The Second Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. Part 2. Revelation 12:10

GRACE BIBLE CHURCH
The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary.

The Tree of Life for week ending 09/07/03.
The Second Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ
Part 2
Revelation 22:20

We are now studying the proclamation of victory and the beginning of the fulfillment of the promises to Israel, which we find in Rev 12:10. After the eviction of Satan and the fallen angels from heaven, we read, "And I heard a loud voice in heaven [the voice of a Seraph angel], saying, 'Now the salvation [deliverance, namely the Second Advent] and the power [Jesus Christ in hypostatic union], and the kingdom of our God [the Millennium] and the authority of His Christ [the rulership of the Lord Jesus Christ during the Millennium] have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.'"

The Greek word for "heard" is akouo, meaning to listen, to hear, to concentrate, and to hear in an audience, indicating that the one who is listening is teachable. This winner angel not only listened, but he listened and learned.

This is a proclamation of the defeat of Satan in the realm of angelic heraldry. We can learn something from this angel, the one who made the proclamation, this King of Arms, the herald angel. In Rev 12:10, we see one of the angels that received this highest order; he received six wings, and became a Seraph angel, which is the highest rank. A Seraph is an angel who was once lower than Satan, before the angelic conflict began. However, this angel was a plugger, and he hung in there, and with faithfulness to the Word and to truth, he became a winner, and now he ranks superior to Satan and all the fallen angels for all eternity. He is one of the highest-ranking angels in the angelic college of heralds. His name is not given to us, but his a message is: "It pays to be a plugger, it pays to stay with truth, it pays to stay with Bible doctrine."

Satan became a loser through his arrogance, his inordinate ambition, and his lust for power, whereas the Seraph angel became a winner through his consistent perception of doctrine, and the fulfillment of the plan of God for the angelic creatures. This angel had failed, but he recovered from his failure. If you want to succeed as this angel did inRev 12:10 and be used by God in a mighty way with a "megaten [great] phonen [voice]," then you must learn not to quit. A "great voice" belongs to a man or woman with a message, with something valuable to say, with words of wisdom. If you desire true success as this winner angel eventually attained, then you must realize that true success is determined by how high you bounce back once you hit bottom. You can choose to be a winner or a loser. Winners make goals; losers make excuses.

Rev 12:10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation"

The word "salvation" is the nominative singular subject form of the Greek noun soteria, which sometimes means salvation in the sense of redemption, but usually it simply refers to deliverance. The correct translation should be, "And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now deliverance" This "deliverance" is the Second Advent of Jesus Christ, which is a time of deliverance for believers alive on the earth at that time.

The Doctrine of the Second Advent

The Rapture

The Second Advent

Private, Acts 1:11.

Public, REV 1:7.

In the air, 1TH 4:17.

On earth, ZEC 14:4.

Judgment of believer's works, 2CO 5:10.

Baptism of fire, MAT 25:31-36.

Church goes to Heaven, JOH 14:3.

Church returns with Christ, 1TH 3:13.

Holy Spirit is removed, 2TH 2:6.

Removal of Satan, REV 20:1-3.

Change in believer's body, PHI 3:21.

Earth is changed, ZEC 14:9, ROM 8:19-22.

Christ appears as the groom.

Christ appears as the Messiah.

End of the Church-age.

End of the Jewish age.

Israel under the fifth cycle of discipline.

Termination of the fifth cycle of discipline.

Believers taken from the earth, 1TH 4:13-18.

Unbelievers taken from the earth, MAT 24:37-43.

A time of comfort, 1TH 4:18.

A time of terror, REV 6:15-17.

Point 4: The Second Advent and Armageddon. Armageddon is a campaign in the last world war of history, when Jesus Christ comes back to slaughter the anti-Semitic armies, EXO 14:14, JOS 5:13?6:2, ISA 37:36, EZE 38:16. Our Lord comes back to wage war, and He kills more people at this time than at any other time in human history. There are two sources of righteous violence-the Lord Jesus Christ and the laws of divine establishment, EZE 39:11-12; JOE 2:20; ZEC 12:2-3; REV 14:20; REV 19:15.

