Are you ready?

The season of Advent is all about waiting, watching and preparing with many of us in overdrive getting ourselves ready for Christmas. Alongside preparing to celebrate Jesus’s coming as a vulnerable infant in Bethlehem, Advent also invites us to get ourselves ready for Jesus’s second coming as triumphant king.

While many of us are familiar with the Christmas story, we may feel a lot less confident about what the Bible teaches about Jesus’ Second Coming despite the fact that Jesus himself was at pains to emphasise the fact which was spoken about on numerous occasions in both Old and New Testament.

To compliment a mini-series on the Second Coming over 3 Sundays we have put together a set of daily Bible readings to provide a fuller account of what Jesus himself and the rest of the Bible has to say about this.

As we work our way through these readings there will be plenty to captivate our imagination and warm our hearts as well as other parts which we might find disturbing or leave us confused. So strap yourself in for an exhilarating ride. Don’t worry too much about trying to make sense of every single detail you read about but instead ask God to show you the main thrust of each passage, looking for the big recurring themes which keep coming up over the course of the 4 weeks.

Our prayer is that by the end of this season of Advent we will be ready for his Return joining with the New Testament writers in saying “Maranatha, Come, Lord Jesus”.

Week 1 - The Day of the Lord from Old Testament

 Isaiah 2:1-22
 Isaiah 11:1-16
 Isaiah 35:1-10
 Isaiah 65:17-25
 Daniel 7:1-14
 Micah 4:1-7
 Malachi 4:1-6

Week 2 - Jesus’ own references to his Second Coming

 Matthew 24:1-35
 Matthew 24:36-51
 Matthew 25:1-13
 Matthew 25:14-46
 Mark 13:1-37
 Luke 21:5-38
 John 14:1-14

Week 3 - References to Second Coming from the New Testament letters

 Romans 8: 18-39
 1 Corinthians 15:12-58
 2 Corinthians 5:1-10
 Philippians 3:1-21
 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 & 5:1-11
 2 Timothy 3:1-17 & 4:1-8
 Titus 2:1-15

Week 4 - References to Final judgment and the New Heaven & New Earth in the New Testament letters

 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17
 Hebrews 10:19-39
 2 Peter 3:1-18
 Jude 1-25
 Revelation 20:1-15
 Revelation 21:1-27
 Revelation 22:1-21

Resources

1. Message of the Second Coming by Steve Motyer. (320 pages, £NN)
This new volume (in the Bible Speaks Today series of commentaries) explores how the second coming of Christ is the cornerstone of authentic Biblical faith.

2. A New Heaven and a New Earth - Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology by J. Richard Middleton. (338 pages, £NN)
This unpacks key Old Testament and New Testament texts to make a case for the new earth as the appropriate Christian hope.

3. Heaven by Paul Mallard. (192 pages, £NN)
Answers common questions about heaven and provides glimpses of its glory, encouraging believers to find comfort, purpose and hope in the promise of eternity with Christ.

4. How will the world end? and other questions about the last things and the second coming of Christ by Jeramie Rinne (96 pages, £4)
A short, readable book that explains clearly and simply what the Bible says about Jesus' return and the end of the world

These books are available from church on Sundays, or from Christian bookshops like Oasis (Romsey), eden.co.uk or standrewsbookshop.co.uk They are also available as e-books for kindle etc.