Derek Prince - Jesus' Second Coming
This excerpt is from: How Should We Prepare For His Appearing?
I want to recapitulate briefly what I said last night, because I want to build on that for tonight’s message. Those of you who hear my radio teaching regularly will have noticed that recapitulation is part of my teaching. My aim is to teach, you see? Somebody said once, that nothing has been taught, until something has been learned. And that's a challenging statement. Because I don’t judge what I’ve taught by what I’ve said, but by what people have gathered and taken away for themselves. I was for 5 years a principal of a teacher training college for African teachers in East Africa. And one of the principles we inculcated into our teachers is that recapitulation is an essential part of good teaching. So I make no apology; I’m going to recapitulate briefly the theme of my message.
How many of you were here last night? I’d be interested to know, well that's wonderful! Good to see you back, and welcome to those who are here for the first time. My basic text last night was really 2 Timothy 4:8, where Paul is writing near the close of his life from prison to Timothy. And he says: Finally there is laid up for me the crown, or the wreath, of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day. And not to me only, but also to all who have loved His appearing. I pointed out that that verse indicates that within the total body of Christ, the Lord recognizes a special group. And this group is marked out by the fact that they have loved His appearing, or in the NIV version, that they are longing for the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. And for that special group, God has a special honor. Which is the crown or the wreath of righteousness.
Now I’m very careful about speaking about special groups within the body. Because I think sometimes special groups can become special problems. But here is something that the Word of God actually authenticates. God looks all through the body of Christ and He says: There’s a sister that’s longing for my appearing. There’s a brother that’s longing for my appearing. And He says to the angels, or whoever is responsible for this part of the administration of heaven: Be sure to prepare for them a crown of righteousness. Well, this became very real to me to the point where I had to examine my own life as to whether I was qualifying for that crown of righteousness. So this is not primarily a message I’m aiming at other people. It’s a message I’ve applied to myself. And I invite you to apply it to yourself. I can’t force you to apply it. I can just make it possible for you to do so.
In my teaching yesterday evening, I analyzed four Biblical reasons why every Christian should be longing for the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. I will briefly recapitulate them. And then I will turn to the theme of my message tonight. Reason number one. The appearing of Jesus in glory, will bring about the consummation of our personal salvation. Which is the transformation of our physical body into the likeness of His glorious body. And I pointed out a number of Scriptures which clearly indicate that our personal salvation is not complete, until we are equipped with our resurrection body. Secondly, the appearing of the Lord Jesus will bring about the final consummation of our union. Both with Jesus as our bridegroom in the marriage supper, and with one another. And Paul says in that connection: So shall we be ever with the Lord. After that, no more separation. Total, wonderful union throughout eternal ages.
Thirdly, I suggested to you that the establishment of Messiah's kingdom, which will be brought about by the personal appearing of the Messiah Jesus, is the only hope for suffering humanity as a whole. Nothing else will terminate the awful plagues of war, oppression, famine, sickness, poverty and strife. That’s my conviction. And I believe I gave you a number of Scriptures that substantiate that. Fourthly, which takes us beyond our own personal interests. Only at the appearing of the Lord Jesus and the redemption of the believers bodies, will creation be released from the bondage of corruption. Which was brought upon it by the fall of man.
Now, if you were not here last night, you may find that that a little puzzling. But, one thing you can do, is obtain the tape from last night. I don’t have time to go into that again. And it’s a field that the average contemporary Christian has given comparatively little thought to. But it’s very real, very scriptural. Now tonight I’m going to go on and apply this in a very practical way. I am going to say to you, if we are truly longing for Christ's appearing, what will we do about it? How will it show in the way we live? What will be its practical outworking in our daily lives? And I’m going to suggest to you four or maybe five different ways in which it will cause us to live lives that are different from those of people who are not eagerly awaiting the appearing of Jesus.
First of all, it will cause us to cultivate personal holiness. I think that’s very important. I pointed out last night, but I can say it again. As you read the New Testament, I believe you will find that the greatest, single motivation, offered by the apostles, for holiness of life, is the anticipation of the Lord’s return. And my personal conviction and observation is that where Christians are not living in eager anticipation of the Lord’s return, the standard of holiness in those Christians is below that of the New Testament. I’m going to give you four powerful Scriptures. I don’t want to dwell on any of them. I think really, they speak for themselves. I think you’ll see in every one of these Scriptures: it’s the anticipation of the Lord’s return that is the basic motive for true holiness.
We’ll turn, first of all, to Titus 2:11-14. Now I read this last night, but it doesn’t do any harm to read it again. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present age I pointed out last night that grace is free, but it’s not cheap. We can’t do anything to earn it, but when we receive it, it places obligations upon us. And one of the things it does, is teach us that we must live a certain kind of life. This is a demand of grace. That we live soberly, righteously and godly in this present age. And then the great motive is stated in the next verse. Looking for the blessed hope, and the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ.
What is the motivation for holiness? It’s the anticipation of the appearing of the Lord Jesus. And then it says concerning Him: He gave himself for us in sacrifice on the cross, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed. And purify himself His own special people, zealous for good works. So the redeemed of the Lord are a special kind of people, who are marked out by the fact that they are zealous for good works. They’re eager to do their best in every area of life.