Of the 260 chapters in the entire New Testament, there are 318 references to the Second Coming, or one out of 30 verses. Twenty-three of the 27 New Testament books refer to this great event. For every prophecy on the First Coming of Christ, there are 8 on Christ's Second Coming. 

Philippians 3:20-21 ²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

This morning we will attempt to answer these four questions:

I.           Is Jesus Coming again?

II.         When and how will Jesus return?

III.       What will the world conditions be like?

IV.       Could Jesus return today?

Is Jesus Coming again?

I.  Promises of Christ’s Return... There are over 1800 O.T. references and over 300 N.T. references!

Ø      From Jesus!

Revelation 22:7 "Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book."

Revelation 22:12 "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.

Revelation 22:20 He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

·         Night before His crucifixion... Jesus’ disciples were bewildered and discouraged... Jesus told them He was going away, He would die, He will be betrayed, Peter will deny Him, Satan working in their midst, and where He was going they could not go...

John 14:1-3 ¹ "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. ² In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

George Gallop states, the belief that Jesus Christ will return to earth someday is held by 62 percent of all Americans.

Ø      From Prophets!

Jude 1:14-15a Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone..."

Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.

Ø        From Apostles!

1 Timothy 6:14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Colossians 3:4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Ø      From Angels!

Acts 1:10-11 ¹⁰ They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ¹¹ "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

Is Jesus coming again? YES – God will faithfully fulfill all His promises!

When and how will Jesus return?

Matthew 24:36 "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

II.  Second Coming Order of Events...

Ø      Rapture of the Church: “meet the Lord In the air...”

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 ⁵¹ Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- ⁵² in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed...

Ø       Seven Year Tribulation Period: “judgment poured out...”

Matthew 24:21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be equaled again.

·         Antichrist signs a 7 year peace agreement with Israel – Dan 9:27

·         God pours out judgment upon the earth... 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls

·         Revelation – the revealing of Jesus Christ

Ø      Literal Return to earth seven years later: “His feet will touch...”

Zechariah 14:4a “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west...”

Matthew 24:29-30 ²⁹ "Immediately after the distress of those days "'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.' ³⁰ "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.

·         The first time Jesus came as a baby – next time He’s coming as King of Kings, Lord of Lords, He’s coming as the Lion of tribe of Judah with POWER AND GREAT GLORY!

·         Rapture of church – 7 year Tribulation – Return of King Jesus to fight the battle of Armageddon – set up Christ’s 1000 year reign on earth – Great White throne Judgment – New heaven/earth

When and how will Jesus return?  No one knows the day or hour...at any moment in the twinkling of the eye!

What will the world conditions look like?  (Turn to Mt 24 – Pew Bible page 700)

III.       Bible “Signs” point to the Literal Return of Christ (Mt 24 & Rev 6)

Matthew 24:3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

·         Do you ever watch for billboards announcing upcoming places or attractions?  God gives us signs!

·         “Sign of your coming” always points to the literal return not to the rapture of the church 7 years prior.

Luke 21:25 "There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.

·         “Anguish & perplexity” – confusion, no way out solutions... “tossing of the sea” – masses of people

·         Watch the nightly news... something is happening all around the world... Jesus is coming soon!

Ø      False teachers, deception (vs 4-5,10,24) 

Matthew 24:4-5 ⁴ Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.

Matthew 24:11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.

Matthew 24:24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible.

·     Let me ask you a question... How many churches are preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

·     It is not a social gospel or a feel good gospel or a name it claim it gospel... great deception today

·     Headlines today about a Mormon cult building an end of the world bunker in Texas

·     Mainline people on TV even claiming they communicate with dead Christians...

Ø      Wars and global terrorism (vs 6-7,37, Gen 6:5-11)

Matthew 24:6-7a You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom...

Matthew 24:37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

Genesis 6:11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence.

Gen 6:13 “... The earth is filled with violence...”

·     Fly jumbo jets into buildings, strapping explosives on and blowing yourself up in crowded buses...

·     Since 911, there has been a huge spike in global terrorism... the rats are being routed out & are angry

·     Hundreds of innocent people are being slaughtered because of fanatical Islam – but don’t talk about it.

Ø      Pandemic pestilence and disease (vs 7, Lu 21:11)

Luke 21:11 There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

An especially dangerous strain of the bird flu has spread from Asia to Europe and Africa. Known as H5N1, the virus can infect humans as well as birds. World leaders and health officials are taking the threat of a pandemic seriously, and pressure is on to develop effective containment measures and treatments.

Revelation 6:8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

·     Famines, pestilences, resistance to antibiotics, weird flu outbreaks, AIDS, Bird flu, madcow disease

·     Science is seeing a cross-over of viruses/ bacteria from animals into the human population.

·     The viral strains mutate and sometimes become resistant to known modern drugs

Ø      Worldwide Natural Disasters (vs 7,21,29)

Matthew 24:7-8 ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.

Dec 26, 2004         Indonesian (Tsunami)         270,000             9.0

Mar 28, 2005         Nias, Indonesian                1,300                 8.7

Oct 8, 2005           Kashmir, Pakistan             55,000+             7.6