PREACHED ON FEBRUARY 28th 2021:
PASTOR ANTONIO RUSSO

“THE RETURN OF JESUS”

Acts 1:9-11
"After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven".

Jesus will return as he left, that is, from the clouds.

The Kingdom of God is in everyone, and will be fully manifest at Jesus return.

The message of Jesus' return creates expectations in each person and therefore it is good to get ready.

It is necessary to purify our heart from compromise and consecrate our life to God by giving him all the honor, walking in holiness.

Returning to the first love makes God our priority. If the things that happen in our life distract us from God, then it means that there is no first love. Fear God and you will fear nothing else.

"Rapture" means to take with force, to tear, to seize, (to transfer from one place to another). In fact, Jesus said it will happen in the blink of an eye. The return of Jesus is connected with the events that have been happening lately (earthquakes, tsunamis, red moon, etc.)

"Rapture" and "second coming" are not the same. The rapture is about the church while the second coming is about the world after the great tribulation.

Malachi 3:1-2
“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.
But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap".

In His first coming Jesus came phisically. In fact, he came to the temple to teach God's will and show God's Kingdom. This was about 2,000 years ago.
Malachi 3:2 is about the rapture of the church. Then there is the second coming to the world because the church will already have been kidnapped.

The first coming was the physical one, as a man like us. True man and true God in the natural world. He died on the cross because he offered Himself for our sins. To replace us. Thus He provided salvation, grace, prosperity, miracles, blessings, etc… through His first coming.

John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Word became flesh. In fact, Jesus was born in the period of the feast of the tabernacles. That is the time of fullness. The completion of the year is the beginning of a new year. In the fullness of time, God sent His son.

So it will be for the rapture. The times are being fulfilled. The advent of Jesus: He will not come with a physical body but in a quick visitation. Suddenly. He will come to take what is His, what He has redeemed with His blood and His life.

The Bible calls this advent: "coming" or "manifestation". He will not be visible to everyone because He will come as a thief in the night.

1Corinthians 15:52
in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

A few years earlier the remnant will be kidnapped. Not the whole church will be kidnapped but only the remnant, that is, a remnant of people who will survive a trial on earth and without compromising themselves.

Therefore Jesus said "watch and pray", to be ready for His advent. They are the ones who will have survived the persecution that is taking place in these very times.