TOPIC: “THE COMING OF JESUS”!!!

TEXT:  1THESSALONIANS 4:13-17 & 1THESSALONIANS 5:1-11:

What is the “rapture” / “The coming of Jesus”:

I’ve heard preaching of the “rapture” for years.

Webster defines the word “rapture” as the state of being carried away with joy, love, etc; ecstasy.  Webster has a better understanding of “rapture” than most Christians.

At least Webster knows that you can be “carried away” with love, joy, etc, without sailing off anywhere for it to happen. 

Most Christians believe that in order to go and be where God is, they have to be “carried away” or “sail off” through the clouds, the atmosphere, stratosphere, with Jesus, to get to where God is.  But the truth of the matter is He is already with us.  

• Matthew 1:23: Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us!
• 2 Corinthians 6:16: What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?  For you are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them:  and I will be their God, and they shall be my people”!
• 1 John 4:4: Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

This is one of the scriptures “religious people” stand on: 

• 1Thessalonians 4:16-17: For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God:  and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:  and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
   

Jesus has already “descended” from heaven: 

• John 6:38: I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will; but the will of him that sent me.
• Ephesians 4:9-10: Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?  He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heaven, that he might fill all things.
• John 3:13: And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
  (Jesus’ “coming down from heaven” was not Him coming down through the clouds to earth.  His “coming down from heaven” was God putting on flesh in the physical body of Jesus or God becoming the “Man Jesus”):  St. John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God:  (Vs 14): And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.  [And He is still among us]!
• Matthew 1:23: Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, “God with us”!

WITH A SHOUT:  What shout?

Shout is from the root word “kel’euma”, meaning, “a cry of incitement” (to urge to action); rouse (stir up; excite; to wake).  It means “a call; summons; shout of command. 

• Matthew 28:19-20: Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:  and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.  Amen.
• Mark 16:15: And he said unto them, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature”!
• John 15:16: You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain:  that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

WITH THE VOICE OF THE ARCHANGEL (a chief [a leader; head] angel (messenger):

What “voice”? The phone’, which is a tone (meaning to articulate [made up of distinct sounds as speech; express oneself clearly; to utter or speak distinctly]; an address (for any purpose); saying or language; disclosure (appearing; taking off of the cover or making known the truth of God’s Word).

AND THE TRUMP OF GOD:

This “trump” here is not a musical instrument, but it is a “salpigx”, a voice:

• Revelation 1:10: I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet ; (Vs 11) saying I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.
• Revelation 4:1: After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven:  and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me;  which said, Come up here, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.
  This “trump” here is defined as “a voice”; a vibration or resounding or reverberation (reechoing).  Any time you see the prefix “re”, it means “to do or say again”.  An “echo” is a repetition or repeating of something already said.       
• Genesis 1:3: And God said, “Let there be light”. 
  This “light” in verse three here, was not pertaining to the day light hours of 24 hour day period (that light occurred the fourth day, if you want to get technical).  But this “light” in Genesis 1:3, was the light defined as “ore”, meaning, illumination or luminary.
  Illumination is to explain; inform; make clear; shine; fire; kindle arouse; excite.   
  Luminary is a body that gives off light; a famous or notable person; one that can enlighten mankind.
  Genesis 1:4: God saw the “light” that it was good.
  The “light” God saw that was good, was “luminaries” (male & female) in His image after His likeness with His “very mind” given to them so as to explain, inform, make clear to them just who God was in relation to them and who they were as and for God in the earth.  And these people (“luminaries”) were able to reproduce and bring forth other people in the image and after the likeness of God Himself!
  The very “ore” “fire” of God was kindled or ignited within them which aroused them to an excitement to know that in God they could have dominion over everything that lived and moved upon the earth by the command of God (Genesis 1:26-28). They had taken on the very “life” of God being made in His image after His likeness.
• St. John 1:-2: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The “same” (sons of God – us included) was in the beginning with God:  (Vs 14): And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.
• Vs 4: In him was life, and the life, was the light of men.

The “light” that was in operation then, is in operation for and in us today!  THE MIND OF GOD!  That’s why 1Corinthians 2:16 states: We have the mind of Christ!  Philippians 2:5: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God!

