(Note from Ron McGatlin: This is a great teaching from the Word on the reality of the coming of Christ with detail word definition. A great read for everyone.)

With God establishing certain times and seasons in which He accomplished those things He purposed, and with a people living during today’s time and season, most of Christendom should be aware of a certain teaching. That is, an awareness that there is going to be a soon coming again of the Christ. While most Christians believe this teaching to be true, the attitude of many is that they are not really looking for that coming. While most church people claim to believe in His coming, most live a life-style that offsets any true showing of this belief. Could we not say, along with the writer of Matthew, that a condition exists among the religious community of today that is quickly fulfilling one of the signs spoken to be aware of concerning the time of Christ appearing?

In Matt. 24:37-39 we read, “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be”. From these scriptures, when Noah entered the ark, God’s place of safety, a place prepared beforehand by divine instruction for divine protection, all who were not in the ark were the ones taken away. Verse 39 says clearly concerning the people who were unbelievers, “and took them all away.” Thus, the flood took away the unprotected ones while Noah and his family were safe and secure to know the joys of entering into a new world after the cleansing flood.

In looking at what scriptures are saying concerning the coming of the Son of man, it is important to open our spirits and minds to the word of God. What does God’s word have to say of His coming? (Read Matt. 24:3-14). As we consider some of the key words used in this context, we shall look at what the word really says by knowing their meanings. “What shall be the sign of thy coming?” This word “coming” has the meaning of “a being near, presence.” Hence, that for which the disciples were longing to know by their question was, “what shall be the sign of your being near, your presence?” In considering the word “presence,” consider, that a presence is “that which can be seen or can be felt and not seen.” The dictionary itself declares, “Presence” to mean “the state or fact of being present, a supernatural influence felt to be nearby.” Therefore, in this context, the coming of the Christ points to a people knowing the feeling of a supernatural presence felt to be present or nearby.

A question arises as we consider the influence of a supernatural nature and a divine spiritual presence that is nearby. We know that Jesus lived among humanity for 33 ½ years as a visible expression. However, when He returned to the Father, as the Son, the risen one, He instructed the disciples in Luke 24:49, “… behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high [this defines the meaning and purpose of the Holy Spirit]”. The Holy Spirit is of the invisible realm, a realm that the natural eye cannot see, except when the manifestation of His presence appears through the receiving ones.

Therefore, while waiting in Jerusalem and on the day of Pentecost, this power from on high, the Holy Spirit, came. It not only filled (furnished) the upper room but it filled (influenced) the 120 who were present in the room. While the Holy Spirit remained invisible to the natural eye, His coming (presence) resulted in some natural expressions. At its appearing, a mighty wind blew and cloven tongues (tongues distributing and parting themselves) like as of fire were evident. (Read Acts 2:1-4). Here the presence of the Holy Spirits coming, or presence was an influence, a supernatural expression that was present and heard because of the speaking of unknown tongues.

Back to Matt. 24:3 and looking at two other words of importance in the phrase, “the end of the world,” let’s consider “the end” and “world.” This word “end,” used many times in this chapter but has two different meanings. In verse 3, it means “meeting together of all that marks the consummation of the age.” This marks the end of one age and the beginning of another. However, in verse 6, 13, and 14 the word “end” means “the actual end.” This reveals that God is more than willing to show us even more than we ask for. This shows that while the disciples were limiting their question concerning the immediate age (a time) in which they lived, Jesus was more than willing to release unto them an understanding beyond their question. He unrolled the scroll of time for them to understand God’s order through the ages (many periods) until the actual end of time. God was and is desirous to reveal, even now, His will and purpose in the restoring of man, with each man coming forth in his own order, until the restoration of all Gods purpose.

In considering the word “world” as used in verse 3, it has the meaning of “an age, or age time, the duration of which is indefinite, and may be limited or extended as the context of each occurrence may demand.” However, as used in verse 14, when talking about the “gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the entire world,” this word “world” has the meaning of “the world as inhabited. It is from a verb meaning, to dwell. It is used of the habitable world, the civilized as distinct from barbarian, distinct from the world “kosmos” which is the world as created.” Remember, in considering the truth of this context there are only two seeds in this world, a seed chosen to worship God, the true seed of Abraham and another seed that shall worship the beast scripture speaks of, especially in the Book of the Revelation. In seeing the distinction between the two seeds, these two seeds shall continue until such a time as when the word is fulfilled that declares that every knee shall bow to worship God.

This shows us the importance of knowing the word as revealed by the Holy Spirit. We have a need to look closely at each scripture to receive revealed truth and a God given understanding. Humankind of today has tried narrowing God down to such a small limited size, thinking that they can contain Him in the prison house of their own limited intellect. We must and will become a free people, as we free ourselves from our own intellectual limitations, wherein we begin to see that God’s plan and purpose came from before the foundation of the world and the creation of man.

