Why Christians should be praying for Jesus' Second Coming

[LivingWordUnity]

By the way, is it advisable literally to pray for the Second Coming? I mean, it's going to occur when God wills, I assume; but praying for it seems to demonstrate some doubt about that. Incidentally, Rev 22:20 doesn't strike me as a prayer--as we usually think of prayer, as a petition or request, that is.

"Come, Lord Jesus" sounds more like a quiet but confident acceptance of the event, a profession of believing in the Second Coming rather than a prayer that it may be.

Just some random thoughts.

If we doubted that Jesus' Second Coming is ever going to happen would we be praying for it? I don't think we would.

 

[topcare]

The so-called "Y2K" scare is a red herring since it was computer geeks promoting the fear that all computers would suddenly stop working. It was called the "Y2K computer bug.

It was not a red herring and was a very real threat, not for the end of the world but of technology (of course to some that is their whole world). I was part of Y2K and know it was real and also later it was announced that certain parts of the military did not install the patches and we were vulnerable for at least three days.

As for the OP we pray every Sunday in the liturgy for the Lord's return at Mass in my Church.

 

[LivingWordUnity]

In the same book, Pope Benedict XVI writes about the drowsiness of the disciples when they were with Jesus while He prayed on the Mount of Olives and how this is relevant to Christians today.

"Across the centuries, it is the drowsiness of the disciples that opens up possibilities for the power of the Evil One. Such drowsiness deadens the soul, so that it remains undisturbed by the power of the Evil One at work in the world and by all the injustice and suffering ravaging the earth. In its state of numbness, the soul prefers not to see all this; it is easily persuaded that things cannot be so bad, so as to continue in the self-satisfaction of its own comfortable existence. Yet this deadening of souls, this lack of vigilance regarding both God's closeness and the looming forces of darkness, is what gives the Evil One power in the world." - Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), Jesus of Nazareth - Part II, 153

 

[WarriorAngel]

I've never said that I want anyone to go to Hell. Observing the fact that there are plenty who want to go there isn't the same as wanting them to go. I wish everyone would repent so they can go to Heaven. But what others do is not in my control. God, in His divine wisdom, gives us free will to make the choice between Heaven and Hell for ourselves. And many choose the later.

I didnt say you said that.
I generalize my posts.

This is why i hope the second coming is delayed..God willing. For more conversions.

 

[mark46]

It was not a red herring and was a very real threat, not for the end of the world but of technology (of course to some that is their whole world). I was part of Y2K and know it was real and also later it was announced that certain parts of the military did not install the patches and we were vulnerable for at least three days.

As for the OP we pray every Sunday in the liturgy for the Lord's return at Mass in my Church.

It still lives.

Thank for today's amusement.

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Why Christians should be praying for Jesus' Second Coming

Aren't the Jews still praying for the first coming of their Messiah?

Btw, if I am not mistaken, doesn't the RCC believe they are in the 1000yr period now? If not, where in Revelation do you view the "parousia" happening? Thanks.

Matthew 24:3
He is yet sitting on the mount of the Olives, the disciples toward-came to Him according to own, saying, `Tell us, when shall these be? and what the Sign of the Thy ParousiaV <3952>, and of the together-finish/sun-teleiaV <4930> of the Age?' [Daniel 12/Revelation 19]

1 Thessalonians 3:13
Into the stand-fast of ye, the hearts blameless in together-holiness before the God and Father of us in the Parousia <3952> of the Lord of us, Jesus Christ, with all of the holy-ones of Him [Zech 14:5/Revelation 19:11.]

Reve 19:11
And I perceived the heaven having be opened and Lo! A horse, white and the One sitting on it/him being called Faithful and True and in justice He is judging and is battling.


.

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

I actually hope for Him to tarry longer.

There is just too many things I want to be able to do with my kids as they get older. Fishing, hunting, their first Philadelphia Flyers hockey game, their first Miami Dolphins football game. The list goes on and on.

AMEN!

 

[LivingWordUnity]

Aren't the Jews still praying for the first coming of their Messiah?

Good observation. This is true for the believing Jews but not for the secular Jews since they are atheists. Unfortunately, it seems that most Jews these days are atheists, Jewish in name and culture alone. And the same has apparently also happened with most Christians (at least in the west), many are Christian in name but atheist, agnostic, or pagan in beliefs.

Btw, if I am not mistaken, doesn't the RCC believe they are in the 1000yr period now? If not, where in Revelation do you view the "parousia" happening? Thanks.

