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A short digression: Jewish Christian hopes regarding the Coming of the Messiah
The Apostle Paul described the age-old longing of the Jews, regarding the coming of the promised Messiah, as one of their outstanding features. The Jewish Christians in Ephesus knew of these revelations and could speak and talk of them in their house meetings. The many promises from the 39 books of the Old Testament resulted in various emphasis for their hopes.
Promises regarding the Kingdom of the Messiah upon our earth
The revelations in the Old Testament, regarding the coming of the Messiah as King and Ruler, contain primarily an earthly and a spiritual aspect. “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Is. 9:5-6; see also: 2 Sam. 7:12-14a; Ps. 2:7-9; 97:1; Is. 11:1-5; 33:17; 60:1-3; Jer. 33:15-17; Dan. 7:13-14; Micah 5:2; Zech. 2:11-12; 6:12-13; 14:9). In accordance with these prophecies, the Messiah can be expected to be both a political and religious King, who will establish the Kingdom of David on this earth.
According to these promises, a predominant mark of the Messiah is the fact that He will, in the future, lead the dispersed, scattered and sold-into-slavery sons of Jacob back into their homeland. Today, Orthodox Jews believe that a part of the Jewish Diaspora has already returned to the Promised Land, preceding the coming of the Messiah. Their Lord and King Himself will lead the rest home. The Prophet Isaiah heard, however, how the LORD personally spoke to the Messiah: “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be my salvation to the ends of the earth” (Is. 49:6). For some Orthodox Jews today, this verse is not very popular, because it does not limit the salvation work of the Messiah just to Israel, but offers it to all peoples. (Is. 11:11-16; 35:8-10; 43:5-7; 49:9-12; 60:3-9; Jer. 30:10, 16; 31:8-14; Ez. 37:21-27; Zech. 8:7-8).
According to the prophecies of the Old Testament, the Messiah will reign in Jerusalem and make this city the central point of the earth: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey….He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth” (Zech. 9:9-12, here v. 9-10b; see also Is. 4:2-6; 11:1-5, 9; 33:20-22; 62:6-7; Jer. 3:16-17; 31:1-7, 23; Ez. 40:1-43; Zech. 12:8).
The expectation of the kingly rule of the Messiah will be closely linked to a spiritual renewal of the people of Israel. Nevertheless, only a small “holy remnant” will live in the Kingdom of the Messiah. The majority of Israelites harden their hearts again and again and, consequently, will be swept away by the judgments of God. For the rest, the following holds true: “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn” (Zech. 12:9-14, here v. 10; see also Is. 6:9-13; 10:20-21; 44:3; Jer. 31:31-34; 33:14-17; Ez. 36:26-32; 37:1-28; 39:29; Joel 3:1-5; Amos 9:11; Zech. 4:6). The fact that “all that pierced Him through” will see the Messiah was recorded by the Patriarch John, and marks a highlight of the Revelation of Christ (Rev. 1:7).
In the Kingdom of the Messiah, the restored remnant will have a priestly function among the nations of the earth: “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:5-6; see also Deut. 7:6; Is. 4:3; 6:1-13; 61:6-7; Zech. 8:13). We recognize the partial fulfilment of this promise already in the Apostles of Jesus Christ, who were kings and priests in the sense of these words.
A new era of world mission begins with the coming of the Messiah: “Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord´s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, `Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; he will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.` For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Micah 4:1-2; see also Is. 11:10; 42:6-7; 49:6,23; 55:5; 60:3; 66:19; Jer. 16:19-21; Zech. 2:11; 8:20-23; 14:16-19). The worldwide working of God´s word is, however, understood by some Jews to be an expansion of the Law of Moses, with its 613 commands and prohibitions.
The reign of peace of the Messiah will set an end to the political wars among the nations: “He shall judge between the nations, and shall rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Is. 2:4; 9:4-5; 11:13).
Cosmic developments and climatic changes in the Holy Land will help the earth to become more fruitful: “I will open rivers in desolate heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the acacia tree, the myrtle and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the cypress tree and the pine and the box tree together, that they may see and know, and consider and understand together, that the hand of the Lord has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it” (Is. 41:18-20; see also Is. 4:2; 30:25; 32:15; 35:1-2, 6-7; Ez. 47:7-12; Hos. 2:22-23; Amos 9:13; Zech. 8:12). Some kibbutz dwellers, however, do not “see, recognize, observe or understand” the hand of the Lord, but claim the partial fulfilling of this promise is a result of their own hard work and the offering of their time and energy!