The Word declares that all in Christ will know restoration, as God, through the ages continues His work until all things that are His are returned to Him. Man would seek to limit God, but God, before the end of time shall bring forth each receiving soul in their own order in Christ, to a place of restoration. In understanding this truth, we must see that the presence or coming of Christ is not restricted until the entire world and every creature has heard the gospel of the Kingdom. The presence of the Christ shall come forth unto each vessel according to his or her own order by the seeing, hearing and understanding of the gospel of God’s Kingdom.

With God’s purpose, being laid before the foundation of the world, each order of His coming (presence and influence, a supernatural divine spirit felt to be present) has likewise been laid and God shall cause each appearing to come forth according to that purpose, that order. Does the Word show us the order of His appearing? Is it something that God desires to reveal unto us? In 1 Cor. 15:20-26, God begins to reveal the order of progression in which He shall make all things live. This order of God’s choosing has its beginning and ending in God. At the time of His choosing, God imparts into that people an eye to see and an ear to hear. The hidden secrets that were not known before are revealed to bring forth understanding. As God reveals these mysteries to a people, they not only begin to hear, but the word itself has the power and the authority to bring it into complete fulfillment through faith and obedience. Herein a work is begun which brings about the perfecting of that word of promise and purpose.

Matt. 13:35 declares, “… that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world”. Also, in Matt. 13:10-11, “And the disciple came, and said unto Him, why speak Thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries [the secrets, or the things thus far kept secret] of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.”

Man, by a lack of knowing is in bondage to carnality until God draws a people at the time of His choosing. God will give those yielding ones understanding, by the Holy Spirit, of God’s purpose at the time for any given Godly order to come forth. What of you, are you at peace with your spiritual condition and understanding? On the other hand, is something stirring in your person? Is God’s desire at work to bring you into a greater place in Him, a bringing you into a place that you have not experienced before or walked in yet? Is the Holy Spirit now at work to lay and establish a new order of people in the earth that the next line concerning the coming of Christ, His presence, His will and purpose is manifest?

Back to 1 Cor. 15:22 it declares, “In Adam all die.” This understanding is ours because God reveals our sinfulness to us while offspring of the Adam man. He quickens the receiving man through the power of the Holy Spirit into knowing that all have sinned, therefore all have died. The result of this death is that the flesh and blood body, the one formed from the dust of the earth, shall return to that from which it came. As humanity continues to live after the dictates of the natural Adam man, their destiny is to know a literal grave, the returning to the dust from which God formed the man. (Read Gen. 3:19 and Rom. 5:12-19). The knowledge we have concerning our lot with death will be a sure experience, that is unless God, after the order of His purpose, awakens us to a higher understanding. This understanding stated in 1 Cor. 15:22, “in Christ shall all be made alive.”

The greater truth here is that life is of a certainty, if the prerequisite is entered, which is a living “in Christ.” This word “in” as used here is a preposition that denotes “being or remaining within, with the primary idea of rest and continuance.” This speaks of more than a one-time happening but is likened to the woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years, (Read Luke 8:43-48), she touched Him and became whole. The word “touched” being used here means “attached to”, implying that she attached herself to His glory, never to let go. “In Christ” brings life. It will separate us from the realm of death by our remaining in or attaching ourselves to Him. A question often asked concerning Christ coming is when will it be and how will it happen? 1 Cor. 15:23 reveals, “But every man in his own order.

Here the understanding of some more words from the context becomes very important. As we look at the words, we should also understand that the scripture, when we allow it to, would interpret itself. In verse 22, the word “Christ” is the Greek word “CHRISTOS” which means, “to anoint.” Thus, Christ not only speaks of the person, but an anointing that enables that person to be what he is in Christ. 1 John 2:20 declares, “But ye have an unction [same Greek word as anointing in 1 John 2:27] from the Holy One, and ye know all things”. This word “unction and anointing” are from the same Greek word “CHRISMO” which has the meaning of, “smearing, the endowment of the Holy Spirit.”

The anointing then is a smearing like oil or a covering, a divine endowment, an enablement to become and fulfill the will and purpose of God. With such an anointing, we can know the reality of a life that lives “in Christ.” Is this a life of impossibility? We, the body of Christ are not just one member called Jesus, but a many member body. Therefore, the anointing of Christ is not for just the first-born son (the Head – Jesus), but also the many member sons that make up His body. (Read 1 Cor. 12:12-27). Jesus will not stand alone, but He, with the many member body making up the Christ, is the anointed of God.

In looking back to scripture in 1 Cor. 15:23, let’s consider the word “order.” This word means “something orderly in arrangement, a series, or succession.” With all being “made alive” (quickened) in Christ, He declares that His life shall find its fulfillment as it touches all things, but, the life of Christ only touches these things in the series or succession that is according to the foreordained arrangement that God purposed in Himself. With this being the case, it would do us good to follow the succession as revealed in the Word. In following the Word of God, we have the knowing that God shall leave nothing out. God shall restore, through each series of steps taken, in the order of His purposed restoration.