• Matthew 5:14: You are “the light” of the world:  a city set on a hill cannot be hid.
• 1Thessalonians 5:5: You are all the children of light, and the children of the day:  we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
• Luke 10:19: I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy:  and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
• Acts 1:8: You shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:  and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

He is here in us, walking in us, talking through us!  We are His hands, His feet!  We the Church is His Body in the earth that He does what He has to do through!

• 1Corinthians 12:12: As the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body:  so also is CHRIST!
• Ephesians 5:30: We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones!

We the sons of God now are to reecho or re-sound what the morning stars and sons of God was saying and preaching in the beginning:  that we, God’s people can have eternal life, divine health, perfect peace, right here and right now, because God has given dominion, authority, and power over all the power of the devil, through Christ Jesus!!!

• Luke 10:19: I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy:  and nothing shall by any means hurt you!

First of all Religion teaches that “when Jesus comes back”, as though He isn’t here now, He’s coming for a perfect church, and He’s going to take the “church” back with Him and the Holy Ghost too.  I’ve heard it sang in songs as well.

My question is, “How can that happen, when the majority of Christians don’t believe in perfection”?  They certainly don’t believe that a person can live “sin free”. 

Paul wrote in Ephesians 5 in relation to “family and church, husband and wife”, and he said it was also a “great mystery” concerning Christ and the church (vs 32). 

• Vs 25-27: Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing:  but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Spot is (“sin”) (that which is opposite perfection); [Numbers 28 – offerings to be observed]:

• Numbers 28:3: And thou shalt say unto them, This is the offering made by fire which you shall offer unto the LORD; two lambs of the first year without spot day by day, for a continual burnt offering.
  SPOT (ta’miym’) entire; integrity, truth:  without blemish; perfect; upright; whole; sincerely; complete; full; sound; undefiled / (tamam’) to complete, in a good or a bad sense, (as follows) consume; end; finished; clean; upright; spent; perfect; done; failed; accomplish; cease; come to the full; be all gone; be all here; sum; be wasted; whole. 
  [Tamam’, means to be complete, finished; perfect; spent, sound, used up, have integrity – that of being complete or finished, with nothing else expected or intended].

• Hebrews 9:14: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
   (Spot)(am’omos) unblemished:  without rebuke; without blame; unblameable; faultless; without fault.
• 1Peter 1:19: But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
• 2 Peter 3:14: Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
  (Spot): (as’pilos) unblemished (physically or morally): unspotted; unstained.

Wrinkle is {“confusion”}:

• Acts 19:29: And the whole city was filled with confusion:  and having caught Ga’ius and Aristar’chus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.
   (Confusion) (sug’chusis) commixture; riotous disturbance: / (sugche’o) to commingle; promiscuously, to throw (an assembly) into disorder; to perplex (the mind):  confound; stir up; be in an uproar.
• 1Corinthians 14:33: For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
   (Confusion) (akatastasi’a) instability; disorder:  commotion; tumult.
• Jas.3:16: For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

There is plenty of that going on in churches today!!!

And blemish is (“sickness”):

• Leviticus 21: 17-24 (priests with blemishes must not minister in the sanctuary):
  Blemishes is from the root word muwm-moom, meaning, to stain; a blemish (physical or moral); blot; spot.
• Numbers 29:2: And you shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savor unto the LORD; one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year without blemish.
  (Blemish) (ta’miym’) entire; integrity, truth:  without blemish; perfect; upright; whole; sincerely; complete; full; sound; undefiled / (tamam’) to complete, in a good or a bad sense, (as follows) consume; end; finished; clean; upright; spent; perfect; done; failed; accomplish; cease; come to the full; be all gone; be all here; sum; be wasted; whole.  [Tamam’, means to be complete, finished; perfect; spent, sound, used up, have integrity – that of being complete or finished, with nothing else expected or intended].
• Ephesians 5:27: That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing:  but that it should be holy and without blemish.
• 1Peter 1:19: But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

 This tells me that the church has to be “perfect” (entire; whole; sound; complete)!!  So for those that don’t believe that we can get “caught up” in Jesus now, and live a “perfect life, sin free, have the mind of Christ, and walk in divine health, conquer old age, death and the grave, now, while they’re alive, Jesus will never come back to get them!  They’re just sitting on “death row”, waiting for Jesus to come and get them and take them to where God is (religiously speaking)!

