The Return of Christ: An Eschatological Study
Introduction
The term “eschatology” comes from the Greek eschatos, meaning “last,” and logos, meaning “subject matter.”[i] Therefore, eschatology is the doctrinal study of prophetic events in this present age that will be fulfilled in the last days leading up to the return of Christ. It also includes events that will occur in the age to come after Christ’s return, including the Millennium, the final “great white throne of judgment,” the New Jerusalem, and the new heaven and earth. Prophecy in this study deals with predicted future events given to Israel, many of which were fulfilled at Christ’s First Advent, and all remaining predictions that will be fulfilled at His Second Advent. We read in Daniel, “Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city… To seal up vision and prophecy…” (Daniel 9:24, NKJV).[ii] When the One who was predicted to come, Jesus, has returned to dwell with His people, there is no longer a need for predictions. All predictions will have been fulfilled, and all visions and prophecies will be sealed forever.
Some scholars consider “all the days since Pentecost” to be the “last days,” given that Peter declared Joel’s prophecy on that day, saying, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh” (Acts 2:17).[iii] And the Apostle Jon said, “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18). There is a degree of truth about this position as the church has been given a deposit of the Holy Spirit and already enjoys certain limited powers of the Kingdom.[iv]
As the return of Christ is imminent, every moment is, in a sense, eschatological.[v] The writer of Hebrews declared, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds” (Hebrews 1:1-2). Additionally, Satan and the spirit of the Antichrist are alive and at work in this world, continually resisting the work of the saints and the advancement of God’s Kingdom.[vi] This study will primarily focus on the eschatological signs of the Lord’s second coming, particularly events related to the reestablishment and restoration of the nation of Israel, God’s Hebrew calendar, and His appointed holy convocations that serve as prophetic time markers for the return of Christ.
The Second Coming of Christ
The second coming of Christ, the Second Advent, is the church's most anticipated event since the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. The return of Jesus is mentioned more than one hundred times in the New Testament, on average, once every twenty-five verses and eight times more frequently than in the First Advent.[vii] Entire books and chapters are devoted to this topic, and the hope of Jesus’ return is connected to two ordinances of the church: His command to make disciples of all nations and the observance of the Lord's supper.[viii]
While there are differing opinions about when Jesus will return and what His Kingdom will look like, there is no argument that He is indeed returning; this is a universally accepted belief by every Christian tradition and denomination.[ix] As the angels declared on the Day of Ascension, “This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). This truth should bring hope to every Christian. It should motivate us to brotherly love and live a Christian life honoring our Lord, for holiness, to faithfully meet for prayer and worship, for Christian service, to have a burden for lost souls, and for providing and receiving comfort in times of trial and grief.[x] The return of Christ is so important; it is called “the blessed hope.”[xi]
The return of Christ will be literal, personal, visible, and, most significantly, imminent.[xii] The imminence of Christ’s return cannot be overstated, yet it has caused much confusion in the church about the order of eschatological events, including the rapture. While Jesus said that no man knows the day or the hour of His return, not even the Son or the angels in heaven, He admonished the church to be watching with hopeful and eager expectation for this to occur.[xiii] In all three synoptic Gospels and Revelation (Paul and Peter providing further admonition in their epistles), we must be watching for Christ to return at all moments. We read:
“Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning—lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!” (Mark 13:33-37). [xiv]
The undeniable command is the church must constantly be ready, watching, and anticipating the imminent return of our Lord. More than fifty references in the New Testament urge Christians to be prepared for the Lord’s return.[xv] It will be sudden without any indication or warning. As Jesus said, He is coming like a thief in the night. This does not infer that Jesus will necessarily come in the night. He also said He could come in the evening, at midnight, at the rooster's crowing, or in the morning.[xvi] Only our Heavenly Father knows the day and the hour.
