Week Commencing Sunday 1st August 2021

Devotional Materials. Week Commencing Sunday 1^st August 2021

Call to worship

‘Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him.’ Revelation 1:7

‘You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.’ Matthew 24:44

Beginning this week I want to explore the biblical doctrine of Christ’s Second Coming. This is an important Christian doctrine, but perhaps pertinent in the minds of some who ask if the Coronavirus Pandemic is a sign that signals Christ’s return. We will look at such questions in this short series.

Opening Hymn (piano)

2 See the holy city! There they enter in,
All by Christ made holy, washed from every sin:
thirsty ones, desiring all he loves to give,
come for living water, freely drink, and live;
come for living water, freely drink, and live!

3 Grace be with God's people! Praise his holy name!
Father, Son, and Spirit, evermore the same.
Hear the certain promise from the eternal home:
'Surely I come quickly!' Come, Lord Jesus, come;
'Surely I come quickly!' Come, Lord Jesus, come!

(To the tune of ‘Land of hope and glory’)

Christopher Idle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuN3nMM_ZGE ).

Opening Prayer

Lord Jesus when we think about the day of your return we look forward to it with glad anticipation. We know that as believers we will live in a new heaven and earth with you for all eternity. We will worship Father, Son and Spirit in a never ending kingdom with no more sin or sorrow or suffering.

It is only because you made us right with God through the cross that we will be able to live with you. Not on the basis of any merit of our own- but on account of your righteousness being credited to us through your atoning sacrifice for our sakes on the cross. For this we are immensely grateful.

We thank you too for the gift of your Holy Spirit, who is at work in us to make us more like you. By your Spirit you convict us of sin and build into our lives the fruit of your love, grace and holiness. We realise on that day we must give account of our stewardship, so we ask you would forgive us our sin and failure.

Lord, when we have not used gifts wisely, forgive us for being unprofitable. When we have not kept brightly burning the light you have entrusted to us, forgive us for being unprofitable. When we have sometimes ended the day in anger or bitterness, forgive us. Renew our vision, restore our watchfulness. Make us faithful as you are faithful, that when you come in your glory we may hear you say: ‘Enter into the joy of your Lord.’ Amen

Recorded Song. ‘He’s Returning’ by Whiteheart (from the album ‘Vital Signs’)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZWOAkNToiM

Reading Matthew 24:1-8. 

24 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. ² “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every- one will be thrown down.”

³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

⁴ Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.

Prayers

Lord Jesus Christ, whose advent all shall see; let your coming be with triumph, but not to our shame; let you coming be with glory, but not to our surprise; let your coming be with justice, but not to our judgment. Make our love burn bright for you, our loyalty endure, and our faith increase; that with you we may rejoice on that day, and so enter into your eternal kingdom.

The Lord’s Prayer.

2 No more cryin' there we are goin' to see the King,
No more cryin' there we are goin' to see the King,
No more cryin' there we are goin' to see the King,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
we are goin' to see the King!

3 No more dyin' there we are goin' to see the King,
No more dyin' there we are goin' to see the King,
No more dyin' there we are goin' to see the King,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
we are goin' to see the King!

4 Soon and very soon we are goin' to see the King,
Soon and very soon we are goin' to see the King,
Soon and very soon we are goin' to see the King,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
we’re are goin' to see the King!

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxarZBxK0iQ

Sermon. ‘The Second Coming of Christ’. Part 1.

Christ’s first coming marked the beginning ‘Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord’ (Luke 2:11). Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we have salvation. Sin, death and the devil were defeated. The victory won.

But the story is still incomplete. The kingdom is ‘now and not yet’. So we pray for God’s reign to come in all its fullness; ‘Your kingdom come’. We look forward to Christ’s second coming. When he will implement all that was won at the first coming. When all God’s enemies; sin, death and the devil will be removed from God’s world. We look forward to Christ’s second coming when he will establish a new order and salvation will be completely disclosed to those who belong to him. We will have the full enjoyment of eternal life: ‘Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him’ (Hebrews 9:28)

Brunner writes: ‘Faith in Jesus without the expectation of his final coming is a cheque that is never cashed, a promise that is not made in earnest. A faith in Christ without the expectation of his coming is like a flight of stairs which leads nowhere, but ends in the void’

The second coming is the ‘blessed hope’ (Titus 2:12). The great event of the future making sense of all that Christ has done and promised. More than 200 Scripture references spoke of Christ’s first coming- and were all accurately fulfilled in the birth and life of Jesus. There are over 300 scripture references that point to the second coming.

We will consider some of the great truths taught in Scripture about the second coming of Christ in this short series.