In the time of the Messiah, the dwellers of His land will be healthy and have long life: “No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed” (Is. 65:20; see also Gen. 15:5; Is. 29:18-19; 33:24; 35:4-6; Jer. 30:17; 33:6, 22; Zech. 8:4-6; 12:8).
Animals also will be kindled by the spirit of peace of the Messiah and without struggle live peacefully side by side: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra´s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper´s den” (Is. 11:6-8; 65:25).
Promises involving the person of the Messiah
The promises involving the soon return of the Messiah were known in the early church in Jerusalem. There the members of the church sold their fields and goods to live in a “Christian Communism” of reciprocal love, praise and thanksgiving – to wait for the imminent arrival of their Lord and Savior. The promises of the Old Covenant, however, were what quickened and maintained their hope during the waiting the return of the promised Messiah.
The Almighty had said to Abraham: “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” Later the Apostle Paul demonstrated that the “Seed of Abraham” was a single person – Jesus Christ (Gen. 22:18; Gal. 3:16).
Jacob testified in blessing his sons that “the scepter shall not depart from Judah…until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people” (Gen. 49:10; Is. 2:3; John 4:22-26 and 39-42).
Moses gave assurance to his people: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear” (Deut. 18:15, 18; Jer. 23:5; John 1:21, 45; 6:14; 7:40; Acts 3:22; 7:37). (In Islam this verse is often applied to Mohammed) The heathen soothsayer, Balaam, testified: “A star shall come out of Jacob…out of Jacob One shall have dominion…!” (Num. 24:17b-19).
King David received from his Lord the comforting promise: “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son” (2 Sam. 7:12-14a; Ps. 2:7; 89:27; Luke 1:32; Heb. 1:5).
In Psalm 2 the LORD personally speaks to the promised Messiah, one thousand years before His incarnation in Bethlehem: “You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter´s vessel.” (Ps. 2:7b-9; Dan. 7:13-14; Acts 13:33; Rev. 2:27; 12:5; 19:15). Since the time of these prophecies, the coming Messiah has been called the Son of David, who, as King and Priest, will come as one and the same Person. In Jewish thought even to this day, He is expected to come as the victorious, unconquerable Ruler. (Ps. 89:27-30; Is. 9:5-6; see also 7:14; 11:1-5).
Later, following the carrying off of the majority of the Jewish nation into Babylonian captivity, the promises of God in regard to the coming Liberator, Savior, Redeemer and Victor became consolidated. The entire reach of redemption was no longer limited just to Israel. Rather, it now came to contain all peoples (Is. 42:1-7; 49:5-6; 51:4-5 among others). In unique fashion, the substitution and representation of the Servant of God at the judgment of the Almighty, both in suffering and in punishment, came to be recognized as the supreme goal of His coming. It was regarded as an unequivocal presupposition for His second coming (Is. 53:1-12).
Isaiah recognized that the One to come was no one other than the LORD Himself. He announced how the world was to prepare itself for the coming of the Messiah: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; the crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth; the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (Is. 40:3-5).
In the Scriptures of the Old Testament, the calls to preparedness for the coming of Christ are intensive and personal: “Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and the deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and the kings to the brightness of your shining” (Is. 60:1-3).
In the book of Isaiah, the coming Christ introduces Himself and reveals the mystery of His Person (Is. 61:1-2, see also v. 3-5; Luke 4:18).
The Prophet Micah experienced a sensational prophecy 750 years before regarding the place of the Messiah´s birth and incarnation: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2).
The Prophet Zechariah recognized in a vision the entry of Christ into Jerusalem (Zech. 9:9-10).
The decisive authorization of Jesus, the Son of Man, with power and authority following His ascension to heaven, was shown to the prophet Daniel (Dan. 7:13-14; Rev. 5:1-14).
King David saw the culminating point in the life of the Messiah, expounding it in a Psalm: “The Lord said to my Lord, `Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.` The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies! Your people shall be volunteers in the day of Your power; in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, You have the dew of Your youth” (Ps. 110:1-3).
