“Just the Facts,” Jesus Is Coming Back!

INTRODUCTION: The Second Coming of Christ is the hope of all believers that God is going to be faithful in fulfilling the promises of the prophecies found in His word. At His first coming Jesus came as a baby in the manger of Bethlehem. Thorough His birth, life, ministry, death, burial, and resurrection, many of the O.T. prophecies concerning the coming Savior of the world were fulfilled. However there are prophecies that have yet to be fulfilled, those of which will be fulfilled at Christ’s return. In His first coming He came as a “Suffering Servant,” in His second coming He comes as a “Conquering King.” At His first coming He arrived in the most humble and ordinary of circumstances. In His second coming He will come in magnificent splendor with the armies of heaven at His side. (Revelation 19:11-15)

BACKGROUND: So the question is this, where do you stand, what is your perspective on the return of Christ. Are you “postmill,” “premill,” “amill,” “pretrib,” “midtrib,” “posttrib,” or just plain “confused?” I think that if we’re going to be honest many of us find ourselves in that last category. When it comes to harmonizing the scriptures that talk about the return of Christ there are 4 primary schools of thought as to how these events will play out. So is one of these perspectives right and the other three wrong, NO! All these perspectives are simply man’s attempt to understand the things of God, all have strengths and all have weaknesses.

Yet within all these views there are several key facts that all agree upon, even though they may differ as to how and when such things occur. I believe that no one fully understands this doctrine, this principle of the faith, known as “eschatology.” I’ve been studying it in-depth for over a decade and I still have trouble sorting it all out, and any other preacher, if he’s honest would say the very same thing. The good news in all of this is the fact that how and when Jesus comes back isn’t a salvation issue. So we are free to agree to disagree about the details!

PROPOSITION: So this morning instead of focusing on the differences that so often serve to divide believers, our focus this morning will be on the accepted facts surrounding the second coming of Christ…

TRANSITION: To begin our study this morning we start with what could in all reality be described as a “captain obvious” moment in that we must consider the…

I. THE FACT OF HIS COMING

a. I made the comment about this being a “captain obvious” moment because let’s be honest with ourselves we as humans have a great propensity to be oblivious to the truth that often stares us right in the face

• It was the great humanist philosopher Bertrand Russell who “what if you’re wrong, what if there is indeed a God?” replied “I’ll inform him he didn’t supply enough evidence.”

• We may find that strange and laughable, but people, often because of preconceived notions and biases miss the truth when it’s staring them in the face

• More than 20 times Jesus stated emphatically that He would return

• We also have the testimony of the inspired men who penned the