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The Messiah Promises to Come Again.

Jesus promised His disciples that He would come again. John 14:1-3 says, “Let not
your heart be troubled...In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I
would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may
be also.”

Forty days after the resurrection, the disciples were with Jesus on the Mount of
Olives when, after telling them to be witnesses to all the world, He suddenly began
to rise up into the clouds. This is told to us in Acts 1:9-11:

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And when he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up; and a cloud received him
out of their sight. And while they were looking steadfastly into heaven as he went, behold two men
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stood by them in white apparel; who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven?
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this Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him
going into heaven.

Since that day Christians have been looking for Him to come again to the earth in bodily form. However,
in looking at all the Scriptures that talk about His second coming, we find it coming in two steps. The
first step is called the rapture and is talked about in I Thessalonians 4: 16-18

Then seven years later Jesus will return as He departed, to the Mount of Olives. This second coming
where Christ comes to dwell with mankind will mark the beginning of His promise to rule the earth on
the throne of David as King of kings and Lord of lords. We must differentiate the coming in the air and
the coming to the earth. The coming in the air is called the Rapture. The coming to the earth is called
the Second Coming of Christ. They are two separate events.

Let’s ask some questions about His return:

Do we know when the rapture will occur?

Jesus will come back soon. However, no one knows the exact time when Jesus is coming again. Mark
13:32 says, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but
only the Father.” Interestingly, the disciples asked Jesus the same question just before He returned to
heaven. At that time, Jesus told them it was not for them to know the times or seasons which are in the
Father’s authority. Therefore, Jesus may come back tomorrow, next month, next year or 100 years from
now. So, what does this mean for you and me?

Most Bible scholars today place our generation in the “last days” of the Bible. Why? Because of the
hundreds of prophecies concerning the last days, we have seen many now fulfilled. For example, Israel
has not been a nation for over 2,500 years, but the Bible predicts that in the last days, the people of
Israel will once again become an independent nation on earth. In 1948 we saw that prophecy fulfilled.
The Bible talks about the federation of nations in Europe from which the Antichrist will arise. That
federation in Europe is now complete. So, we see daily the world’s political structures aligning up as
predicted in the Bible.

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