Category: Return of Jesus – Book

The Thessalonians and Christ’s return

This is the fifth in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.com.

Paul faces uncertainty in his obedience to Christ. As he boldly takes the gospel to the Gentiles, he is imprisoned, beaten, stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked, heckled, mocked, opposed by Jewish zealots and pagan idolators alike, worried for the spiritual health of the churches he has planted, and forced to defend his apostleship against the rising tide of false teachers who have infiltrated the Christian community. 

Paul may not know what tomorrow brings, but he’s steadfast in his faith in Christ and stands certain of the Savior’s return. 

In the previous column, we looked at Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Here, we examine one key passage from the apostle’s two letters to the Thessalonians. 

While preaching Jesus as Messiah in Thessalonica, Paul is accused of proclaiming a king other than Caesar (Acts 17:7). Now, the young church in that city suffers persecution. But Paul cheers them on with the promise of a future hope that includes Christians who already have died. The apostle addresses Christ’s return in several places (1 Thess. 1:9-10; 2:19-20; 3:13; 4:13-18; 5:2, 23; 2 Thess. 2:1-3, 8).

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When Jesus Returns, He Will Right Every Wrong

A while back, Benjamin Hawkins, editor of The Pathway, interviewed me about What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus. You can read the entire interview here. Excerpts are posted below.

Ben: You’ve written several books in recent years, covering a wide range of topics from Satan and the Trinity, to the afterlife, same-sex attraction and Islam, as well as other topics. What has been your goal in producing these books?

Rob: My goal for each book has been to provide a biblically faithful, readable, and relevant resource for Missouri Baptists to use in personal or group study. I’m very grateful to our executive director, Dr. John Yeats, for helping establish High Street Press, the publishing imprint of the MBC. He is a champion of our churches and greatly wants to see biblical literacy grow in all our congregations.

Ben: Which of these books have impacted you most deeply on a personal level? Why?

Rob: I would say What Every Christian Should Know About Satan has had the most profound personal impact on me. Over the months of study and writing about the evil one’s different names and titles, I became more aware of his subtle attacks on me and on other followers of Jesus. 

Satan prefers a surgical knife to a bludgeon, and in tiny increments he keeps God’s people from enjoying their walk with Christ and from being fruitful citizens of his kingdom. For unbelievers, on the other hand, Satan blinds them to the truth of the gospel and thus keeps them bound in his realm of darkness. 

While there is much to fear from the evil one, we may be confident that Christ conquered him through his death, burial, and resurrection. Satan is a prowling lion, as the apostle Peter writes (1 Pet. 5:8), but he’s a lion on a leash, and his days are numbered. For this reason, we should not ascribe to him more power than he’s due, nor carelessly think he has no ability to do us great harm.

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Timothy, Titus, and Christ’s return

This is the sixth in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.com.

In previous columns, we briefly surveyed Paul’s letters to the Philippians and Thessalonians, with an emphasis on passages previewing the return of Christ. Here, we see what the apostle writes to Timothy and Titus about the second coming.

1 Timothy 6:13-16 – In the presence of God, who gives life to all, and of Christ Jesus, who gave a good confession before Pontius Pilate, I charge you to keep this command without fault or failure until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. God will bring this about in his own time. He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal power. Amen.

Paul draws a contrast between Timothy and the false teachers who “imagine that godliness is a way to material gain” (1 Tim. 6:5). The young pastor is to flee from false doctrine and pursue “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness” (v. 11). Further, Timothy is to persevere in faithfulness until “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,” which God will bring about “in his own time” (vv. 14-15). 

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Paul’s anticipation of Christ’s return

This is the fourth in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.com.

How could “the worst” of sinners, suffering confinement in Rome, write a letter to a distant church, expressing gratitude and joy? Paul’s letter to the Philippians is a remarkable epistle that proclaims the joys of knowing Christ, the rewards of persevering in the faith, and the secret of contentment. 

Paul writes to thank the Philippians for their financial support. He assures them that their messenger, Epaphroditus, who delivered the church’s gift to Paul, has recovered from a grave illness. And he desires to maintain his close relationship with fellow believers from whom he has been isolated. 

While Paul cannot assure the Philippians of his release from prison, or promise them relief from their own sufferings for the cause of Christ, he writes jubilantly with the full assurance of Christ’s return and believers’ future glory.

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John’s testimony from Patmos

This is the third in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.com.

In the visions John receives while exiled on the Isle of Patmos, he often records the words of Jesus foretelling his return. John may have recorded these visions as early as the A.D. 60s or as late as the A.D. 90s. In any case, Jesus assures his followers – and warns his opponents – that his return is certain. 

Here’s a sampling:

Revelation 1:8 – “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

God the Father most likely makes this statement, although some English translations  ascribe them to Jesus. It seems best to understand this verse as the Father putting his divine signature on the prophecy of the second coming in verse 7: “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him.”

While this verse is not an explicit promise of Jesus’ return, it places the Father’s stamp of approval on Old Testament prophecies of the second coming. And it ties together the redemptive work of the triune Godhead to be completed when Jesus returns.

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