Seven Reasons Why Jesus Comes Twice

I broke my reading glasses. I got a really old pair. Man, my eyes are getting old. I think if I do that, I'm okay here. When Jesus disciples, when He was resurrected, and they saw Him and they were so excited, and He spent those weeks with them, teaching them and training them. And then we have the last thing they asked Him, because you can imagine how confused they were. Because they knew now how all the prophecies about the Messiah fit together, and the Messiah was going to come now. They understood that according to Isaiah 52-53, He was going to die. He was going to be resurrected. And they looked towards Isaiah 11 and 2, and so many of the Scriptures that we've covered here during the Feast of Tabernacles so far, that He was going to come back and set up God's kingdom on this earth. And He takes them off some place and says, goodbye. And they watch Him go and leave. And the last question they ask Him is, Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? But aren't You supposed to set up the kingdom? And He just left. That's why we read on the first day where Peter said, oh, well, I guess we better go fishing. They didn't know what they were supposed to do. They had no idea yet that He would come twice. Although you see them figure that out very quickly. God led them to that very quickly. They started to understand, oh, there's two comings. They didn't still understand the time period. I mean, the Apostle Paul even at one point seems to say and think that Christ is coming back during His lifetime. They're struggling with, when does this happen? It's not until John comes along towards the end of his life and writes the book of Revelation. He's inspired the right revelation that's like, oh, this is a long time. They still didn't know how long, but they began to realize it wasn't going to happen in their lifetime. And it was a shock to them. So why does He come twice? I don't know if you've ever thought about that. I have thought about it a lot because I thought, God, wouldn't it be easier just to do it once? He comes back. He dies. He's resurrected. He sets up the kingdom. Wouldn't that have been easier? Wouldn't it have been easier for God? Wouldn't it have been easier for humanity?

When you start to realize the continuity between the first and second coming of Jesus Christ, you start to see more clear what God's doing. There's nothing here by chance in terms of how He's bringing about His kingdom. He has every step of this plan worked out, and there's a reason for it. And well, there's multiple reasons, but the reasons are for us. All the reasons He's doing it this way is for us.

He comes twice, and I won't even get to talk about that tonight, to show perfect love and to show perfect justice. Both of those things fit together. We have a God of love without justice. We can do whatever we want. We have a God of justice without love. We're all doomed. And the two comings show how God is a God of perfect love and perfect justice. So why does He come twice? And that's what we're going to talk about today. Now, this is a conceptual Bible study. I wrote down dozens and dozens and dozens of scriptures.

This is to help you study and think about this and do your own study on this. We're going to go through some scriptures, but this is a very huge subject because it's about the continuity of the First and Second Coming, which has to do with the continuity, by the way, of the Holy Days. We'll talk about that a little bit on the last day. There's a continuity in all this that we see that in all honesty, it's very interesting to read. I read some things with theologians talk about the continuity of the scripture because they really struggle with it.

And there are theologians who say there's no continuity at all, basically. Once the New Testament, once Christ comes along, the Old Testament doesn't matter. Some go as far to say is that once Christ died, even what He taught doesn't matter. There's no continuity. You sort of cherry-picked.

So we see this enormous continuity. Now, there is some discontinuity. I mean, you and I aren't slaying lambs this week, right? So there is some discontinuity, but we understand that. This is to help us understand the continuity between the first and second comings of Jesus Christ. So I want to point out here is that when we compare His first coming and His second coming, we see that He comes the first time, and you'll see this, to initiate steps in the plan of God.

He's initiating things. Many of them were predicted way back in the Old Testament. And He comes the second time to complete those steps. Now, they're not totally completed until the end of the eighth day. They're not totally completed until the end of the last great day.

But He comes then to complete that. I mean, when He comes back, He's doing certain things that He initiated. Well, we look at this, and we understand this. There's two things that really helps us grow and understand here. One is, we see the plan of salvation, which is really what the gospel's about, the plan of salvation. You know, the first mention of the gospel is Genesis 3.15.

I will send a seed of the woman, and he's going to conquer things. I'm going to save you people from the mess you're in. It's called in Latin, the proto-evangelium, the first good news. It's right there. He says, look, I'm kicking you out of Eden, but I'm not going to leave you out of Eden.

