Lesson for August 11, 2021
The Second Coming of Christ to the Eternal State
The Second Coming of Christ
There are two comings of Jesus Christ to earth with the Rapture between them. The first coming began with the Virgin Birth and concluded with the Resurrection, the Ascension and the Session of Jesus Christ. The first coming of Jesus Christ in Hypostatic Union fulfilled the plan of salvation for the human race. Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords must have a royal family to go with this royalty. Therefore, the need for the formation of the Church as the Royal Family of God. Christ returns to earth in His resurrection body at the end of the Tribulation. At the Rapture of the Church, Christ does not return to the earth; the Church meets Him in the air.
At the Second Coming, Jesus Christ will return to Jerusalem and His feet will touch first on the Mount of Olives according to Zechariah 14:1-4. The Second Coming will be characterized by: 1) lightning – Matthew 24:27 2) Christ will be seen by all – Revelation 1:7 3) Christ will travel at great speeds – Revelation 22:7, 12 4) the Second Coming disturbs and frightens the unbelievers – Revelation 6:15-17
5) the Second Coming is characterized by judgment and annihilation of the invading armies – Revelation 19:17-18. The Second Coming includes the judgment of the Antichrist, the False Prophet and unbelievers – Revelation 19:17-21. The Second Coming includes the judgment of Satan – Revelation 20:1-3. 8)
All unbelievers will be killed according to Revelation 19:21. Eventually, Satan, the Antichrist, the False Prophet and all unbelievers will be cast into the Lake of Fire (Hell) for eternity. Jesus Christ referred to it as the Baptism of Fire in Matthew 3:11-12; Luke 3:16-17. Matthew 24:36-41 uses the days of Noah as an analogy to the Baptism of Fire. The parables of the Baptism of Fire are the wheat and the tares in Matthew 13:47, the bad fish in Matthew 13:47-50 and the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-13.
When the Second Coming occurs, Armageddon, a war between Jesus Christ and His armies against Satan’s armies begins. Exodus 14:14; Joshua 5:13-6:2; Isaiah 37:36; Ezekiel 38:16) Revelation 16:13-16 describes the gathering of the nations to do battle against God. This will be the final battle of the Tribulation. Demons come from everywhere – the mouth of the dragon (Satan), the mouth of the beast (Anti-Christ) and the mouth of the false prophet (religious leader). These demons are the ones who work miracles designed to deceive people and they go into the world to indwell kings who will do battle against the Lord. Christ and His armies thoroughly defeat Satan and his armies. (Revelation 19:11-21)
The Millennium
After the defeat of Satan and his armies, Jesus Christ sets up the Millennium. All believers alive at the end of Armageddon will enter the Millennium, which is the 1000-year reign of Christ on earth. During the Millennium, evangelism will continue on the earth. The nation of Israel will be restored as a client nation to God – Isaiah 5:26-30; Zechariah 2:28-29. All the unconditional covenants to Israel will be fulfilled – Daniel 9:24. The nations of the world will enjoy perfect environment. The Millennium is characterized by: 1) Universal peace being the order of the day – Psalm 46:9; Isaiah 2:4; Hosea 2:18; Micah 4:3. 2) Universal prosperity – Psalm 72:7, 16. 3) Perfect world government under Jesus Christ and the royal family – Isaiah 11:1-2; Zechariah 14:9. 4) Perfect administration of justice – Isaiah 11:3-5; Psalm 72:12-14. 5) Nature changes radically after the curse is lifted (Romans 8:19-22). According to Isaiah 35:1-2 flowers will abound. 6) Animals will all live in peace – Isaiah 11:6-9, 65:25) The Gog and Magog Revolution occurs at the end of the Millennium – Revelation 20:7-10. Satan is released from prison after one thousand years and immediately starts a revolution to overthrow Christ’s reign, but fails. Then the universe is destroyed, and new heavens and an earth are created. (II Peter 3:7-10, Revelation 21:1-9)
Heaven
Jesus said in John 14:1-6, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.”Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
The Bible has a lot to say about Heaven and the eternal state. Both the Hebrew words and the Greek words for Heaven can refer to one of three heavens in Scripture. The first heaven is the atmosphere of the earth. The second heaven is the celestial universe where the stars, sun and moon exist. The third heaven is God’s dwelling place where His throne is located. The context of a passage determines which heaven. A perfect example is our passage above where Jesus tells His disciples that is returning to Heaven to prepare a place for them, which is a reference to the third heaven. Therefore, Heaven is a place reserved for those who personally believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior. Those who reject Jesus Christ as Savior will spend all eternity in the Lake of Fire, often called Hell.
