0252. If the Jonah Sign Is Done Away, Then Christ's Coming and His Kingdom Are Done Away

If the Jonah Sign Is Done Away, Then Christ’s Coming and His Kingdom Are Done Away

"He hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man Whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead" (Act_17:31).

In this passage we discover that the Jonah sign, which so forcefully declares the resurrection of Christ, not only was the test of Christ’s Deity, but was equally the test of Christ’s Second Coming, and His reign.

Those who reject the Jonah sign will find it easy to reject the coming of Christ. Those who accept the Jonah sign, must accept the reign of Christ.

1. In Act_17:31 the word translated "world" refers to this "inhabited earth." Other Scriptures, like Heb_1:6-8, positively show that Christ is to judge the world in righteousness, when He, the Firstborn, is brought the second time into the inhabited earth. It is then, and not until then, that God the Father speaks unto God the Son, and says: "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy Kingdom."

2. There is, in the Scripture, strong assurance that Christ will reign. For instance in Jeremiah, chapter 31, after God in chapter 23 has promised that He will raise "unto David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as King, and prosper," and after He has promised that in His day, "Judah shall be saved, and that Israel shall dwell safely," then God adds:

"Thus saith the Lord, Who giveth the sun for a light by day, and ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who arouseth the sea, when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of Hosts is His name: if those ordinances depart from before Me, then the seed of Israel shall cease from being a nation before Me forever."

Thus, so long as the sun rises in the morning and the moon and the stars shine by night; and, again, so long as I am assured that Christ did rise from the dead, I know that God will yet bring His Son into this inhabited earth, and that Christ will reign in righteousness.

The critics and liberalists and all other infidels and unbelievers may deny the Blessed Hope, but His coming is established by the Jonah Sign and Christ will come and reign in righteousness.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR