[Hephzibah Stephen]

Dear brother Arul
Praying and participating in missions are two important things.
It will surely hasten the fulfilment of the first sign.
Hephzibah

[Hephzibah Stephen]

All glory to God alone

[Hephzibah Stephen]

Dear brother Lee
What I don’t understand is, when we call cosmic disasters are called a sign of Jesus’ coming,
Jesus should come after that event. But if the earth is completely destroyed and rendered uninhabitable
when Jesus comes no humans will be around. I don’t know how to resolve this
Hephzibah

[Hephzibah Stephen]

Dear brother Arul

I am only thinking the 2nd sign given by Jesus.
If there is no Temple where will the Abomination of Desolation stand?
When we take the 1st sign literally, why the 2nd sign has to be taken otherwise?
We don’t have answers
Hephzibah

[Hephzibah Stephen]

Personal Preparation: Holy living. Obedience to the Word. Treating everyone with respect. Helping the needy. Encourage other believers in the Lord. Not be a stumbling block. Active involvement in evangelistic endeavours. Always live in readiness.
Preparing others: Teach the Word correctly. Provide Godly counsel to people. Pray for and with others. Give them the shoulder to cry on. Go the extra mile to win them for Christ Lead them to Christ through life and example.

[Hephzibah Stephen]

Kingdom of God is here and now, growing through the lives of the believers. We have to live carefully and whole heartedly according to the Word since we are the agents/ ambassadors of this heavenly Kingdom on earth. We are to be salt and light and lead people to Christ. If believers / Church live in obedience to the Word, Gospel will spread fast because those around will see Christ in us / the Church. We should keep our faith till the end and not be deceived by false teachings. We should always follow only the Master and not leaders!

But in this fallen world, the Church and the so called believers have failed in this mandate miserably. For ‘God’s will to be done on earth as it is heaven’, the Kingdom of God has to be consummated.

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by Hephzibah Stephen.

[Hephzibah Stephen]

I still favor the literal interpretation in many aspects as a way to better understand the events surrounding the Second coming of Christ. But we cannot take everything either literal or symbolic, as two sides of a coin.

Satan is not bound now but restrained. Jesus called Satan the ‘God of this age’.
God has not left us as orphans to fend for ourselves but has given us the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. Thus we can fight the enemy with the armor od God. Resist the devil and he will flee from us. This is the way God is involved in this world, active through us, the church. This is the Kingdom of God, here and now, growing slowly but steadily. But one day the man of lawlessness, the antichrist will be revealed. There will be a literal reign of 1000 years in the future when Satan will be bound.

Under both thinking, the Church’s role is to propagate the good news. Only those whose names are written in the book of life will escape the second death and hellfire. So preaching the Gospel by life and words is the most important thing for a believer or the Church.

Jesus spoke about these two things in His Olivet discourse as signs of His coming. ‘Sign’ means plain ‘sign’, that signals an event. I feel there is no other spiritual meaning to it.
Sign 1: Gospel will be preached everywhere
Sign 2: Abomination of desolation- act of the Antichrist.
I feel there is no need to look at one sign literally and the other spiritually.

[Hephzibah Stephen]

I personally believe Historic Pre-millennialism, with some modifications,
is a better way of understanding the second coming of Christ.

Amillennialism: Satan is not bound now and he is very much active as stated by the apostles. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. “ (1 Pet 5:8). So I do not think this is the right approach.

Postmillennialism: In this approach, Christ is expected to come after the 1000 years of rule. But the Bible says after the elect are gathered (1 Thessalonians 4:17) they will reign with Christ for 1000 years (Rev. 20:4).

Dispensational Premillennialism: I am not able to accept that Church was an after-thought because the Bible says God knows the end from the beginning. The Church was definitely God’s plan. Again the Bible does not teach 3 comings of Christ. So there will be no secret coming. The second coming will be a public event. Christ will return just as the angels said during His ascension (Acts 1:11).

Historic Pre-millennialism: I am not able to accept the view that the Church is the fulfillment of Israel, that church and Israel are one. Israel and the Church are different. Some prophecies are for Israel alone.

The proof for this is the formation of the country Israel in 1948. It is the literal fulfillment of prophecy. Since this is fulfilled, other prophecies regarding Israel will also be fulfilled. For example the revelation of the abomination of desolation. After Daniel prophesied, it was fulfilled during the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. But Jesus mentions it as a sign of His second coming. So it cannot be what happened in AD 70. There is one more fulfillment to be expected. That means Israel will be on world stage at the time of the Second coming. This will be the second sign of His second coming.
Church was God’s plan to reach the world and that is the first sign of His Second coming.

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by Hephzibah Stephen.

[Hephzibah Stephen]

The Kingdom of God was inaugurated during the first coming of Christ. This then spreads like the leaven in a batch of dough. This is how the good news of the Gospel spreads steadily, slowly but surely. The responsibility of the Church is to prepare the people for His second coming which is thought to be imminent.

[Hephzibah Stephen]

Pre-millennialism has two approaches – the Dispensational Pre-millennialism and Historic Pre-millennialism.
I am not able to accept the thought that church was an after-thought for God because the Bible says God knows the end from the beginning. Christ still tries to reach the world through the church and the believer. So it is the responsibility of every believer to be engaged in evangelising the world. Still the devil is not bound and he is like a roaring lion trying to defeat even the elect. Since Jesus said, “… he who endures to the end shall be saved” ( Mt 24:13), we have to be very careful how we live on earth since it matters to God.

[Hephzibah Stephen]

Post millennialism believes Jesus will return after the millennial reign of Christ. And Christ will rule the world through the Church, that is, the body of believers.
God equips his church with the gospel, empowers her by the Spirit, and expects the Church to carry on with the Great Commission (Matt 28:19). The testimony of the Christians will also be important in spreading the gospel.

[Hephzibah Stephen]

I understand that there are many schools of thought regarding second coming of Christ. As far as I am concerned, I believe that, I have to live as though this is my last day. Then whether the Lord comes or I go, there will be no problem.
But the Lord has taken so much trouble to tell us so many details. If He had thought that it was all not needed for mankind, He would not have provided so many details. So I want to try to understand what the Bible says about these.

[Hephzibah Stephen]

Dear brother Lee
Yes praying that it will catch up and people will be benefitted.
May the Lord bless your efforts.
Hephzibah

[Hephzibah Stephen]

Dear Lavanya
Yes testimony from our own life will touch people.
May the Lord bless you and keep you as a channel of His grace to all around.
Hephzibah

[Hephzibah Stephen]

All glory to God alone.

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