I'm going to fix this. It's like Mr. Demon was talking about. God's going to fix this. And He told him that right then. So we understand that we see more sort of the continuity, but we also understand something else. And this ties into the sermon that I gave on the first day. And that is, we better understand our... This helps us better understand our relationship with Jesus Christ. Christ leads us to the Father. So of course we are centered on the Father, right? Christ said that we are to pray in His name.

He brings us to the Father. He came to reveal the Father. But we still have to have a relationship with Him. But what does that mean? And I said it means, first of all, discipleship. Well, what we're going to look at as we go through His first and second coming, it gives us reference points. Okay, this is how we relate to Christ. God has established this so that we understand what God the Father is doing through what He's doing through Christ.

Christ is carrying this out. When we get to the last great day, we'll see some very important points in terms of what that means in what God is doing and preparing for the great future. We're in the middle of a plan that culminates in the real plan. This is the minor plan, the big plan jet in the future. And this is what God's preparing for that big plan.

So let's look at the first reason that Jesus came twice. Obviously, we have that Jesus came the first time to be the substitute sacrifice to reconcile human beings to God. Okay, that we understand that. You and I are absolutely cut off from God because of our sins. Satan has deceived all of us. Once again, this is a huge concept.

I'm not going to go through all the scriptures, but we're looking at and putting these pieces together, and then you have to fill in all the other details. Satan has deceived all of us. When God comes into our lives, we're already corrupted, and we already have eternal death in us. We have no way out of this mess. And so Christ came to be the substitute. This is the perfect love. He came to show God's perfect love.

Let's go to Romans 5. I cut out so many scriptures. I put this together and then had dozens of scriptures, and I started cutting them out and saying, okay, I've got to hit a few points, and you can study, and you can work, and start filling in the rest of the points.

We all know this passage. Romans 5. And let's start in verse 6. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Christ didn't come and die for us because He said, oh, there's a good person.

Remember, He died for the whole world. He died for the whole world. He says, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps a good man would some even dare to die, but God demonstrated His own love toward us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He actually says we were God's enemies when He sent Christ to die for us. So Christ dying for us is like a man who is bound by His greatest enemies, and they're torturing Him. Now, how many times have we heard of stories of soldiers who have thrown themselves on a hand grenade to save their bodies? Okay. The story of Jesus Christ is He's being tortured by His enemies, and someone throws a hand grenade into the room, and He throws Himself on the hand grenade for the people who are torturing Him. So we begin to understand that first coming reveals God's great love. He continues on, much more than, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him, through the wrath of God. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. So He died, yes, but we are saved by His life also. That's why the theme of the Feast of Tabernacles here this year, and it wasn't designed that way, is God's inspiration. The theme is how we all have to be doing what God wants us to do. We have to be submitting to what He's doing in our lives. So He prepares us for this future.

Yes, we are saved by His life. So His first coming was to be a sacrifice. Now His second coming is that He comes, oops, let me go back here.

Christ comes the second time to apply His sacrifice to all people. Now remember, there's a couple of times we've read...

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with that, but I'll put that over there. Okay, there's been a couple of times where we've read in services this week from Isaiah 11, when all the nations are going to come to Him when He comes the second time. Remember, Isaiah 11 is about His second coming, and all the nations come to Him. He is going to apply that same sacrifice to everyone. He comes the second time to apply that sacrifice now to whoever wants it. Remember, we can reject that sacrifice. We can reject it. But He comes the second time to say, come to Me, not just to the few that are called now. The church is a very small number, and it's prophesied it would always be a small number. When Christ comes back, He says to the whole world, come to Me, and My sacrifice will apply to you. You see, salvation in the millennium is the same way salvation happens now by being drawn to Jesus Christ, repenting, being baptized, receiving God's Spirit, having God as your Father, and then having God develop in you what it means to be His child. It's going to be the same process, the exact same process. Now, how does that apply to you and I today? Now, this is important as we relate to Jesus Christ. And we sing about this almost every Sabbath. Sometimes we sing hymns, and we don't think about the words. Those who have received God's forgiveness through Jesus Christ relate to Him as Savior. And you know when that really comes into our minds? It's at Passover. Unfortunately, it should be in our minds all the time. But being human, we sort of let that slip. That's why at Passover, we're always brought back to ground zero. We're always brought back to nothing. We are there before that our Savior, and if He doesn't save us, we're not saved. We can't get out of this mess. And so, every Passover, we're brought back to, yes, I have to have someone die for me, or I die. There's only two things here. Either I die for my sins, or someone is accepted as my substitute, and then He lives, and He lives in me. So there's the first... Now, you all know this. I'm not going to give you anything new, by the way. If you were coming for something new, I don't have anything new to give you. But these pieces fit together for us to understand, really, the Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day. So the second reason He comes, He came to be resurrected as the first-born elder brother. We know that. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15.

