“For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay” (Heb. 10:37).
The more we move closer to laying hold of the totality of the truth relayed in scripture about the coming of Christ, the more we will realize the depth and mystery of the matter. Every revelation that God brings about His coming is intended to draw us upward into higher dimensions of His life. Yet, it will also cause us to lay down our preconceived notions and to humble ourselves before the vast and unsearchable riches of Christ. But, why is it that only a few are willing to do this?
I’m often astonished by the number of saints who pay lip service to the Lord but who refuse to entertain sound doctrine. The more I talk to Christians, the more I realize how much religion causes deafness and hardness of heart. The Spirit affirms that the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine (2 Tim. 4:3). And if there is one topic where sound doctrine is missing among the Lord’s people, it is the coming of the Lord. The popular teaching of the day espoused by majority of the church system centers on crude notions of a “second coming”. But I can tell you with much assurance that those who hold to concepts of a so-called “second coming” complete with a rapture, a literal tribulation, a physical or literal fulfillment of the Lord’s return and the millennial reign of Christ have been sold the bill of goods.
I return to our opening verse which states: “the coming One will come” (Heb. 10:37). Young’s Literal Translation reads: “He who is coming will come”. What grand truths these words contain. Yet, it is easy to glance across these words and lapse back to notions about apocalyptic events that obscure the truth by diminishing it to a single external event. As shared in previous messages, the reason religion has taught about His coming being a single future event is because it has confined Christ to a body. Yet Jesus Christ has been glorified and has returned to the same glory which He had with the Father before the world was (Joh. 17:5). Indeed, we know him no longer after the flesh (2 Cor. 5:16) but after the Spirit.
Christ is the Coming One! It is His nature to come to His people. For the Faithful One, has promised saying: “I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you” (Joh. 14:18). Dear saint, have you learned Christ as the Coming One? Paul admonishes the Ephesians saying: “you have not so learned Christ” (Eph. 4:20). But Paul was not speaking about knowing that Galilean who walked the streets of Nazareth? If you will read the section you will see that Paul was talking to the gathering in Ephesus about their futility of their mind, the darkness of their understanding, their blindness of heart, their ignorance, and their works of uncleanness and greed. Indeed, they had not learned Christ as their wisdom and righteousness.
It is unfortunately that many of the Lord’s dear saints are yet worshiping the Jesus of the flesh. To many it is a very difficult thing to put aside the Christ of the flesh and to know only the Christ of the Spirit. And this is why many fail to behold the ongoing coming of Christ. But, Christ is not some entity sitting on a throne. Christ is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:24) and He comes to us in the power of the Spirit. Christ is the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24) and He comes to us as our wisdom. Christ is the prince of peace (Isa. 9:6) and He comes to us our peace. Christ is the truth (Joh. 14:6) and He comes to establish His truth in us. Christ is the resurrection (Joh. 11:25) and He comes to us in resurrection power to transform our bodies. Christ is the life (Joh. 14:6) and He comes to quicken us with His divine life. In multifaceted ways He comes, not as a man of flesh, but as the essence of all God is.
God is, He doesn’t have. God doesn’t have wisdom, He is wisdom and that wisdom is Christ (1 Cor. 1:24). God doesn’t have power, He is power and that power is Christ (1 Cor. 1:24). God doesn’t have life, He is life and that life is Christ (1 Joh. 5:11). God doesn’t have light, He is light (1 Joh. 1:5) and that light is Christ (Joh. 8:12). This why we read that Christ is the sole expression of the glory of God and the perfect imprint and very image of God’s nature (Heb. 1:3). It is this Christ who comes in the glory and expression of the Father until we become endued with His fullness. For we are called to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect (Mat. 5:48). This means we are ordained to become love as He is love, to become peace as He is peace, to become light as He is light, to become wisdom as He is wisdom. This is our high and holy calling and how He needs to come in order for us to attain to this quality of life.