Revelation 21:1-27 says that the heavens (atmosphere) and the earth will be destroyed (including the sea) but God in His grace will create a new heaven and a new earth for His children. There will also be a new Jerusalem upon the earth, which comes down from Heaven. When John wrote Revelation, the city of Jerusalem had laid in ruins for almost twenty-five years (destroyed by Titus in 70 A.D.). Therefore, he must have been excited to see the new Jerusalem and realize that it would be restored for all eternity. The city itself will be the dwelling place of the Lord Jesus Christ and comes down from God already prepared in the same manner a bride prepares herself for her husband. This event also fulfills a promise given to Abraham that he would have a city in the future. (Hebrews 11:8-10)
At this present time, Heaven is inhabited by the Trinity, elect angels and those believers who have died up to this point in history. Elect angels are those who did not rebel against God, and travel as messengers between Heaven and earth. (Matthew 18:10, 28:2; Mark 12:25; 13:32; Luke 2:15, 3:15, 22:43; Ephesians 3:15) Old Testament saints, who were in Paradise as a result of believing in Jesus Christ as their Savior, are in Heaven as a result of a triumphal processional by Jesus Christ into the third Heaven after His resurrection. Paradise was a compartment of Hades and the resting place of Old Testament believers before the resurrection of Christ. (Luke 16:19-26, 23:42-43; Ephesians 4:8-10) All believers during the Church Age go directly to Heaven upon physical death. (II Corinthians 5:6-8; Philippians 1:23-24)
Paul tells us in Philippians 3:20-21 that we are only temporary inhabitants of planet earth. The Greek word for citizenship is “politeuma” meaning the condition or life of a citizen. Therefore, the condition of believers in the Church Age is their union with Jesus Christ as Royal Family of God. The life of a heavenly citizen comes from God Who made us alive in Christ the moment we believed in Jesus Christ as our Savior. (Romans 5:18; Ephesians 2:1-7) With our heavenly citizenship comes great privilege and responsibility since we represent the Lord Jesus Christ on earth as His Royal Ambassadors.
(II Corinthians 5:20) Privilege in life is always accompanied by responsibility. This is true with the Royal Family of God. Our first responsibility is to God as Royal Priests, and our second to others as Royal Ambassadors. Christ’s victory at the Cross secured the potential for the believer’s victory on earth. Believers have equal privilege and equal opportunity to execute the Christian Way of Life. Some believers will choose to do so, and some will not. Those who fail in their responsibility to God will experience a life of misery and unhappiness. Those who choose to embrace and fulfill their responsibility to God will experience a life of peace and happiness.
There are various ideas with regard to Heaven and what believers will be doing there. By looking at Jesus when He returned to earth after His resurrection, we can find out what believers will be like in Heaven in their resurrection bodies. Philippians 3:21 tells us that our resurrection bodies will be like that of Christ’s.
Jesus appeared to His disciples as they were gathered in the upper room after He came back from the dead. They recognized Him, He spoke with them, He ate with them, they could touch Him, He could appear and disappear. At the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus could move vertically back to Heaven. This should give believers a clear picture of what they will be like in resurrection bodies.
There will be much time in Heaven for praising and worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ. Church Age believers, as the Bride of Christ, will also be preparing for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Jesus Christ), which takes place in Heaven. Old Testament believers who are in Heaven will also be invited to the marriage supper as guests of the Bridegroom (Jesus Christ). During the Tribulation believers will be evaluated in Heaven at the Judgment Seat of Christ to receive their rewards. (I Corinthians 3:10-15)
The Eternal State
In Revelation 21:1-27 the angel from God shows John a city. Therefore, we notice immediately that when he says he will show John the city adorned as a bride. Obviously, the word “bride” is symbolic here. Just as the Church is often called the bride of Christ, so this city in the future is called a bride, for three reasons. First of all, a bride is generally considered beautiful and therefore we have the emphasis on the beauty of the city. Secondly, the city is called a bride because it emphasizes the light of the city, and this is analogous to the animation of the bride. Thirdly, the emphasis on the relationship of the city. The satellite city is headquarters of the eternal state, and a bride always connotes the concept of relationship. The Millennial Jerusalem has natural light, but the eternal Jerusalem has supernatural light. Jesus Christ, the Shekinah glory, is the light of the Jerusalem of the eternal state. The Millennial Jerusalem probably has its greatest description in Ezekiel 40-48, and there is a very beautiful Millennial temple. But in the new Jerusalem there is no temple according to Revelation 21:3, 22.
