The Two Advents Series – Lesson 7

The Contrast of the Two Advents

We have been studying the contrast between the two Advents of Jesus Christ. I explained at the beginning, by the word “Advent,” we mean the Coming of Jesus Christ to this planet. The more you talk about it, the more exciting it really is. You stop and think how small our earth is in comparison to all that is out there. There is so much in God’s wonderful creation, that it becomes more wonderful all the time to be a believer -- in the fact that 2000 years ago Jesus came to this earth.

I always say this: the more I study about the planets and the stars and the Heaven; the more I think about some of the statements of men who have walked on the moon. When the Russian cosmonaut walked on the moon he said he didn’t find God out there. I heard one of the American astronauts make the statement on TV very recently. He said, “When we were on the moon, the stars didn’t look any closer, because actually when we were on the moon we hadn’t gone a stone’s throw away from home.” In comparison, to what is out there, our earth is so very little. The more you think about it, the more wonderful it is that Jesus came to this planet. But in comparison to what is out there, if He was interested in coming to this little planet, then it helps me to be a believer that He is interested in little me. If you put that together, it starts to make wonderful sense. The Lord is interested in you and He is interested in me.

He came, and He is going to come again. Our subject has been, and I have to explain when I say “Advent.” Coming to this earth. Jesus came the first time to suffer. He is going to come the next time in Power and great Glory. He came the first time to be the Savior of human beings. Jesus came to save sinners from their sins; and that is why we have baptismal services. If the Savior hadn’t come, that wouldn’t be possible.

Contrasting The First Coming And The Second Coming

First Coming:

Announced By A Star

Savior

A Man of Sorrows, Acquainted With Griefs

Bringing the Fall of Israel,

He Came To Bear The Cross

He Came To Bring a Sword

Second Coming:

King of Kings, Lord of Lords

Holding a Scepter

Bring the Rise of Many in Israel

He Will Wear a Crown

Bringing World Peace

When He came the first time, He came to be a Man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs, not merely grief, but griefs (plural). He came to bear our sins, and He came to bear our suffering. He came to bear what we could not bear away. Jesus not only bear our sins, but He bore them away. And when Jesus comes the next time, He is not going to have to do anything with suffering; He is not going to have anything to do with grief.

When Jesus Comes Again He Is Going To Be

A Man of Joy And A Man Of Singing

When He comes the next time, He is going to be a Man of joy, and a Man of singing. I think that is one part of the Scripture. Jesus is coming back to lead the choir, and He is going to be the chief singer, and we are going to join in a song that we have never been able to sing with the same feeling that we will be able to sing it then. It says in the book of Revelation, they are going to sing as it were a new song. It doesn’t say they are going to sing a new song; but it says they are going to sing AS IT WERE a new song. Have you ever noticed when you sing a new song, you sing it with some punch in it. You get a new song that you really love, you get an old song and it kind of wears out; but here they are going to sing as it were a new song. It is going to be an old one unto Him who loved us and loosed us from our sins in His blood. We are still going to sing about the blood of Calvary, but we are going to sing it as we never sung it before, because we are going to have a brand new choir leader, it is going to be the Lord Himself. The Lord of song and the Lord of singing when He comes back again in His Glory.

In His first coming He came to establish His Church. And the Church is proof positive that Jesus was here. When He comes the next time, He is going to manifest His Kingdom. When He came the first time, it was connected with specific, real, genuine geography. When He comes the next time, it is going to be connected with specific, genuine, real geography.

When He came the first time, He came veiled in flesh and it was veiled Glory. Only a few saw His Glory. But when He comes the next time, He is going to come in unveiled Glory.

Scriptures Pertaining To The Second Coming

There are Scriptures that amaze me, and bless me. They help me, and I hope they will help you.

Walk Worthy Of Your Calling – The Glory That Is Ahead

1 Thessalonians 2:11

Regarding the subject of what is ahead for believers.

(11) As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children.

I wish I could preach that way. I wish I could always teach that way. And I want you to always pray for me, that as the years roll by, if the Lord tarries, He gives me a few more months to teach, that I will teach as a father would his son. I don’t want people calling me “father” the epistle of John says, “Call not man father.” And there is a sense in which it is wrong, but there is a sense in which it is right. You see, a father has special care for his children. There are two people that I carry on my heart constantly, and I carry them on my heart just a little differently than I do everybody else.