The first in order from verse 23 is “Christ the first-fruits”. Who is Christ? Is He not a many member body? If so, as verse 22 states, “in Christ shall all be made alive,” comes forth after Jesus Christ in His first appearing for 33 ½ years. These many member first-fruits receive a quickening after two days or two thousand years after His resurrection, to become the many member visible expression of God’s first-fruits in the earth. This appearing speaks to us of a ministry that comes forth, in the Christ anointing that will be without measure (John 3:34). These anointed ones are sent forth to minister the gospel of the Kingdom of God, to speak of the knowledge of the mysteries and to make ready for the establishing of God’s Kingdom on this earth.

John 3:34 declares, “For He Whom God hath sent speaks the Words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him”. The sent forth ones spoken of here are not only Jesus, the first-born son, but also the many member sons of God, His Christ, and the first-fruits of God. These first-fruits are prepared, in the order of the gathering of the harvest, for His indwelling presence to be in them while here on earth. This word “first-fruits” is from a root word that means “to commence (in order of time); first-fruits”. In the Old Testament, a wave offering of the first-fruits offered as a sacrifice to God is a type of the ones received by God to usher in the full harvest.

(Read Lev. 23:10-12). These scriptures show us that with this wave offering unto God, they offered a lamb as a burnt offering to God. This burnt offering was a type that Christ fulfilled, bringing the first-fruits and the lamb together again. In this, they become one in Christ as prayed for by Jesus. John 17:20-22, “Neither pray I [Jesus] for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one”.

As we continue to look at this first-fruit people, in Rom. 8:22-23 we are shown a truth concerning the manifestation that shall have its beginning in the order that commences with this company of people. “For we know that the whole creation groans and travailed in pain together until now. And not only they but ourselves also, which have the first-fruit of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Note that all of creation is groaning and travailing for this time of redemption, the beginning of a new creation people. “Redemption” in this context means “ransom in full,” which speaks of the restoration of the whole man, spirit, soul, and body. This groaning is an experience of the “first-fruits” as they wait for their time of adoption.

This word “adoption” is a word that means, “the placing as a son (in respect to God)”. Hence, Jesus, the firstborn son, now accepts the first-fruits at the time of the “adoption” to become a many member son that partakes of all the privileges of the family. These “sons” become “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ:” (Rom.8:17). These heirs become the anointed ones that establish the Kingdom of God in the earth. These “sons” are they, which for only a season, are under teachers until the appointed time of adoption. These co-heirs are they that have come out of bondage to the world’s basic elementary rules, to become “sons,” God’s visible expression on the earth. (Read Gal. 4:1-7).

The fullness of time for the coming forth of these first-fruits to appear in the earth is now at hand. What is your expectancy concerning the things of God? Are you hearing a trumpet, a message of restoration beginning to sound? Is a groaning felt within your being? Could it not be that the first-fruits people are in the birthing channel, waiting for the last push that they might make their appearance? “Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures”. (James 1:18). Thus, God’s will and purpose is to begat His first-fruits. “Begat” in this scripture means to “breed forth, to generate, to bring forth.” How, but by the word of truth which is now being spoken to reveal the hidden mysteries which have been kept secret since the world began.

This “word of truth” is generating, is bringing forth into existence God’s good and perfect gift to all creation. He is birthing and manifesting the sons of God. It was John, in the revelation of Christ, who saw these sons in their glory. These sons are those that stand with the Father in His glory, with His nature written in their hearts and minds. These sons, not polluted by the world’s religious systems, declare unto creation a new sound as a spiritual virgin, pure in the spirit of God. There remains nothing in them, which the world can touch as they follow only God’s true purpose in all things, to remain without fault. These are those first-fruits people of God. (Read Rev. 14:1-5).

Now the time for these sons to come forth is at hand that they might bring down all deceiving forms of religion. Is the time of tribulation, one such as the world has never seen, now to come forth? The system of the first “Adam” man has run its course and this declaration is coming forth, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon (bondage and confusion – man-made religious systems) the great”. This is that system which has polluted man, which has kept him captive from the truth, making him a prisoner of death. Nevertheless, truth, in the form of these sons, is now to come forth, truth that makes mankind free from the law of sin and death.

These first-fruits of Christ appear and the truth they bring ushers in God’s judgment, God’s avenue to separate all forms of damnation, condemnation, and accusation from the next order of people. This word “judgment” is the Greek word “KRISIS” from which our English word “crisis” comes. It has the meaning of a “turning point.” This means then, that another “turning point” will come forth in the earth, to gather another order of people unto our God. (Read Rev. 14:6-16). Lest we forget, let us turn back to 1 Cor. 15:23 and note that with “Christ the first-fruits” having come forth, we are further shown, “afterward they [the bride] that are Christ [head and many membered body] at His coming [presence]”.

Thank God, this is again the day of His coming. His presence is making itself known to His people and because a people know Him in His presence, they are truly becoming His people. Is not our redemption even now upon us, redemption in a full measure in spirit, soul, and body? Thank you, Father, for you have chosen us from before the foundation of the world. You have redeemed us and are bringing us forth to fulfill your will and purpose in you, you are truly coming. Amen

THIS IS ONLY A PORTION OF THIS COMPREHENSIVE TEACHING. FOR THE FULL ARTICLE GO HERE: https://www.openheaven.com/2019/05/13/the-coming-of-the-christ-by-duane-stewart/