Good morning! Today we are going to talk about living between 2 advent, the 1st coming and 2nd coming of Jesus Christ into the world, and how we are to live in that space. This morning is in no way to detract from the joy and significance of His first coming but to give us a greater and deeper appreciation for all that come about from His birth.

On the day Jesus was born, the angel said, “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy...Today a Savior has been born to you.” We have great joy, BECAUSE our Savior has been born! Yet the BIRTH of Jesus only BEGAN the work of our salvation. His birth lead to His sinless life, his death and resurrection, all things necessary for our salvation. But the full glorious outcome of our salvation will happen when Jesus comes the second time!  Heb. 9:28 “Christ will appear a SECOND time, NOT to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”  That implies there is something yet to happen for our salvation. 

The birth of Jesus brings “The thrill of hope”! We have that!  But the second advent brings the FULFILLMENT of that hope. We have great joy, BECAUSE His birth set events in motion that would save us from the hopeless misery of our sin and alienation from God. We ALSO have great joy because His birth came with the promise of a new world, a world no longer under the curse, a world without tears. It came with the promise of peace on earth under the reign of Christ. The hopes and dreams stirred by his birth will be ultimately fulfilled when Jesus appears again.  

**Today we’re going to look at the reality of living between the birth of Jesus and the second coming of Jesus. Many Christians live defeated and disillusioned lives, because they do NOT understand the times in which we live. 

We celebrate and rejoice in the birth of Christ and the salvation he brought us. We live with the joy of our sins forgiven, the joy of acceptance, and adoption, with the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit. We see goodness, blessing mercies every day! And yet...We yearn, we groan, we wait for more! We live in the tension of having salvation, but not having ALL of it, yet! 

If you expect circumstances to be picture perfect and you get easily angered or frustrated when things go wrong, (whether at work, or with a project at home, or with anything) you are demanding something from this life that just isn’t there YET!

Cindy would brush off many problems by saying, “Well this isn’t heaven yet”. That was her way of having peace in our present imperfection. It was also her way of turning everyday disappointments into an eager expectation of heaven, where things WILL be perfect. Nobody wanted things more perfect than Cindy, but she wasn’t a grumpy perfectionist, because she understood that what we are all longing for, isn’t here yet. 

We’ve been studying this small group of afflicted believers at Thessalonica.  Their experience of persecution was MUCH more severe than ours, but nevertheless, we are in the SAME general situation. We are people STILL under pressure. Still experiencing opposition. Still weeping at times. STILL experiencing disappointment and death.

BUT we wait WITH joy!  Paul told the Thessalonians to “rejoice always”!  We have joy in our present distress because Christ HAS come! Our salvation IS fully underway! We have joy because our salvation will culminate in the full and final release of all our suffering and pain and death, when Jesus comes again. And so we wait, with joy and anticipation! 

The Thessalonians “turned from idols to serve the living God and to WAIT for His Son from heaven”. Their eyes were on the glories of second advent of Jesus Christ. Paul taught them to live that way! Paul saw the second Advent to be the total final answer to life!  It’s the ONE comfort he gave them in their SEVERE affliction. 

He could have just said “Stay positive”, there’s a silver lining in every cloud.” Or something like that! But his answer for them was, “Jesus is coming again from heaven to give you relief from your enemies and to glorify you!”  He gave them the solid truth of Jesus, coming again, as their reason for joy and hope.

One commentator said there is a one word answer to suffering and evil. The one word answer is WAIT. Wait for God’s justice and glory to be revealed! That’s how we cope with suffering, death, hostility towards Jesus, and the evil pressing upon us. We Wait for His Son to come from Heaven!  It’s not the only thing we do but it is the main thing we do. 

It’s important to connect the two advents because we have two comings but One Savior!  The same Jesus born in a manger is coming again in glory with His mighty angels. And He’s got the power to judge and the power to save! 

