the Christian world. 
 The first one was Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, who took this thought from the teachings of a Brethren preacher named John Nelson Darby, and wrote it in his notes which became wide-spread in the Scofield Reference Bible published in 1909.  Darby got the idea from some-one else, a woman named Miss Margaret McDonald who in 1830 gave what was believed at the time to be an inspired utterance where she spoke of this idea of a two phase 2nd coming. The footnotes in the Scofield Reference Bible are not written under inspiration. 

30 years ago a man by the name of Hal Lindsey, authored a book entitled, The Late Great Planet Earth, which really brought this old heresy into the Christian world and popularized it. But are you aware that the predictions of The Late Great Planet Earth, that the rapture would come in a generation from 1948, specifically the rapture in 1988 have completely failed? I believe God has allowed that to happen for a reason. He's trying to say something to Christian America today and that is this: "Let's get our eyes off man's opinions."
  
You can go to the bookstores today, and it's full of man's foolishness. I find it truly amazing, to witness all the Christians that have embraced the fiction of the “Left Behind” series of the best seller books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, as if they were based on gospel truth. They are fiction! And sincere seekers for truth are being deceived, especially in the theaters. 

God says, "Go to My Word, It has the clear answers."  And again, any man or woman, that would spend one unbiased hour in the Word of God on this subject, could know the truth!  

Every time the Bible mentions that Jesus is coming as a "thief", it is talking about the time of His coming, the suddenness, the unexpectedness, and not the overall manner of His coming.
 
Well time is up for this week. Next week we will continue this study on “The Real Truth About the Second Coming of Jesus – Pt 3.” If you would like to worship with seventh day Sabbath-keepers, come to the Victory Everlasting Gospel Church at our new location at the Hampton Inn Conference suite in South Hill, VA at the exit 12 interchange of Interstate 85. We meet at 9:30 am and will be meeting there until out new building has been completed.
Until next week, Jesus said in John 5:39, “Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me”. Come Lord Jesus.