Nowhere in Holy Scripture are we taught to look for signs of Christ’s coming. There are no signs to be given. Scripture teaches us to live on the tiptoe of faith, looking for and expecting the “blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).
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Jesus Christ the Crucified — Don Fortner
(Tune: #355 From Every Stormy Wind that Blows — LM)

1. All glory to the Savior’s name,
Who bore our sin and guilt and shame,
Who for us lived and for us died, —
The name of Jesus crucified.

2. Mercy and justice in Him meet,
In Him salvation is complete!
The law is fully satisfied
By Jesus Christ the crucified!

3. To see Christ Jesus crucified
Exalts free grace and breaks our pride.
‘Tis here we see eternal love
And gain all blessings from above.

4. Here then my trembling soul shall rest. —
In Christ I am forever blest,
Forever saved, and glorified,
With Jesus Christ the crucified!
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Not on May 21st
Making Merchandise of Immortal Souls
2 Peter 2:3

God the Holy Spirit warns us plainly to beware of false prophets who “with feigned words” (cleverly molded words of their own devising) make merchandise of immortal souls. Their motive is always covetousness, a deep-seated craving for influence, recognition, and applause. They speak “perverse things,” because they desire to draw away disciples after themselves (Acts 20:30). The covetousness which motivates false prophets is not always a covetousness after money and fame. It is often a covetousness, an insatiable desire, to have followers.

Back in 1992 Harold Camping wrote and published a 551 page book titled 1994? It is filled with charts, mathematical schemes, and “feigned words,” and much “vain jangling,” by which Camping tried to convince the world, and did convince thousands that a rapture would occur and history would end on September 4, 1994. In 1993 Camping published another book titled Are you ready? Another 405 page pile of waste paper, filled with the same stuff, scaring people to death with the idea that on September 4, 1994 Judgment Day would come. When the sun rose the next day, Mr. Camping had a problem (Deuteronomy 18:22); but (like all the date-setters before him) he refused to back off. Instead, he immediately began working on another scheme, clamoring to keep a following of disciples. Numerous excuses were offered: “Perhaps we followed the wrong calendar.” “I may have made a mathematical error.”

We’ve had many other self-serving, self-appointed, and self-exalted prophecy experts throughout history who were certain they had figured out what our Lord assures us no man can know (Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32; Acts 1:7). After Camping’s prophecy failed, we experienced the flood of prophecy pros who wrote books about the Y2K scare and the sure end of the world in the year 2000. When that failed, the same prophecy pros wrote and sold just as many books to their poor, deluded disciples about the sure end of the world after the Islamic attack on the United States, September 11, 2001. Not to be outdone or take a chance on losing any disciple, Mr. Camping has now predicted that May 21, 2011 will be Judgment Day. This time he has people going all over the United States and Great Britain putting up billboards, passing out tracts, and driving around with huge signs on their vans and campers, saying, “The Rapture – May 21, 2011 —— The End of the World – October 21, 2011.” This time Camping claims he doesn’t have a doubt, saying, “I know it’s absolutely true, because the Bible is always absolutely true.”

When a man came in my office last week desiring to persuade to embrace Camping’s drivel, I immediately demanded that he leave and leave immediately. Had he refused, I would have thrown him out physically, with the fury with which our Lord drove money changers out of the temple. Why? Because the whole scheme has been concocted, as are all the doctrines of men, to make merchandise of immortal souls! On May 22, 2011, all who have followed Camping’s craftiness should see clearly that it is not of God (Deuteronomy 18:22). God’s servants are not men who speculate about the future; but men who proclaim redemption and grace in Christ Jesus, not with feigned words they have devised, words no one can understand, but with the simple force of plainness and truth. — “We preach Christ crucified!”
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When Jesus Comes…
Acts 1:11

When I have stated all that I know about the second coming of Christ and prophetic events, I will not have said much. The glory that awaits God’s elect when time shall be no more is indescribably greater than any mortal mind can comprehend. But some things are clearly revealed about our Lord’s second coming. Let me remind you of a few of those things, which are most obvious in Holy Scripture.
1st, We must recognize the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ may come at any moment (Revelation 1:7). There is nothing necessary to prepare for the coming of Christ. The time is at hand. “Lift up your heads, your redemption draweth nigh.” Indeed, the sense of Scripture is that our glorious Redeemer is presently coming; He is on His way now. We should live moment by moment upon the tiptoe of faith in anticipation of His glorious appearance, not at some future date, not even tomorrow morning, but at any moment! Everything He has done since His ascension and exaltation has been and is just the movement of His feet in His return. Every work of providence is another step toward His bride, whom He is preparing for Himself.

2nd, Our Lord is coming in power and great glory (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10). The Bible nowhere speaks of our Lord coming in secret to rapture the church and then coming again (a third time) in judgment seven years later. The second advent of Christ will be a climatic thing. Suddenly, He shall appear in power and in great glory.

3rd, Our Lord will come in a real body (Revelation 1:7). I will not attempt to say what the glory of His body will be; or how every eye shall see Him at once, but two things are sure: (1) Christ will come in a physical body, the same body in which He hung upon the cross; and (2) His body will be so glorious, so bright, so dazzling, that every living creature shall see Him, and the earth shall melt before Him.

4th, When Christ comes a mighty resurrection shall take place (John 5:28-29). There will be a resurrection of the just. — The people of God shall be raised to immortality, life, and eternal glory. The body of flesh shall be gathered from the dust and united to our souls in the perfection of righteousness, blamelessness, and glory; and in those bodies we shall see the Lord, our Redeemer (Job 19:25-27). Eternal life, in all its fulness and bliss, shall be our portion! There will also be a resurrection of the wicked. — The ungodly, the unbelieving, shall also be raised, their bodies shall become immortal and united to their souls, so that they may endure everlasting damnation in hell. This is the second death. Eternal death, in all its horror, shall be their portion forever!

5th, At the second coming of Christ, this world shall be destroyed and our God and Savior will create new heavens and a new earth (2 Peter 3:10-14; Romans 8:18-23). The people of God will not spend eternity floating around like ghosts in the air. In these very bodies, we shall live forever upon the new earth. Heaven shall be brought to the earth. Righteousness shall reign here. The Paradise of God, the Heavenly City, shall be with men.