Justifyothers wrote:Is it a literal return or was that taken care of through the spirit?
It is a
literal return as defined in Revelation 19:11-13. Jesus will return as a spiritual being from heaven. He will defeat Satan and the earth will once again become part of the Kingdom of God:
The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 11:15)
In fact, there will be no humans alive on the earth when it rejoins the Kingdom of God. All former humans who are still alive at that time will be everlasting spiritual bodied angels since flesh and blood cannot inherit that Kingdom:
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;... (I Corinthians 15:49-50)
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=================================================================================================================[/center]Although no one but the Father knows the exact date,
more can be said about the
timing of the Second Coming.
It is a sign... (Exodus 31:13)
It is a sign... (Exodus 31:17)
I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign... (Ezekiel 20:12)
The Sabbath, the seventh day of the calendar week, Saturday, is given to all mankind as a
sign. But a sign of what? What are we supposed to look for? A Sabbath is a period of rest following six previous equal periods of work. The periods are not always equal to a day:
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord. Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. (Leviticus 25:2-4)
The Sabbath defined for farmland is to sow and harvest the land for six years, then let it rest the seventh
year.
Today's Christians should be at
work spreading the gospel. Is there a period of rest coming for these Christians?
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:9-10)
There will be a period of rest for God's people according to the scriptures. This period of rest for Christians will be the millennium. The millennium is a thousand-year period in which our adversary Satan is imprisoned. Since Satan is locked away during this time,
it is truly a period of rest. So the millennium is a period of rest, or Sabbath, equal to a thousand years. However, a thousand years to God seems like only one of our days:
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, ... (II Peter 3:8)
For the millennium to be a Sabbath, it must have been
preceeded by six equal periods of work. Therefore, from the Genesis creation of man, we should have six one thousand year long periods of work before the millennium Sabbath begins. So the sign which the six-day Genesis recreation followed by the Sabbath day of rest points to is what we are living through presently! This is the age of man. Our age will be six thousand years of work, or six days to God since a thousand years is like one of our days, followed by a thousand years of rest which is the millennium Sabbath. It is a replica of the Genesis recreation![center]
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Justifyothers wrote:Is there a misunderstanding of scripture?
Not sure exactly what you are asking here, but in general scripture
is misunderstood. Incredibly, God placed the answers to man's every question in a book, then sealed the book from man's understanding:
And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot for it is sealed: (Isaiah 29:11)
When will the words of the book be unsealed:
But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. (Daniel 12:4)
And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. (Isaiah 29:18)
The words of the Bible are sealed until the time of the end. In this time of the end, shortly before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth, knowledge shall be increased and the scriptures shall be unsealed. Until that time, man is basically ignorant in regards to the scriptures!
King Soloman, one of the world's "wisest" men, may have come the closest to understanding the sealed scriptures. After a lifetime of seeking treasure, women, and whatever
appeared to bring him pleasure; Soloman reached this final conclusion of the whole matter of life:
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)