There is a new spirituality in the earth today. At least that's what many prominent people are saying. Ever since the age of science began to take prominence, from the late 19th century to the present, there has been the trend to explain everything from a naturalistic stand-point.

If it couldn't be explained or examined scientifically then it was either false or misguided or without any credibility. For example, since miracles could not be examined under a microscope they did not exist. Since God cannot be seen He does not exist. And if God does not exist therefore creation as we know it could not have been the direct result of His hand.

And yet, even among the scientific community the idea that spiritual things actually do exist is beginning to become vogue in a sort of scientific mysticism. The Farsight Institute is a sort of scientific think-tank which believes science is on the verge of actually discovering and harnessing the spirit-world.

Quoting from Dave Hunt's new book "Occult Invasion": "At the Farsight Institute, we are dedicated to the practical and benevolent use of Scientific remote viewing (remote viewing is achieving an altered state of mind to tap into the non-physical reality of higher consciousness to achieve power or knowledge) ... [for] helping humanity to discern that which is real in ... a universe filled with mystery... Using the controls of modern science ... our goal is no less than to perceive the nature of God..."

In our text in 2Peter we noted last week how the world has come to mock the one true God and the plans He has for this world. They believe it is foolishness to place our hope on a man who claimed to be the very Son of God who took on flesh, was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, and then died on a cross to pay the penalty of our sin, and then who subsequently rose bodily from the dead three days later.

The world has always wanted to throw out true spirituality, but that doesn't mean they want to throw out spirituality. They still have to explain the unexplainable. And now science is beginning to join this new spirituality which is setting the stage for giving credibility to the new spiritual world leader who will eventually come on to the scene; anti-christ himself.

But instead of recognizing the plan our God has revealed in His word they have plans of their own which do not include God or His Son, which is why we see them make such remarks as, "Where is this “coming” he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." (2PE 3:4)

This "coming" is an integral part of God's plan to ultimately bring this world to a close as we know it. It is this coming which every true believer in Christ Jesus should rejoice in everyday of his or her life. And yet, it is this coming which has been misunderstood or simply put under the carpet for the very reason mentioned by the mockers: "ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation."

This morning we want to look at this coming and demonstrate how true spirituality in Christ must not be confused with the spirituality of the world which makes up the rules as they go. God has set the rules down and God will deliver on His promises, despite the protests of the world.

When we talk about the second coming of Christ we are actually talking about the second physical coming of the Messiah into the world. And the reason we can talk about the second coming is because there had to be a first coming. This first coming was promised in the Garden of Eden after the fall of man.

Our God promised Adam and Eve, as well as Satan, that there would be a seed who would crush the head of the serpent. This seed, as is revealed throughout the O.T., would restore the relationship of sinful man to his God and Creator.

And as surely as day follows night this seed came some 2,000 years ago just as He promised. He fulfilled everything concerning our salvation and now offers it freely to all who would repent of their sin and embrace Him and His atoning sacrifice by faith.

But we also know that this same Messiah, Jesus Christ, promised to come again. This is what He told His disciples after Judas betrayed Him that night of the last supper.

JOH 14:2 "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."

But is this the first time we have any indication of Christ's second return? No. Actually all throughout the O.T. we are told specifically that the Messiah will come physically to this earth, not to secure our salvation through His sacrifice on our behalf, but to rule and reign in the earth.

In fact, this is what confused the Jews of Christ's day, as well as today. They have always believed that when Messiah comes He will come in power to deliver them and set up the Kingdom on earth and bring peace to Jerusalem. The first time the second coming of Messiah is inferred is in the book of Deuteronomy.

Deu.30:3 "then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you."

David, King of Israel, records for us what the Holy Spirit makes plain concerning the physical presence of our Messiah on this earth.

PSA 2:1 "Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One.
4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.
5 Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
6 "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.
7 I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery."

We know this is addressing the Messiah who will come to rule physically on this earth. When our Lord Jesus speaks to the church in Thyatira in the book of Revelation He gives them this promise.

REV 2:25 "Only hold on to what you have until I come.
26 To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations -
27 'He will rule them with rod of iron; he will dash them to pieces like pottery' - just as I have received authority from my Father."

