Gods Promise In John 14:3 Guaranteed Based On The Reality Of His First Advent And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:3) When Jesus Comes - youtube/watch?v=mcH4opAq58A God is truly amazing. During our lesson review Sabbath afternoon we spoke about the second return of Jesus and what would be happen. The lesson this yesterday is just a continuation of that discussion. God is reminding us that the same way He can fulfill the prophecy of His first coming is the same way that He will come again. God understands the frailty of our heart. He understands that we are concerned about what will happen to us after death. So instead of remaining silent, Jesus told us and His disciples that we should not worry. Instead of spending this time worrying about what will happen to us at death we should spend the time fortify our minds with the word of truth. Instead of being afraid of the judgment we should spend time learning about Jesus and surrendering to Him totally. At the end of the day, this promise of Jesus found in John 14:1-3 will have no positive effect on our lives until we give God total control of every single area of our lives. Total surrender to Him should be our focus today. The promise has already been made. I pray that we will spend some time today in deep soul searching. Ask God to see if there is anything in our lives which will hinder us from allowing this promise to become a reality in our lives. It was our Lord Himself who promised His disciples, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself.” It was the compassionate Saviour, who, anticipating the loneliness and sorrow of His followers, commissioned angels to comfort them with the assurance that He would come again in person, even as He went into heaven. As the disciples stood gazing intently upward to catch the last glimpse of Him whom they loved, their attention was arrested by the words, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Hope was kindled afresh by the angel’s message. The disciples “returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.” They were not rejoicing because Jesus had been separated from them, and they were left to struggle with the trials and temptations of the world, but because of the angel’s assurance that He would come again. The proclamation of Christs coming should now be, as when made by the angels to the shepherds of Bethlehem, good tidings of great joy. Those who really love the Saviour cannot but hail with gladness the announcement founded upon the Word of God, that He in whom their hopes of eternal life are centered, is coming again, not to be insulted, despised, and rejected, as at His first advent, but in power and glory, to redeem His people. The gospel is to advance from conquest to conquest, from victory to victory. The greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, and they shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom for ever and ever. (Sons and Daughters, pg. 366 – Ellen G. White) Our citizenship is not of this world. We are pilgrims and strangers on the earth, and we look for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. The consolation of these words has come down to our times to comfort the hearts of believers on Jesus in this our day. Our whole being should be thrilled with fervent gratitude that we have such a hope set before us. (Signs of the Times, June 10, 1889 – Ellen G. White) The power of death was held by the devil; but Jesus had removed its stinging despair, by meeting the enemy upon his own territory and there conquering him. Henceforth death would be robbed of its terror for the Christian, since Christ himself had felt its pangs, and risen from the grave to sit at the right hand of the Father in Heaven, having all power in Heaven and on earth. The conflict between Christ and Satan was determined when the Lord arose from the dead, shaking the prison-house of his enemy to its foundations, and robbing him of his spoils by bringing up a company of the sleeping dead, as a fresh trophy of the victory achieved by this second Adam. This resurrection was a sample, and an assurance, of the final resurrection of the righteous dead at Christ’s second coming.(Pamphlet: Redemption: or the Resurrection of Christ and His Ascension, pg. 57 – Ellen G. White) One of the most solemn and yet most glorious truths revealed in the Bible is that of Christ’s second coming, to complete the great work of redemption. To God’s pilgrim people, so long left to sojourn in the “region and shadow of death,” a precious, joy-inspiring hope is given in the promise of His appearing, who is “the resurrection and the life,” to “bring home again his banished.” The doctrine of the second advent is the very key-note of the sacred Scriptures. (Maranatha, pg. 13 – Ellen G. White)
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 15:33:37 +0000
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