• 2 Corinthians 5:16: Wherefore henceforth (from here on) know we no man after the flesh:  yea though we have known Christ after the flesh, het now henceforth (from here on) know we him no more.
  WE MUST KNOW HIM NOW “BY THE SPIRIT”!

Hebrews 10:14: For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.

I’M ALREADY “CAUGHT UP” WITH JESUS, RIGHT HERE AND RIGHT NOW! 

• 1Thessalonians 4:16: For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout: 
  He’s already done that, is doing it, and forever will because He is doing it by the Spirit.  He has made His abode in us, His people, because we are His dwelling place, and what God does, He does it through His people:
• 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: What?  Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own?  For you are bought with a price:  therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
• 1 Corinthians 12:12: For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body:  so also is Christ.

Descend in this verse, 1 Thessalonians 4:16, is from the root word kataba’ino, meaning to come down or step down from a higher position to a lower position to fulfill a divine purpose. 

• John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God.  (Vs 14): And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.
• John 6:38: For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 
• 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:  (Vs 8): And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 
  [Jesus’ “coming down from heaven” was not Him coming down through the clouds out of the sky to earth, but moving out of the higher realms of “spiritual” elevation with the Father and putting on flesh to die as a man, to restore mankind back to God]!
  2Corinthians 5:19: To wit (know), that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

1Thessalonians 4:16: SHOUT is from the root word kel’euma, which is a cry of incitement (a call; summons; command). 

Did you not respond to His “call” and “summons” to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).

“With the voice of the archangel”:  [VOICE] is defined as phone’, meaning a disclosure or revealing of something made known that you didn’t know before; a tone; an address; saying or language. 

• Colossians 1:18: And he is the head of the body, the church: 
  So now, if He (Jesus) is the “the Head” of the body, the church, “and He is” – then why is the majority of Christians waiting for “the Head” to come back and get them?  If He is “up yonder” (in heaven), as “religion” preaches, then “the body” is “headless”.  But for those who know that He (Jesus) is here, we are already attached to Him, “the Head”!  These are the ones that “have gotten caught up” (or seized) into the revelation, and are already with Him, now! 
• 1Corinthians 6:17: He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

1Thessalonians 4:16:  “THE ARCHANGEL”:  the ag’gelos, messengers that bring good or glad tidings.  The “archangels” are those that are become “first-fruits” or “sons of God”!  Yes Jesus Himself has descended from heaven and He dwells in us, His body, the Church!  And He speaks through us His people! 

• 2 Corinthians 6:16: And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?  For you are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them:  and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

“AND WITH THE TRUMP OF GOD”:  the trump being the sal’pigx, or reverberation (reechoing; resounding; reproduction) of what the “morning stars” and “sons of God” were speaking and doing in the beginning before the fall of creation.  All they believed and spoke was “life”, walking in the dominion, authority, power, wisdom, understanding, and knowledge of the Most High God!  

The Adam race of people before the fall were walking and living in their “divinity” (perfect peace; eternal life; divine health; power; dominion; authority; divine wisdom, knowledge, understanding of God)– but the fall of creation placed them back into their “humanity” (misery; destruction; ignorance; darkness; death)! That’s what God requires of us now, to move out of that which pertains to “humanity” and live in that which pertains to His “divinity”!

1Thessalonians 4:17: Then we which are alive and remain SHALL BE CAUGHT UP TOGETHER WITH THEM IN THE CLOUDS, TO MEET THE Lord in the air:  and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

The word remain is from the root word perilei’po, meaning to leave all around, survive [outlive; outlast; escape (with one’s life); continue; persist; endure; abide].                                                                     Those of us that abide in Christ, and “escape the religious systems of men”:  

“shall be caught up”: (harpa’zo – be seized; take by force; pulled) by the Spirit into the revelation truths and mysteries of God Himself:

 “to meet the Lord”: (apan’tesis, meaning “to have a friendly encounter”):  and have a friendly encounter with the Lord: 

I’ve already “met the Lord in a friendly encounter”:  Romans 10:9-10: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

“in the air”:  (aer’ – meaning to breathe unconsciously; atmosphere [aura; environment]):  We become involved in and with God spiritually, mentally, and emotionally so, that we are literally breathing God, walking in the Spirit.  We must walk (live) in this “spiritual environment”.  