The prophets of old also spoke of this second coming of the Messiah. Isaiah describes the type of Kingdom on earth we can expect and actually speaks of both comings of Messiah. This is a passage usually associated with only the birth of Christ, but it actually prophesies a future reign on the throne of David.

ISA 9:6 "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this."

We know that Jesus does not physically reign on David's throne today and we know that His government is not yet set up as it will be during His thousand year reign.

Isaiah then goes on in chapters 65 and 66 to describe "the reign of Christ on earth and the judgments which relate to it." (Zondervan Bible Encyclopedia)

The prophet Jeremiah is another one who shows us that the Messiah's intention is to come back and rule and reign in the land.

JER 23:5 "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.
6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness."

This cannot be confused with the first coming of Christ since our Lord did not come to sit on a throne or to rule in the land. And obviously Israel is not living in safety today. Jeremiah is speaking of a future event which the Jews misunderstood as the first coming, which is why they rejected Jesus Christ, because He did not fulfill this and similar prophecies 2,000 years ago.

"One of the most specific references to the second coming in the O.T. is in Zec.14:3-4. The Lord is described as fighting in defense of Israel." (ZPEB)

ZEC 14:3 "Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle.
4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south."

This is what we see John describing in the book of Revelation as it relates, not to the first coming of Christ, but to His second coming.

REV 16:16 "Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
REV 17:14 They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings - and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers."

Again, we can see how the Jews would feel that when the Messiah comes He will come in power to deliver them. But what they didn't understand about the Messiah is that His coming into the world would involve two separate comings. The first event would be to come in as a suffering servant. The second event of His coming into this world would be as conqueror over the nations to set up His kingdom in the earth.

Unfortunately, they missed some amazing passages dealing specifically with Christ's first redemptive mission in this world.

ISA 53:1 "Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed."

This hardly sounds like a conqueror and a deliverer and yet this is precisely what our Lord Jesus came to do the first time in a very real sense; to conquer and to crush the enemy and his foothold over the inhabitants of this earth and to deliver us from the penalty of our sin as we place our faith in Him alone. A Jew by the name of Paul understood what all of this meant.

ROM 8:35 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

To miss Christ's first coming is not to understand His second if we are looking for our redemption in that second event, for He comes the second time as Judge. The second coming of Christ is most assuredly going to take place, even as the prophets of old prophesied. And the N.T. apostles bear witness to this in what the Holy Spirit revealed to them.

We see it in a variety of places like 1CO 11:26 "For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

2TH 1:6 "God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you
7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.
8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus."

JUD 1:14 "Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones
15 to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

REV 22:20 "He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen."

There is every indication from the word of God that our Messiah and Master and Lord is coming back to this world and coming back for us. And yet, even here there seems to be confusion concerning the second coming of our Lord.

Today and next week we want to look at the details of this second coming and why it appears that in this second coming of Christ there are two separate events which seem to be related and yet are very different in purpose.

One of the most descriptive and yet difficult passages in the N.T. relating to all of this is found in the gospel of Matthew. And yet, like the Jews in the O.T., who had a preconceived idea as to what our Lord's first coming should look like, it would be very easy for N.T. believers to make the same mistake with this passage.

We want to look at it and let it speak for itself and arrive at some conclusions which must take into account the whole counsel of God's word.

As we read this passage there are a number of things which seem to contradict. On the one hand there are very specific things all mankind should expect to see just before His return. In fact, almost the entire 24th chapter of Matthew details some amazing things which will be seen worldwide, not the least of which is the abomination of desolation when the anti-christ sets himself up in the temple as the true Christ.

This will result with people in Jerusalem, as well as all over the world, having to flee for their lives. This is precisely what Matthew means in MAT 24:21 "For then there will be great [tribulation], unequaled from the beginning of the world until now - and never to be equaled again.
22 If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened."

Some have suggested that this is referring to the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 when the Romans came in and destroyed the city. You can be sure that the Jews and many Christians, both Jew and Gentile, thought that for them this was a great tribulation as they had never experienced before.

But to suggest that Matthew is not speaking plainly, when he is clear that this is worldwide and that it is even worse than any other event in the history of mankind, is to read something into this passage to localize it to the year A.D. 70. In fact, every Jew in the world today would agree that what happened in Nazi Germany far exceeded what happened in Jerusalem almost 2,000 years prior.

