The first three promises about Jesus were truly magnificent. He would be King of kings reigning on David's throne, he would be Mediator of a new covenant, and he would be the great High priest having offered himself as the perfect sacrifice for sins. That is not all however. There is another promise, which yet remains to be fulfilled. Jesus will come again and raise all the dead both righteous and wicked. He will judge all mankind, and then transport those who belong to him to their eternal home in Heaven where no one cries and no one dies.

The Second Coming of Christ

As it is appointed for men once to die and after this comes judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eargerly wait for him, he will appear the second time, apart from sin, for salvation." (Heb 9:27-28).

We wait expectantly for Christ to come the second time, to accomplish what he once died for. In the meantime we remember his first coming in the Lord's Supper week by week "until he comes again" (1Co 11:23-26).

The Resurrection of the Dead

One of the amazing things about the second coming will be the raising of all who have died. From the first man who ever died on earth thosands of years past, to the last person to die perhaps only seconds before Jesus comes, every single one who has ever lived and died will be resurrected.

"For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality... then will come to pass the saying, 'Death is swallowed up in victory...' --the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1Co 15:50-58).

"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and thereafter we shall always be with the Lord" (1Th 4:16-18).

A New World in Heaven

The second coming of Christ is the end of the world when everything shall be burned by intense fire (2Pe 3:3-12). However a "new heavens and a new earth" is promised (2Pe 3:13). This new world is in heaven where Jesus has gone to prepare it, and we will be there where Jesus is now. He is returning to take us there. "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 ytou may be also" (Jhn 14:1-3).

What a magnificent promise. We have a home with God, and death cannot deprive us of it. "He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning or crying or pain... And the city has no need of the sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb" (Rev 21:4,23). This and the other visions of heaven in the Book of Revelation are symbolic of course. But if the visions are so splendid, what will the reality be?.

The Judgment of All Mankind

We close this lesson with a sobering thought. At his second coming Jesus will not only be gathering in his own, but also destroying his enemies (2Th 1:5-9). So what is a magnificent promise for believers is a terrifying prospect for the disobedient.

Have you made certain of your place in that everlasting world of the future? Or are you running the risk of death or the second coming of Christ overtaking you as a thief and stealing away your part in the Book of Life?

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