Today we think about the timing of Christ’s Second Coming and begin to look at what the Lord teaches about signs that herald his return.

We can say from the outset that the Bible teaches that the time of the second coming is unknown. 1 Thessalonians 5:1,2 ‘Now brothers about times and dates we do not need to write to you for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.’

The Lord himself said (vs36 in our passage) ‘No-one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father’.

Times and dates are not known but there is this sense of the sudden or unexpected. He will, as our passage in Matthew indicates, come like a thief in the night.

The New Testament writers didn’t know the times or dates but they had attitude of constant expectancy towards the second coming. A. Maclaren: ‘The Apostolic church thought more about the second coming of Jesus Christ than about death or heaven. The early Christians were looking not for a cleft in the ground called a grave, but for a cleavage in the sky called glory. They were watching not for the undertaker but for the up taker’

James 5:7-9 ‘Be patient and stand firm for the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The judge is standing at the door.’

It is sometimes said that Jesus’ followers thought He would come again within a short time and were disillusioned when he didn’t?

It is true that the writers reckon with the possibility of Christ coming in their near future. (James reference above or 1 Thessalonians 4: 15) but it is equally clear they didn’t believe he had to come in their lifetime. Peter writes in his second letter ‘in the last days scoffers will come. They will say ‘where is the coming he promised?’ (2 Peter 3: 3, 4). Then Peter points out that God’s time scale is completely different from ours…’with the Lord a day is like a 1000 years and a thousand years are like a day.’ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promises, as some understand slowness. God is generously allowing time for scoffers to repent.

The second coming for Jesus disciples might be soon. They were expectant; they knew it would be sudden. But essentially the time of that coming was unknown to them. ‘No one knows about the day or the hour…’

Times and dates are unknown. We should also hold this in the back of our minds even when we consider ‘signs’ or events spoken of in some passages that proceed Christ’s return. Matthew 24 records how the disciples ask Jesus ‘What will be the sign of your coming at the end of the age?’ Jesus’ reply is a long discourse where he describes various signs that must take place before His coming. These signs are world events taking place before His return. These signs appear to be of an increasing speed and decreasing duration. There are exhortations to ‘watch and pray’. Having listed these signs Jesus says “Learn this lesson from the fig tree. As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things you know that it is near, right at the door” This parable reinforces this sense of our needing to ‘watch’. Are these signs being fulfilled? - be ready- the unbeliever will be totally surprised, but you shouldn’t be.

What are these signs?

1. Disasters in the world. (Matthew 24: 4-8)

Three specifically mentioned are wars, famines, and earthquakes (Other disasters are mentioned in Revelation). An increase in such catastrophes will make people look for a saviour. Christ’s followers must not be deceived when these things happen.

Now it is true that we need to be careful about such signs. They have been fulfilled at various stages of the Church’s history. But that shouldn’t stop us from being vigilant in our own day for it is not just the occurrence of these disasters that we should look for but the increase and cumulative effect of them.

Wars. Consider the twentieth century alone: World War 1 ‘the war to end all wars’- nearly 8.5 million people died. Yet hardly 20 years later World War 2! More than 52 million people died in that war.

The Encyclopaedia of Conflicts since World War II lists 185 such conflicts. The atomic bombs first dropped on Japan in 1945- the ones that bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki were only a fiftieth of a megaton. The biggest bomb developed since then is the Tsar Bomba- 50 megatons. Modern warheads are also far more powerful in their capacity to devastate than those first atomic bombs. (Although interestingly Lightning is more powerful than an atomic bomb!)

Earthquakes. There is some debate about the effect of improved ability to record earthquakes over time but sources in general acknowledge the data since 1900 shows ‘an increasing overall trend over the years’ (https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/xXYCaNcYFHB9uBbXtHMgNO/Are-earthquakes-becoming-more-frequent.html ).Earthquakes are also increasing in destructiveness. Partly this is because of the higher density of populations living in urban areas. There is a greater loss of life and property damage.

Seismologists have charted the increase of earthquakes in the Far East, particularly China and Japan. In 1976 China experienced one of the worse earthquakes in history; more than eight hundred thousand people died.On January 16, 1995, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 hit central Japan, devastating the western port city of Kobe. It was the worst earthquake to hit Japan in 50 years, killing more than 6,400.  

ABC News reported in 2015 the ‘number of ‘great’ global earthquakes ‘nearly tripled over the last decade’- that is ‘Between 2004 and 2014’ there were ‘18 earthquakes with magnitudes of 8.0 or more…’ ( https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/worldwide-surge-great-earthquakes-seen-past-10-years-n233661 )

During 2020 there were ‘8 quakes of magnitude 7.0 or above; 115 quakes between 6.0 and 7.0; 1,689 quakes between 5.00 and 6.00, 12,717 quakes between 4.0 and 5.0…’ and ever increasing numbers of earthquakes on lower Richter scales (https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquakes/archive/2020.html )

‘There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.’