No, this event which Matthew speaks of is yet in the future and there will not be a person alive who will not be affected by it. But then on top of that we have the clear prophetic teaching that this is not yet the end. Something else must take place before Christ returns to this earth.

MAT 24:29 "Immediately after the distress of those days "'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.' (Isaiah 13:10; 34:4)
30 "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.
31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other."

The earth will most certainly be warned that Christ is about to return to the earth. "'The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'

There is a movie which is coming out shortly called "Deep Impact" which is a story about a huge meteor which is about to crash into the earth. If any of you saw the pictures of the comet which crashed into Jupiter back in 1994, it was an awesome display of the destructive power of such a huge object hurdling through space and then parking itself into a planet.

They estimate that just before entering the atmosphere of Jupiter it began breaking up into about 20 pieces, the largest being around a mile and a half in diameter. I couldn't find any information as to the actual size of the craters they left or any other data associated with such a collision, but the pictures show an immense area which was effected.

But imagine having meteors, comets and asteroids smashing into earth. The destruction will be unbelievable. John records some of this in the book of Revelation.

REV 6:12 "I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red,
13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind."

It shouldn't surprise us at the response of the people in the earth during those days.

REV 6:15 "Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

By the way, when John records for us that the stars will fall to the earth he obviously means something other than a star as we know it. The sun is a star and a relatively small star at that. To have an actual star fall toward the earth it wouldn't get within many light-years to us before it burned up the earth entirely.

The word for star in the Greek is astere. And though it can certainly refer to real stars out in the galaxy it is a word which can be used of any luminary in the sky. It's the same word which is used in the context of the wise men who came to see the King of the Jews.

MAT 2:2 "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star (astere) in the east and have come to worship him."

The star in that account could not be a star out in the universe. Such stars don't have the ability to point out a general location much less to the actual manger where the Christ-child lay. Many commentators believe the star of Christ refers to the Shekinah glory which led the Magi.

And so, for stars to fall from heaven could be any luminary body which is falling on the earth. If you've ever seen a meteorite or comet you are well aware that it lights up in the sky. In that sense it is a star.

But imagine hundreds or thousands of these starry masses falling onto the earth. This is the imagery we see in Matthew as well as Revelation. In those days the sun will turn black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon will turn blood red,..."

No matter where you are on the planet you will either experience the sun turning black or the moon turning blood red. This will be an event that everyone will experience simultaneously. There will be no secret about it's happening. It will be visible to all. This will be a precursor to Christ’s physical return.

And yet, we are also told in Matthew and other places that this second coming will be a secret event. An event that not everyone will experience. It will be an experience that will catch everyone by surprise.

MAT 24:44 "So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."

Now, wait a minute. We just saw clearly that there will be all sorts of signs and wonders in the sky which herald the coming of Christ in judgment. Not a person on the earth will be taken by surprise. How can Matthew say that an hour will come when we do not expect Him?

MAT 24:37 "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;
39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man."

Was anybody in Noah's day expecting sudden destruction? No. They had been warned about it, but it didn't phase them. They simply went on with life as normal "eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came."

How do we reconcile these two opposing views concerning the coming of Christ? You'll find out next week. I will say this. One has to do with the rapture where we meet the Lord in the air, the other has to do with the physical return of Christ to this physical world. Two events which are both part of the second coming.

The world has embraced Satan’s lie - his false gospel- that the ultimate mystery is an impersonal force that resides in everyone, enabling mankind to be like God. It's the same lie he promoted in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. Except his lie deceives men into thinking that we are above God and are therefore not accountable to the Creator. We are an end unto ourselves and can reach full enlightenment through our own self-efforts.

In contrast, Biblical Christianity teaches that all people are accountable to a personal infinite Creator who set forth moral laws which have been violated and for which finite people cannot pay the penalty and thus are eternally separated from God.

This is precisely why our infinite loving God took on flesh to pay the penalty we owe Him as He became our substitute on the cross. Christ's triumphant cry just before He laid down His life: “it is finished”, declares the debt is paid in full. All people need to do is admit that they are sinners in need of this Savior trusting in Him alone for the free gift of eternal life.

Our blessed hope is found in our Lord and Savior who is coming back for His bride, you and me in Him. Until we meet again let me close with the words of John in the last two verses of Revelation.

REV 22:20 "He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen."