Thursday, November 8, 2012

Second coming of Christ

"The prophecy  about Messiah, based on books of  Daniel, Isaiah, Zachariah"
"The One coming back"
Prophet Daniel  had a vision  "I kept looking into  the night visions, and behold with the clouds of heaven  One like a son of man was coming  and he came up  to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion, glory and  a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations  and men of every  language might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, and his kingdom is one which  will not be destroyed."
But then we also know  from the prophets that the Messiah  will have to meet the other  requirements ;he will be the descendant of David, born from a woman, one  from  among  his brothers, born in Bethlehem. How is that all possible, prophet Daniel  showing  him coming in the clouds of  heaven to conquer  and rule , as the one to whom  was given everlasting dominion and a kingdom. Prophet Isaiah  talks about the one who will  be  born of  a woman ( Isaiah 7;14), having the earthly life like ours, coming in a gentle and humble way to suffer (Isaiah 53) .  The only way  for all these verses to be  true  is that there would have to be two separate comings. The first followers of Jesus  didn't understand that either, until after Jesus' death and resurrection when he told them that the Messiah came to suffer first before entering his glory.
Isaiah 53  talks about a servant who had to suffer and  die   before he was glorified and gives a purpose for that;
v.3 " the one despised and rejected by men" v.5 “wounded for our transgressions, crushed because of our sins, the punishment  that brought us peace was upon him and by his wound we are healed
The verse .6  explains ;  ” We all like sheep went astray, we turned each one to his own way, yet Adonai laid on him the guilt of all of us."v.7 "led as a lamb to the slaughter....he opened NOT his mouth"
v.8. "cut off from the land of living,  for transgressions of my people  he was stricken”,
v.11. ” My righteous Servant shall justify many , for he shall bear their iniquities“
As the verse 10 says; He made his soul offering for sin .He made his life a quilt offering, sacrificed for us so that we may have  God's  forgiveness and life. Forgiveness of sins that we have in his blood shed for us.
Isaiah talks about him having his life back; "  He shall see the labor of his soul, and be satisfied."
In the  verse 12  Isaiah  said; ” Therefore I will assign him a share with the great, he will divide the spoil with the strong for  having exposed himself to death and being counted among the sinners."
Some Jews saw that  the Messiah  would  have to suffer but they did not see his death  and resurrection. Just before  what we now clearly see as a classic prophecy about his suffering and death, comes Isaiah 52;13  which speaks of the exaltation  of the Messiah " See my servant will act wisely, he will be raised  and lifted up  and highly exalted"
While Daniel 7;13  speaks of  'son of man' coming in the clouds of heaven to bring justice,  Isaiah  also talks about the same suffering servant who will bring justice  (verse  42;1 ) says;   "Behold  my Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom my soul delights! I have put my Spirit upon Him, He will bring justice to the gentiles. He will not cry out, nor raise his voice to be heard in the street (...) He will bring justice for truth."
We will read later about why all the scriptures haven't been fulfilled yet. All the great promises are still to come.
Old Testament scriptures talk  about Messiah' glorious time in the future to come.  Why  couldn't  it all together be accomplished  at once?  Had he come to bring justice right away, nobody would stay alive!
For it says; "all have sinned and fell short of the glory of God."  We  had to be justified by him to have clean heart,  he had to die  in our place, by that sacrifice we are saved from God's wrath.  Restoration of hearts  by forgiveness of sin comes first. He said himself  " This is my body given for you ...this cup is a new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you" Luke 22;19-20
We can rejoice in the hope and peace we have in his salvation, many people are lacking living without Christ.
Ignoring that fact, we wonder why ALL the prophecy about Christ hasn't been fulfilled yet . Even Jesus' disciples asked him the same question;" When they had come together, they asked him saying "Lord will you at this time restore  the kingdom to Israel?' And He said to them '  It is not for you to know  times or seasons which the Father  has put in his own authority. But you shall receive power when  the Holy Spirit  has come upon you  and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea  and Samaria  and to the end of the earth."  Acts 1;6-8
So   'Now'  it is  time of salvation. He took  upon himself the sins of  us  freeing  all  who would accept His payment.
Who would be just enough to live forever?  Without the Savior, nobody would!
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that
whoever believes in Him shall never perish but have everlasting life"  John 3;16
His promise about everlasting life to those who trusted in Him was supported by  his authority to give life; apart from healing others, he raised Lazarus and Jairus' daughter back  to life. He was risen back to life after his death on the cross.
" John 10;17-18  "Therefore my father loves me, because  I lay down my life  that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I  lay it down of myself  I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again."
The roots for our beliefs are the same ; God's promise about the Messiah to come who would 'save ' their people.  We can choose to see only one side of the whole picture skipping the suffering part, and expect only the glorious future or we choose to see the whole picture- all scriptures   put together like a  big puzzle. The first followers of Jesus were Jews who watching Jesus' life were able to see in him the lamb of God. They saw him being ascended to heaven on clouds, and angels coming down saying; " Man of Galilee, why do you stand  gazing up into the heaven? This same Jesus  who was taken up  from you into heaven  will so come in like manner  as you saw him  go into heaven."    Acts 1;11  " Behold he is coming with clouds  and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes  of the earth  will mourn because of Him.Even so, Amen." Revelation 1;7
Look  also how  does  Zachariah talk about the Messiah  coming as  the deliverer  of Israel.
  Zachariah  12-8-11
" In that day the Lord will defend  the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the one who is feeble  among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord  before them. 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 pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him  as one mourns  for his only son  and grieve for him as one grieves for  a firstborn. In that day there shall be  a great mourning  in Jerusalem."
The question is 'why would they cry and mourn? Who  was pierced??? Who suffered like the  Isaiah 53 talks about? Who justified many by suffering for our sin?  (Isaiah 53;11) By whose wounds we are healed?? Based on Isaiah 53;5, who  would have to  be "raised  and  lifted  up  and highly exalted " ?   If the only one thing the Messiah was to accomplish was to come as the glorious deliverer of the nations, why  it talks about him first raised and lifted up?
All scriptures in the Old Testament are  pointing to  Christ, all events relate to Him, all stories written have a meaning  so that we would recognize Him;  Abraham willing  to offer his only Son as the sacrifice, Joseph' life  in affliction, rejection by his own, saving  their  family and people when they came to him  in need in the 'trouble years'  and  at the end he revealed himself to his family that he was one of their own.
The same it says about the Messiah; before he comes  there will be really bad times, nations gathering around Jerusalem, his own people will finally recognize Him;  Zachariah 12;10  " They will look on Me , whom they  pierced..."
He is like an Noah's ark -in Him everybody can hide before the coming wrath of God.He is our  Passover lamb,  his shed blood for us keeps us from eternal  death. The Jewish  feast of Bikkurim ( first-fruits) points to Him. Paul tells the Corinthians that Jesus raised from the dead  is the 'first-fruits'  of those who have fallen asleep."  1 Cor 15;20
Feast of Unleavened Bread points to Him as Jesus called Himself  " the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever." John 6;50  "Eating" as the symbol of trusting in him.

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