Famine: We have become too accustomed to seeing the pictures of shrivelled men, women and children whose bodies have been affected by famine in the Third World countries such on the African Continent:

Affected People

Between July 2011 and mid 2012 a severe drought affected the entire East Africa region including Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia- more than 10 million were affected.

John writing in the Book of Revelation foresaw a time when food would be so scarce that a day’s wages-a denarius-would barely buy meagre provisions (Rev. 6:6).

Even the United States, which has been called the breadbasket of the world; if it experienced a drought or changing weather patterns could make for devastating effects throughout the global food supply. It has come close in recent years to this- more than once. When the El Nino related floods, tornadoes and erratic temperatures hit in 1997, 1998 they were considered the worst weather conditions up to that time. Such were the economic repercussions that there were higher prices on food, up to 50-60% on some fruit and vegetables. Farmers worried that they could not plant their crops. The US used up their surpluses of grain- normally stored for 5 years or more, to less than a year. Should a major drought have followed there would have been famine in America. Since then Hurricane Katrina hit on August 29, 2005 at that time it was recognised as the worst natural disaster in American history. The total economic loss from Katrina was reported to be as high as $250 billion. However, the 2012-13 North American drought exceeded that loss and is now recognized as the costliest natural disaster in US history. Its effects lasted into 2015.

So a combination of erratic weather conditions and drought could have catastrophic consequences for America and consequently the world. The very real threat of Famine. With that in mind I came across the following. According to Forbes “2020 saw the worst drought conditions across the US in seven years’. The article written in December of last year stated ‘Nearly half of the United States will end the year in some level of drought” (https://www.forbes.com/sites/dennismersereau/2021/12/31/2020-saw-the-worst-drought-conditions-across-the-us-in-seven-years/ )

In addition Coronavirus is acting as a catalyst for famine:

According to a BBC News article written in April 2020, ‘The World Food Programme’ stated ‘At the end of 2019, 135 million people were living with acute hunger’. But with many countries around the world enforcing quarantine that number is likely to rise to 265 million.’ The article had a graph showing ‘Acutely food- insecure populations’ at that time- 73 million throughout 36 countries in Africa, 43 million affecting 10 countries in Middle East and Asia, 18.5 million  affecting 8 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and half a million affecting 1 country in Europe. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-52379956 ). Similarly in September 2020 the United Nations warned a ‘New wave of famine could sweep the globe, overwhelming nations already weakened by years of conflict’ (https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/09/1072712 )

As well as these signs a further sign is the spread of disease. Luke’s account (Luke 21:11) and Revelation (6:8) describe the spread of pestilence/disease as a sign of the end times.

When it comes to disease, before Coronavirus, we might first of thought about the global epidemic of HIV and AIDS. AIDS continues to take a terrible toll on developing Nations and our Government reports ’38 million people worldwide are living with HIV or AIDS’ (https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/data-and-trends/global-statistics ).

We are all aware of the far reaching effects of Covid-19 across the world. A truly terrible pestilence/disease. In his book ‘The Genesis of Germs’ Alan Gillen writes a chapter on ‘Plagues of the Present and Future’. His book was reprinted in 2019, (originally written 2007) so it came before the outbreak of Coronavirus, but there he writes this: ‘SARS, Ebola, and Avian flu- the parade of frightening new maladies continues, each one confirming that our species for all its cleverness, still lives at the mercy of microbes. In fact over 30 new or emerging diseases have occurred since the 1970s. It didn’t seem that way 30 years ago- not with small pox largely defeated, AIDS still undreamed of, and medical science emerging at an unprecedented clip…’ (For the wider biblical picture about the genesis of germs see Update ‘God and Viruses’ 29/3/20 on the Angmering Baptist Church website)

So these first signs described in our passage of Scripture could describe today. We don’t know how such affairs will continue or how much worst they could be. But remember verse 8….they are only the beginning of birth pangs. But they are a beginning! Next week we will look at the other signs the Lord goes on to describe in Matthew 28, other signs that also herald his return.

Knowing the signs isn’t about arguing dates. They are given, rather, to strengthen our faith and warn us of dangers that Jesus’ followers should expect. When such things happen we shouldn’t imagine that God has lost control or that his plan has gone off course. The world will think of death-pangs and hopelessness but Christians can see the disasters as birth-pangs; the beginning of something better to come.

……………………………………………………..

Final hymn (piano)

2. Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.