Although the Father is greater than Yeshua (Jesus), the active part of the plan of redemption centers around the Son. Since it was mankind that sinned, it is by a man that they must be saved...
1 Corinthians 15:21-22 For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in the Messiah all shall be made alive.
and by a man they must be judged.
John 5:27 The Father has given Him (the son) authority to execute judgment, because He is a son of Adam.
God made the physical world for man to dwell in. God made physical man for Himself to dwell in.
1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?
By giving us free will and putting us in this physical planet, He gave us authority over the planet and everything in it. (See Genesis 1:26, Psalms 115:16). When Satan caused the human race to sin, he illegally but effectively usurped our authority over the planet. He became the temporary, criminal "god" of this world (II Corinthians 4:4).
When Yeshua came, He had to be born into this world with a natural human body. He came to take back the rulership of this world from the devil. He came to do it legally as a fully human being with His own free will and His own physical body.
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
The birth of Yeshua is such a great miracle that it divides the calendar of human history from before His birth to after His birth. To say that Yeshua came to earth without a physical body, either in spirit or as an angel or in a vision, would be totally contrary to the purpose of His mission. That doctrine would be against Yeshua, an "anti" Messiah doctrine.
1 John 4:2-3 Every spirit that confesses that Yeshua the Messiah has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Yeshua the Messiah has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the anti-Messiah which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
Yeshua's coming in the flesh includes not only His birth, but also His death. Yeshua really died physically on the cross. It includes not only His death but also His resurrection. He was not resurrected as a ghost, but as a human being with a glorified material body (Luke 24:39).
Forty days after the resurrection, Yeshua also ascended into heaven in His resurrected body. Just as Yeshua ascended, so will He also come back (Acts 1:11). As His feet physically lifted off the Mount of Olives, so will they soon "touch down" on the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:9).
Yeshua had to be born physically to inherit Adam's authority. He had to be crucified physically to judge Adam's sin. He also has to come back physically in order to take back the dominion over this planet that Adam yielded to the devil.
If He does not come back to take dominion over the planet, He would in effect allow Satan to stay here forever as the "god" of this world. Many Christians are confused about the physical nature of Yeshua's second coming to this earth. That confusion is deception from the devil. To deny Yeshua's second coming in the flesh is parallel to denying His first coming in the flesh (see again I John 4:2-3).
"Coming in the flesh" refers to His second entry into this planet as a king as well as His first coming as a baby. Satan doesn't mind you believing in sweet baby Jesus, as long as you don't believe in the conquering king Jesus.
The word "come" in Hebrew is "ba," and has the same form in past and present. It can mean, therefore, "is coming" in the sense of past, present, or future. We see that triple meaning concerning the Messiah "coming" in the clouds. As Yeshua was lifted up in the clouds from the Mount of Olives, so will He again come back in the clouds.
Zechariah 14:4-5 In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east... Thus the Lord my God will come, and all the saints with Him.
Here again is the word "come." It must be in the flesh, because His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. Whose feet? Yeshua's. (The feet of Zechariah 14:4 are the same feet as Acts 1:9.) Who is the Lord who is coming back to earth? Yeshua.
To say that Yeshua "comes" in the flesh includes His: 1) Incarnation 2) Crucifixion 3) Resurrection 4) Ascension 5) Second Coming
To deny any of these is an anti-Messiah spirit. Yeshua must come back in the flesh to throw Satan in the pit, to resurrect the human race, to take dominion over this planet, and to set up the kingdom of God on earth. To deny that is to miss the point of creation, redemption and resurrection.
We pray for the kingdom of God to come to earth and for His will to be done on this planet just as it is in heaven (Matthew 6). Many people pray for themselves to leave this planet, so it will be done in heaven as it is in heaven. But that is not what the scriptures say. For the kingdom to come to earth, then Yeshua must come to earth. Our mission is to prepare the conditions for His return.
To believe in a real second coming, there must be an actual time and location. The time is soon. The place is Jerusalem. That is why the greatest conflict in the world revolves around Jerusalem. The greatest political conflict is the Muslim claim to the Temple Mount, and the greatest spiritual conflict is to keep religious Jews in Jerusalem away from Jesus. Another aspect of this conflict is the confusion in Christian doctrine concerning either Israel or the end times.
