The Second Coming E-Book

Dr. Brian J. Bailey

• Herausgeber: Zion Christian Publishers
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

The Second Coming of Christ is one of the foremost topics of our day. This anointed study by Dr. Bailey will help to protect us from being deceived and misled by other false doctrines, and will help the Church to be ready for The Second Coming. Some of the topics that will be covered are:

• A great worldwide spiritual awakening
• The rise of the ten kings in the restored Roman Empire
• The appearance of the two great witnesses
• The appearance of the Antichrist
• The Great Tribulation
• The Battle of Armageddon
• The final siege of JerUSDlem
• The Second Coming of Christ

Leseprobe

The Second Coming

An Exposition of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus

DR. BRIAN J. BAILEY

“The Second Coming”

 © 1999  Brian J. Bailey

Revised December 2018 (Version 1.4)

Front Cover Design:

 © 2005 Zion Fellowship, Inc.

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations in this book are taken from the

King James Version Bible unless otherwise stated.

Published by Zion Christian Publishers

Version 1.4

Published as an e-book on December 2018

in the United States of America

E-book ISBN 1-59665-147-4

For more information, please contact:

Zion Christian Publishers

A Zion Fellowship ® Ministry

P.O. Box 70

Waverly, New York 14892

Phone: [phone]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Editorial Team: Rebecca Blodgett, Carla Borges, Jason Gohl, Sarah Heyer, Mary Humphreys, David Kropf, Justin Kropf, Denise Miller, Brian Poe, and Caroline Tham.

We wish to extend our thanks to these dear ones for without their many hours of invaluable assistance, this book would not have been possible. We are truly grateful for their diligence, creativity, and excellence in the compilation of this book for the glory of God.

PREFACE

This little handbook is presented in the hope that it will provide an easy-to-read and understandable guide to the events leading up to the Second Coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Many have tried to predict the days and times of Christ’s return. In so doing, they have caused great sorrow and despair for many believers. Also, they have subjected the Church to unnecessary ridicule from the world and unbelievers.

Deception concerning the Second Coming lulls believers into a passivity that produces an insular mentality, causing the Church to neglect its primary duties of evangelism and pressing toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

In this book, I have sought by the grace of God to show that many events must take place before our Lord’s blessed appearance. My prayer is that it will help protect Christians from being deceived and misled, and that it will help the Church to be prepared and ready for the Second Coming.

INTRODUCTION

In numerous teachings on His Second Coming, the Lord Jesus consistently warned of false prophets and deception. These warnings must be taken seriously, especially in our days when many people are declaring through books, seminars, and even visions, that the Lord will return very soon.

There are a series of well-documented events in Holy Scripture that must occur before the Lord comes. All these major events will be discussed and examined from Scripture in this book. A diligent, prayerful study of these events forms an excellent foundation for a deeper study of the End Times.

By themselves, they provide a very sound guide for the times in which we live, and help us avoid the many pitfalls that Satan and unlearned men have dug for the unwary traveller on his journey from earth to heaven.

CHAPTER 1

The Church of the Last Days

In this chapter, we will look at the Church of the Last Days. It is a fact that there will be a series of awesome judgments before the Second Coming. However, Scripture clearly teaches us that prior to judgment God will pour out His Spirit upon the earth in the greatest revival mankind has ever seen. The following examples clearly demonstrate that revival precedes judgment.

The nation of Israel experienced tremendous manifestations of God’s glory and power on numerous occasions. After the Lord had delivered them from Egyptian bondage through the ten plagues, He divided the Red Sea so they could escape Pharaoh’s armies. The cloud of God’s glory came down upon Mount Sinai and Israel partook of it, but because of their unbelief and disobedience in the wilderness, a whole generation perished and never reached the Promised Land.

In the days of the judges, God empowered various men to perform mighty exploits to bring deliverance to the Israelites when they repented of their sins. Sadly, each time after God delivered them, they would backslide and they would be subjected again to servitude by foreign powers.

At the beginning of Solomon’s reign, God’s glory was manifested in the Temple. In fact, the glory of God was so strong that the priests could not even stand up (2 Chr. 5:13 14). But because of Solomon’s idolatry, God divided his kingdom after his death. Thus we see clearly in these examples the pattern of revival preceding judgment. However, the best example comes from the three principal sieges of Jerusalem.

1. During the 14th year of the reign of Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria surrounded Jerusalem with his armies. Prior to this, in the first year of Hezekiah’s reign, there had been a mighty revival, “for since the time of Solomon there was not the like in Jerusalem” (2 Chr.  30:26). (See also 2 Chronicles 29-31.)

2. The second significant siege of Jerusalem took place during the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah. The city fell in the 11th year of his reign in 586 B.C. to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Forty years before this, in the reign of Josiah, the greatest revival that Israel had ever experienced took place. “…For there was no Passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah” (2 Chr. 35:1-19).

3. The third major siege and consequent overthrow of Jerusalem occurred in A.D. 70 by the Roman General, Titus. The temple was destroyed by fire. Some 40 years prior to this siege, all flesh had seen the glory of the Lord as manifested through the life of the only begotten Son of God, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Moreover, after our Saviour’s death, there was what is commonly called the “Pentecostal Outpouring,” which ushered in the Church Age. In the following years of this revival, countless thousands were swept into the kingdom of God. The early apostles turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). People were healed when Peter’s shadow touched them as he passed by (Acts  5:15). It was after this mighty revival that Jerusalem was overthrown by Titus.

You see, all of these examples are patterns of what is going to happen in the last days. History will be repeated. The Second Coming of the Lord will be after a final siege of Jerusalem. It was foretold by the prophets of old.

We read in Joel 3:1-2, “For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.”

Zechariah 12:1-4 states, “The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.”

Zechariah’s prophecy of the final siege of Jerusalem continues in verses 5-8: “And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God. In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them.” It is worthy of note that Jerusalem falls, but Mount Zion does not (Zech. 14:2).

Hermeneutics, the study of Biblical interpretation, would therefore teach us that prior to the Second Coming of the Lord and before the last siege of Jerusalem, there will be a mighty revival.

The Glorious Church

In considering many Scripture references to the Church in the last days, we find overwhelming scriptural evidence that the Lord will bring His Church to maturity and perfection in the last days. There will also be a great numerical increase of believers. The barns will be full to overflowing with multitudes accepting Christ as their Saviour.

Let us consider what the Scriptures have to say about the Last Day Church. We have divided these references into three categories:

1. References from the Law

2. References from the Prophets

3. References from the New Testament

1. References from the Law

One of the most precious doctrinal truths in the Law concerning the Last Day Church is typified by the Seven Feasts of the Lord in Leviticus 23.

The seven major feasts are: the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Firstfruits, the Feast of Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.

These feasts were kept by the Israelites every year. However, they also have a spiritual application for us. An important hermeneutic principle is to understand that Old Testament prophecies that promise blessings for Israel also have their counterpart fulfilment in the Last Day Church. A summary of the Feasts of the Lord is seen on the next page.

The Feast of Tabernacles, the last feast of the Jewish religious calendar, was called the Feast of Ingathering (Ex. 23:16;  34:22).

It was the time when the Israelites brought in all their harvests and thanked the Lord for their crops. This is the feast typifying the Last Day revival, which will bring the Church to maturity. There will be a great ingathering and harvest of souls, and millions will come to know the Lord!