One pastor said, “We can domesticate the first advent because Christmas is about babies and we know about babies and we figure out how to manage Christmas so that the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay doesn’t scare anybody.” The coming of Jesus as a baby IS a precious thing! We should focus on that. There is something sweet, beautiful, and absolutely astonishing about the God of the universe stepping into our world as a baby!  But we also need to see Jesus fully revealed when he comes again.

His second coming is necessary to fulfill the goal of His first coming. All that God purposed in the birth of Jesus and will be consummated when he comes again!  We see this perhaps best in the prophets. They saw His birth, they also saw Christ as Ruler of nations, Christ as Conquering King AND Judge, often all rolled into one prophecy. 

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders.. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.”  Isaiah 9:6 

The verses right before this describe the present, as a time of war, and gloom, and despair.  But in that prophecy God shatters his enemies and ushers in a day of incredible joy and eternal peace. “FOR unto us a child is born”. This great victory over their enemies is going to happen because a child is born. The child to be born is the answer to conflict, sin, gloom and despair. The fulfillment BEGINS with his birth! It will have COMPLETE fulfillment when he comes again. 

His universal government of peace and righteousness will be established on earth forever and ever. Those who reject Him will be judged, the saints will be resurrected and glorified. The earth will be made new. Tears, sorrow, death and sadness will no longer be a part of our lives!

Randy Alcorn said, “Misery has an expiration date. Happiness is never-ending.” That is SO true for believers!  The joy and peace that began at the birth of Jesus and will break forth in fullness when he comes again!  Isaiah 55:11 “Those the Lord has rescued will return!...Everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”  The expiration date for all sorrow, for believers, is the day Christ appears from heaven.

******

Well here in 2 Thess. 1 we are given an awesome description of that day! We see a mighty and victorious Christ coming in Majestic glory, dealing out retribution on his enemies, and bringing relief and glory for those who believe. 

Verse 6 “God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us.”  (This will take place) when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus….when He comes on that day to be glorified in His saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed.”  

The second coming is God without disguise! All will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with power and great glory!But there is two elements of that day, judgment and salvation.

Nearly all the prophecies about Jesus’s birth, bring in both this strong element of the judgment of God’s enemies, AND salvation and safety for God’s people. 

In her song, Mary sees in the birth of her Son, God’s mercy to those who fear him, BUT the scattering of the proud (whose hearts are lifted up against the Lord). She proclaims God bringing the rulers of the earth down from their thrones, and the exalting of the humble. Mary sings of the future when, God’s justice will be fully realized through her Son Jesus!

Speaking about the birth of Jesus, Zechariah said, Luke 1:69-74 “He has raised up a horn of salvation for us.. Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us. To show mercy to our fathers. To grant deliverance from hostile hands. That we may serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives.”  

This sounds a lot like 2 Thessalonians 1! There actually ARE enemies of God and God’s message. There IS hostility toward Jesus and of those who follow Jesus. Thessalonians knew it! I think it is spiritually naive to NOT see the underlying vicious hatred for God’s Son and God’s laws!  I believe if wicked men were unrestrained today we would be fleeing for our lives. (right here in Ankeny)  

But Jesus will come back with His mighty angels in flaming fire, Verse 6 “to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted”. 

Paul told the Thessalonians this to encourage them! When there is a mob outside, beating down your door, trying to attack you and drag you out into the street, threatening your life and your wife and kids, it’s always good to know that God is on your side, and that God will be faithful to vindicate you and deal with your persecutors. 

We don’t serve a weak God or a weak Lord Jesus! We serve a God who WILL save from our adversaries. He has the power AND the will to impose peace on earth. 

Isaiah 35:4-6 Say to those with anxious hearts: “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance. With divine retribution He will come to save you.”  Essentially Paul’s message to them and to us is “Hold Fast—Help is on the way.  When it seems all hell is breaking lose, Jesus is coming to save the day!” So wait, hope, and do not fear!