Scripture tells us that the world will be asleep when Jesus returns.[xvii] Our posture is to be one of waiting on the Lord, and we are warned not to be found sleeping, as in spiritually slumbering. Jesus gave a parable of ten virgins who took their lamps to go out and meet the bridegroom. All had lamps with trimmed wicks. We read, “While the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept” (Matthew 25:5). Only five had oil, and a lamp without oil cannot burn or emit any light. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).
While there is no prophecy marking the precise time for the return of Christ, Paul admonished the church, saying, “You, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:4-6). Even though no man knows the day or the hour, Jesus said the church should recognize the season. He said, “So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near” (Luke 21:31).
The disciples likely believed that Jesus was returning either in their lifetime or a near-future generation. So they asked Him, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3). Jesus told His disciples of many things that would happen before His return, providing explicit, primary signs that would occur, such as false prophets and teachers, wars and rumors of wars, famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. Jesus also gave inferential, secondary signs indicating these events would create the conditions for and precede the explicit signs, such as increasing lawlessness that would cause the love of many to grow cold.[xviii]
A significant inferential sign was the awakening of the Jewish people to return to the land of their ancestral homeland, beginning in the late 1800s and culminating in the rebirth of Israel in 1948.[xix] Other geopolitical inferential signs include Russia's return to power after its fall in 1989, its recent alignment with Turkey and Iran against Israel, and the rise of China and its scriptural reference to the armies of the kings of the east who will siege Jerusalem and war against the Lamb of God.[xx] We already see the world, with many nations uniting against the God of Israel and the Jewish people through skyrocketing antisemitism, another inferential sign.
There are numerous global initiatives already in motion. Some are spiritual, others political or social, but the financial ones are the most compelling. These global initiatives are forming a complex, interconnected web of radical changes that would take volumes to describe. These will culminate with the Antichrist's rise to power and the mark of the beast. This explicit sign would be preceded by a global economic and political system exerting total control over the world’s population.
Paul said, “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him… for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4). Here, Paul affirms that the return of Christ would be marked by the inferential sign of increasing lawlessness followed by the explicit sign of the revealing of the Antichrist, the son of perdition who will lead the world away from God.[xxi]
Paul further says, “Now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:6-8). The clear implication is that God will remove His restraint against Satan, allowing for great deception and strong delusion to consume the earth with judgment against all who are unbelieving and unrepentant. We read, “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).
Still, Jesus told His disciples the end was not yet, and He gave a parable that spoke of the lord coming back after a long time to settle accounts with his servants.[xxii] We read, “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them” (Matthew 25:19).[xxiii] Peter affirmed this, saying, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:8-9). Despite this assurance, skeptics and scoffers have arisen in every generation, saying things such as, “There have been many wars, earthquakes, famines, and pandemics, and Jesus did not come.”[xxiv]
Jesus declared that the end would come when the Gospel of the kingdom is preached over the world as a witness to all nations.[xxv] And He said, “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work” (John 9:4). His words not only infer the imminence of His return and the tribulation coming like a flood, but He indicated that His work of salvation through the church would cease when this great time of judgment, the Day of the Lord came, and sudden darkness would consume the earth.
Peter inferred that the church could hasten the coming day and that, to an extent, the return of Christ is contingent upon the church fulfilling the great commission.[xxvi] God is more concerned with the salvation of humanity than He is with fulfilling any fixed timeline. And yet, God does have a timeframe concerning Israel. Paul said, “I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (Romans 11:25).
Jesus spoke figuratively of a fig tree representing Israel, which He initially cursed for its barren condition, allegorically showing that much of Israel was devoid of faith, producing no fruit for God’s Kingdom.[xxvii] Later, He said to His disciples, “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place” (Matthew 24:32-34). The implication here is that Israel would one day begin to have faith in and trust God, another inferential sign that the return of Jesus was very near. The explicit sign of Israel’s rebirth in 1948, beginning as a spiritual awakening in the late 1800s after nearly two thousand years of exile, was that the Jewish people had returned to the land God had promised them.[xxviii] Thus, Israel is the time clock of God’s prophetic calendar and the key to understanding latter-day events that point to the imminent return of Christ.