And verse 20. We've read this many, many times.

He says, let me find it here with my big glasses. Now Christ is raised from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. He's the first-born among many brothers, and He's called in another place. God's plan. This is what's so fascinating. I've often wondered this, why did God have to sacrifice Jesus Christ? Couldn't He have come up with another way? Well, no, He's showing us not only how terrible our sins are, that either we die for our sins or there's a substitute for our sins. He's also showing us there's only one way to get into His kingdom.

We die, or we're changed at Christ's return. And He showed us by Christ's coming and becoming the first-born among many brethren. That's why He came the first time. Now think about this, because you know the answer to it. What's one of the first things He does the second time He comes? Think about the things He does. Anybody? What's one of the first things He does? He's coming down. The world sees Him coming in the clouds. Armies are gathering to fight against Him. What's one of the first things He does?

The beast. In the lake of fire. And there's something else He does actually right before that. All these events sort of come together, yes. What's down all authority? Not quite yet. That's going to happen, but He's starting. Yes.

He gathered His people, and there's two groups He gathers. What are they?

The dead first and then the living. So He comes the first time to show what it's like. I'm the first-born. I'm the first-born. Boy, if He's the first-born, there has to be more born.

The second time He comes to start the process of kids coming into the family. You don't think God's excited about that?

You know, you think about it says, you know, when He sacrificed the suffering servant in Isaiah 52 and 53, it says it pleased God. Does that mean God is a masochist? No. It means God had His all planned out, and Jesus was resurrected. And when Jesus was resurrected, He could say, see, I can show you how this works. I died. I was resurrected. That's why He kept telling people, I'm going to be resurrected. You don't understand. I came from heaven. I'm going back. I'm showing you how it's done. And when He comes back the second time, it is to resurrect them. We have the opportunity to be that second group. You know, there's one of the first-born. Then there's the second first-born. It's a group of first-born. And how do we know about that? Days of Unleavened Bread. All right. We talk about the two different harvest. Then there's a harvest in the fall time. Let's go to 1 John 3. This is one of my favorite passages in all the Bible. 1 John 3.

2 John 3. 2 John 3. 4. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God. I want you to understand when God looks at you right now, you're His child.

So I'm going to be God's child someday. No, you already are. Now, you're not changed yet. You can leave this relationship if you want. Now, some people do leave it. It's tragic. But you're already... He looks on you and says, you're my daughter, you're my son.

And John goes on and says, therefore the world does not know us because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God. And then I love the way he puts this. It's not yet been revealed what we shall be like, but we know that when He is revealed, when Christ comes back, we'll be like Him and we shall see Him as He is. He says, we're now the children of God, John says. He's all excited about it. And He says, and you know when He comes back, I can't quite understand what we will be. It's like Paul saying, and we will get a spirit body. If anybody can exactly tell me what a spirit body is, I'd be really happy to hear. I know I want one real bad. You know, I'm going to place every step hurts because I've got bad knees. You know, I want a new body, real bad, a spirit body. But I don't know exactly what that is. And neither did Paul and neither does John. They just know we will see Him as He is. We will communicate with Him as He is. That's why He comes back twice to get, okay, this group. I got my first group. It's not the end of the process. Boy, it's not the end. We can't just look forward to, oh good, Christ is going to come back and we're going to get resurrected. It'll be great. Oh, no, no, no. Christ is going to come back and there's going to be people resurrected to help Him do the rest of the work. That's huge work He's going to do with all humanity. And that helps us understand that how do we relate to Jesus Christ? Well, those who recognize Christ as Savior relate to Him as our elder brother. He's an elder brother who shows us the way. I never had an elder brother. I was the oldest brother in the family.