• Romans 8:6: To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

If we can get “caught up” in other things that we do, why can’t we be “caught up” with Jesus so much so now, until we literally become God in flesh form as Jesus was?  And with God being Jesus in flesh form did not at all remove God from His original position or state of being Spirit!

• St. John 4:24: God is a Spirit! 
  He always has been, is now, and always will be Spirit!  But He became flesh!
• St. John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God:  Vs 2: And the same (us) was in the beginning with God:  Vs 14: And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
• 1John 4:17: As he is, so are we, in this world!

The only place I’ve “sailed off to” or “is caught up” into is the “heavenlies”, now, which are higher realms of spiritual elevation, “thinking” with Christ’s mind, through the revelation knowledge of the Word of God revealed by the Holy Ghost!
That's why I preach and teach as revealed by God that Jesus "is come" and not "coming", because He is "here already" by the Spirit of the Living God!

1 John 4:1: Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God:  because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Vs 2: Hereby know you the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ "is come in the flesh" (not coming) is of God!

[Jesus' "coming in the flesh" is not Him coming out in the sky on a cloud, but it's His coming (manifestation; appearing; materializing) in you now]. [We already know He came as Mary's baby].

Vs 3: And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God:  and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come:  and even now already is it in the world.

• Ephesians 5:30: We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones!

God has delivered me from the religious systems of men!  Hallelujah!!  John 8:32: And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Luke 9:28-36 (in relation to Jesus’ transfiguration):  [Moses and Elias appeared and was talking with Jesus and when the disciples awoke and saw them, Peter said]:

• Verse 33: “Let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias”:  not knowing what he said.  (Vs 34) While he thus spoke, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them:  and they feared as they entered into the cloud. 
  [They were “caught up in a cloud” and didn’t sail off anywhere for it to happen; they were up in a “high place”, a “mountain”].
  (Vs 35) And there came a voice out of the cloud saying, “This is my beloved Son:  hear him”. 

The cloud of witnesses is not off “up in heaven”, “UP YONDER BEYOND THE BLUE” as religion preaches, but those witnesses are right here where we are, at our disposal, and God can dispatch them to come to our need (manifest or appear) as He chooses and as the need dictates.   

• Hebrew 12:1: Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
• Revelation 22:8-9: And I John saw these things, and heard them.  And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things.  Then saith he unto me, “See thou do it not:  for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book:  worship God”!
  [The one that spoke to John was a “prophet” that had been here before but was now ministering to John in the Spirit realm]!
  [Look at what John said in Revelation 1:10, when he heard the voice and got the vision]:
• I was “in the spirit” on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.
  The “Lord’s day” was not Sunday it could’ve been any other day as well because every day is the Lord’s Day!  Psalm 118:24: This is “the day” which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.  Truly, the Lord’s Day is “eternity”!

The “spirit realm” that we are compassed about with is just as real as the realm we are in. It’s just that we can’t see it with our naked eye!

• Hebrews 12:1: We are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses!

In relation to the “coming of Jesus”, one of the ways Jesus will COME to you is by revelation!  When a person realizes, and that they are Christ’s body, His flesh, and His bones, as stated in Ephesians 5:30, that’s them “coming to themselves”, or Jesus Christ’s coming (manifestation; appearing) to them individually!!!  His APPEARANCE is also when He appears in His people as Jehovah Jireh.  When you have a need, He will meet that need through “somebody”!  That’s Jesus “coming” to your rescue.

Jesus’ coming to us is not all the time in a “glorious” way.  Sometimes He will come to us through “enemies”!   

• Exodus 1-8 (Israel taken captive by the Egyptians and later delivered):                                 Exodus 9:16: [God speaking in relation to Pharaoh]: Vs 16: And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up for to show in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.

Someone will say, “Well, Jesus said that He was going to prepare a place for us”.  I’m glad you said that.  HE DID GO AND PREPARE A PLACE FOR US – LET ME EXPLAIN. 

