Albert N. Martin

Turn with me, if you will please, to 2 Peter chapter 3. This will be one of the passages to which reference will be made in the opening-up of the Scriptures this morning.

2 Peter chapter 3, and I shall read in your hearing the first 13 verses.

This is now, beloved, the second epistle that I write unto you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by putting you in remembrance; that you should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour through your apostles: knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? for, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.’

Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.

The apostles were commanded to preach the realities of the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and the remission of sins offered to sinners in the light of that accomplished, redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. However, we have seen—in our study of Acts chapter 1, particularly verses 9 through 11—that these same apostles beheld their risen Lord ascend up into heaven, and they heard the united voice of the two heavenly messengers: “This same Jesus who is taken up form you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you beheld Him going into heaven.”

The first thing that we did, in seeking then to establish the fact that the doctrine of the Lord’s return was foundational in apostolic ministry, is to go to 6 passages in the New Testament which each one—independently and together collectively—make it abundantly clear that eagerly awaiting and loving the return of Christ was a vital element of normal, New Testament, Christian experience.

As that experience was molded and shaped by apostolic ministry, as surely as Christ crucified and risen from the dead was an essential element in faith and shaping Christian experience, so likewise the fact that the One who died and rose would come again physically, visibly, in power and in glory at the end of the age with such a dominant note in their ministry, that when we pull back, as it were, the surface of the belief system and the experience, and the whole ethos of apostolic churches, we find that this conviction of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus was vital, it was an essential part of their faith system. Their Christian lives were shaped and molded by this eager awaiting and loving the return of the Lord Jesus.

Well, having established from those six texts that conviction concerning the return of Christ in glory and power was an essential part of normal, New Testament, Christian experience, I then sought to answer the question: why do true believers, who are in a healthy spiritual state, why do they eagerly await and love the return of the Lord Jesus?

I submitted to you that in my understanding of the Scriptures there were at least four parts in the answer to that question.

True believers who are in a healthy spiritual state eagerly await and love the return of Christ because they long to experience and to see the completed salvation to which they and the whole Creation have been predestined.

Secondly, because they long to experience and to see the ultimate defeat of all of the enemies of Christ and of His Church.

Thirdly, because they long to see the public and universal acknowledgement of the true identity and the official position of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Fourthly, because they long to see and to be with the object of their faith and love.

Now, in the course of preaching these things in five sermons, we’ve examined many passages dealing with the return of our Lord and the things that will take place at His return. However, before moving on to several messages to highlight the many ways in which the truth of the Second Coming—I don’t use the word ‘the doctrine’ of the Second Coming, though it is a doctrine—but it is the truth. The reality of the Second Coming brings to Christians motivational pressure. If we look at the whole Christian life as a circle, we can demonstrate that from the hub of that circle going out in spokes, touching every place of that circle, the reality of Christ’s return exerts motivational pressure upon the whole circle of Christian life and experience, according to the New Testament.

One respected commentator has said: “It is the most dominant reality in motivating the people of God.” I will not go that far. I believe the cross is the most dominant, but I’ve prepared to say this takes a close second. That He died for me and rose for me is central; that He is coming again in power and in glory is second only to the great truth that He loved me and gave Himself for me. So that even when I remember Him in the way of His appointment, as oft as I eat the bread and drink the cup, I declare the Lord’s death. What? Till He come. Cross and crown and clouds are joined together in the thought concentration even of the Lord’s table.

As to the event of the Second Coming, it is certain to occur. That’s the first issue that we want to address. Secondly, as to the place of the Second Coming in the history of redemption: it is central and climactic. As to the precise time of the Second Coming, for us it is imminent, indefinite, and unknowable. As to the results of the Second Coming, they are manifold and clearly revealed.

First of all then: as to the event of the Second Coming, it is certain to occur.

When I was a little boy—back in the dark ages—and I don’t know where it originated, I can remember some of the men in my circle of interaction and acquaintance, they would greet one another by saying, “Hi John, Hi Harry, what do you know for sure?” Instead of saying, “What’s up?” or “How are you doing?” Or some of the current common greetings, I don’t know where it came from, but there’s something very attractive about that. You see, someone saying, “Hey Harry, what do you know for sure?” And Harry or John or Pete would respond.

Well, if someone would resurrect that form of greeting and come to you as a Christian and say, “Jim, what do you know for sure?” “Pete, what do you know for sure?” “John, what do you know for sure?” We ought to be able to instinctively respond, “I know for sure that My Lord Jesus Christ is coming again, and unless we are prepared to consign ourselves to the murky, poisonous mists of agnosticism, or plunge ourselves into the black hole of nihilism by rejecting the witness of Scripture—. That’s all you have if you reject the witness of Scripture: the murky, poisonous mists of agnosticism or the deep, dark, black hole of nihilism, in which you’ll say, “The only thing we can know for sure is that for sure we can know nothing.” By God’s grace it is determined that we’ll not go into that mist or that black hole.

There are some things we can know for certain, and one of them is: that the Lord Jesus Christ, who is presently seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, will return physically, visibly, in power and in great glory at the end of the age.

Now, the affirmations of this are manifold and consistent throughout the entire corpus of the New Testament. We began the series by noting those words of the two angelic visitors to the eleven, “As Jesus ascended into heaven, this same Jesus shall come.” That’s the certainty of His Coming, and then the paradigm or the manner of His Coming: “He shall so come in like manner, as you have seen Him go into heaven.”

I want to do a quick survey of a number of passages to demonstrate that our Lord Jesus Christ bore witness to the fact that He would return again.

Bible Reference: 2 Peter 3:1-13