But you know, it's sort of neat to see brothers interacting with each other. I do know what it's like to be an older brother. You take care of the younger ones, right? So we can relate to Him. How do you relate to God as a brother? And He says, "'Cause I've walked where you've walked. I've been where you've been. I have felt what you felt. So you could call me brother.'" So we understand now that we can relate to Him in a certain way. That sure doesn't take away our focus from God the Father because Christ always says, "'No, look at the Father. I'm your brother. I brought you to Dad.' That's how He sees this. I'm your brother, and I'm bringing you to Dad." Now, you can probably think of a dozen scriptures you could tie into that.

These are all pieces of the puzzle that come together in this continuity between the First and Second Coming. Okay. Why does He come back? Twice. He comes to defeat Satan. Here he came the first time to defeat Satan as the ruler of the world. Hebrews 2. Hebrews chapter 2.

I know I'm going sort of fast, but sometimes I just, I feel like if I can get an outline, and you can all study, and you can find the scriptures, and you can bring them together. Hebrews chapter 2. Verse 14. Hebrews 1 and 2, Paul is, and I believe Paul was the writer of Hebrews, he's trying to explain why Jesus wasn't an angel. There were people in the church who were saying, well, Jesus was just an angel. He wasn't really the Son of God. So he's explaining why that's not true. And then he makes this remarkable statement. Verse 14. It is much then as the children, that's us, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same. He became flesh and blood. He shared in it because He's an elder brother. He wanted to show, I want to become your brother. He could have stayed in heaven and not been our brother in the sense that He is. I mean, that's a remarkable thing. I'm going to become like you. I love that section there in John 17 where He's asking God, please bring me back. It's almost like, this is a mess with these kids. Just bring me home.

But He came to be a brother. So we know He can relate to us in ways that maybe no other person can, but we know Christ can. And He's taking us to the Father. And you know what He's telling us all the time? Believe me, your Father understands. He understands. So let me take you to Him.

He says, He Himself likewise shared the same, that He might destroy Him who had the power of death that is the devil, and release those through fear of death who were all their lifetime subject to bondage. That's us. We were under the power of Satan, and we're under the power of death. And He came to defeat the one who causes us to be in bondage and causes us to suffer death. Satan the devil.

What that means is, He came that first time to defeat Satan. But you notice Satan's still around, but he's already beat.

It's already happened. I don't know if Satan just can't figure it out, or whether he knows it and he's desperate. I don't understand. I mean, I'm glad I don't understand how he thinks. But what we have is, he comes the first time and he defeats him, but he lets him rule on earth for a little bit longer.

What happens? Okay, we talked about the gathering of Israel, right? The resurrection of the saints, the beast and false prophet are destroyed. I mean, think of all the things that we all brought up here. What's one of the first things he does then after he does those things? He's coming down to the Mount of Olives. Saints are resurrected. Israel's being gathered. Beasts and false prophet. The armies are destroyed. Revelation 20, what's he do? He binds Satan. Okay, I beat you. I beat you as a man. You don't think I can beat you in my natural state? This is not a contest between equals, okay? This is not a contest between equals. He comes back and says, in fact, he doesn't do it himself. He just tells an angel, bind him. He's beat. Now, he's got to let him loose a little bit later. We'll talk about that on the last grade day. And there's a reason for that. But this isn't an equal contest.

So he beat him the first time. He comes back the second time and says, okay, I've come to claim the victory. I don't know what it's like to be a human being and I'd have Satan pounding at my mind all the time because we don't even know he's doing it. What is it like to be a human being and you're on earth and you've watched Christ come back and you've watched all the things that have gone on and the world's almost on the edge of destruction and suddenly he's not messing with you anymore? I don't even know. What is that going to be like? What is it like not to have Satan affecting you anymore? Would they just be wandering around? I don't know what to do.

So he beat him the first time. He comes back to say, okay, I'm claiming the victory now. Put him in jail. That's what he does. And that means that we can relate to Jesus Christ as our champion. King of kings, Lord of lords, right? He is. When he comes back on this earth, he's king of kings and Lord of lords. He's our champion. So how many times have you prayed, God sent him back soon? And then you're a little bit worried because you said that because you know the tribulation has to happen first, right? But it's like, well, could that... The stress we're under because of Satan coming at us, sometimes it's like, well, let the tribulation happen so at least he can come back and he can put this in order.

Another reason he came back, fourth reason.

He came the first time to initiate the new covenant.

There was a covenant with ancient Israel. And it was a very important covenant. And as we heard in the sermon today, it's not done.

