In a previous episode *Questioning The Return of Christ, we looked at some questions about the coming of Jesus. Now I’m asking, Did Jesus Already Come? There’s a link to that previous episode below this video. Are we, as believers, expecting a future “Second Coming” of Christ?
It’s OK to have questions, and it’s OK not to have all the answers. The disciples asked Jesus a lot of questions. The Psalms are filled with questions to God. We learn by asking questions. Asking questions about God led me to believe in Jesus Christ as God’s salvation for all mankind. We’re afraid to ask questions when it comes to faith because we think having questions is a lack of faith. But it isn’t. Having questions is a sign of growth.
In Matthew 24:3, when the disciples asked Jesus for a sign of his coming, were they asking about a “Second Coming?” No, they literally didn’t even know Jesus was leaving. Their question was, ‘What will be the sign of his “Coming Kingdom.” They believed he was the Messiah and would bring Israel a kingdom. So Jesus gives them the sign in Matthew 24:30. Remember, the audience in front of him is listening to him with Jewish ears. The Jews are mourning the destruction of Jerusalem, and they’re “astonished” and recognize the reference from Daniel and Jesus being their Messiah and receiving the eternal kingdom. But their recognition of this is too late.
When did this happen? As we discussed in the previous episode, when the “Coming” of Christ was brought up by the New Testament writers, they used phrases like, “Soon take place,” “the time is near,” “hold on until I come,” “I am coming soon,” and “Be ready.” And then we remember that in Matthew 24:34, Jesus said that the generation he was speaking to in AD 33 would not pass away until all these things occurred. Typically, a generation in the Bible is 40 years. Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years until the generation that lacked the faith to enter the Promised Land passed away. It’s clear from the New Testament that the disciples and believers in the first century, though they didn’t know the exact date or hour, were expecting the “Coming” of Christ very soon. In their day.
The “Sign of the Son of Man” appeared in heaven as described in Daniel in AD 70, within the generation timeframe given by Jesus. The Jews saw the “Coming” of Christ in power and authority as they mourned the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem and the fulfillment/ending of the Mosaic Covenant. How did they see the coming of Jesus? How does someone see into heaven? We have an example of this given to us in the Book of Acts. In Acts 7:51-56 we have the stoning of the first Christian or New Covenant martyr, Stephen. Stephen was preaching to the Jews in Jerusalem, saying that Jesus was the Messiah, that they were in rebellion against God, and that the true temple that God inhabits is the one made without hands, meaning the human body. At the closing of his sermon, he sees Christ in heaven.
Stephen had the Holy Spirit, which all who believe in Jesus Christ receive from God. His audience didn’t have the Holy Spirit because they didn’t believe in Christ. But they knew the Word Stephen was preaching to them, and they could “see” that what he said was true, but because they were stiff-necked, their hearts and their ears were closed to seeing the heavenly vision Stephen saw.
The ability to see God’s message from heaven comes from a heart and mind that is open to the Holy Spirit and the faith to trust that the word of God is true.
The Jews saw the coming of Jesus in the judgment that came upon the temple and Jerusalem because Isaiah wrote about it 500 years before in Isaiah 65:1-17. Israel was being judged by God just like he had judged all the other nations that worshipped idols. The New Heaven and the New Earth are the New Covenant. At the same time, Christ closed out the old covenant he had brought with him, the “New Covenant” of the kingdom of God (Hebrews 12:22-28; 22).
Paul references in 2 Corinthians 5:14-19, that if anyone is in Christ they are a new creation which is a direct inference to the creation of the New Heaven and New Earth as a part of the New Covenant. And Paul says we are “compelled” to preach this message of reconciliation that is accessible through Christ and his New Covenant.
