Advent 2019: Day 21 – Joy in Jesus’ Second Coming

We started this week off discussing the joy surrounding Jesus’ first coming.  We will end the week with the joy surrounding Jesus’ second coming.  Many people do not associate this with joy.  In many, it brings about fear as God is bringing judgment to the earth. However, for believers, this is a joyous occasion.

Many look at the judgment and the destruction and think Jesus’ second coming will be a fearful time. For those that do not believe in Jesus, it will be.  This is the time that God will bring his wrath.  He will give mankind what it deserves.  For those who do not have their name in the Book of Life, this time will be worse than anything we can think of.  And it will end with their souls in hell for all eternity.  Jesus will bind Satan and his minions and they will all be thrown into the pit for eternity.

This sounds very scary. The Biblical accounts of what is to come when the world comes to an end are very scary.  However, they are only scary for those that do not believe.  You see, those that believe in Jesus will not end up in hell.  Jesus will take them to be with him in heaven for eternity.  Remember when we discussed Jesus going and preparing a place for us? This is when we get to go see it!

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 ESV

So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

 

Hebrews 9:28 ESV

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

 

John 14:1-3 ESV

And what a glorious place we will be in!  The descriptions of heaven are wondrous!

And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel's measurement. The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

 

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

 

Revelation 21:15-27 ESV

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

 

Revelation 22:1-5 ESV

Not only will we be allowed to live in such a wondrous place… forever… we will also receive rewards for the deeds we have done while on earth.  Although we do not know the specifics of these rewards, we do know that they exist.

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

 

1 Corinthians 3:12-15 ESV

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

 

James 1:12 ESV

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

 

Colossians 3:23-24 ESV

For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

 

Matthew 16:27 ESV

As believers, we have nothing but good things to look forward to in the second coming of Jesus! We have heaven to look forward to, justice, mansions, no mourning, no sin, an eternity with Jesus, and so much more!