A vital point, that has been totally ignored, for centuries is the Old Testament prophets never implied two comings divided by centuries. Any language that distinguishes between "a coming in redemption and a coming vengeance or judgment"... over 2000 years latter is NOT in the Bible? This king of language is not used by the Jewish prophets. They saw one coming with two phases to it. A suffering humiliation phase and a victorious consummation phase.
One way to help us determine the time frame of vengeance and salvation is to ask what did the Jewish prophets say?
A book that is highly Messianic that is recognized by both Jews and Christians is Isaiah. In Isaiah 34:4-6 we read, Say to those who are fearful hearted, Be strong do not fear! Behold, your God will come WITH VENGEANCE, With the recompense of God, He will come and SAVE YOU.
Isa 61:1-2 "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And THE DAY OF VENGEANCE OF OUR GOD; To comfort all who mourn.
These are no TIME distinction in these Scriptures between a appearing in (VENGEANCE AND SALVATION). Other scripture are Isaiah 40:10-11, 62:11, 63:1-6, 66:6-16; Zech. 14; and Mal.4:1-6). The language used by the prophets in the Old Testament closely connects the coming of the Lord with both salvation and vengeance (judgment). They expected the consummation of all these things during one short fulfillment period according to God's prophets.
And since it was the prophets via Jewish prophets who first taught the notion of a Messiah it seems quite reasonable to me to respect their inspired writings more than our old traditions or anyone else's uninspired opinion today.
No where does the Old Testament teach a "second coming" to fulfill the rest of the things God was unable to fulfill the first time. They saw one short fulfillment period with two phases to it; a suffering humiliation phase and a victorious consummation phase. . Reader God's Jewish prophets who wrote the Old Testament had the very same concept as the Jewish writers in the New Testament.
In fact the only place in the NT which even comes close to teaching a (second advent) is Heb. 9:28 where it says Christ will (appear a second time). This was using the Jewish symbolism of the High Priest at Yom Kippur when he took the blood into the holy place and then reappeared back outside the tabernacle (Temple) to announce that atonement had been accomplished.
Then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people blessed them, and came down from offering, the sin offering, the burnt offering, and peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting, and came out and blessed the people, Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. (See Leviticus 9:1-24) Notice here that Israel's sins were not forgiven until Aaron the High Priest came out of the tabernacle to bless the people verses 22,23 Every Jewish Christian understood simply that the second reappearance of Christ our High Priest would be during the same age.. unto salvation. so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. (Hebrews 9:27-28;)
The writer of Hebrews is telling the saint that Christ was fulfilling all the type and shadow of Leviticus 9. The High Priest offered a sin offering by going into the tabernacle. Then he reappeared out of the tabernacle, to let the people know their sins had been forgiven. Just as Aaron did not take a thousand of years coming out of the tabernacle neither did Christ.
These are also no such distinction in Hebrews between the first coming of Christ to bear the sins of many and a second coming of Christ with salvation He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation The language used closely connects the coming of the Lord with bearing the sins of many and salvation. (Hebrews 9:27-28) The saints never had the concept of a long distinction between appearing "For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. (Hebrews 10:37)
Notice how these various well know the Jewish writer has expressed this. The Jew refused to accept the excuse that the major prophecies concerning the Messiah will only be fulfilled in a "second coming." (He expects the Messiah to complete his mission in his first attempt.) [The Real Messiah Reprinted from Jewish Youth, June 1973 page 15.]
The full establishment of the Kingdom could not be delayed. (The Real Messiah. Reprinted from Jewish Youth, June 1973. page 15).
Since Jesus did not fulfill the most important Messianic prophecies, they expected him to return to complete this task in a "second coming." At first, Christians expected that this (second coming) would come very shortly...in their lifetime. When their prayer was not an answered they began to hope that it would come a thousand years after Jesus' death. This was the millennium or thousand years kingdom.
Finally, after a thousand years passed and Jesus still had not returned, (they postponed his second coming to an indefinite time). We therefore see that the (early Christians were forced to radically alter the Jewish concept of the Messiah in order to explain Jesus failure). This compounded by the pagan influence on the (early church, gave birth to a Messianic concept totally alien to Judaism. [Pinchas Stolper, ed. pages 32, 33}
You will discover that whenever any really strong question [such as why Jesus hasn't fulfilled all Messianic prophecies].. is asked [of the Christians], the (standard answer is that it refers to the second coming). It therefore becomes extremely important to ascertain the validity of this claim. The success of the Christian claim or its failure (rest to a very large extent on the theory of the second coming). It is clearly an answer born of desperation. [Samuel Levin. You Take Jesus, I will Take God. Los Angeles 1980. Page 15]