I tell the story; it goes back now to 1946; an experience that still lives. You know there are some things that mothers can do better than fathers. There are some things that fathers can do better than mothers. And I said that, recognizing the fact that this is the day of women’s liberation. I haven’t kept quite up to date on all of that. I keep saying, when people say that women can do anything that men can do, and men can do anything that women can do, I’d have a hard time being a mother. I don’t know whether you agree with me on that, but I tell you, I would!

A mother has a privilege of carrying a baby for nine months before dad ever sees it. In 1946 our first child arrived; a little bundle, not very many pounds. In those old days they kept mother in the hospital for 10 days. You know how it is now; they get her out of bed in 10 hours. Back then, mother had to stay in bed for 10 days; and that little baby was kept almost in an incubator, not quite, but almost.

And after 10 days we brought her home to Gramma’s house in the city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The first night we had her home, that little tyke kicked and cried and kept us awake for most of the night. And so this dad, this father, who didn’t know much about babies, decided it was time he did something. He went over to the crib that had been so prepared for this tremendous event. I took that little 5 pound, few ounces, -- a little, little, little babe, and almost afraid to hold her lest she break, I put her on my belly. I was on my back in bed and from my chin down to my waist I held that little girl for the rest of the night. It was only in a few minutes and she was sound asleep. And so for the rest of that night father, dad, papa, held that little life on top of his stomach for a few hours. I didn’t know the preciousness of my daughter until that experience. From that night on, she has been precious to me.

Now I have a son 21 years old, and I think back to when he was born. My wife tells me that that morning I got so excited that I went into the hospital and left her in the car. I don’t remember, but she will swear to this day that that is what happened. I took the suitcase and went into the hospital and left her in the car. Well, I know I am absent-minded; but a boy came and he has a special place in my heart. I’m his father. I don’t think you will say it is wrong for me to think of those two people in a way that I can’t think of others. If you are a parent, you understand. God gives you the capacity to have a big enough heart to be a father or a mother to the children that He gives.

I’d like to apply all of that to a place of ministry. I want to minister as a father does to his children. That means I want to care for those to whom I speak. I want them to feel that I didn’t come to get what I can get out of them. I have been here to give of myself, and to impart a little of that which God in His marvelous Grace has imparted to me. That is the way Paul ministered. He said, “I’ve been like a father, and I’ve tried to instruct you.” In his fatherly way he exhorted, he comforted, he charged, and I want you to notice what he said in verse 12.

(12) That ye would walk worthy of God, (that’s fatherly advice)

Have you accepted Christ? Do you know Him as your Savior? Do you know Him as your Lord? Well then, here is an exhortation. Here is fatherly advice. Walk worthy of a Christian. Walk worthy of the title. You bear the Name of Christ and let everyone that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity. Walk worthy of God. Why? Look at it.

who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

That doesn’t mean very much to some Christians. The reason it doesn’t is because they haven’t paid enough attention to the Scriptures that talk about the Glory that’s ahead. Have you ever contemplated, meditated, or thought on this wonderful fact that Jesus Christ is heir of all creation, and you are named in Romans as being a joint heir with Him? Have you ever thought of the wonder of that? Who owns the planets? Who owns all that is out there? I long since have got out of the whirl of trying to obtain much here; because I am mindful of the Scripture where I am joined to the One who is heir of everything. I am a joint heir with Jesus Christ; and because of my connection with Him in all of His Glory, I’m going to have a share.

You talk about being in a corporation, you talk about belonging to a company; the Christians belong to the greatest corporation that there is. It’s the corporation that owns everything. Hallelujah. Walk worthy of the calling that is yours. There is Glory ahead.

1 Peter 5:1

(1) The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ,

That is the first Advent. But then Peter adds:

and also a partaker of the glory (not HAS BEEN revealed) a partaker of the glory that SHALL be revealed:

Jesus is going to be revealed in Power and great Glory, and in His Revelation because we belong to the same body as did Peter, the lover of Jesus, we too, are going to be partakers of the Glory that shall be revealed.

(10) But the God of all grace,

Let me show you a sermon outline, and all of you would be preachers. I’ll give you a sermon outline before I go on.

Six Things In Romans 15 About Our God

There are three things in Romans 15 about our God. I’ve preached on it a few times and been blessed in my soul every time I read it. I want to share it with you so you can share it with somebody else.

