Prophecies
of Jesus Christ's 2nd Coming
Part I: General Survey of Old Testament
2nd Coming Prophecies
In the Old Testament Messianic prophecies
we'll come to see that often the prophecies of Jesus' first
coming are blended into prophecies of his 2nd coming in
glory and power to rule the world. This confused the Jews
who were watching and waiting for the coming of the Messiah.
In this three part series we will examine those prophecies,
looking at the portions of them that tie into his 2nd coming
and comparing them to the 2nd coming prophecies Jesus gave
us in the New Testament. We will come to see there is vital
continuity of message here between both Testaments. In these
prophecies that contain descriptions of both his first and
second coming, this study will have the portion dealing
with his 2nd coming in bold, and the 1st coming portion
in normal type.
Malachi 3:1-5, "Behold, I will send my messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom
ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come,
saith the Lord of hosts..." [That was verse 1, which describes
Jesus' 1st coming. Now verses 2-5 describe his 2nd coming.
This totally confused the Jews because you will notice many
of these 2nd coming descriptions where more dynamic and
eye-catching than the descriptions of his 1st coming.]
"...But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall
stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire,
and like fullers' soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi,
and purge them as unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant
unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
And I will come near to you to judgment: and I will be a
swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers,
and against false swearers, and against those that oppress
the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless,
and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear
not me, saith the Lord of hosts."
Malachi 4:1-3, "For, behold the day cometh, that shall burn
as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly,
shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them
up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither
root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the
Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and
ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And
ye shall tread down the wicked: for they shall be ashes
under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do
this, saith the Lord of hosts." Verse four is seen
by most new covenant Christians to be addressed to the Jews
of the period just preceding Jesus' first coming. It states,
"Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded
unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and
judgments." This may have been because the House of Judah
was still a nation at this time and the old covenant law
of God was the theocratic constitutional law of the land
even up through Roman rule of Judah. But verse 5-6 are more
interesting. We know Jesus said John the Baptist was the
Elijah prophecied to come. But in context with the end of
verse 5 and verse 6, the end-time body of Christ, the Church,
may become the embodiment of a spiritual work of Elijah.
Verses 5-6, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the
prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day
of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers
to the children, and the heart of the children to their
fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse [Hebrew
for curse: utter destruction]." So we see, one
tiny verse, verse 1 of Malachi 3 is devoted to Jesus Christ's
first coming. Then verses 2-5, and Malachi 4:1-6 are totally
devoted to his 2nd coming. Let's now turn to Jeremiah 23:1-5.
Jeremiah 23: 5-8, "Behold the days come,
saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous
Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and
shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his
days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely:
and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD
OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, behold, the days come saith
the Lord, that they shall no more say, "The Lord liveth,
which brought up the children of Israel out of the land
of Egypt; but, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which
led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country,
and from all the countries whither I had driven them; and
they shall dwell in their own land." This time,
not even one whole verse, in verse 5 is devoted to the first
coming. Verse 5b through 8 is strictly devoted to second
coming--again confusing to the Jews who were waiting for
his arrival to install the Messianic Kingdom of God over
Israel and the world. Judah refers to the House of Judah,
the Jews, and some few (even some Messianic Jewish groups)
think the House of Israel is composed of some other countries
who are made up of people they call "The Lost House of Israel".
Israel proper, living north of the House of Judah was captured
and deported by the Assyrian Empire between 721 and 719
BC. The major portion of this population never returned
to the land of Israel or Palestine, but was lost historically.
They had been taken to the Caspian Sea region of Assyria
and their population replaced by another race who had lived
in Assyria. But in the early 600's BC, Babylon conquered
Assyria, and drove the Assyrians out of power in the region.
One Assyrian general is thought by some historians to have
taken a contingent of Assyrians up the Danube. Those of
the House of Israel living in Assyria at that time had never
returned. Some feel a lot of them did, some don't. Interpretation
here is up for grabs. When the 2nd coming occurs, if Jesus
is leading the other ten tribes of Israel out of "the north
country", wherever that is, we'll know Israel is more than
just the House of Judah. Till then, it's not important.
Those that take the Israel is more than just the Jews view
come under the name of being called proponents of British
Israelism. This is a secondary doctrine that deals more
with race than grace, and whether true or not, can have
nasty racial side-effects for those who believe in this
doctrine, regardless of whether the actual doctrine is true
or not. I'm not taking sides, just stating the dangers.
One major thing, interpreting Israel as more than just the
Jews changes the interpretation of end-time prophecy somewhat.
It means the United States and British peoples are taken
into slavery into "the north country", and then led out
of it by Jesus at his return, along with eight other tribes.