Beyond that, the prophet Zechariah heard special words regarding the coming of the Messiah in the end time: “Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley… thus the Lord my God will come, and all the saints with You…And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be—the Lord is one, and His name one” (Zech. 14:3-9, here v. 3-4, 5b, 9).
The Apostle John, in his book of the Revelation, took possession of a decisive promise given to the prophet Zechariah regarding the coming of the Messiah: “It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn” (Zech. 12:9-10).
On the threshold of a new era of time, John the Baptist began to prophecy of the coming Messiah as a harsh judge: “And even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after Me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matt. 3:10-12).
Following the baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan, the baptizer recognized, however, the mystery of the Son of Mary. He then made a theological turn-about and courageously revealed who the Messiah is in reality: The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, after me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me…I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ´Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.` And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God” (John 1:29-30, 33-34).
Whoever compares the numerous promises in the 39 books of the Old Testament with each other will be able to come closer to the Jewish mindset, and recognize the attributes and offices of the Messiah they are expecting.
The obstinacy of the nation Israel, however, did not begin with the rejection of Jesus and the Apostle Paul, but was already to be seen with the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 6:8-13). Jesus confirmed this stubbornness, overcame, however, this blindness and deafness of the chosen people in His followers. He revealed to this “Holy Remnant”: “But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it” (Matt. 13:16-17).
With ardent longing, many Jews today await their Messiah, who will lead them together from all nations of the earth and unite them into a strong nation. A rabbi is reported to have said: The Messiah will ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, if the citizens of the Holy City do not keep the Sabbath laws. If, however, all the Jews fulfil the Law of Moses, He will come on the clouds of heaven.
However, whoever today proclaims to the Sons of Jacob that the crucified Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah, the Son of God and the King of the Jews, commits blasphemy in their eyes.. The majority of Jews are not waiting for the Lamb of God, but for a mighty commander and victor. The first arrival of the Messiah remained hidden from them. If, however, shortly before the return of the true Messiah Jesus, “another” comes in his own name, to rule with great power and cunning, him they will hear (John 5:43; 8:42-46).
The apostles of Jesus had their eyes and ears opened by the Holy Spirit. They recognized the first “veiled” coming of the Messiah, as well as His future second coming, which Jesus had lived out or revealed to them. Yet they, too, only slowly grasped these illogical, yet spiritual and true revelations, if only after they had experienced a radical change in their thinking.
What did Jesus Himself say about His second coming?
Jesus Christ began His preaching ministry in Galilee with the words: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matt. 3:2).
At the beginning the masses rushed to Him. They were thrilled with His healings. Yet when it became clear that the elders and scribes in Jerusalem rejected Jesus, many began to fall away from Him. It was in this situation the Lord asked His disciples: “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” With this witness Peter confessed that the young man standing amid them, Jesus of Nazareth, was the longed-for Messiah and, at the same time, the Son of God. The Lord forbid them, however, to further tell this mystery (Matt. 16:13-20). Following this discussion Jesus began to prepare His followers for His suffering, His death, and His resurrection. He declared to them that they, too, in following Him, would suffer persecution and sorrow and would need to practice continual self-denial (Matt. 16:24-26).
To give them encouragement, hope and consolation on the path of their suffering, Jesus placed His glorious return before the eyes of His disciples: “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works” (Matt. 16:27; Luke 9:26).
Jesus had previously, in His use of parables, intimated some of the fundamental principles of the final judgment that will take place at His return: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13:37-43; see also 13:49-50).
A few days before His death on the cross, as Jesus sat with His disciples on the Mount of Olives and the beloved city lay stretched out before them, He prophesied the intensification of God´s judgment, which would come in stages over their unrepentant capital (Matt. 23:37-39; 24:1-36; Mark 13:1-32; Luke 21:25-28). He revealed to them the unequivocal sign of His return, so that no one might mislead them: '''“Therefore if they say to you, `Look, He is in the desert!´ do not go out; or `Look, He is in the inner rooms!` do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
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.
And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt. 24:26-31; Mark 13:24-27; Luke 17:23-24, 37; 21:25-28).