The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible commentary says that there have been various opinions on how to interpret Revelation 20 but then says, "The millennium is said to represent the entire stretch of history between the First and Second Coming, that time when Christ reigns in a spiritual and sacramental way through the Church. Rising to prominence in the fourth and fifth centuries, this has probably been the most widely held view among Catholic theologians throughout history (beginning with St. Augustine, City of God 20,9)." St. Bede, a Doctor of the Church and writing circ. A.D. 710-716, also voiced this view in his Explanation of the Apocalypse. The time period of the Church is also called the "last days." (CCC 732) When preaching on the topic of the "last days," St. Peter said, "With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (2 Peter 3:8) If he meant it as a formula of 1,000 years = one full "day," then we are now in the early morning of the third "day." And I believe that Jesus' Real Presence being veiled under the appearance of bread and wine is a sign representing His time in the tomb, when the Apostles could not see Him for a time until His Resurrection which happened in the early morning on the third day. Take note also that the Wedding at Cana, a sign prefiguring the future wedding feast of Jesus and the Church, occurred "on the third day."

"The miracle of Cana seems at first sight to be out of step with the other signs that Jesus performs. What are we supposed to make of the fact that Jesus produces a huge surplus of wine—about 520 liters—for a private party? We need to look more closely to realize that this is not at all about a private luxury, but about something much greater. The first important detail is the timing. 'On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee' (Jn 2:1). It is not quite clear what previous date this 'third day' is related to—which shows all the more plainly that what matters to the Evangelist is precisely the symbolic time reference, which he gives us as a key to understanding the event." - Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), Jesus of Nazareth - Part I, 250

 

[pdudgeon]

.......

This is why i hope the second coming is delayed..God willing. For more conversions.

on that score i think you can rest assured that Jesus will make sure that the door is open
long enough so those who sincerely want to accept Him and put Him first can do so.
But it's always been that way.

Our days are numbered by God so that we have the opportunity to accept His Son,
but it's our responsibility to take that step--- not putting it off for 'some other time."

So i guess i could say, if there's anyone that a person knows who has not made that decision
then the best thing we could do is to pray for them, and also encourage them because we love them
to do so while the door is still open.

No one on earth knows the exact time when the opportunity will be gone.
But we do know that the time is closer today than it was yesterday.

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

on that score i think you can rest assured that Jesus will make sure that the door is open
long enough so those who sincerely want to accept Him and put Him first can do so.
But it's always been that way.

Our days are numbered by God so that we have the opportunity to accept His Son,
but it's our responsibility to take that step--- not putting it off for 'some other time."

So i guess i could say, if there's anyone that a person knows who has not made that decision
then the best thing we could do is to pray for them, and also encourage them because we love them
to do so while the door is still open.

No one on earth knows the exact time when the opportunity will be gone.
But we do know that the time is closer today than it was yesterday.

Reminds of the 10 virgins story.

What I find rather interesting is how both the events in Exodus [the Destroyer] to release the Israelites, and Matt 25 [Bridegroom arriving] occur in the "middle of the night".

Exodus 12:29
And is becoming middle of the night and Yahweh smote every of firstborn in land of Egypt,
from firstborn of Pharaoh, the one sitting on his throne, unto firstborn of the captive which in house of cistern and every of firstborn of beast.

Matthew 25:
3 Who any foolish getting the lamps of selves not they got with themselves oil
4 The yet prudent ones got oil in the holders with the lamps of them. [Matt 13:48]
5 Of tarrying yet the Bridegroom they nod all and are slept.
6 Of middle yet of night a cry has occured "behold! the Bridegroom. Be ye coming out! into meeting of Him".
10 Of coming away yet of them to purchase, came the Bridegroom and the prepared ones entered with Him into the marriage-festivities, and is locked the door.
11 Subsequently yet are coming also the rest of the virgins saying "Lord! Lord! open Thou! to us"
12 The yet answering He said "Verily I am saying to ye not I have known ye"

Reve 15:8
And the Sancturay is being replete the Sanctuary of smoke out of the Glory of the God, and out of the power of Him.
And no-one was able to be entering into the Sanctuary until should be being finished the seven blows/stripes of the seven messengers. [Matthew 12:29]

 

[frenchdefense]

It was not a red herring and was a very real threat, not for the end of the world but of technology (of course to some that is their whole world). I was part of Y2K and know it was real and also later it was announced that certain parts of the military did not install the patches and we were vulnerable for at least three days.

As for the OP we pray every Sunday in the liturgy for the Lord's return at Mass in my Church.

Ok, look:

I'm a computer science guy who was 15 years into my career when the y2k thing was a thing.

I can tell you without fear of being contradicted that it was all about selling services using fear, uncertainty and dread.

I understood the Y2K issue with COBOL. COBOL has a half word day function that only used the last two digits of the year as part the date/time data type. That was an issue that needed to be corrected but in was always a problem and most of the COBOL had be corrected just by general maintenance before it became an issue.

I NEVER understood any other part of Y2K as an issue. The hardware guys kept saying it was a software issue and the software guys kept saying except for COBOL it must be a hardware issue. No one was clear on it.