Some scholars reject the idea of imminency. However, the Apostolic Fathers believed in the sudden return of Christ, calling it “imminent intratribulationism.”[xxix] Evidence is found in noncanonical writings, such as The Didache, the Epistle of Barnabas, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the writings of Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch.[xxx] The Shepherd of Hermas reads in part as follows:
“You have escaped from great tribulation on account of your faith, and because you did not doubt in the presence of such a beast. Go, therefore, and tell the elect of the Lord His mighty deeds, and say to them that this beast is a type of the great tribulation that is coming. If then ye prepare yourselves, and repent with all your heart, and turn to the Lord, it will be possible for you to escape it, if your heart be pure and spotless, and ye spend the rest of the days of your life in serving the Lord blamelessly.”[xxxi]
Further evidence is found in the early medieval period of the church in a sermon possibly attributed to Ephraem the Syrian, written between the fourth and sixth centuries. This pseudepigraphical text entitled Sermon on The Last Times, The Antichrist, and The End of the World reads in part as follows:[xxxii]
“Why therefore do we not reject every care of earthly actions and prepare ourselves for the meeting of the Lord Christ, so that he may draw us from the confusion, which overwhelms all the world?... For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins.”
Jesus promised a blessing to those who are awake and burning for Him when He returns, saying, “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants” (Luke 12:35-38).
Jesus also described conditions that would precede His imminent return, saying the coming of the Son of Man would be as in the days of Noah. We read, “They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:38-39). Paul likewise said, “For when they say, Peace and safety! then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.” In other words, life will appear normal and peaceful to most people. Still, without any warning, in the twinkling of an eye, sudden destruction will come upon them, the wrath of God, and the days of His vengeance will be cast upon all who are unrepentant—Jew and Gentile.
The Day of The Lord
The return of Christ is marked by a sudden and unanticipated outpouring of wrath with such intensity that the prophets call it “The Day of the Lord.” We read, “Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is at hand; It shall come as destruction from the Almighty” (Joel 1:15). The Day of the Lord is referenced throughout the Old and New Testaments and is also called “the day of battle” and “the day of doom.” Jesus warned, “Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you” (Revelation 3:30).[xxxiii]
Likewise, Paul and Peter admonished, “For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2); “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10).[xxxiv] These verses show an intriguing correlation as both the return of Christ and the Day of the Lord will both come like a flood, like a thief in the night. But how can two separate events come without warning unless they are the same? They cannot.
We read, “For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled” (Luke 21:22). The fact that we read “days” of vengeance affirms the Bible is not describing one singular day or one singular event but many days and many events culminating with the physical return of Christ on one very unique day known only to the Lord. These events correlate with end-time prophecies concerning Israel, God’s Hebrew calendar, and His holy convocations given to her.
Therefore, the Day of the Lord is both a literal day and a time of judgment surrounding the return of Christ. While the onset of the Day of the Lord is marked by a sudden outpouring of God’s wrath, Jesus does not physically return at that moment. He returns after the “days of vengeance” are fulfilled on the “Day of the Lord,” and immediately before He returns, several unique signs are displayed in the heavens and the earth to announce His arrival. We read:
“And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD” (Joel 2:30-31).
“And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord GOD, That I will make the sun go down at noon, And I will darken the earth in broad daylight” (Amos 8:9).
“For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; The sun will be darkened in its going forth, And the moon will not cause its light to shine” (Isaiah 13:10). “All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; All their host shall fall down as the leaf falls from the vine, And as fruit falling from a fig tree” (Isaiah 34:4).