The consequence of the recognition of this world-changing event is the same for all followers of Jesus: “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming” (Matt. 24:32-44; Mark 13:28-37; Luke 21:29-36). Jesus challenged His disciples to be ready at all times to receive Him (Matt. 24:42-44; 25:1-13). Whoever believes in the return of the Son of God should, in expectation of His soon return, not live as someone idle, dreamy or lazy. Rather, he should put his total strength to use for Jesus and for His kingdom (Matt. 24:14; 25:14-30; Luke 19:11-27).
At the decisive legal proceeding before the Jewish high council in Jerusalem, the high priest, Caiaphas, following an unsuccessful hearing, put the illegal trap-question to Jesus: “I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us is You are the Christ, the son of God!” Jesus did not avoid this challenge, standing before the 71 deputies of His people, and testified: “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matt. 26:63-64; Mark 14:61-62; Luke 22:70).
In His Spirit-led answer, Jesus summarized two Messianic promises - Psalm 110:1 and Daniel 7:13-14, into a single sentence. He thereby confirmed His divinity and His authority as the Son of Man. With this self-testimony He indirectly summoned His judges to recognize and worship Him, who stood before them bound and accused, as their coming Judge and King. Caiaphas, however, quickly cried out: “He has spoken blasphemy! What is your judgment?” They answered and spoke: “He is worthy of death!” (Matt. 26:57-68; Mark 14:53-65; Luke 22:66-71). With His original, one- sentence answer before the official representatives of His people, Jesus legally testified to His return on the clouds of heaven. With that, He revealed to them the entire goal of the plan and history of God´s salvation.
He had previously spoken of His coming as Judge of the world: “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from his goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, `Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world!` …Then He will also say to those on the left hand, `Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels!`” (Matt. 25:31-46).
In all humility Jesus testified that His Father had not only given Him the judgment over the nations, but also the authority to raise the dead at His second coming: “Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:25-29).
Jesus testified to His disciples, the Jewish high council and to all of His listeners that He would come again to redeem His church and to execute final judgment as Lord and Judge. In His discourse He primarily used His title of honor, “the Son of Man”. With it He confessed that His Father had given to Him all power in heaven and on earth to establish the kingdom of His love and truth.
What did Paul write about the Return of the Messiah?
Paul wrote to the church he founded in Corinth:“Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:6-8; Phil. 1:9-10).
The inner alignment of the total life of the churches in Asia Minor and Greece, directed toward the risen and returning Lord, constituted its foundation “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:2-4).
Paul wrote to his unselfish churches, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, about the far-reaching, existential consequences of the second coming of Christ: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (Phil. 3:20-21).
Every religion or philosophy is worthless that cannot offer a valid answer to the supreme issues of death and the future after death. The Apostle Paul shared with us what Christ had revealed to him: “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51-52).
The missionary to the nations comforted his church members, assailed by fear of death and doubt, with a detailed description of the second coming of Christ in which he spoke of the resurrection of all the dead and the rapture of the followers of Jesus: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thes. 4:16-18).
Death appears to be the inexorable reaper of all mankind – to mow and gather up the sheaves of grain. Jesus, however, overcame through His sinless, holy life the cause and the power of death. As a result of His death of substitution, He will draw us into His own eternal life when He returns: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ´s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet (Ps. 110:1). The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. (1 Cor. 15:22-26).
Above all, the second coming of Jesus in glory signifies salvation, restoration, redemption and a “going home” for His church. Their spiritual existence is to bring glory to the crucified and risen One. At the same time, Jesus comes as Lord and Judge, Revenger and Victor over the enemies of God: “Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed” (2 Thes. 1:6-10).
Let us have no illusions in regard to the way of salvation: it is steep, full of thorns, narrow and dangerous. Jesus and His apostles warn us repeatedly about the temptations of the end time: “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you… Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God… And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming” (2 Thes. 2:1-8).
Prayer: Father in heaven, we thank You that You sent Your Son Jesus, as Messiah and Savior, into our depraved world, that He might save those who allow themselves to be saved. We worship You, knowing that Your Son will come again in glory to take His church to be with Him. He will also sit as Judge in the Day of Judgment, and separate those who love Him from those who hate Him. Help us to reflect His light like mirrors in this increasingly dark world. Amen
Questions:
- What do Orthodox Jews expect from the coming of the Messiah?
- What did the Lord Jesus confess in regard to His return?
- How did the Apostle Paul witness to the return of the Messiah in his letters?