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Commentary on "Joyous and Thankful"
Day 6: Thursday, July 26, 2012 - Further Evidence of Faith (1 Thess. 1:810)
Day 7: Friday, July 27, 2012 - Further Study
Overview
At the end of Friday’s lesson, the author asks this question regarding the importance of the doctrine of the Second Coming: “What good reasons do we have for trusting in something that’s so radical, that’s so unlike anything that has ever happened before?”
Observations
That is a good question to ponder, and it should send us back to scripture for the best answers. The second coming of Jesus to the earth is a radical idea and quite unprecedented in history. Furthermore, Christians have always lived and spoken as though the second coming were close at hand, just as they did 2000 years ago. Peter said, “The end of all things is at hand” (I Peter 4:7). It is hard for ordinary people to take the Bible seriously and take this doctrine so radically, when the Bible’s idea of time seems so distorted.
Firstly, we can take it seriously because Jesus’ prophecies about the nearing of the end of time have come true. Jerusalem was surrounded and destroyed, the temple was torn down, just as He said. The world has been filled with wars and threats of wars in the past 2000 years, as He said. The Christian church has grown immensely and been persecuted brutally, yet survived, just as He said. Persecution against Christians has been steadily increasing around the world, and is beginning in the West, as He said it would.
There is much we could say about prophecy, but that is not the primary reason we can trust the Bible, and believe Jesus about His second coming. We find Jesus and learn to trust Him by going to His word and truly hearing it. John was overcome by the glory of Jesus and he wanted us to understand how to find faith in Jesus and see His glory. He said,
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14
We can behold His glory by immersing ourselves in His word and seeing for ourselves. Prophecy fulfillment and last day events can be scary and exciting, but we won’t find the glory of Christ there. Fear is a poor motivator for entry into Christ’s kingdom. Seeing His glory comes through hearing His word and receiving the power of His Spirit to see and hear. We see His immense power to hold the universe together by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3), and we see the unspeakable grace upon grace He has given us, and keeps on giving. We start to live with thankfulness and joy becauuse we have a vision of glory. Then we it’s quite reasonable to believe His words, outrageous words that are unprecedented, and we can’t wait for Him to appear:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.” John 5:25-26
Copyright 2012 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised July 24, 2012. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Camp Verde, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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