1. The God Of Patience

Romans 15:5

(5) Now the God of patience

I love that. I’m glad that God has more patience than I have. And aren’t you glad He has more patience than you have! And aren’t you glad that is a title of God. God is the God of patience. Every Christian needs to know that, and every unsaved man needs to know that. God is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish. God will put up with some things that human beings won’t put up with; because God is a God of patience. And if your heart hasn’t been springing with thanksgiving already, it ought to spring up with thanksgiving at this moment when you stop and think how patient God has been with you. I cannot take time to use illustration, but I give testimony that God has been patient with me. Men would have given up on me long ago, but God never has, and He won’t; because God is a God of patience.

2. The God Of Living Hope

Romans 15:13

(13) Now the God of hope

Isn’t that precious! God is not only the God of patience, but He is the God of Hope. And if it were not for the God of Hope, we wouldn’t have any hope; praise God I have a living Hope today. It’s not something that is frustrating because it’s uncertain, I have a living Hope because it is connected with a living God who is the God of Hope.

3. God Of Peace

Romans 15:33

(33) Now the God of peace be with you all.

That is a God of patience. I’m glad He is a God of Hope. I wouldn’t have any hope if God wasn’t a God of Peace. Because He is a God of Peace, I even have hope for this troubled world. The God of Peace; what a wonderful title!

4. Father of Mercies, God of Encouragement, God of All Comfort

2 Corinthians 1:3

(3) Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort

He is not only the God of patience, the God of hope and the God of peace, but He is the God of comfort. Have you ever been in need of comfort? Have you ever been in need of encouragement? Have you ever been so very low that you felt as though the bottom had dropped out? Brother G.S. McLean has often said, “There are times when Christians get down so low in their experience, they can’t get their nose up on the curb.” When you get down that low, you are really low.

Have you ever been discouraged? Of course you have. Have you ever realized this, that one of the evidences that God is alive on your behalf is the fact that you didn’t stay that way? Did you know that when you become discouraged, you are utterly incapable of lifting yourself out of your discouragement? There is only One who can do it, and there is only One who does it. Our Lord is the God of all encouragement. Every time you have been discouraged, and then suddenly the clouds have rolled away, and you have been encouraged, and you have been walking on air again, give God the praise. Give God the thanks. Give God the Glory. He is the only One who can really encourage.

Remember David, when he came back from the battle, back through the city of Ziglag. When he got back there, the city was on fire. Their wives had been taken captive. Their children had gone into captivity, and their houses were in smoke. David’s great men got down on their faces and they started to cry like babies. They were all so discouraged that they were ready to slay David. They started to blame him for their troubles. In their discouragement and David bearing the load of 400 men beside his own load, it is written in the Bible that David encouraged himself in the Lord. Hallelujah. God is the God of all encouragement. He’s the God of all comfort.

5 God of Love, God of Consolation

2 Corinthians 13:11

(11) Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

He is not only the God of patience, and the God of hope, and the God of comfort, but He is the God of Love. Aren’t you glad you know that about your God!

God is not only the God of patience, he is not only the God of hope and love, but the God of consolation,

6. God Of All Grace

1 Peter 5:10

(10) But the God of all grace,

Grace only comes from God. Grace does not come from men. It says in the text

the God of all grace, who hath called

I’d like to pause at that and throw in about twenty Scriptures.

1 Corinthians 1:26-27

(26) For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

(27) But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

Somebody says the Lord uses me in spite of my weakness. I don’t say that any more. The Lord doesn’t use me in spite of my weakness, the Lord uses me because of my weakness. Hallelujah. For when I am strong in myself, I am weak in the Lord, but when I am weak in myself, that’s when I am strong in the Lord. Don’t ever say the Lord uses you in spite of your inabilities. The Lord uses you because of your inabilities. I said to the other pastor over at Grace the other day, “Don’t ever forget, the Lord isn’t using us because we are great.” The only reason the Lord is using us is because we are not great. When a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

God does not call the mighty, that’s why you are in this morning. God doesn’t call the noble, that’s why there is hope for you this morning. The God of all this hath called us. When the rain would fall, Brother Johnson, my farmer friend at Eston, would often say, “The Lord lets the rain fall on the just, as well as us.” Hallelujah.