We believe in an actual second coming. Yeshua will take ownership of God's planet (Psalms 24:1).
The planet will be regenerated (Matthew 19:28). Nature will be redeemed (Romans 8:21). Heaven and earth will be joined together by Yeshua (Ephesians 1:10). The Garden of Eden will be restored (Revelation 22:1-2). God and man will live in harmony (Revelation 21:3-4). Everything will be perfect.
May your kingdom come. Baruch Haba. Blessed is He who comes. Maranatha. Even so, come Lord Yeshua.
APPENDIX: The scriptures overwhelmingly support the view of a real second coming and a redemption of this planet. However, there are seven verses that could be read the opposite way. A wrong understanding of them could cause confusion. They are:
1. Father's house in heaven (John 14:1-2) 2. New heavens and new earth (Revelation 21:1) 3. Kingdom within you (Luke 17:21) 4. Meeting Him in air (I Thessalonians 4:17) 5. No Sun (Revelation 21:23) 6. Stars falling (Revelation 6:13-14) 7. My kingdom not of this world (John 18:36-37)
Let us briefly touch upon these verses to understand them in the right context.
Father's Mansion -Yes, we have a dwelling in heaven; it is also called "Heavenly Jerusalem." Anyone who dies now in faith will go there. When Yeshua comes back most of those living here will be taken there. However, at the end of the millennium, that heavenly dwelling place descends downward to be joined with earth. Heavenly Jerusalem comes down to become one with earthly Jerusalem (Revelation 3:12; 21:2, 10).
New Creation - New here means "renewed" like we have a new earth and a new body or resurrection. II Peter 3:5-13 says that the New Creation when Yeshua comes back will be similar to the change into heaven and earth from before time of Noah's flood (old creation) to after Noah's flood ("new" heavens and earth"). It is a totally new creation from God's point of view, but the planet still exists. Matthew 19:28 speaks of "creation being renewed." The new heavens and earth are also a quote from Isaiah 65:17; that also shows a renewal of the planet, not its disintegration.
Kingdom within - Of course the kingdom is within, but it grows. The kingdom expands from within you like a seed until it covers the entire earth (Matthew 13:31-32). Just as the spiritual kingdom within you has power to heal your physical body, so does it have power to heal the physical earth. When our bodies are resurrected, so will the earth be redeemed (Romans 8:21). The kingdom of Yeshua within you is an extension of the kingdom of David. It increases a spiritual dimension to David's kingdom (Isaiah 9:1; Luke 1:31-32). It adds, not subtracts.
Meeting in the air - Yeshua comes back from heaven. He is coming from heaven to earth. We will meet Him on His way in. (The word meet is same as meeting in Matthew 25:6-10 and Acts 28:15, both meaning to welcome someone in, not to leave with him.) We are welcoming in the Coming King. The confusion here comes from not realizing that there are two different resurrections. When Yeshua comes back, most believers will go to heaven awaiting the second resurrection, but those selected for special leadership with Him, will be resurrected on the first resurrection to help Him set up His government on this earth (Revelation 20:4-6). More blessed are those who do not go to heaven at that time.
No sun - Scriptures do not say here that there will be no sun, but that there will be no need of sun. The glorious light of the Son will be so great, we will not have necessity for the natural light of the sun, even though it will be there. If you turn on a light in the room, you don't need sunlight, but it is here. With Son light we won't need sunlight, but it will still exist. The Son light is not only in Yeshua but also in all of us shining together with the sun and the son. This is also a quote from Isaiah 60:19, which again shows the earth being renewed.
Stars falling - this doesn't mean the total "dis" creation of the stars but of a total shaking of all the powers of heaven and earth, spiritually and physically. It is a cosmic earthquake and a cosmic revolution. Stars falling is a quote from Isaiah 13:10-13 and Isaiah 34:4, which when taken in context shows a continuation and restoration of the created planet after the apocalyptic shaking.
My kingdom - Yeshua said His kingdom was not "from" this world. His source of authority was not from human politics; His method of conquest was not military. While His kingdom is not "from" this world, it will spread through this world (by sacrificial love and spiritual power). He said it was not "now" of this world; meaning that "later" it would be; it will take over the world (Revelation 11:15). He also said that for this purpose He had to be born, that is receive a physical human body by natural birth.