Point 5: The Second Advent and Operation Footstool. This is the final victory of Jesus Christ over Satan and the fallen angels. Psa 110:1 is the prophesy of the climax to the First Advent, the strategic victory of Christ: "The Lord says to my Lord: 'Sit at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet.'" According to HEB 1:13; HEB 10:13 the Lord Jesus Christ has received His battlefield royalty and is now waiting.

The chronology is as follows:

1. During the Church-age, the Royal Family of God (not Israel) represents Christ on earth. 

2. After the Rapture, the Age of Israel resumes. 

3. During the Tribulation, the Royal Family is being prepared in heaven. 

4. The Bride receives a body like Jesus Christ's, PHI 3:21, 1Th 5:23. The bride then returns with Christ in Operation Footstool.

5. Operation footstool is executed in 1TH 3:13, REV 19:6-8. 

6. Satan is locked up for 1,000 years, REV 20:1-3. Then comes the triumphal procession of Christ, ZEC 13:2 cf. COL 2:15; 1CO 15:24-25. Christ then rules over Israel and the entire earth, bringing perfect environment to all the world.

Point 6: The Baptism of Fire and the Second Advent. The baptism of fire is the means by which all the unbelievers are removed from the earth and cast into fire.

Only mature believers of the Church-age will rule with Christ in the Millennium, 2TH 1:7-9, REV 2:26-28. 

Jesus Christ first mentioned the baptism of fire in MAT 3:11-12, LUK 3:16-17. MAT 24:36-41 is an analogy to the baptism of fire.

The Jewish baptism of fire is found in, EZE 20:34-38; the Gentile baptism of fire is found in MAT 25:31-46. 

The baptism of fire, which is used to evangelize the Jews in the Church-age, vindicates the character of God, REV 19:11.

The Parables of the Baptism of Fire:

1. The wheat and the tares, MAT 13:47.

2. The bad fish, MAT 13:37-38.

3. The ten virgins, MAT 25:1-13.

Point 7: The Second Advent and the Millennium. The Second Advent introduces the Millennium and perfect environment on the earth. Satan and demons are removed, REV 20:1-3, and it will be a time of maximum spirituality,ISA 65:24, as evangelism continues on the earth. Israel is restored as a client nation to God, ISA 5:26-30, ZEC 2:28-29, and all the unconditional covenants to Israel are fulfilled, DAN 9:24. The nations of the world enjoy perfect environment, including:

· Universal peace, PSA 46:9, ISA 2:4, HOS 2:18, MIC 4:3.

· Universal prosperity, PSA 72:7,16.

· Perfect world government under Jesus Christ and the Royal Family, ISA 11:1?2, ZEC 14:9.

· Perfect objectivity in the administration of justice, Isa 11:3?5, PSA 72:12?14.

· A complete change in nature. Today creation shares the bondage of sin, ROM 8:19-22, but is released from this bondage in the Millennium, Isa 35. See also ISA 11:6-9; ISA 65:25.

· A population explosion (no death except for capital punishment).

Satan starts the Gog revolution with the unbelievers on earth after his release from prison, REV 20:7-10.

That to which all Scripture looks forward and to which all history presses towards is the Second Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth. At that time God's purpose for which the Son came into the world will be realized. Redemption will have been accomplished and the sovereignty of God manifested on the earth.

Point 8: The Views of the Second Advent. Historically, there have been four major views concerning the Second Advent of Christ.

1. The non-literal, or spiritualized, view. This view denies that there will be a literal, bodily, personal return of Christ to the earth. This is a common modern view of the Lord's return which identifies the coming of Christ as a "perpetual advance" of Christ in the Church that includes many particular events. Those who believe in this view claim that the promises of the Second Coming are fulfilled by our Lord's "spiritual" presence with His people, which was "introduced by the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost," then accompanied by the overthrow of Jerusalem, and then ultimately fulfilled by continual spiritual advance in the church. They use passages such as GAL 6:16 to say that God has rejected true Israel and that we are now the new "spiritual Israel": "And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God." They also misquote ROM 9:6, "But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel." However, the church does not receive any of the covenants given to Israel, and God has given numerous promises that He will return to deliver the Jews.

Those who hold to this non-literal view believe the Second Advent it is not a single event, but that it includes all the events of the Church-age, which are part of the work of Christ. Such a view is based on disbelief in the literal interpretation of the Word of God, and on the "spiritualizing" method of interpretation.