By Grace We Are Called To Share in His Eternal Glory

Have you ever stopped to tabulate how much you really would have if you got what you really deserved? Just think about it. There are some people who when they hit their finger with a hammer, say “Lord what did I do wrong now?” You’ve missed it all. You’ve never seen Grace; because when you hit the wrong nail with the hammer and you say, “Lord what did I do wrong now?” You reverse that when you didn’t hit the nail at the wrong time, then you are saying, “Well, I guess I’m pretty good;” and you are not so good.

The Lord helps you to find out just how insufficient you are because most Christians that I find, when they hit the wrong nail with a hammer, they don’t usually praise God. Maybe there are exceptions, but you’ve lived with yourself and I have lived with myself; and it seems as though things like that store up something within us and we start finding out that we need God’s Grace. Don’t you?

Look at it again.

1 Peter 5:10

(10) But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his TEMPORARY glory

No. It says

ETERNAL glory

That isn’t what it says. God has not called us to temporary Glory. He has called us unto His ETERNAL Glory. Did you let it sink in? I am going to share in the Eternal Glory of Jesus Christ, only because of the Grace of my Lord Jesus Christ. Where ye know the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor that we through His poverty might be rich. Hallelujah.

Walk Worthy Of the Glory Ahead,

Praise God, Exceeding Glory Ahead

I have Glory ahead, and I am going to share Glory ahead, and it’s not going to end with the Millennium, it’s going to go into Eternity. And while the ages roll and age after age, and multiplied by infinity in the ages to come, I am going to share in the exceeding Glory of Jesus Christ that is going to be manifest one of these days when Jesus appears in His Glory.

Can you live the same when you leave here this morning as when you came? How can you believe that you are going to share in the Eternal Glory of Jesus Christ and live like the Gentiles; live like the unsaved? Live like the world?

One day, in the office in Calgary, Brother Ellis, the editor of the End Times, tells the story that he was in conversation with some of the young ladies who were working in the office with him. In the course of conversation, the statement was made something about the Coming of the Lord. This young lady, in all seriousness, turned to Brother Ellis and said, “Do you really believe in the second Coming of Jesus Christ?” And he did just like you would do if you are a believer this morning. He said, “Yes I do believe in the second Coming of Jesus Christ”. That girl paused and she said something that is a classic and something that should make us think the way the world thinks of us as Christians. That girl looked at Brother Ellis and said, “If you really believe that, you can’t live like the rest of us, can you?” Isn’t that a good summation? If you really believe that, you can’t live like the rest of us, can you!

My preaching on prophesy, whether it be from Ezekiel or John or Revelation will all be in vain unless this preaching stirs up Christians to better living. The purpose of preaching on Bible prophesy is not to speculate who the anti-Christ will be, or how much trouble we are going to see; the purpose of preaching Bible prophesy to Bible believing Christians, is to stir up Christians to really believe what they say they believe, because John 3:3 says, Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

I read some place in some old book, that Queen Victoria attended not only the State church, but periodically, through her reign, she would go to a little Brethren Hall to hear the truth of God expounded. According to this story she did something very unique. If it is true, it is most blessed. She would choose to go to the home of some couple in that little church, after she would attend on Sunday morning. And the people who went to that church never knew when their turn was going to come.

Queen Victoria would say, “I’m coming to your home for dinner today.” Do you know what it did? Everybody kept their dusting up to date. Everybody kept their furniture polished. They didn’t go to church with dirty dishes in the sink. I want you to get a point. Everybody kept their house ready because this might be the day the Queen will come, and I want to be ready for the Queen’s coming.

This might be the day not Queen Victoria would appear, but this could be the day that Jesus would appear. And I’m not talking about the dishes in your sink when I talk about it: I’m illustrating there are some Christians who have some dirty dishes in their sink, spiritually speaking. They have some smelly pots around. And if this would be the day the King should come, you would be glad that you kept your house in order. You don’t know when He is going to come, so you can’t live like the world.

I wanted to show you this morning, how that from Genesis to Revelation, God lets men see the Glory of the coming of the Lord. A way back in the book of Genesis, Enoch, the seventh from Adam, saw the second Coming. Isn’t that tremendous! The second Coming wasn’t reserved for the book of Daniel; it’s in the book of Genesis. Enoch saw it. Isaiah saw it. Abraham saw it. John saw it. Peter saw it. And I praise God, that little by little, my eyes are catching a vision of the Glory of the Coming of the Lord.