As we get further into these prophecies, we may get an indication
of where that "north country" could be. But again, that
is open to interpretation. Some think it is Babylon, because
there are a lot of end-time prophecies that deal with Babylon.
But the actual nation of Babylon is east of Jerusalem and
the Israeli nation, not north (unless end time Babylon represents
another national or international system set up somewhere
to the north or northwest of Jerusalem. Prophetic locations
in the Bible are almost always made with Jerusalem as the
focal point of a compass. Let's turn now to Jeremiah 50:1-4-5,
19-20.
Jeremiah 50:1-5, 19-20, 33-46 "The word that the Lord
spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans
by Jeremiah the prophet. Declare ye among the nations, and
publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not:
say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken
in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken
in pieces. For out of the north there cometh up a nation
against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none
shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart,
both man and beast... [Now when is this to occur,
or has it already? I think we'll see that verses 4-5 put
this in the context of taking place sometime in the future,
not past.] Verses 4-5, "...In those days, and in
that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall
come, they and the children of Judah together [this sort
of indicates the children of Israel and Judah are right
now separate--interesting], going and weeping: they shall
go, and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way
to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and
let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant
that shall not be forgotten." [If the whole chapter is read,
this appears it could be talking about the taking of Babylon
by the Medes and Persians under Darius and Cyrus, but verse
46 seems to point to a greater event, an end-time event,
putting these verses in the realm of 2nd coming timing.]
Verses 33-46, "Thus said the Lord of hosts; The children
of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together:
and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused
to let them go. Their redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts
is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that
he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants
of Babylon. A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord,
and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes,
and upon her wise men. A sword is upon the liars; and they
shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall
be dismayed. A sword is upon their horses, and upon their
chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the
midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is
upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed. A drought
is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is
the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.
Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts
of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell
therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither
shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. As God
overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof,
saith the Lord; so shall no man abide there, neither shall
any son of man dwell therein. Behold, a people shall come
from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall
be raised up from the coasts of the earth. They shall hold
the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not shew
mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall
ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to
the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon. The king
of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands
waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of
a woman in travail. Behold, he shall come up like a lion
from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong:
but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who
is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? For who is like
me? And who will appoint me the time? And who is that shepherd
that will stand before me? Therefore hear ye the counsel
of the Lord, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his
purposes, that he hath proposed against the land of the
Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them
out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with
them. At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth
is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations." Now
the earth was never "moved" at the first fall of Babylon
under Darius and Cyrus. But it is prophecied to be moved,
even perhaps out of orbit, at or just prior the Jesus Christ's
2nd coming. So this may indeed be a "Day of the Lord" prophecy.
There are a few views as to who this Babylon could be, a
people from Iraq, or some new symbolic Babylon with different
national origin [some think it refers to the economic system
of the European Economic Community under a new and militarily
powerful United States of Europe]. We'll have to wait and
see, I guess. (Hopefully at a safe distance.) Let's turn
now to Ezekiel 20:34-43.
Ezekiel 20:33-43, "As I live, saith the Lord God,
surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm,
and with fury poured out, will I rule over you: and I will
bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of
the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand,
and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.
And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people,
and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I
pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land
of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God.
And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I
will bring you into the bond of the covenant: and I will purge
out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress
against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where
they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of
Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord; Go ye,
serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye
will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no
more with your gifts, and with your idols. For in mine holy
mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith
the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of
them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and
there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits
of your oblations, with all your holy things. I will accept
your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people,
and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been
scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.
And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall bring
you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which
I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers. And there
shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein
ye have been defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in
your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.
And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought
with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked
ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of
Israel, saith the Lord God." This is definitely
talking of a future re-gathering of Israel back to the Lord
and into the land of Palestine. Passing under the rod is
an Old Testament phrase that means to chose out ten percent,
like a tithe to the Lord. This could be an indication that
only ten percent of Israel's current population will survive
the tribulation [and the numbers could vary depending again
on whether Israel is just the Jewish population or more
than that]. Scary thought. Let's turn now to Ezekiel 36:1-38.
Ezekiel 36:1-38, "Also, thou son of man, prophesy
unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel,
hear the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord God; Because
the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high
places are ours in possession: therefore prophesy and say,
Thus saith the Lord God; Because they have made you desolate,
and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession
unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in
the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people; therefore
ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God; Thus
saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to
the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes,
and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey
and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round
about; therefore thus saith the Lord God; Surely in the
fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of
the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed
my land into their possession with the joy of all their
heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.