Physical Israel was supposed to be God's representatives to the world. Now because they were smarter and better, and it's because I took the weak people and said, look, here's what I can do with weak people. And they continued to be weak. They never... And there was a reason why, is because God's Spirit wasn't poured out on most of them. When I think of Moses, Joshua was saying, there's two men over here that are prophesying. Moses says that's because God's given him His Spirit. And he says, should I shut him up? I mean, this is typical Joshua. I'll just go shut him up. He's a man of action. And Moses says, oh, no, I wish all of Israel had God's Spirit. I wish all of Israel could have God's Spirit, but they didn't.

So Jesus... The Old Testament has all these prophecies about a new covenant, because He was going to fix what was wrong with the first covenant, and that is, He was going to take His Spirit and put in their hearts and minds.

Jesus came. Remember on the Passover? Take this. This is the new covenant. This is my body. This is my blood. This is the new covenant.

And He started the new covenant with the church. Now, the new covenant with the church involves God's Spirit, but it also involves more than just Israel. That's what's so fascinating about the new covenant. The Old Covenant was working with these people. It's not finished yet, because He's going to take all physical Israel and bring them back into the land when the Messiah comes. He's going to say, okay, now I'm going to have to teach you how to do the job you're supposed to do all along, but I'm going to give you my Spirit, and now you're going to teach other people. You're going to help other people come to me. Israel's job isn't to bring people to them. It is to bring people to God and to Jesus Christ initially. Look at Galatians 3.

Apostle Paul was always trying…he's misunderstood sometimes. He's trying to encourage people who had no background in Judaism, and they're coming out of rank paganism, and they come into the knowledge of God, and they feel like, oh my…there seems to be a lot of…I'm a second-class citizen here because I was this pagan, and now I find out this God of Israel is actually the real God. And so He's always trying to deal with that and say, no, no, no, you don't understand here. You don't understand your relationship with God. Galatians 3.16 says, now to Abraham and his seed where the promise is made. He does not say, and to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to your seed who is Christ. In other words, He's saying, wait a minute, the seed in which all the nations are blessed, that's Christ, the seed of Abraham. That's what God…the family of Abraham, one of the things they were supposed to do is that family was going to bring about the Messiah. That's what's so amazing. No matter what Israel did, there was a young Jewish woman in, you know, Judea at the exact time, in the exact place, and had the exact character that God said, you are going to bear the Messiah. How did He make sure that happened? Do you ever think about that? All the things Israel had to go through, she was there. I'm not trying to glorify Mary. I'm just saying, let's not also ignore what God did to get this woman there, and I say, woman, she's a girl. I doubt she was more than an older teenager, early twenties, because they married early.

Can you imagine being a 20-year-old and an angel come and says, oh, by the way, you are really going to have a great job. You're going to bear the Messiah.

Yeah, that's got to be a frightening experience.

All God did to make sure that happened, right there at that time, so He could bring about this new covenant. Galatians 3, 16, then let's go down to verse 26. He's talking here primarily to Gentiles, and I just stress this because the new covenant isn't just for Israel. It starts with them in terms of the promises He made. But when the Messiah comes, it's not just for Israel. Remember, the church, who the people He's talking to here are made up of all kinds of people. On purpose, they're made up from all kinds of people, because that spirit family is going to include all kinds of people. God's focus is on every human being. Every human being has value to God. That's what's so tragic about the lake of fire. Every human being put in the lake of fire had value to God, and they would not accept that value. They just won't accept it.

He says here, And you are all the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, they put on Christ. Now, this was also read earlier in the feast. There's neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free. There's neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham, seed and heirs according to the promise. When we look at the New Covenant, we see that there's two groups of people God's working with in this time.

Of course, Israel doesn't know who they are. So they don't get really worked with again in terms of knowing God and having a relationship with God until the Christ comes. And then they're drawn to God. But His focus right now is on the church.

Because the New Covenant has started. Oh, this New Covenant goes to everybody. It's huge. And it starts with just a few people. I don't know how many. Throughout history, throughout the last 2,000 years, God has initiated the New Covenant with people all over this globe that we don't even know about. There's people who He's initiated a New Covenant with that we don't know about now. It's like every once in a while we find these people in Angola. 5,000 people believe in what we believe. We didn't even know they were there. God initiated the New Covenant with some people.