I came to the conclusion in late 1998 this was all a hoax. On December 31st 1999 to my knowledge there were three problems attributed to Y2K issues. An E10B3 Nortel telephone switch failed. A security door in a nuclear power facility got stuck open and Mercedes Benz automobile failed to start and needed to be rechipped. (this was actually predicted, Mercedes put out a bulletin on the engine processor they figure there was about 1 in 10 million chance the chip would fail on or after January 1 2000 - one of them hit the jackpot).

There was a lot really minor stuff but really nothing that you would see on just any day the computers are involved.

 

[LivingWordUnity]

"When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne; they cried out with a loud voice, 'O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before thou wilt judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth?' Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been." - Revelation 6:9-11

St. Bede, a Doctor of the Church and writing circ. A.D. 710-716, commented on this Scripture saying:

"How long? They ask not this in hatred of their enemies, for whom they made supplication in this age. But in a love of justice, in which, as they who are placed near the Judge Himself, they agree with Him, they pray for the coming of the day of judgment, in which the reign of sin may be destroyed, and the resurrection of their lifeless bodies may come. For we also, in the present time, when we are commanded to pray for our enemies, say nevertheless, when we pray to the Lord, 'Thy kingdom come.'" - St. Bede, The Explanation of the Apocalypse

 

[mark46]

Ok, look:

I'm a computer science guy who was 15 years into my career when the y2k thing was a thing.

I can tell you without fear of being contradicted that it was all about selling services using fear, uncertainty and dread.

I understood the Y2K issue with COBOL. COBOL has a half word day function that only used the last two digits of the year as part the date/time data type. That was an issue that needed to be corrected but in was always a problem and most of the COBOL had be corrected just by general maintenance before it became an issue.

I NEVER understood any other part of Y2K as an issue. The hardware guys kept saying it was a software issue and the software guys kept saying except for COBOL it must be a hardware issue. No one was clear on it.

I came to the conclusion in late 1998 this was all a hoax. On December 31st 1999 to my knowledge there were three problems attributed to Y2K issues. An E10B3 Nortel telephone switch failed. A security door in a nuclear power facility got stuck open and Mercedes Benz automobile failed to start and needed to be rechipped. (this was actually predicted, Mercedes put out a bulletin on the engine processor they figure there was about 1 in 10 million chance the chip would fail on or after January 1 2000 - one of them hit the jackpot).

There was a lot really minor stuff but really nothing that you would see on just any day the computers are involved.

Call it what you will. There was a huge scare and hundreds of billions spent. There is lots on You tube. Here is a sample.

 

[LivingWordUnity]

Call it what you will. There was a huge scare and hundreds of billions spent. There is lots on You tube. Here is a sample.

And many of those who were predicting the doom were atheists.

 

[mark46]

And many of those who were predicting the doom were atheists.

And many were believers.

What is your point?

 

[LivingWordUnity]

And many were believers.

What is your point?

The point is it can't rightfully be used to ridicule Christians when many of the ones predicting doom were atheists. And the leader of the Catholic Church wasn't worried about the year 2,000. While many people in the secular culture were predicting doom about it, the Pope was saying it was going to be a "Jubilee Year."

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

And many were believers.

What is your point?

The point is it can't rightfully be used to ridicule Christians when many of the ones predicting doom were atheists.

Can you give us some examples?

 

[LivingWordUnity]

Can you give us some examples?

I'm going by what I remember of it. It was promoted a lot by the secular media. The "Y2K" scare was a fear about a computer bug. It was a widespread fear in the secular culture. It wasn't something that was isolated to Christians. In fact, the leader of the Catholic Church was saying that he wasn't worried about it. It's kind of like how, more recently, there was another popular fear that the world was going to end in the year 2012 based on the Mayan calendar, another example of fears of the end of the world that are not based on looking into what Scripture has to say about it. But these predictions, though wrong, aren't meaningless since, according to Scripture, they are one of the signs that we actually are getting closer to the end.

 

[frenchdefense]

Call it what you will. There was a huge scare and hundreds of billions spent. There is lots on You tube. Here is a sample.

That was the point. Best guess we spent half a trillion dollars on remediation that wasn't needed. That's what led to the 2001-2003 high unemployment rate on IT people. Something like 300,000 people left the IT industry during that time.

It took almost 10 years before business started taking the advice of their IT people again.

We (IT people) fleeced American business and we paid a heavy price for it.

 

[pdudgeon]

I'm going by what I remember of it. It was promoted a lot by the secular media. The "Y2K" scare was a fear about a computer bug. It was a widespread fear in the secular culture. It wasn't something that was isolated to Christians. In fact, the leader of the Catholic Church was saying that he wasn't worried about it. It's kind of like how, more recently, there was another popular fear that the world was going to end in the year 2012 based on the Mayan calendar, another example of fears of the end of the world that are not based on looking into what Scripture has to say about it. But these predictions, though wrong, aren't meaningless since, according to Scripture, they are one of the signs that we actually are getting closer to the end.

kind of like i saw elsewhere...they may have a part of the truth, but the Catholic has the whole deposit of what God has revealed.