Albert N. Martin

Turn with me to the first chapter of the Book of the Acts to the Apostles. I shall read once more in your hearing the first twelve verses and then two verses from the latter part of the 24th chapter of the gospel of Luke. Both are written by Doctor Luke, guided by the Holy Spirit, and with reference to the gospel of Luke. Luke writes in the first words of the Book of the Acts:

The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach, until the day in which he was received up, after that he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit unto the apostles whom he had chosen: to whom he also showed himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing unto them by the space of forty days, and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God: and, being assembled together with them, he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, said he, you heard from me: for John indeed baptized with water; but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence.

They therefore, when they were come together, asked him, saying, ‘Lord, do you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ And he said unto them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father hath set within his own authority. But you shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.’ And when he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they were looking steadfastly into heaven as he went, behold two men stood by them in white apparel; who also said, ‘You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you beheld him going into heaven.’

And then Luke 24, verses 50 and 51:

“And He [that is, Jesus] led them out until they were over against Bethany; and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven.”

Now, as I’ve already indicated, we come tonight to the second message in what will relatively be a brief series of sermons that I begin this morning entitled: the return of Jesus in New Testament belief and experience.

I began this morning by seeking to open up Acts 1 and verse 11 in its setting. The words of those two men in white apparel, obviously angels, who in the context of the eleven apostles seeing their Lord levitate in their very presence, enveloped in a cloud, speak to them asking, first of all, a question: “You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven?” And then they issue a prophecy, a prophecy that affirms that this very Jesus—not another one like Him, but this very Jesus in His personal identity—will so come in like manner: as they saw Him go into heaven.

In those words there is not only a certain prophecy concerning the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus. “He shall come,” but the angels make it clear that His going up into Heaven, His ascension, is the paradigm for His return out of Heaven.

“This same Jesus shall so come in like manner.” As He went up in the full propriation or the full manifestation of His own individual identity, as He went up physically, visibly, so He will come in that same identity: visibly, physically. He will come attended with clouds, as well as with the entourage of mighty angels and the glorified spirits of His saints, awaiting to be joined to their resurrected bodies.

Now, having sought to open up that passage, I then made a transfer from that passage to the kind of climate that was formed by these men who had seen their Lord taken up into Heaven, who had heard the words that He would come in like manner out of Heaven, and I made the assertion that the companies of those who were gathered under their preaching, New Testament churches, were marked as a people who had this expectation and yearning for the Coming of the Lord Jesus.

That longing and expectancy for the return of Jesus was the norm of Christian belief and experience among those who were brought to faith in Christ through the apostolic ministry.

Well, then I began a demonstration of this fact by looking at three texts in which this fact is made unmistakably clear. In 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 we saw that eagerly awaiting Christ’s return is identified as a distinctive evidence of true conversion. Secondly, we saw in 1 Corinthians 1:7 that eagerly awaiting Christ’s return is sighted as a distinct accompaniment of saving union with Christ. Thirdly, in Titus 2:13, eagerly awaiting Christ’s return is said to be a distinctive lesson in the instruction of the saving grace of God.

Then, as I closed the message, I identified four possible reasons as to why the level of our belief and our experience falls short of this New Testament norm. If it was normative for them, why is it not normative for many of us? I suggested—I did not pontificate—I suggested four possible reasons, not in any way thinking that I was exhaustive, but hopefully it triggered some reflection and some wholesome introspection of self-examination to see whether indeed our lack of this normal fate and experience is due to any one or more of these reasons that I sought to identify.

Now we’re going to look at three or more texts which add their witness to the fact that expectation, eager anticipation, and longing for the return of Christ was normative, New Testament faith and experience. So, we’re going to look at texts four, five and six.

Bible References: Acts 1:1-11; Luke 24:50-51; 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10; 1 Corinthians 1:7; Titus 2:13