This is what He's doing now. He comes the second time. But let me bring out one more point here because this is important. This has to do with the Day of Atonement. The New Covenant requires someone to mediate the covenant. The Old Covenant had a high priest who mediated the covenant. Let's go to Hebrews 4. Hebrews 4. I know I'm jumping around in a lot of different things here, but these Holy Days, they expand this out.

They expand this. I just recently sat down with a minister. We were renting a hall, and he wanted to know why we're renting this hall for the Feast of Trumpets. You're Christians. We keep all the Holy Days, and I explained why.

When I was done, it was funny because he looked at me and he said, oh wow, there really isn't that much difference between us then because we believe that Jesus Christ came for this reason and that reason and this other reason. We believe that He's coming back to set up the millennium. We believe all this. He was all excited. I said, well, you can come to the if you want to. He says, really? Then he sound me and came up because we'd rented a hall last year. And he says, oh man, you got to go to their service. He said, that was the most incredible thing I ever heard.

He still didn't get it, but at least he came, you know.

Hebrews 4 verse 14.

Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace and help in time of need. Ancient Israel had a barrier between them and God. That's why there was a curtain in the tabernacle. It's not there anymore. When He came the first time and initiated this covenant, He became the high priest of that covenant. And that's part of the lessons of the Day of Atonement. Jesus Christ is now the high priest. Jesus Christ is now going before the Father all the time. And you know what He says? Take my sacrifice, apply it to them. And then He looks at you and says, come, child. Do you realize that's what He says?

Come talk to your Father.

That's the relationship we have. That's why we understand Jesus Christ as high priest. He takes us to the Father. We get to talk to Him. When you pray, you're praying directly to the Father. Why? Because your high priest brings you there. That's why. What's amazing is He's the sacrifice and the high priest, but that's a whole other subject. Fifth reason He came. He came to establish the church.

If He's going to institute the New Covenant, and it's going to be with all people, He can't use the structure that He had with ancient Israel. The Tabernet or the temple structure won't work anymore.

Sacrifices of animals won't work anymore. He has to initiate a new structure in order to carry out the New Covenant. He didn't change the Ten Commandments, right? But there has to be a new structure. That's the part of the law that we no longer keep, is the structure in which this was demonstrated. So He has to create the ecclesia, the ecclesia, the group of people that are called out by God to be His assembly, to be His people. Now think about all the instructions in the church or in the New Testament about what it is to be part of the church, what we're supposed to do, how we're supposed to be. We are the family of God, but I tell you what, we're a real dysfunctional family of God. Always have been. Now, you ever get really discouraged about your congregation? You know, oh boy, it's all dysfunctional, and we've got this problem and that problem. Just read 1 Corinthians. Read 1 Corinthians, and you'll love everybody in your congregation. It was a mess, but it was the church of God. It's never easy taking this nursery and taking all these kids and turning them into a family. It's never easy. Never has been. If we can learn this now, we can teach it to the world in the future. So, He has the church. He has the saints of ancient Israel, right? He has the church and the saints of ancient Israel. Why does He have saints in ancient Israel? Now, the patriarchs, people He did give His Spirit to. Why does He have a church? Well, it's to preach the gospel now. It's to tell people now, just like Israel was supposed to be example. But notice here, He comes a second time to establish God's government, and with the saints of the Old Testament and the New Covenant Church trained to serve Him. He created the church the first time He came. And then He takes that church and He resurrects it or changes it if they're still alive when He comes back. It's a huge plan. From the moment He said to Eve, a seed of this woman will change the world. The church was already going to be started. This was all planned out. And there are going to be people called into that church who, and if they want to be there, they can become part of it. And if they're called by God, they'll be part of it, and they will be trained and prepared for the Second Coming.

That started back in Genesis 3.15. First and Second Coming. You and I live in this unique time where we live between these two great events. We live between them. And we live closer, much closer to the second one than the first one. What this means is, and there's a lot of Scriptures to talk about this, as members of the church, we are to respond to Christ as the head of the church. If we recognize Christ as the head of the church, we wouldn't have as many problems as we have in the church. There's times I keep trying to fix things. I can fix the church. Sure. And you know, I always end up going and saying, God, would You let the boss take care of it? Boss, we need You. I have actually prayed that. Boss, we need You. I can't fix it. Nobody fix it. None of us have the power to make the church work. It works because we respond to our Father and because the boss, the head of the church, draws us into where we're supposed to be, corrals us up, works with us, and takes us to Dad. That's how it works as He's the head of the church. We remember He's the head of the church. We act differently. See? When we go through this, oh yeah, He comes twice, but now we know who He is. I was talking about discipleship. See how this ties in? Okay, I know who I'm supposed to follow, so I please the Father now. I understand. This is who I follow. Oh, He's also my boss.

