(2 Cor KJV) Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
(2 Cor NRSV) From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.
On the day of Pentecost Christ came again as the Comforter.
“And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of Truth: whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him: but you know Him; for He dwells with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless (orphans): I WILL COME TO YOU. Yet a little while, and the world sees me no more; but you see me: because I live, you shall live also. At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you”
He comes as the MORNING STAR.
Mal. 4:2 He comes as the SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS ARISING.
Phil. 3:20-21 He comes in RESURRECTION POWER.
II Thes. 1:7-8 He comes in FLAMING FIRE.
Mal. 3:1-3 He comes to His priesthood company as REFINER’S FIRE and FULLER’S SOAP.
I Thes. 4:16-17 He comes IN THE AIR.
Hos. 6:3 and James 5:7-8 He comes as the RAIN.
Rev. 19:11 & 14 He comes on a WHITE HORSE.
Mat. 25:31-34 He comes as KING.
I Pet. 5:4 He comes as the CHIEF SHEPHERD.
Mat. He comes WITH HIS ANGELS.
Jude 14 He comes WITH HIS SAINTS.
Jn. He comes TO HIS SAINTS.
II Thes. He comes IN HIS SAINTS.
Jude 14 & 15 He comes in JUDGMENT.
Rev. 22:12 He comes WITH REWARDS.
He comes with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God; He comes to the Mount of Olives; He comes to His temple; He comes in glory; He comes as Lord; He comes in His Kingdom; He comes as seasons of refreshing,
A progressive revelation
The underlying principle in the scriptures concerning the coming of the Lord is that we must spiritually discern and respond to His comings in our midst and in our individual lives.
In the midst of all our activity we are to ever look for His comings. Be spiritually perceptive and awake at all times. Then, recognizing His presence and turning aside from all that would distract, we move with Him in His visitation. As we respond to His comings, be it in blessing, refreshing, quickening, enlightenment, transformation, Lordship, fellowship and communion, judgment, correction, purging or cleansing – we shall come to know His reality and be made like Him.
“If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema. Maranatha” (I Cor.).
The word anathema means devoted to the wrath of God; it means to be lifted up to the wrath of God. It is the word found so often in the Old Testament of the accursed thing – that which had been devoted to the curse of God. The result of a lack of love for Christ is the anathema, the curse of God. It begins here in this life with the withering of the soul, with the withering of its capacity to love those things which are good and true and beautiful and noble.
Paul concludes with a second word: maranatha. It is properly a separate sentence.Paul stopped after the word anathema and writes a new sentence of two Aramaic words, Maran-atha. “the Lord is at hand or The Lord has come”.
The call is to love the One who lived a life of flesh and blood, who suffered on our behalf, endured the agony of the cross for us, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, came again on the day of Pentecost in Spirit power, and who now dwells in our hearts by faith.
The One who has already come.
We are not called to love a promise but a present Christ. This Lord is at hand; even now He is with us, always accessible to us. He is present. We do not/cannot love simply a memory, but a living Christ. He is here and works within us in the present. He will come in as many and varied ways and manners as there are needs in your life and mine, and in the whole world of men and movements and nations.
“Behold! He comes with clouds; and every eye shall see Him” (Rev. 1:7).”Behold! He comes.” This phrase is from the Greek word ERCHOMAI. It is the third person singular, present indicative. It means He comes as a “now” reality. The verb is present indicative. He comes. He is in the act of coming. Behold! He is (now) coming! In other words, He has been coming, He is still in the act of coming, and He continues to come. More than once the coming of the Lord is spoken of in this tense throughout the book of Revelation. It’s not a future thing, not something that will happen somewhere down the course of history, but it is something that IS now.
To look back to an historical Christ, or forward to a futuristic coming of Christ, misses the essential meaning of ERCHOMAI. “Behold, He comes, He is coming, He continues to come, He will continue to come as He comes from one place to another. He comes out of the realm of spirit to be manifested in flesh, expressed and revealed in a visible, tangible way to the material creation. It means He comes and appears before the view of the people round about. This has already happened, it is now happening, and it will continue to happen.
This is the ongoing revelation that so captivated the apostle John that he could only stand and in amazement exclaim, “Behold! He comes!”
Rev. 2:5 tells of a coming of our Lord. “Remember therefore from where you are fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come to you quickly, and will remove your candlestick out of his place, except you repent.”
Ephesus: I will come quickly and will remove your lamp-stand.
Ephesus was a typical church, the Lord’s solemn warning is to be heeded by every person and movement following the Ephesian spirit and character: “Repent or I will come to you quickly!” This is an ongoing example of “coming”
The book of Revelation furnishes us with a sequential overview of the comings of the Lord. The Greek word for “revelation” isapokalupsis meaning “unveiling, uncovering,” and hence, revealing.” This is expressed in Rev. 1:7: “Every eye will see Him”
(Rev 5:13 NRSV) Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing, “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
The living Son of God coming and standing in the midst of the seven churches is an ongoing earthly scene. The risen and glorified Christ was present in and among the churches. Jesus had promised to come back, and according to chapters two and three of Revelation He did come back! The scene of Jesus Christ, the Saviour, completely outside theLaodicean church speaks of him coming.
As time unfolds His call to the apostate church system will be less and less and turn to the, knocking, knocking at heart’s door of individual men and women.
“Behold I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20); coming to any individual, to any man/woman who will open their heart’s door to intimacy of fellowship and vital union with the Christ of God.
The coming of the Son of God did not begin with his birth; it began when time began; it is still going on. The Christ was in the world during all the ages before Jesus was laid in the manger; He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. The Christ never went away to stay; He always leaves in one form in order to come in another. He is in the world today, known and loved and trusted by multitudes of those who through Him have received the spirit of adoption as sons. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Christ is born anew every morning, and as many as receive Him. To them He gives power to become the sons of God.
“The dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Lk. 1:78-79).