The physical return of Christ after He fulfills the days of vengeance is not imminent; it is unequivocally expected, principally for Israel— “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen” (Revelation 1:7). Therefore, events correlating with end-time prophecy, God’s Hebrew calendar, His holy convocations, and these unique signs in the heavens will make Christ’s return known to the world. Israel will recognize their Messiah is coming very soon, and the Lord has reserved this moment to demonstrate His mighty hand to save them.
There can be no imminence if Christ’s return is announced with a prophetic calendar and explicit signs in the heavens. The prophets declared: “As in the days when you [Israel] came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them wonders” (Micah 7:15). “Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, But he shall be saved out of it” (Jeremiah 30:7). While it is arguable that for the unbeliever, even the most obvious signs would not reveal the imminent return of Christ. However, these explicit signs in scripture are unquestionably for Israel, particularly rabbis and scholars who discern Old Testament prophecies.
Another revealed aspect of the Day of the Lord is that it is principally a day of battle. It says, “Then the LORD will go forth And fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of battle” (Zechariah 14:3). This battle will occur in both the natural realm (Israel and Jerusalem) and the spiritual, heavenly realm. The spiritual realm encompasses the highest heavenly realm, the sovereign place of God’s throne, devoid of rebellious spiritual principalities that oppose Him, and the “lower heaven,” or the place immediately above the earth where spiritual (demonic) powers and principalities reside.[xxxv] Hence, we read, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Jesus will descend from the right hand of the Father into the lower spiritual realm to battle these demonic forces before physically returning to earth.
For a little longer, Satan will be allowed to stand before God’s throne and accuse the brethren, but he has no power or dominion in the highest heavenly realm to rule over God’s people.[xxxvi] We read, “[God has] raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). Christ is seated on His throne at the right hand of the Father.[xxxvii] And the church (in a spiritual sense) is already positioned with Christ in this highest heavenly realm. However, at the appointed time, Christ will leave the right hand of His Father and descend with the armies of heaven, the sons of God (the angels and the church), into the lower, second heaven for battle against the principalities, powers, and spiritual hosts of wickedness of this age who rule in darkness in the heavenly places.[xxxviii] We read, “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer” (Revelation 12:7-8).
When Satan and his angels are cast down to the earth, the heavens will rejoice, but the inhabitants of the world are warned. As it says, “Rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time” (Revelation 12:12). Satan’s wrath against the Lamb of God will be manifest against all nations, but especially Israel. It culminates in the great day of battle, the Battle of Armageddon, which occurs on the literal Day of the Lord. But the battle does not end there.
Christ and His armies will not only destroy all flesh that has risen against Him in Jerusalem, but He will also sweep the earth and the places below it to destroy the demonic powers and principalities that rule over all the nations and all the earth’s inhabitants that worship these principalities: Babylone, Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Ethiopia, Egypt, Edom, Arabia, Shebna, Tyre, Pergamos, the city of Satan’s throne, the whole earth will be violently destroyed.[xxxix] Everything will be burned and purified with fire. We read:
“Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste, Distorts its surface And scatters abroad its inhabitants… The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered, For the Lord has spoken this word… The earth is violently broken, The earth is split open, The earth is shaken exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, And shall totter like a hut; Its transgression shall be heavy upon it, And it will fall, and not rise again. It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones, And on the earth the kings of the earth. (Isaiah 24:1-3, 19-21).
“Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, For it is at hand: A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, The like of whom has never been; Nor will there ever be any such after them, Even for many successive generations. A fire devours before them, And behind them a flame burns; The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, And behind them a desolate wilderness; Surely nothing shall escape them… The earth quakes before them, The heavens tremble; The sun and moon grow dark, And the stars diminish their brightness. The LORD gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; Who can endure it?” (Joel 2:1-3, 10-11).
Peter declared, “The heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:7). On this fearful Day of the Lord, God will judge the earth with fire, and He will purify its land, removing the defilement of sin and blood that stains the soil, the bloodshed in every generation. The blood cries out for God’s vengeance, and He will render fiery judgment on all His enemies— “His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12).