• John 14:1-3: Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father’s house are many mansions (dwelling places): 
  [You are God’s “mansion” (dwelling place), and He dwells in your hands, to lay them on the sick and they recover; you are His eye; His ears; His mouthpiece; His feet that carries Him wherever He needs to go]! 
• If it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also.  

This word “place” is defined from the word top’os, meaning a spot (a location); and the “place” He prepared is not off beyond the blue, but “within His own body that is called “Christ’s Body”, which is “the Church”!  Get this:  JESUS was God’s Body, the body He chose to suffer and die in!  The house He (Jesus) was living in when He made this statement in John 14, He knew that He wouldn’t be living in it too much longer.  So He had to prepare (provide) “another body” or “place” in “His house” which is “CHRIST’S BODY”, for all to dwell.  Christ’s Body or the Church, is “the Body” that God has chosen to be glorified in!!  So He made “the Church” (the ecclesi’a) the dwelling place of God, which is in us!  The “place” Jesus prepared was a place for your dwelling place which was within Himself!!

• 1 Corinthians 12:12: For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body:  so also is CHRIST!!
•  Vs 27: Now you are the “body of CHRIST”, and members in particular. Now we are IN HIM!
• Ephesians 5:30: We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones!

Revelation 21:3: And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God.

And in this place (the Church) He has prepared His Body which we are, He has given us dominion, authority, and power, by the Holy Ghost!

• Luke 10:19: Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy:  and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 
• Acts 1:8: But you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:  and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

1 John 3:2: Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:  but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him:  for we shall see him as he is.

“When he shall appear” – doesn’t mean out in the sky – but when He is seen in His people.  For when He is seen in His people – “we are seeing Him as He is”, meaning, “in flesh form”!  Because that’s Him appearing to you in “somebody” to meet you at your point of need.  1 John 4:17: As he is, so are we in this world.

(Acts 9:1-5):  Saul was one of the persecutors of “the church”:  Look at what Jesus said to Saul:

• Vs 3-4: And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus:  and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:  and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, “Saul, Saul, why persecutesT thou me”? 
  [Saul was “persecuting the church”, and Jesus said to him, Why persecutes thou ME]!! 
  Vs 5: And he said, “Who art thou, Lord”?  And the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest”.

If that’s not proof that we (the church) are Him in the earth, nothing else will!

Ephesians 5:30: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

When I see you, His people, I see Him.  And if I don’t leave out of my house, I can still see Him, because all I have to do is look in the mirror.

• Ephesians 1:17-18: That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:  the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.

Someone said, “But the scripture said Jesus shall appear the second time, so if He’s already here Preacher, when will He appear the second time?  I said, “I’m glad you asked”!

The scripture does say that He shall appear the second time, but Jesus has already appeared “the second time”! 

• Hebrews 9:28: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time “without sin unto salvation”.

In Jesus’ “first coming”, He came to deal with sin (via the cross)!  His appearance the “second time” was by the Spirit, to deliver us from death and all the curses that sin brought upon us, those that would believe and receive Him (after His resurrection)!

The word “look” is the root word apekdech’omai, meaning “to expect fully”, “wait for”.  But it goes to another root word ekdech’omai, meaning “to accept from some source, in relation “to await; expect”.  This “looking for Jesus” is not standing gazing up in the sky, but it is “a reaching out in readiness of mind with full expectancy to receive or accept from some source” (a son of God) that God will send with the kingdom message and the hearer taking hold of that revelation truth of the Word of God that will destroy yokes, remove burdens, and set the captive free!!!

• Matthew 5:6: Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:  for they shall be filled!

The revelation of Jesus’s second coming is in the last four words of this verse in Hebrews 9:28: “Without sin unto salvation”!

• Isaiah 7:14: Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
• Isaiah 9:6: For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given:  and the government shall be upon his shoulder:  and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
• Matthew 1:21: And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS:  for he shall save his people from their sins.
• Vs 23: Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

So Jesus’ first appearance was when the Virgin Mary brought Him forth as her baby, but He was “the Son of God”.  “Unto us a child is born”!  Mary, His mother, gave birth to Him.  This was Jesus’ physical coming as Mary’s baby.