And, you know, as a member of the church, He's your boss, too, because we all are part of this. We all have our point place. Every one of us has a place in the church. Every one of us has a place in the church. Every one of us says we contribute to this, so He's your boss. You have trouble with your music department. Go ask the boss. You have trouble with the, you know, people arguing about setting up the chairs. Go talk to the boss. You go to the boss anytime. Name any company you can do that with. You can go to the boss anytime. I don't care how big or small the problem is. Father, would you have the boss take care of this for me? Because I don't know how.

It's one of the reasons He came. Six reasons.

Christ came to leave His followers as an example of how to live.

By the way, let me go back a minute. I want to go to Colossians 1. I skipped this because of lack of time, but I'm going to squeeze it in. If I go a little over, you could all get up and leave. Colossians.

Of course, you know, in the Friday night Bible studies, people are sort of tired. So what I like to do is go a little over and then watch people fall asleep, but then have everybody say, let's get up and leave now. And you know, no, it's not this. Colossians 1.15.

Speaking of Christ, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. We're back to that, you know, see how all these concepts work together. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven, that are on earth, visible and invisible, where the thrones are dominions or principalities or power. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things and in Him all things consist. Or the word that it literally means is sustained. Okay, Christ sustains the universe. The Father does it through Him. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning of the firstborn from the dead, that all things He may have preeminence. He is the head of the church. He is now and He will be when He returns. He will be the head of the church and He will be calling all people. And guess what physical Israel and the saints who are changed be doing? Calling all people to come into the church. That's what we will be doing. First of all, as someone said, we'll have to feed them, clothe them, and tell them not to be afraid. You can't teach people who are absolutely afraid and driven out of their minds from what they've been through, which is the Great Tribulation. We're going to have to be real gentle with these people. We're going to have to work a long time with some of these people. And some of them are going to be hard-headed. That's why Egypt doesn't get any rain for a while. But you and I don't do that. Christ says that. We don't get to decide who gets rain and not the boss does. Which I'm glad, because I wouldn't know how to do that. I wouldn't know who gets it and who doesn't get it. He does.

Okay. To leave this example. 1 Peter 2. This is what discipleship is all about. We're back to the first sermon that I gave here. 1 Peter 2.

And verse 21.

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps. 2 Committed no sin, nor was the seed found in His mouth. Remember He said, Don't believe in Me. He told all of them, Follow Me. Come with Me. This isn't a spectator sport. This is full-contact, full-participation sport. Come follow Me. So He came the first time, so we, those called into the church, could have an example. It's interesting when He comes the second time. It was mentioned today about Micah, but Mr. who gave the sermon?

Deamer. See, I'm getting... Oh, there you are right there.

It's almost my bedtime. Okay, Mr. Deamer. He mentioned Micah, but he... Sorry about that. My mind... You ever do that? Your mind just goes blank. I know who gave it, but I couldn't remember who it was. Micah 4. But he didn't read it. So I'm going to go ahead and read it.

Yeah, I can't remember what he had for breakfast, but I can tell you the entire defensive first string for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1978. Now I explained that. I don't...

Micah 4 verse 1. Now it should come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills. So the kingdom of God is going to be over all kingdoms. And people shall flow to it, and many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us His ways. And we shall walk in His pass, for out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Actually, he did read this, didn't he? He did read this. The law shall go on. Christ is going to be on this earth doing what? Showing everybody, this is how it works. This is what it means to love your neighbor. This is what it means to keep the Sabbath. This is what it means to worship God. This is what it means to be honest. That's what He's going to be doing, and that's what we're supposed to be helping Him do. It's going to take a long time to teach those people that. Look how long it's taken us, and we still don't have it. It's going to take a long time to teach those people. So He comes the second time to teach everybody how to live, just like He did the first time. But it's a much grander scale. It's a much grander scale. And that means, how does this help us relate to Him? He's our mentor. He's our mentor. He shows us how it works. He shows us how it works. And then our seventh reason.