[Historically, Idumea referred to the Edomites living east
of the Jordan. Now that could be referring to the Jordanians
or the Palestians living in the West Bank and all around
Jordan, or it could refer to whoever the Edomites are now
(some think they are now the Turks).] Prophesy therefore
concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains,
and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus
saith the Lord God; Behold, I have spoken in my jealously
and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen:
therefore thus saith the Lord God; I have lifted up mine
hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall
bear their shame. But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall
shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people
of Israel; for they are at hand to come. For, behold, I
am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled
and sown; and I will multiply men upon you, all the house
of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited
and the wastes shall be builded: and I will multiply upon
you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit:
and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do
better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know
that I am the Lord. Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you,
even my people Israel; and they shall possess thee, and
thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more
henceforth bereave them of men.
Thus saith the Lord God; Because they say unto you, Thou
land devourest up men, and hast bereaved thy nations; therefore
thou shalt devour men no more, neither bereave thy nations
any more, saith the Lord God. Neither will I cause men to
hear in thee the shame of the heathen any more, neither
shalt thou bear the reproach of the people any more, neither
shalt thou cause thy nations to fall any more, saith the
Lord God. Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own
land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings:
their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed
woman. Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood
that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith
they had polluted it: and I scattered them among the heathen,
and they were dispersed through the countries: according
to their way and according to their doings I judged them.
[This "scattering" first occurred with the conquering and
deportation of the entire northern kingdom of Israel by
the Assyrian Empire between 721 and 719 B.C. This northern
kingdom, called in the Bible, the House of Israel, never
returned to the land of Samaria or Palestine. The House
of Judah was taken captive to Babylon in the 600's B.C.,
but returned to Palestine seventy years later. Technically,
the House of Judah was composed of three tribes, Judah,
the Levites, and part of Benjamin. Some Christian and Jewish
scholars interpret the House of Judah as becoming "Israel"
in these prophecies, while others don't or aren't sure.]
But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel
had profaned among the heathen, whither they went. Therefore
say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; I
do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine
holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen
whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which
was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in
the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am
the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified
in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among
the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and I
will bring you into your own land..." [Now verses 25-27
show this is not talking about the formation of the Israeli
nation in 1948, but a regathering that will be brought about
by the Lord himself, for the event prophecied in verses
25-27 has not occurred yet, and will not occur until the
2nd coming of Jesus Christ. These verses put the entire
36th chapter of Ezekiel in context.] "...Then I will
sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from
all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse
you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit
will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart
out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
AND I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT WITHIN YOU, AND CAUSE YOU TO WALK
IN MY STATUTES, AND YE SHALL KEEP MY JUDGMENTS, AND DO THEM.
And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers:
and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will
also save you from all your uncleanness: and I will call
for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon
you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the
increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach
of famine among the heathen. Then shall ye remember your
own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall
loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities
and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this,
saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and
confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. Thus saith
the Lord God; In the day that I shall have cleansed you
from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell
in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. And the
desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in
the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This
land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden;
and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become
fenced, and are inhabited. Then the heathen that are left
round about you shall know that I the Lord build the ruined
places, and plant that that was desolate: I the Lord have
spoken it, and I will do it. Thus saith the Lord God; I
will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel,
to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a
flock. As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her
solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with
flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the Lord." Just a note about that last few verses and the
reference to the flocks in the cities being like Jerusalem
in her solemn feasts. The population of Jerusalem in her
solemn feasts, especially in the spring Passover season
around the time of Jesus up to about 65 A.D. would often
grow to ten times her normal population. With a normal population
of 300,000 in Roman times, during the Passover season Jerusalem's
population would swell to about 3 million people. So God
is saying the cities in Israel would have populations numbering
in the millions after he re-gathers them into their Palestinian
homeland. Millions in the cities, all having the Holy Spirit
dwelling in them. That is not the Israeli nation of today.
This is a prophecy for the future, just after Jesus Christ's
return. Let's now turn to Ezekiel 39:25-29 Ezekiel
39:25-29, "Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I
bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon
the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy
name; after that they have borne their shame, and all their
trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when
they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered
them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them
in the sight of many nations; then shall they know that
I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into
captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them into
their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for
I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith
the Lord." Again, in verse 29, this last verse
hasn't occurred, so this is a future regathering of the
house of Israel in the land of Palestine. For God's Spirit,
called my spirit here, has not been poured
out upon the entire house of Israel yet.
Verse 29 puts these verses in context with the 2nd coming
of Jesus Christ. Turn now to Jeremiah 3:11-18.
