Doctrines

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    D290 - No one except the Father, knows the precise day and hour of the return of Jesus Christ

    Matt 24:36; Mark 13:32

    Both Matt 24:36 and Mark 13:32 say,

    ‘But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.’

    On the Father knows the precise day and hour of the return of Jesus Christ.

    But Christians do know the seasons regarding when the Lord will return. 1 Thes 5:4-5 says,

    ‘But you, brothers, are not in the darkness so that this day (the Day of the Lord) should overtake you like a thief. For you are all sons of the light and sons of the day; we do not belong to the night or to the darkness.’

    Just be mindful that at Jesus’ first advent, there were hardly anyone who anticipated his coming.

    Will it be the same at his second advent? Despite what we have in terms of Scripture and teachers, will we be ready for his return?

    Please see D217 – God does not follow standard operating procedure

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    D291 - The day of Jesus' return will be intimidating with great earthly and cosmic display

    Matt 24:29-30; Mark 13:24-25; Luke 21:25-26; Acts 2:20

    Matt 24:29-30 says,

    ‘But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.’

    The same is said in Mark 13:24-25. Luke 21:25-26 has a slight variation with

    ‘signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’

    Acts 2:20 says,

    ‘The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.’

    People of the nations will witness the great cosmic displays before the Lord Jesus returns.

    In Rev 11:9, it talks about the two witnesses whose dead bodies will be seen by people of the world. In the internet era, it is not difficult to see how this cosmic event, although possibly local in display, could be witnessed by everyone.

    It is not exactly a happy day for non-believers as this day is also called the ‘great and awesome/ terrible day of the Lord’ in Joel 2:31 of the Old Testament; the Hebrew word for ‘awesome’ is yare or ‘to fear and be afraid’.

    It is they who will be ‘fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world.’

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    D292 - There will be a great sound of a trumpet prior to the return of Jesus

    Matt 24:31; 1 Cor 15:51-52; 1 Thes 4:16-17

    1 Cor 15:51-52 says that at the end of time –

    ‘in a moment, in the twinkling of any eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.’ It is called the ‘last trumpet.’

    The trumpet is there again in 1 Thes 4:16-17

    ‘For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.’

    This is again consistent with Matt 24:31 which says that there will be a loud trumpet call to summon ‘his elect from the four winds’ prior to his return

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    D293 - The rapture of believers will take place after the Great Tribulation

    Matt 24:29-38; Mark 13:24-27; Luke 17:27-37

    Matt 24:29 spells it out clearly when the return of Jesus will take place when it says,

    Immediately after the tribulation of those days …..’

    And it follows on with Matt 24:31 when it says,

    ‘And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other (in other words, the rapture).’

    Notice when the rapture will take place?

    Immediately after the tribulation of those days.’

    The same is repeated in Mark.

    Mark 13:24-27 explains unequivocally when the rapture will take place – it will take place ‘after that tribulation’ (Mark 13:24) when

    ‘he will send forth the angels, and and will gather together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven’ (Mark 13:27).

    Matt 24:31-38 explains that even as the rapture is taking place, somewhere in the world, people will still be ‘eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.’.

    In other words, in some parts of the world, life remains normal.

    Matt 24:37 does imply that there are likely to be pockets of peaceful existence in these places and people there seem to be oblivious to the sufferings or the impending arrival of Jesus Christ.

    In Matt 13, when explaining the parable of the wheat and the tares, Jesus clarified that the parable which spoke about the harvest was for ‘the end of the age’ (Matt 13:39). He also said that both (wheat and tares) would be allowed to ‘grow together until the harvest’, at which point the tares would be gathered first for burning and only after that were the wheat harvested (Matt 13:30); NB: The wheat were not gathered before the tares.

    When we are studying about when the rapture will take place, it is important that we listen to what Jesus had to say about it.

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    D294 - Believers who have died will rise first

    1 Thes 4:16-17

    The trumpet is there again in 1 Thes 4:16-17

    ‘For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.’

    ‘The dead in Christ will rise first’ – Believers who have died will rise first. First in, First out ….

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    D295 - Jesus returns to earth in power and in glory

    Acts 1:11; Matt 24:30

    Jesus will return from the sky. Acts 1:11 says,

    ‘This Jesus, who was taken up form you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’

    Matt 24:30 says,

    ‘The Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory’ and

    Rev 1:7 reads,

    ‘Behold, he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him (Jews?), and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.’

    Jesus is returning to earth in power and in glory.

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    D296 - Jesus' return will be seen by all

    Acts 1:11; Matt 24:30

    Jesus will return from the sky. Acts 1:11 says,

    ‘This Jesus, who was taken up form you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’

    Matt 24:30 says,

    ‘The Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory’ and

    Rev 1:7 reads,

    ‘Behold, he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him (Jews?), and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.’

    The New Testament was written about two thousand years ago. How would anyone of that period be able to predict that far ahead and know that we live in an era of ‘live’ television and the internet so that we can view every piece of news from the comfort of our home?

    Jesus is returning to earth in power and glory and his return will be seen by all.

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    D297 - Jesus returns to avenge the sufferings of his saints (Day of Vengeance)

    Luke 4:18-19 (Isa 61:2); Luke 18:6-8; Rev 14:14-20; Rev 19:2-18

    When Jesus announced his first coming, he did it in a synagogue on the Sabbath day in Nazareth, the place where he grew up in. He quoted from Isa 61:2, but only the first part when he said in Luke 4:18-19:

    “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

    The second part of Isa 61:2 reads,

    ‘and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.’

    That second part belongs to the second coming of Jesus Christ.

    Why is Jesus Christ returning with vengeance on his mind?

    In Luke 18:6-8, when Jesus was encouraging believers to persevere in prayer, he showed us why he would be returning with vengeance and to ‘comfort all who mourn.’

