Prophecies apply to the whole world; they reveal that Jesus will come to the world twice. Firstly, He came secretly as a baby, weak and mild as it is said! He needed human parents to look after Him, as every other baby. To escape from the wrath of King Herod, an angel told Joseph in a dream to flee to Egypt. God could have easily protected Him miraculously, but he chose to hide Him in Egypt in a natural, human way! Jesus also came to fulfil the law, meaning the Ten commandments and precepts God gave Israel through Moses, and then, as a spotless lamb of God He died for the sin of the world! For it is written: ‘In fact, the law requires that everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.’ (Hebrews 9: 22) It is also stated: ‘In Him (Jesus) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of His grace of God’s grace, that He lavished on us (His redeemed people – Christians) with all wisdom and understanding.’ (Ephesians 1: 7) So, according to prophesies Jesus will come to the earth a second coming, which is also called His return ‘in all power and glory’! Jesus returns to set up His kingdom and rule the whole world. It is stated as follows: ‘Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face the judgement, so Christ was sacrificed once to take the away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear the sin, but to bring salvation to those that are waiting for Him.’ (Hebrews 9: 27-28) On that day: ‘every eye shall see Him, even those that have pierced Him’. I shall return to this later.

It is plain therefore, that according to the teaching of the apostles of Christ, salvation is only possible where and when, this unchanging Gospel is preached, which is the Good News about who Jesus is, what He did, taught, and preached. When Jesus rose from the dead, He spent forty days on earth and appeared on few occasions to His disciples. It is declared plainly by the apostle Paul, to whom He revealed himself, for he said: ‘I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes (it); first for the Jew, then for the Gentiles. For in the Gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from the first to the last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’ Faith is not what is called ‘positive thinking’, true faith, is God’s gift which is given when the Holy Spirit acts in the heart of a man when he hears the Gospel, and responds and surrenders to the Lordship of Christ. ‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God!’ writes the apostle Paul (Ephesians 2: 8)

Hence, it is since the message of the cross, that through faith in Jesus Christ, God divides humanity into two separate entities, firstly, those that are dead in sin, because they refused to believe the Gospel or never heard it preached, and secondly, those who, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, have been born anew and live the eternal life which God gives freely, by His grace, to those that surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, as it is written: ‘As for you, (Christians – born again) you were dead in your transgressions and sins…like the rest (of humanity) you were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ. (Ephesians 2: 1- 4) We will return to this epistle as we proceed with this subject. 

As we follow the experiences of the apostles saw Jesus risen from the dead on several occasions prior to His ascension, it is then that He commissioned them to go into the world and preach the Gospel, to Jews and Gentiles alike, saying: ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.’ (King James version says ‘unto the end of the world’ – both complement each other) (Matthew28: 18-20) I shall dwell on that later, secondly, to the Lord’s command they obeyed and went, as they went, and only where they went and preached the Gospel, that people believed in Christ.