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From: sanders@chopin.udel.edu (Robert M Sanders)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: The second coming
Message-ID: <Mar.18.11.24.48.1991.7593@athos.rutgers.edu>
Date: 18 Mar 91 16:24:55 GMT
Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu
Organization: University of Delaware
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Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu

In article <Mar.14.03.37.58.1991.24610@athos.rutgers.edu> smaanian@swift.cs.tcd.ie writes:
>
>Lets not forget that He mentions that He will come as a thief in the night.
>One meaning of that could be that when He will come people will not recogni-
>ze Him. So maybe He has already come.
>
>Socrates Maanian
>[smaanian@cs.tcd.ie]

I know the Bible does say in several places that the Lord will return as a 
thief in the night, but I always thought that meant that no-one will be 
aware until He has come that His return has begun (besides the fact that He
promised His return.)

I was just looking briefly through the Bible and came up with a couple of 
references that lead me to believe that when Jesus returns to this earth, we
WILL KNOW it.
(student-NIV)
      Matt 24:27-31   - "For as lightning that comes from the east is visible
                         even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of
                         Man. ... At that time the sign of the Son of Man will
                         appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth 
                         will mourn."
      Mark 13:24-27   -  "...  At that time men will see the Son of Man coming
                         in clouds with great power and glory... ".
      Luke 21:27      -  above quote from Mark.
      I Thess: 16-17  -  "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven,
                         with a load command, with the voice of the arch-
                         angel and with the trumpet call of God..."  
      II Peter 3:10   -  "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.
                         The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements
                         will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and 
                         everything in it will be laid bare."

In the reference from Matthew is also says (vs 4-5):
     Jesus answered: 'Watch out that no one deceives you.  For many will come 
     in my name, claiming "I am the Christ," and will deceive many.'

I've always looked at this (in conjunction with the vs that compares us to 
sheep, with Jesus as our shepard, as even as the sheep know the voice of their
shepherd, so do we know the voice of our Lord) as saying that before the Lord
comes, many may be deceived into believing that the Lord has come again.  But
when the Lord truly comes, I think it would be rather hard to miss.

Besides which, on a different angle, looking at Matt 24:36-41 and the thought
that the Lord has already come gives rise to some very pointed and relevent
questions regarding the truth and commitment of all the Christians I know.

Just some thought....

						In Him,


								Rob