The
Valley Between The Two Advents
John 16:16 “A little while, and ye shall
not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall
see me, because I go to the Father.
17
Then said some of his disciples among
themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A
little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a
little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go
to the Father?
18 They said
therefore, What is this that he saith, A little
while? we cannot tell what he saith.
19
Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him,
and said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves
of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see
me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?
20 Verily, verily, I say unto you,
That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall
rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow
shall be turned into joy.
21 A
woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because
her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of
the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for
joy that a man is born into the world.
22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I
will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice,
and your joy no man taketh from you.”
1. The Lamb & The King
2. The Son
Taken Up Into Heaven
3. The Valley Between
4.
Waiting For The Son
5. The King Returns
1. The Lamb & The King
The Book [The King James Bible] reveals that there are two comings [or advents] of Jesus Christ to the EARTH.
The First Coming [the First Advent] occurred in the 0000 A.D., when God took form of a servant as a man.
[Philippians 2:7] “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:” then, He lived a SINLESS life for thirty-three and half years, and then went to the cross: [Philippians 2:8] “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
The purpose of the First Advent of Jesus Christ was to come into the world to be the Lamb of God “which taketh away the sin of the world.” [John 1:29b]
This is the good news [GOSPEL]!
The GOSPEL, in a nutshell, is located in your Bible in the book of First Corinthians chapter fifteen, verses three and four. “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” [1 Corinthians 15:3-4].
The First Advent ended in 33 A.D. when Jesus Christ went back to HEAVEN.
The Second Coming [the Second Advent] of Jesus Christ is when HE comes back to the Earth as a Lion to rule as the King of kings in the millennial Kingdom of Heaven from Mount Zion in Jerusalem.
He came as a Lamb the first time. He comes as a Lion the second time.
[Revelation 5:5] “And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.”
[Revelation 17:14] “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called.”
2. The Son Taken Up Into Heaven
Verse sixteen: “A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.”
In a “little while” Jesus would be leaving His disciples. [This is in reference to the CROSS of Calvary.] HE would make His exit from this world by giving up the ghost after saying: “It is finished.” [John 19:30]
Then, Jesus would descend in “the lower parts of the earth” for three days and three nights to lead those in paradise to Heaven. [Ephesus 4:8-9] [Luke 23:43]
After which HE rises from the dead on the first day of the week, and shows “himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them [by his disciples] forty days.” [Acts 1:3]
The second reference to: “a little while” is that period of time [of forty days] between the Resurrection and the Ascension when He would appear to them.
The manner of Jesus Christ’s ascension to Heaven will be the same manner of Jesus Christ’s return to Earth at the end of the Great Tribulation.
Acts chapter one, verse eleven, tells us this. “Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” [Acts 1:11]
3. The Valley Between
Verse nineteen: “Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?”
In the distance [of time] the prophets of Israel could see from their perspective in the Old Testament what appeared to be one high mountain peak. What they could not discern though was that there were actually two mountain peaks, one perfectly behind the other.
The first peak was Mount Calvary.
The second peak was Mount Zion.
There is something else here. This meant they were totally unaware of the vast distance [in time] between the two mountain peaks.
More than this, between these two mountains was a vast valley hidden from their view.
Turn to First Peter chapter one, verse ten, and eleven, and we will read from there: "Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” [1 Peter 1:10-11]
Israel fastened on to that view of what they thought was one mountain as being the prophesied Kingdom of Heaven when Israel would be the greatest nation of the face of the earth.
Their lack of discernment between these two mountain peaks left the prophets with an incomplete knowledge, and left them blind to the intervening period of time of two thousand years, whereby God would make the Gentiles FELLOWHEIRS in the BODY of CHRIST – [Colossians 1:24] THE CHURCH. “That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:” [Ephesians 3:6].
This is called a mystery in Ephesians chapter one, verse nine. “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:” [Ephesians 1:9-10].
4. Waiting For The Son
Verse twenty: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.”
The LORD knows his disciples will have heavy hearts when He leaves to go to the Father, Who is in Heaven.
They would experience sorrow, and not only them but us. Why us?
We are not with our LORD and SAVIOR bodily YET.
We are WAITING!
• We are waiting for the redemption of our body. [Romans 8:23] “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”
We are waiting for the Son of God!
• We are waiting, through faith, for the great HOPE. Amen! [Galatians 5:5] “For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.”
We are waiting for the Son of God!
• We are waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ. [1 Corinthians 1:7] “So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This is the instruction for all those who come to Jesus Christ through FAITH in this age … the Age of Grace.
We are to WAIT for Jesus to come and deliver us from the wrath that is to come. [1 Thessalonians 1:10] “And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.”
Now, do you want to know something else, brethren? Waiting is not an easy thing for us. Am I right about this? Yet, that is exactly what we are called to do: we are called to WAIT PATIENTLY.
Let me read to you from Second Thessalonians chapter three, verse five to show you this: “And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.” [2 Thessalonians 3:5]
5. The King Returns
Verse twenty-one: “A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.”
The LORD is saying here, that when it is all said, and done, the sorrow His disciples experienced when He left to go back to the Father in Heaven [and we are ourselves experience today] will no longer be remembered when we see the LORD Jesus Christ face to face.
When the KING returns, HE will establish the Kingdom of Heaven on the Earth. That is a FACT! You do believe the BIBLE don’t you?
We see this IN ADVANCE in the book of Zechariah.
Turn to Zechariah chapter eight, verse three. “Thus saith the Lord; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the Lord of hosts.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.” [Zechariah 8:3-8]
Take comfort, friend, concerning these things to
come. Only I plead with you that you have personally
put your trust in Jesus Christ, and that you have
truly been BORN AGAIN, and saved by
the blood of the Lamb of God. Amen!