John was filled with the Spirit, a prerequisite for seeing a city that does not yet exist, and yet in this vision he sees it very clearly, “to a great and high mountain [which will exist in the eternal state].” There are only a few mountains mentioned in Scripture which are mountains in Heaven. In Ezekiel chapter 28 we have the prince of Tyrus. Tyre at the time of writing was the headquarters for demonism in the world, soon to be destroyed. In warning Tyre that it would be destroyed by divine judgment, the prophet Ezekiel goes a little further and begins talking about another prince of Tyrus, who is Satan. At that particular point there is the mountain of God mentioned, a mountain in Heaven. There will be mountains visible to us in the eternal state but occasionally we find a high mountain is not on the earth at all. The one to which John went with the angel was a high mountain in space, something for the future (“and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God.”) In other words, it is suspended above the earth and it came down out of Heaven but did not touch the earth.
The New Jerusalem will be a satellite city suspended above the new earth. The first thing that we see is the glory of God. That means the presence of the Shekinah glory, the Lord Jesus Christ. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper refers to a very unusual stone. We must remember that the Bible must be interpreted in the time in which it was written. It is not a reference to the modern jasper which is limited to a variety of quartz but is a translucent precious stone which will exist in the eternal state, very much like a diamond. Apparently, diamond is the foundation for this satellite city, not the diamond we know now, but tons of diamond without any kind of a flaw. That is the glory of the satellite city. It is fitting that the foundation should represent in some way the glory of the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Shekinah glory.
Next, we have the walls of the city 200 feet high with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates.
There are three gates on each side. “On the east side” as in Numbers chapter two the gates will be named Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, “on the north side,” Dan, Asher, Naphtali, “on the south side,” Reuben, Simeon, Gad, “on the west side,” Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin. “The walls of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” So, on these stones would be the names of Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James, Thaddaeus, Simon and Paul. Paul is the twelfth apostle, according to 1 Corinthians 15:7-10. All of these inscriptions are permanent therefore they have spiritual connotation.
“Now the city was laid out in a square [actually, in a cube], and its length is as great as its width: and he measured the city with the measuring rod, fourteen hundred miles, fourteen hundred miles wide, fourteen hundred miles high.” In other words, it was a cube. “Then he measured the walls, two hundred feet by man’s measurement which the angel was using.” God always stays with our concepts of measuring in communicating measurements. While the angel did the measuring, he used a human standard of measure. This would imply that angels have a different metric system from mankind. This passage is for mankind therefore man’s standards and man’s measurements are used. It is so that we can get the picture of this marvelous city of the eternal state.
“Now the material of the wall was diamond [flawless diamond] and the city was pure gold like translucent glass,” so that is not the gold of the universe today, it is the gold of the universe of the future. The gold of the future will be so pure that it will be translucent. The decorations on the walls, then, are gems of the future. But we have to relate them to gems of the past. “The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire [something translucent light blue, but not the sapphire of the present]; the third, chalcedony [again, translucent]; the fourth, emerald [translucent green with no flaws];” “The fifth is sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz [red, rather than topaz yellow]; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth is amethyst.” All of these are merely approximations because in the eternal state these materials are all translucent and they all reflect the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ Who is the only light in the city. Revelation 21:22-23, “I saw no temple in it [there is no need for a temple]: for the Lord God the Almighty, even the Lamb, is its temple.” So, there is not temple, there is no light; instead, there is the Shekinah glory, He is the temple and the light. “So, the city had no need for the sun, nor the moon, to shine on it: for the glory of God [Christ, the shekinah glory] has illuminated it, and the Lamb is its lamp.”
“Then the nations will walk by its light,” these are the nations on the new planet earth in the eternal state and they will get the light from the satellite city, “and the kings of the earth will bring their glory to it.” In other words, the light of nations made up of believers in the eternal state will not be the reflected light from the sun, not the light from the moon, but the light from the Shekinah glory from the satellite city. “And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.”
“And nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination [religion], and lying [lack of integrity] shall ever come into it [they are all in the Lake of Fire],” in the eternal state all believers function on the honor code, but the unbelievers are excluded, “but only those [believers] whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Note that the unbeliever continues to live in the Lake of Fire. Notice, however, he is excluded from the satellite city. The unbeliever in the Lake of Fire is there forever. Only believers in Christ are permitted to enjoy the blessings of the eternal state. Exactly what we will be doing for all eternity is not stated in the Word of God. Whatever God has in store for us will however be above and beyond all that we could ask or think. Whatever our roles in Heaven and on the New Earth, it will certainly be all to the praise and glory of Savior Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 3:20-21)