 In Jesus’ “first coming”, He came to deal with sin (via the cross)! 

• Luke 1:26-35: (the birth of Jesus foretold):  Vs 30-32: And the angel Gabriel said unto her, “Fear not Mary:  for thou hast found favor with God.  And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.  He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest:
  Vs 35: And the angel said unto her, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee:  therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God”!
• Luke 2:34-35: And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

But in relation to Jesus’ second coming, it is a “spiritual coming, by the Spirit”! It was His Father that “gave Him” on the Cross as the “Lamb slain” from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8), to be the Savior of the world!  “Unto us a Son is given”! 

• St. Matthew 1:21: “For He shall save His people from their sins”!

His appearance the “second time” was by the Spirit, to deliver us from death and all the curses that sin brought upon us, those that would believe and receive Him (after His resurrection)!

In order for Jesus to deliver us from our sins, He Himself had to be “sinless”!  And that He was!

• 2 Corinthians 5:21: For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
• Hebrews 9:13-14: For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

 After the crucifixion of Jesus and His resurrection, the only way He “appeared” after that was by Spirit!  Because God was through with Jesus’ body as it was when it was nailed to the Cross!  He got it up “another body” – “the Body of Christ”!!!

• Romans 12:5: We, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one, members one of another.

• 1 Corinthians 12:12: For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many are one body:  so also is CHRIST!

• Ephesians 5:30: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

Our relationship with God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son now, is by the Spirit of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit which is in us.

• John 4:24: God is a Spirit:  and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
• Romans 10:9-10: If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
• 1 Corinthians 6:17: He that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit!

• Hebrews 11:6: But without faith it is impossible to please him:  for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Jesus’ “appearing” (being present; manifestation; materialization) to us is by revelation knowledge of who He is in us individually and recognizing His collective Body, the Church, as God’s agents and ambassadors in the earth! 

So for those sitting waiting for Him to “appear on a cloud”, it won’t happen, because the scripture lets us know that He “appears IN clouds”:

• Matthew 24:30: And then shall appear the “sign” of the Son of man in heaven:  and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming IN the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
•  Matthew 26:64: (Jesus speaking to Caiaphas the high priest):  Vs 64: Jesus saith unto him, “Thou hast said:  nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall you see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming IN the clouds of heaven”.
• Mark 13:26: And then shall they see the Son of man coming IN the clouds with great power and glory.
• Jude 12: (Jude is speaking of the doom of false teachers):  Vs 12: These are spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear:  “clouds they are without water (words of life), carried about of winds” (doctrines of men – and not what the Holy Ghost teaches)!
• Revelation 1:7: Behold, he comes WITH clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him:  and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.  Even so Amen.
  [WITH:  (in the company of; in; at the same time as; in union or united with)].                                        On the day of Pentecost, the “clouds” arrived with the power of God pouring out of them!   Acts 2:5 Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven was there, including Caiaphas the high priest that Jesus told that he would see this in Matthew 26:64, and those that pierced him.  And Peter’s Pentecostal sermon was so powerful, Acts 2:37-38, those whose hearts were pricked that heard the Word of God said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, “What shall we do”?  Then Peter said unto them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”.  Vs 41:  Then they that gladly received his word were baptized:  and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
  The “glory clouds” rained on God’s people that day and three thousand souls were added to Christ’s Body!!!
  God still have some “glory cloud’s” carrying the water of life and “raining” upon His people, refreshing their earth’s (spirit, soul, mind, and body) and bringing them into eternal life for the glory of God with the revelation of the Kingdom message!

2 Corinthians 5:14-15: For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:  and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

Vs 16: Wherefore henceforth (from hereon) know we no man after the flesh:  yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth (from hereon) know we him no more! 

We must return to the “Spirit fellowship” with our Heavenly Father, for this is the only way we can have true fellowship with Him – God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, who are One in the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost is in us and we are all One!

So get “caught up” in Christ now!  You don’t have to wait for this to happen, allow the power of God to seize or take hold of you right now and allow God to work His perfect will in you for His glory right here and right now!!!

Pastor Gracie Perry