*And Paul makes the point in verse 6 that “God is just to repay with affliction those who afflict you.”  

God will repay all evil because it is the right thing to do. They do not believe, they refuse to obey the gospel, they do not know God. And on top of that they were making life miserable for Christians. Walter Martin said, “We preach Jesus and the gospel of grace and love. But if they will not have it, they will receive the justice of God.”  It’s grace and love OR it is Jesus Christ dealing out retribution. 

Verse 9 “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might”  The essence of judgment will be eternal separation from the presence and glory of God.” Revelation emphasizes that those who love falsehood, the unbelievers,  the immoral, and all liars will NOT enter the New Heavens and Earth.   Whatever else Hell is, it is being excluded from the eternal joy of being with God forever and ever. 

                                   **********

But the second advent will be completely the opposite for believers. A day of unspeakable glory for us. Verse 10 (This will happen) WHEN he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.” 

HE will be glorified IN his saints. What an astonishing thing! Not only will you SEE Christ’s glory, his glory will be IN you. When we see him we will be like him. We will share his glory. Spurgeon “Every saint will be a wonder to himself, ‘I thought my (joy) would be great but not like this… How glorious is my Lord, who has (performed) this miracle upon me?’” IE you will be so full of glory that you will find it difficult to believe that it is really you.

And we will see the glory of Christ in each other! Spurgeon again: “The saints will also admire Christ in one another… You will be free from all envy there, and therefore you will rejoice in all the beauty of your fellow saints… You will see the Lord in all your brothers (and sisters), and this will make you praise and adore Him with a perpetual amazement and ever growing delight.”

Alexander Maclaren “He makes us glorious by imparting to (us) the brilliant light and the flashing beauty of his own perfect character. Then His glorious light streaming out from our redeemed (bodies) will result in praise and glory to Jesus Christ before the whole universe.”  And all this Paul said, “because our testimony to you was believed!”

*And we will be stunned by the power and glory the Lord Jesus Himself! “The Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.”  Paul calls it the day “When Christ comes to be marveled at among all who have believed.” Or When “He comes to be regarded with wonder.”  Just like lightning flashes from the east to the west so will the coming of the Son of Man be. What an awesome display of glory heaven will put on when Jesus comes!  

Our hearts will be filled with wonder, stunned by his beauty and power!  We will marvel at the sight of Him, like nothing we have ever seen in our lives.  No mountain or no sunrise, no ocean or grand canyon has ever inspired wonder in anybody like the coming of our Lord will inspire in those those who love him!

So what do we do with this now?

*We rejoice!  We have a Savior who has come! A Savior who WILL save us from the wrath to come. A Savior who will glorify US with Himself. Our joy and celebration should be unrestrained at Christmas, looking back. And we should have even more joy and anticipation looking for his coming again. 

*Second: We eagerly wait! We desire this! We long for this. With Paul, we say “Maranatha!” Come Lord Jesus! The Spirit and the Bride say come! That is our present disposition! “Come” Peter said, “Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world!”

*Third: We live with a realism that this isn’t heaven yet.  We are prepared for suffering and hostility, realizing we are called to that in this present age. We suffer with Jesus that we may be glorified with him.  We are not angry or bitter or disillusioned by our present difficulties. We understand we live between two advents. We of all people should not be baffled by hard things. Because we understand the times. 

*Finally: We live like we are destined for glory.   Verse 11 Because of all this, “we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling”. The application is look at what you have been called to!  Look at the glorious future ahead of you.  May God enable you to live in a way that is consistent with that!  Because you know you are destined for glory you are to live like a person who knows that!  We know deep down inside of us that we are bound for glory. So we don’t live with out tale between our legs or beat down, or with this sense of hopelessness or defeat.    

And “May God fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, SO THAT the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”  

Live godly, holy, loving lives filled with good deeds so that the name of Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him. This is our life ambition as we wait for Jesus to come.