    Luke 18:7 reads,

    ‘Now, will not God bring about justice for his elect who cry to him day and night and will he delay long over them?’

    It is because of the suffering of his saints whose cries for justice finally leads him to return with vengeance. It is the same message which Paul uttered to the Thessalonians in 2 Thessalonians 1:6, calling it a payback for the tribulation of Christians.

    Rev 6:9-11 says,

    When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and AVENGE our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

    The Great Tribulation is about a bloodbath of Christians and Jews not seen before the beginning of time. Not even the Holocaust will be comparable.

    It reminds us a time in the history of Israel when the children of Israel had to cry out to the Lord because their pain was simply too great to bear. Exodus 2:23-25 reads:

    ‘During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.’

    God heard, God remembered, God saw, and God knew ….

    Similarly, in the Book of Judges, every time God’s people cried out to him (in desperation) and repented of their sins, God would respond and send a champion to relieve their sufferings (Judges 3:9; Judges 6:6; Judges 10:10).

    When the pain is too much to bear, Jesus will return to avenge his saints who will be killed in order that the word of God is fulfilled.

    That will be the day of vengeance.

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    D298 - Jesus returns because sins will be overflowing

    Rev 14:14-20; Matt 24:12

    Rev 14:14-20 describes a time when the Son of Man will return to earth with ‘a sharp sickle in his hand’ because ‘the earth was reaped’ (The Greek word for ‘reaped’ is therizo or reap/ gather/ harvest. In other words, the earth was ready to be harvested).

    In Matt 24:12, Jesus simply said,

    ‘Lawlessness will be increased and the love of many will grow cold.’

    In the Old Testament, Daniel 8:23, it reads:

    ‘At the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise.’

    Here, we are talking about an end-times’ king and the NLT describes this person as someone who is a ‘master of intrigue’ and ‘fierce’. But it also describes that time as being one when ‘their sin is at its height.’

    It reminds us of a time when God spoke to Abraham in a dream in Gen 15:13,

    ‘Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.’

    This was followed by Gen 15:16 when the Lord said,

    ‘They shall come back here in the fourth generation for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.’

    NLT translates it to ‘for the SINS of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction’ or ‘not yet reached its full measure’ (NIV).

    Then, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham regarding the promised land in Gen 15:18-21

    ‘To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.’

    The children of Israel could only take the promised land at a specific time and because of a specific event,

    that ‘the sins of the Amorites’ had become completed (or full measure).

    It parallels Rev 14:15 when ‘the time of harvest has come’ (NLT), that is, when the sins of the world have become so complete that Jesus has to return.

    Rev 14:14-20 describes a time when the Son of Man will return to earth with ‘a sharp sickle in his hand’ because ‘the earth was reaped’ (The Greek word for ‘reaped’ is therizo or reap/ gather/ harvest. In other words, the earth was ready to be harvested).

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    D299 - The Battle of Armegeddon will take place when Christ returns

    Rev 16:14-16; Rev 17:14

    The term, ‘Armageddon’, is found in Rev 16:16 and is used to describe how a great army will assemble to do battle in this place in Israel named Armageddon.

    This great army of two hundred million (described in Greek as dis-murias or twice ten thousand times ten thousand) (Rev 9:16)  will come from the east (of Jerusalem) by using the dried up riverbed of the Euphrates (Rev 16:12) possibly to do battle with Jesus (Rev 17:14) (Could it be like defending an alien attack?). 

    Rev 19:18 describes the extent of the war such that the angel called out to the birds of the air to

    ‘Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men.’

    This is also called the marriage supper of the Lamb, not exactly a celebratory event but one that is mixed with the blood of men and animals.

    It will be the time of the Lord’s return on the Mount of Olive (Acts 1:11) and when the city of Jerusalem is split into three parts because of a great earthquake (Rev 16:19) and ‘Babylon the great (was) made to drain of the cup of the wine of the fury of his (God’s) wrath.’

    This is a difficult doctrine to reconcile. It is like a great movie of epochal disposition.

    This is what we know –

    • In the Day of the Lord, there will be a great battle.
    • Our Lord, Jesus Christ, will defeat the devil and his lackeys (the two persons described as ‘beasts’) who will be then banished.
    • What follows after that battle is the millennium rule of peace by our Lord Jesus.
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    D300 - Jesus returns to defeat Satan, reclaim earth, and establish his rule

    Rev 17:14; Rev 19:15-16; Rev 22:20

    Rev 17:14 reads,

    ‘They (the beast or Antichrist) will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.’

    The Lamb as we know is Jesus who is described by John the Baptist as the Lamb of God in John 1:29.

    Jesus will return to defeat Satan. Rev 19:15-16 reads,

    ‘And from His mouth proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God, the Almighty. And He has a name written on His robe and on His thigh: King of kings and Lord of lords.’

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    D301 - Satan is bound during Christ's millennial rule on the earth

    Rev 20:1-3

    Rev 20:1-3 reads,

    ‘Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.’ 

    After the defeat of Satan by Jesus, Satan will be banished into the abyss for one thousand years. Hence, there will be no demonic activities on earth for this duration, during the reign of Jesus on earth.

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    D302 - Both the Beast and the False Prophet will be cast into hell forever

    Rev 19:20

    While Satan will be bound for a thousand years during Christ’s millennial reign on earth, see D301, his compatriots, consisting of the Beast and False Prophet will, nonetheless be banished into hell forever.

    This is described in Rev 19:20 where it says,

    ‘both of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulphur.’.

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    D303 - Jesus returns to judge the nations

    Matt 25:31-46

    Jesus will return to judge the nations.

    Matt 25:31-33 says,

    ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.’

    Jesus will judge the nations based on how we have treated his people, which we believe to be Jews and Christians.

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