Christ came to reveal the Father. He says, you really don't know the Father. I'm here. I'm the door. I'm going to take you to the Father. You're going to understand the Father because I'm going to show you how. Remember what we read when He said, the Father shows me and I do it. Now, I'll show you and you do it. He came to reveal the Father. He says that in John 17. Let's go there. John 17. John 17, verse 25. It's part of the prayer that Jesus gave on the Passover. He says, O righteous Father, the world has not known You, but I have known You. And these have known that You sent me, and I have declared them to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love which You have loved me may be in them and I in them.

He says, I came and I told them about You. So, Christ comes the second time. What's He going to be teaching everybody? There's going to be a temple rebuilt in Jerusalem. Why? He wants to show them there's a Father. He wants to show them there's a Father. But His work isn't done yet. And that we're going to cover in detail on the last great day. So, let's read a passage here that we will study on the last great day. Okay, it came the first time to reveal the Father, but He comes the second time to prepare the way for the Father. To literally prepare the way for the Father. Just like John the Baptist prepared the way for Him. 1 Corinthians 15. And we're going to talk about this on that eighth day. 1 Corinthians 15. And verse 23.

We read this first one here a few minutes ago, but each one in His own order, Christ the firstfruits, after those who are Christ that is coming. So, Christ is the firstfruits. And then there's, when He returns, there's that resurrection, which is part of His second coming. Then comes the end. Here's what happens in the end. When He delivers the kingdom to God, the Father. When He puts to an end all rule, and all authority, and all power. Someone mentioned that He's going to take control and put an end of all authority and power. But it's not complete yet. When He comes back, He starts it. But it's not done yet. And we will show when it is completed, and He has now prepared the way for the Father. He still has a lot of work to do. He still has a lot of work to do. The first and second comings is the continuity that shows us. And this means we understand He is the intercessor. In fact, He says He's the way to experience a personal relationship with God. You want to understand how to know the Father. Christ reveals Him to you.

He says, I will show you who He is. I will take you to Him. It's an amazing thing. You have an elder brother every day who's your high priest and your champion. He's all these things. And every day, He takes you to the Father. And you get to talk to the Father. You get to interact with God Almighty, the Father. Not that Jesus isn't God, too. He is. But He has a very specific role. He happily does this role because He has a work He's doing that He completes at some point as He prepares the way for the Father. And it's not done yet. We're just a little part of it. Because we're in the middle of it, we think we're a big part. We're actually a little part. We're just a little...in this timeline, we're just a little blimp. We're a little blimp on the timeline of what God is doing. But we're at least we're on the timeline. I mean, that's important, right? At least we're on the timeline, but we're just a blimp. And Christ has been doing all this since Genesis 3.15.

To carry out and prepare the way of the Father. So, what did we look at tonight? Jesus Christ came the first time to be the substitute sacrifice to reconcile human beings to God. He comes the second time to apply His sacrifice to all peoples so that they can be reconciled and they can seek Him. He came the first time to be resurrected as the first-born among many brethren. He comes the second time so He can have brothers and sisters. If He's the first-born among many brethren, when does He get the rest of them? Well, He starts when we're resurrected. That's why the immortal soul doctrine, I don't want to get into that. It messes this all up, okay? This isn't what God's doing. Christ came the first time to defeat Satan. He comes the second time to say, He really did lose. Get out of the way. He just, that's it. Let's him out for a little bit and then He's gone.

He came the first time to establish the New Covenant with those called out of Satan's world to be His disciples. He comes the second time to expand the New Covenant to all the people who have now been freed from Satan. All the people that have been freed from Satan, all parts of this earth, lost, confused, dying, devastated world. And He comes to save them. And Satan's not there anymore. And the New Covenant is going to be offered to all those people. Christ came the first time to establish the church as a people prepared to rule with Him. He comes the second time to establish God's Kingdom on earth and then use those people, along with the Old Testament saints, to do this Kingdom, to set up and run this Kingdom.

Number six is Christ came the first time to be an example to His disciples how to live. He comes the second time to teach all the humanity. And He's going to have lots of help. He's going to have lots of help to go out and do His will, to teach for Him, to lead people to Him so that He can take them to God the Father. And Christ's first and second comings are to reveal the Father. He didn't come just to reveal Himself. He came to reveal the Father. And He's going to prepare the way for the Father to come back, or when the Father comes to earth.