Weekly Bible Study – December 4, 2017

The Doctrine of the Second Advent

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Prepare yourself for learning the Word of God!

Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life), it is important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so take a moment to name, cite or acknowledge (confess) your sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father).

1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (known sins) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [unknown or forgotten sins]." NKJV (New King James Version) [italics added]; we call this REBOUND, read the full doctrine as to “why” we need to use 1 John 1:9 to grow spiritually. REBOUND

If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God, the promised Messiah, as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to simply exercise faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life; when you do, you will instantly receive Eternal Life: John 3:16, 5:24, 6:47, 20:30, 31.

John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life." NKJV [italics added]

Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.

John 3:14-15, 16, 17, 18, says: "¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. ¹⁸ He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV

Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:

Study to show yourself approved to God!

Grace Bible Church
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

Doctrinal Statement

The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary:
God’s Word is taught Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday

Alphabetical Listing of Terms & Abbreviations used:

STUDY TITLE:

The Doctrine of the Second Advent

The Doctrine of the Second Advent

1Ch 29:13-17, “Now therefore, our God, we thank Thee, and praise Thy glorious name. But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from Thee, and from Thy hand we have given Thee. For we are sojourners before Thee, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope. O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build Thee a house for Thy holy name, it is from Thy hand, and all is Thine. Since I know, O my God, that Thou triest the heart and delightest in uprightness, I, in the integrity of my heart, have willingly offered all these things; so now with joy I have seen Thy people, who are present here, make their offerings willingly to Thee.”

In Rev 9, we have noted that an angel called Abaddon or Apollyon [meaning exterminator] gets out of jail with the help of Satan who at this time has been cast out of heaven and can never return there again.

Rev 9:1-3, the fifth angel [the Seraph angel or a sixth winged angel] sounded [his trumpet], and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit [that’s the compartment known as the abyss, the lowest place on the earth] was given to him. And he [Satan] opened or unlocked the abyss; and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air or the atmosphere became darkened by the smoke of the pit. And out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth; and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

In verses 4 and 5 we do have a divine restriction placed upon the demon invasion, they are going to be restricted as to what they can do to their targets which is going to be made up of people who live in the cosmic system, believers and unbelievers of the Tribulation.

The first demon army is restricted, the second is not.

Rev 9:4-6, And they were told or commanded that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their fore¬heads. And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torture was like the torture of a scorpion when it stings or strikes a man. And in those days [Tribulation period] men [believers and unbelievers living in the cosmic system during the Tribula¬tion] will seek death and will not find it;

Believers and unbelievers living in the cosmic system are totally pre-occupied with self as they have locked-in arrogance which blots out all of their good decisions.

All of this will be an illustration of what is known as the Second Advent or the Second Coming.

There are two advents or Comings of Jesus Christ described for us in the Word of God.

The First Advent begins with the virgin birth and concludes with the resurrection, ascension and session.

During the First Advent, when the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus Christ comes in His Hypostatic Union as He accomplished the strategic victory of the angelic conflict and the salvation of the human race. This strategic victory gives Him battlefield royalty.

However, He must have a royal family to go with this royalty. Therefore, there is the need for the Church, the body of Jesus Christ.

So, we begin with the Second Advent or the Second Coming which is designed to reveal Him as both a battlefield royalty and Jewish royalty. He returns to earth in resurrection body and in His Hypostatic Union.

At the Rapture of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ, Whom God has ordained, does not return to the earth as He does in the Second Advent. We (believers) will meet Him in the air.

1Th 4:13-18, But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. 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 shall 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.

Acts 1:10-11, And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was departing, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them; and they also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

So, there is a distinction between the Rapture and the Second Advent. There are two advents of Jesus Christ depicted in the Word of God.

The First Advent begins with the virgin birth and concludes with the resurrection, ascension and session. During the First Advent, Jesus Christ in His Hypostatic Union with true humanity and undiminished deity in one person forever will accomplish the strategic victory of the angelic conflict and the salvation of the human race.

This strategic victory gives Him battlefield royalty.

The Second Advent is designed to reveal Him as both battlefield royalty and Jewish royalty. He returns to earth in a resurrection body and Hypostatic Union.

The Second Advent is a public glorified event as taught in Rev 1:7, Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Even so. Amen.

The Second Advent or the Second Coming is also taught in Zec 12:10, And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplica¬tion, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born.


The Rapture takes place in the air (1Th 4:17).

The Second Advent or the Second Coming takes place on the earth; Zec 14:4.
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.

Zec 14:4, And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.

The Rapture evaluates the Judgment of the believer’s works, 2Co 5:10.

The Second Advent reveals the Baptism of Fire, Matt 25:31-46.

At the Rapture the Church goes to Heaven, John 14:3.

At the Second Coming the Church returns with Christ.

John 14:3, “And 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.”

1Th 3:13, so that He may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.
At the Rapture the Holy Spirit and His restraining power is removed, 2Th 2:6.

At the Second Advent or Second Coming there is the Removal of Satan, Rev 20:1-3.

Rev 20:1-3, And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having 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 threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he should not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.

At the Rapture there is a change in the believer’s body, Phil 3:21.

Whereas at the Second Advent the earth is changed, Zec 14:9; Rom 8:19-22.

Phil 3:21, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

Zec 14:9, And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be {the only} one, and His name {the only} one.

The earth is changed or nature is as it says in Rom 8:19-22, For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the chil¬dren of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

At the Rapture Christ appears as the groom.

At the Second Advent Christ appears as the Messiah.

At the Rapture we have the end of the Church-age.

At the Second Advent there is the end of the Jewish-age.

At the Rapture believers taken from the earth, 1Th 4:13-18.

At the Second Advent unbelievers taken from the earth, Matt 24:37-43.

Matt 24 has always been a passage misunderstood by many as referring to the Rapture but it does not.

Matt 24:37-42, “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in mar¬riage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there shall be two men in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left.

Two women {will be} grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore, be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you be ready too; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think {He will.}

So these are some of the contrasts which exists between the Rapture and the Second Advent.

The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life: Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.