Looking for his appearing

 “Looking for His Appearing”   Pastor Benton
                                  
            We are told in the scriptures that the Lord Jesus Christ will appear to those who are looking for him.

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

Now, what does it mean to ‘look’ for Him?  Well, we can start answering the question by examining the word ‘look’.  Strong’s Concordance New Testament reference number is #553.  The Greek word is Apekdechomai, from (#575, apo away, usually denotes separation, departure, cessation, completion) and (#1551 Ekdechomai, to wait expect, look (tarry) for, wait for) to expect fully.

Okay let’s not decipher Strong’s information.  To look for the appearing means a little more than merely waiting around for the event to occur.  When it comes to anticipating an event in scripture I often think about astronomers who spend hours actively searching the heavens in anticipation of a particular event or in their pursuit of a hunch or expectation based on actions or reactions discovered in the heavens.  Some of the planets in our system were discovered based upon the actions of nearby planets.  The word is ‘perturbation’ or the invisible movements of a planet that suggest that something else is present to account for a particular planetary response.  The point I am trying to make is that there is an active anticipation.

Now, let’s take things a step further.  When a child is looking for the arrival of Santa Claus, he or she does not expect his appearance on any given day.  At best, if the child is not into exact dates, the time to look for Santa is during the holiday season.  There is a season for Santa to work his magic.  That may be "carnalizing," to make up a word, or oversimplifying the issue but the concept is not out of bounds when it comes to looking for the appearing of the Savior.

I was raised in the church and with that rearing came the idea that the Lord could come any day.  I must admit that is an effective tool during the invitational part of the service when the goal is to get people to accept the Lord as their personal Savior.  Of course, a sinner commits a great gamble any time he or she passes on an opportunity for salvation.  More is involved than the fact that the time may be distant for the appearing of the Lord, there is always the possibility that one may lose his life at any given moment.  The scriptures admonish us not to harden our hearts any time we hear the voice of God calling us to become partakers of salvation.

But I must point out the fact that the coming of the Lord is indeed a seasonal event.  Contrary to traditional church thinking, Jesus cannot come on just any day.  If one would just take the time to look at the history of events regarding Passover and the birth of the Church itself on the day of Pentecost, it should be realized that God has ordained a calendar of events in the Old Testament prophetical writings.  Christ, who is our Passover, could not have died on the cross on just any day; he had to fulfill the requirements of the Old Testament Feast Days.  The law required the Passover lamb to be selected on the tenth day of the month of Nisan and to be killed on the fourteenth day of the same month between the evening sacrifices.  I am sure that I will treat this issue much more in depth in future writings and then it will be realized that the day Christ died is of great importance.  You might be surprised to find that Jesus did not die on good Friday as it is commonly assumed.  You may be further surprised to find that Jesus did not rise from the dead early on Easter Sunday morning.  The commandments surrounding Passover would not permit those days as proper days for those events.

When the Church was born on the day of Pentecost we are told in the book of Acts, chapter two, that “when the day of Pentecost was fully come” the Holy Ghost fell on the souls gathered together in the upper room.  The feast of Weeks or Pentecost was the last of the Spring High Sabbath days.  The balance of the feast days commence in the fall of the year beginning with the Feast of Trumpets followed by the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles.  Just as the Spring feast days were fulfilled with special New Testament events, so must the fall feast days be fulfilled.  I can tell you that the time or season for the appearing of the Lord will not be a Spring time event but one that will take place in the Fall of the year.  I know this information flies in the face of those who say no man knows the day or the hour of the coming of the Son of man but it would behoove one to understand to what day that scripture in Matthew is referring.  I’ll give you a hint: it does not refer to the day of the rapture.

At the time of this writing I am in the process of writing the outline for a book addressing the questions and issues surrounding the time of the rapture.  I am prepared, using scripture only, to make the point that the season of the appearing of the Lord can be and has been made known by the Holy Spirit to this prophet.  I will even go so far as to say that the day itself has been hidden in the writings of the prophets and Lord willing, and I am sure He is, I will make that information available to you.

That book is now available on Amazon.com:  https://smile.amazon.com/Gods-Final-Secret-Stephen-Benton/dp/1976338476/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509521935&sr=8-1&keywords=God%27s+Final+Secret