Faith & Love: A One Year Bible Reading Plan - Part 5Sample

How many times have you heard a sermon on this chapter regarding the second coming of Jesus? When we read it without context, it makes a lot of sense thinking that it's about the “coming of the Son of Man”, which refers to the second coming. The moment we read this out of the perspective of Daniel 7:9-14 we suddenly see a totally different perspective. In Daniel 7, we also see the phrase “coming of the Son of Man” (vs13). But here, it refers to Jesus’s ascension. It is a Throne room perspective, as the Father (Ancient of Days) sees the risen Jesus ascending to heaven to take up his place of dominion and glory. We then discover that many of the prophecies interpreted as the second coming of Jesus actually refer to the season his disciples went through after the ascension till the fall of Jerusalem.

The implication of this perspective is that Matthew might have been referring to the work of the Holy Spirit in evangelising humanity as he says: "He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.“, rather than happenings of the second coming and proof of a rapture.