Let us further consider the nature of His coming. Jesus told His disciples: “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not COME to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you” (Joh. 16:7). Here Jesus describes the events surrounding His going away and His coming (Greek: erchomai). The Greek word ‘erchomai’ denotes the actual act or event of coming. Its outcome is to be accompanied with the one who comes. On the contrary, the word for ‘going away’ (Greek: aperchomai), prefixed with the word ‘apo’ denotes separation, cessation, or reversal. In the basic sense, Jesus was speaking about His departure and separation from the disciples, in that they could no longer see Him or touch Him in the natural. But more than that, Jesus was referring to His separation from the confinement of a body. In other words, Jesus was saying to His disciples: it is expedient that I go away from the visible and natural confinement of a flesh body that I may come back to you and abide in you as Christ in the Spirit.
Some may contend that the One who came was the Holy Spirit. There is a common tendency to separate Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Thus, many understand Jesus’ statement as Him going away so that another entity called the Holy Spirit may come. If they are indeed separate entities, have you ever wondered why Jesus had to go away before the Holy Spirit could come? The truth is that God is one. The same Holy Spirit that came upon the apostles was the same Spirit of Christ. Hear Paul: “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Rom. 8:9). The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Christ are one and the same Spirit. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body (1 Cor. 12:13). And so it is that the Spirit of Truth that was promised was the Spirit of Christ. Jesus said: “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom” (Mat. 16:28).
So when did He come? Did He not come to the disciples in the upper room during Pentecost? Surely. But, that wasn’t the end of His coming. Did the Spirit of Truth not also come to Paul on the road to Damascus? Was it not the same Spirit of Christ that awakened Paul to the reality of His Lordship until he would say: “What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 22:10). Like Paul, have we not also been brought to that place of submission by the coming of the Spirit of Christ? Perhaps you too can attest to this in your initial salvation experience. Yet that wasn’t the conclusion of His coming, He also came to draw you into a deeper experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit where you experienced a greater dimensions of His power. More times than you can remember, He has come to you. Without exception manifold are the comings of Christ. And surely He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion by the continual coming of Christ in greater measure; from one degree of glory to another, until His dominion is complete in us; spirit, soul and body.
The Greek word used for ‘come’ (erchomai) captures this very truth. The word is a perfect tense which represents His coming as a currently ongoing event. All through the scriptures, references to the Coming One are given in signs and figures to relay the multifaceted and continuous ways He manifests Himself in His saints. Notice that the Lord simultaneously come as a thief, as lightning, as the morning star, as a refiner’s fire, as the sun of righteousness, with clouds, as the bridegroom, on a white horse, with the voice of the archangel and a multitude other ways. Unfortunately, the church system is either looking back to an historical Christ, or forward to a future coming of Christ, and they miss the One Who is now coming. This a great error may of our fellow brothers refuse to come out of.
The events of His coming are experienced in progressive stages as past, present, and future comings. Thus, we read: “Him who is and who was and who is to come” (Rev. 1:4). Christ has not only come but He is NOW coming and continues to come in His saints. Again we read: “’I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘Who is and Who was and Who is to come, the Almighty’” (Rev. 1:8). I reiterate, He is the Lord Who is coming, the One Who was coming, and the One Who will continue to come. All three indicate His progressive appearing unto His fullness in the saints. Again we hear the kingly priesthood declaring: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, Who was and Who is and Who is to come” (Rev. 4:8). This is not referring to three distinct events. This is the threefold ever-increasing manifestation of the Lord. Many assume His birth in Bethlehem was His first coming. But this is not so, for the volume of the book, from Mosses to all the prophets, declare of His manifold comings (Luk. 24:27; Heb. 10:7).
Dear saint, it’s my prayer that you will begin to see Christ as the Coming One. If you long for Him today, you need not wait for external events for He is now coming in you to manifest Himself in blessing and redemption and judgment. With those who are now beholding His coming, we pray come Lord! Come in the fullness of Your majesty!
Kingdom Truths 
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