Some may ask, “Why should we study the missionary methods of Paul? Surely, in all this time, we have grown beyond his old ways and have found better ways of accomplishing ministry.”
Gene Cunningham - August 15, 2022
Jesus' Second Coming
Revelation 19 shows a picture of what Jesus Christ's return will be like. Revelation 19:11 says, Then I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire.” What do you think that signifies? Anger. “Wrath on his head were many crowns…” Absolute authority. “And he had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was close with a robe dipped in blood.” Whose blood? His own. “His name is called the Word of God and the armies in Heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. Out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that He should strike the nations. He himself shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he himself treads the wine press of the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God. And He has on his robe and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords” This is the glorious coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we will come with Him. Why on the thigh? The thigh in Scripture is a symbol of power. If you remember when Samson struck the thousand Philistines, he “smote them hip and thigh.” It's a symbol of power. So here we have our Lord's return, what we call the second advent. Is it right to refer to the Rapture as phase one and the Second Coming as phase two of Jesus coming? Yes. They both refer to His coming. It's just his coming for different groups, which becomes important when we get into the parables.
From Series: "Jesus' Roadmap for the Future"
The Olivet Discourse -- Jesus' Roadmap for the future, is one of the three major discourses (sermons) of Jesus. They include: 1. The Sermon on the Mount/Galilee Discourse (Matthew 5–7) 2. The Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24–25; Mark 13; Luke 21 3. The Upper Room Discourse (John 13–17) Each of these messages is aimed at a specific period of history, which we call a dispensation. They lay out God’s dispensational plan, like a road map, from the time of the crucifixion to the end of time. The Sermon on the Mount was directed to the generation in which Jesus lived and was His platform as King—if Israel would receive Him. Obviously, they rejected Him as their King. However, this will be the basis of Jesus’ administration during the 1,000-year Kingdom Age (Millennium). Then, the Olivet Discourse was aimed at the consequences of Israel’s rejection of Jesus as Messiah, and anticipated the destruction of the nation (70 A.D.) and the final Tribulation period. Remember that the Church Age is an intercalation—meaning an insertion, like a parenthesis, into the Age of Israel. This means that with the Rapture of the Church, the Tribulation picks up where 70 A.D. leaves off. This is why the Church Age is called a “mystery” (Rom. 11:25; 16:25; Eph. 3:1–13; Col. 1:26–27), which is a graduate course to “the principalities and powers in the heavenly places” (Eph. 3:10). Finally, the Upper Room Discourse was directed toward the Church Age, which began at Pentecost and would continue to the Rapture (1 Thess. 4:13–18). The uniqueness of this Age is summarized by Paul’s phrase “in Christ,” and all of the elements involved in what we call “positional truth”—our total union with Christ and the indwelling of His Spirit in us, which occurs nowhere else in history. With the removal of the Body of Christ, the Church, Israel would again become the focus of God’s working on this Earth (Romans 9–11; Revelation 6–19).