2. The postmillennial view. The postmillennial view, popular among covenant theologians of the post-Reformation period, believe that through preaching the Gospel the whole world will be Christianized and brought to submission to the Gospel before the return of Christ. Many Calvinists and Lutherans promote this view. These are the groups that want to change the world and make it a better place to live. They mix church with state which is a dangerous error. Because they believe that they are also spiritual Israel, they want the government to institute the Mosaic Law in our nation.

The term postmillennialism is derived from the theory that Christ returns after the Millennium. The followers of this view hold to a literal Second Advent and Millennium, but they believe we are in the Millennial kingdom now and we must change the way of the world. They generally follow the Old Testament teaching on the nature of that kingdom.

3. The amillennial view. The amillennial view holds that there will be no literal Millennium on the earth following the Second Advent. Amillennialists believe that all the prophecies concerning the kingdom are being fulfilled period spiritually by the church. They deny a literal reign of Christ upon the earth. Satan is considered "bound" at the First Coming of Christ. They believe that the present age between the First and Second Advents is the fulfillment of the Millennium.

Their view can be summed up in the idea that there will be no more Millennium than there is now, and that the eternal state immediately follows the Second Advent of Christ. Their problem is over the question as to whether there will be a literal Millennium for Israel or whether the promises concerning the Millennium are now being fulfilled in the Church, either on earth or in heaven.

4. The pre-millennial, biblical view. The pre-millennial view is the view that holds that Christ will return to earth, literally and bodily, before the Millennial Age begins and that, by His presence, a kingdom will be instituted over which He will reign. In this kingdom, all of Israel's covenants will be literally fulfilled. It will continue for 1,000 years, after which the kingdom will be given by the Son to the Father, when it will merge with His eternal kingdom. The central issue in this position is whether the Scriptures are to be fulfilled literally or symbolically.

The general theme of the return of Christ has the unique distinction of being the first prophecy uttered by man (JUD 1:14-15) and the last message of the ascended Christ, as well as being the last words of the Bible (REV 22:20-21). The doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ is unique because it occupies a larger portion of the Scriptures than any other doctrine, and it is the outstanding theme of prophecy in both the Old and New Testaments.

Point 9: Unfulfilled prophecy makes the Second Advent absolutely essential.

· Our Lord has promised that He shall come Himself, Acts 1:11">ACT 1:11.

· The dead will hear His voice, JOH 5:28.

· He will step upon the same Mount Olivet from which He ascended, ZEC 14:4.

· He will come back in flaming fire, 2TH 1:8.

· He will come in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory, MAT 24:30, 1PE 1:7.

· He will stand on the earth again, JOB 19:2.

· The church will come with Him, 1TH 3:13, JUD 1:14.

· Every eye shall see Him, REV 1:7.

· He shall destroy Anti-Christ, 2TH 2:8.

· He shall sit on His throne, MAT 25:31.

· All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will judge them, MAT 25:32.

· He shall have the throne of David, ISA 9:6-7.

· His throne will be on earth, JER 23:5-6.

· He shall have a kingdom, DAN 7:13-14.

· He shall rule with His saints, DAN 7:18-27, REV 5:10.

· All kings and nations shall serve Him, PSA 72:11, Isa 49:6-7, REV 15:4.

· The kingdoms of this world shall become His kingdom, Zec 9:10, REV 11:15.

· The people shall gather unto Him, GEN 49:10.

· The people shall come and worship the King, ZEC 14:16, PSA 86:9.

· That He shall build up Zion, PSA 102:16.

· His throne will be in Jerusalem, JER 3:17, ISA 33:20-21.

· The Apostles shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, MAT 19:28, LUK 22:28-30.

· He shall rule all nations, PSA 2:8-9, REV 2:27.

· He shall rule with judgment and justice, PSA 9:7.

· The temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt, Eze 40-48.

· The glory of the Lord will come into the temple, Eze 43:2-5, 44:4.

· The glory of the Lord will be revealed, ISA 40:5.

· The wilderness shall be a fruitful field, ISA 32:15.

· The desert will blossom as the rose, ISA 35:1-2.

For a more detailed study, order tapes IA11-307 to IA11-309.