[i] Duffield, Guy P. and Van Cleave, Nathaniel M. Foundations of Pentecostal Theology. Foursquare Media. 1910.
[ii] All Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Bible (NKJV) unless otherwise noted, Thomas Nelson Inc., 1982.
[iii] Joel 2:28. Acts 2:16-21.
[iv] Luke 17:21. Matthew 16:19. Hebrews 6:5.
[v] Romans 823. 1 Corinthians 1:7. Luke 12:35-36. 1 Thessalonians 1:10.
[vi] 1 John 2:18.
[vii] Titus 2:12-13.
[viii] Matthew 26:26-29, 28:20. Luke 22:17-20. 1 Corinthians 11:26.
[ix] 2 Peter3:3-4, 8-9.
[x] 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, 2:11-12, 19-20, 3:12-13, 4:14-18. Romans 13:12-14. 1 John 3:3. Titus 2:11-13. 1 Timothy 4:13-16. 2 Timothy 4:1-2. 1 Peter 5:2-4.
[xi] Titus 2:13.
[xii] John 14:2-3. Acts 1:11. Revelation 1:7.
[xiii] Matthew 24:36.
[xiv] Matthew 24:42-44, 48, 50, 25:13. Luke 12:39, 21:36.
[xv] Matthew 24:44, 48, 50, 25:13. Mark 13:35-37. Titus 2:12-13. John 3:3. 2 Peter 3:11-12.
[xvi] Mark 13:35.
[xvii] 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10. Romans 8:23-25. 1 Corinthians 1:7. Galatians 5:5. James 5:7.
[xviii] Matthew 24:4-12. 1 Timothy 4:1-3. 2 Timothy 3:1-7. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12. James 5:1-8. 2 Peter 3:1-10.
[xix] Deuteronomy 28:64, 30:3. Isaiah 2:2-5, 11:11-16. Ezekiel 36:8, 24, 37:11-12, 38:8. Jeremiah 25:11-12. Luke 21:24. Daniel 2:24-45, 7:22. Romans 11:25-27. Aliyah in Judaism. Jewish Virtual Library, A Project of AICE.
[xx] Ezekial 38:2-3, 39:1. Revelation 9:13-21, 16:12.
[xxi] 2 Timothy 3:1-7.
[xxii] Matthew 25:19.
[xxiii] Matthew 25:5.
[xxiv] 2 Peter 3:3-4, 8-9.
[xxv] Matthew 24:14.
[xxvi] 2 Peter 3:12.
[xxvii] Hosea 9:10. Jeremiah 8:13, 24:1-10.
[xxviii] Deuteronomy 28:64, 30:3. Isaiah 2:2-5, 11:11-16. Ezekiel 36:8, 24, 37:11-12, 38:8. Luke 21:24. Daniel 2:24-25, 7:22.
[xxix] Larry V. Crutchfield. The Blessed Hope and the Tribulation in the Apostolic Fathers. Thomas Ice & Timothy Demy, editors, When The Trumpet Sounds. Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1995. p. 103.
[xxx] Crutchfield. The Blessed Hope and the Tribulation in the Apostolic Fathers. pp. 88-101.
[xxxi] The Shepherd of Hermas 1.4.2.
[xxxii] For more information on this matter see Timothy J. Demy and Thomas D. Ice. The Rapture and an Early Medieval Citation. Bibliotheca Sacra (Vol. 152, No. 607; July-Sept. 1995), pp. 306-17.
[xxxiii] Revelation 3:3, 16:15. 1 Thessalonians 5:2-6. 2 Peter 3:10-13.
[xxxiv] 2 Peter 3:10-13.
[xxxv] 2 Corinthians 12:2.
[xxxvi] Revelation 12:10.
[xxxvii] Acts 2:33.
[xxxviii] Ephesians 6:12.
[xxxix] Revelation 2:13.