This series will one day be adapted into a book, so you can get each part in its order. This series must decipher what we mean when we expect the Lord Jesus’ coming. We must distinguish between traditional interpretations and real Biblical interpretation over His coming. Today due to the demographic changes brought in by the pandemic more interest has been in studying the Coming of the Lord and do a particular deep study regarding this. We can get the impression that Jesus’ coming is somehow a reaction to the devil’s end time work, this is error, in fact Jesus’ coming is due to the fulness that the Church comes into, the completion of Jesus’ work through His Church determines when the Father sends His Son to complete the work of redemption. This is what the end times is about, it is about the fulfilment of the work of redemption in the spiritual which then manifests in the physical realm.

“And He shall send Jesus Christ TO YOU…Acts 3:19-21

We need to recognise when the Father sends the Son to His Church and obey and flow with the Father’s Will

This passage is very poignant, because it clearly shows where the Church is right now. The Church must expect Jesus at any time, but it is not a disengaged reality in that the Coming of Jesus is an engagement between the Church as the Body, totally connected and flowing with the Life of Jesus. As the Bride it must be in total devotion to Him. The “times of restitution” are the things which keep Jesus in heaven and at the Right Hand, as those times are walked out by His Saints. The word “times” are translated from the Greek as “kairos” which are conditional seasons, seasons which reveal an aspect of restitution in a given generation. We need to discern these out by the Holy Spirit. Discerning out these kairos moves of God are key to how we fulfil the Will of God in our generation and how near we are to God the Father sending the Son to the earth. How do we discern these? Prayer. Intercession. In fact our prayer and intercession needs to reflect the same intercession that Jesus makes before the Father. We need to get the focus from me my and I.

In a visit to North Yorkshire I came upon a strategy and organic nature of prayer, that is to embark on a prayer journey from before to beyond which leads to behold. We need to shift the focus from our needs being the focus on why we are in God’s presence. He needs to first be before us, because He is the Creator, our Father, our Grace, our Sustainer. He then deserves our worship because He is before and is greater. Then He is beyond because He has power to do what we cannot. However that power is only manifest in the things that flow in His Purpose. Then as we see His Power and Glory manifest we come to behold Him. In beholding we transform our vision our purpose to be Him. Our prayer then focusses on His Being sustaining and enthusing all things by His Purpose and Power. This knowledge of His Purpose brings us into the God kind of faith. It means we are in the driving seat with Him as He steers all things to His plan. Right now this knowledge must come in a movement and a refreshing which comes from the Presence of the Lord.

In a retreat I did in 2018 I began to see the refreshings as being distinct from the Presence of the Lord. The Presence of the Lord being a constant in the life of the believer, yet the refreshing is like the sun on a blue day. There are seasons where the sun is more visible. In the spiritual sense the Son of God comes to the Church in greater intensity, and in times of great political instability these are windows to where one day comes when the angel declares with a trumpet blast that God has transitioned the kingdoms of the world to the Kingdom of God. We therefore must look to what restitution is taking place, that is what Jesus is bringing in and through us is very very paramount to understanding our circumstances. Our security must be in the spiritual privilege and position we have been brought into. Ephesians 2:20 says we are HABITATION OF GOD in the Spirit. I think we are in the process in the midst of insecurity that our security must be in the fact He is first our HABITATION and we transition into being HABITATION OF GOD BY THE SPIRIT. So the refreshings must be the components of building that eternal habitation. I wrote about this in my book “12 Foundations of the Church” which you can get in my Store page. 

The premise being that the eternal building blocks are being projected now by our faith. So each refreshing that comes with the Coming of Christ projects to that which will remain in eternity. 

And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Hebrews 12:27.

When revival is not enough is now, we need to transition from a visitation of the Coming of the Lord, to a habitation of the Coming Lord being amongst us!

A visitor goes from us at a determined time, a habitation that He makes for us, and we make for Him in our lives, means He is always with us. 

We had many awakenings of faith, revivals of theology, these came and they went. They came after much prayer, much sacrifice, but they went, they declined because that effort, that devotion waned and people began to depend on their own effort and their own ideas. Jesus wants to dwell with His saints, and there is a transition in which to do that. It comes by our love, which the Ephesian Church was rebuked in Revelation 2, where the Lampstand is in risk, He would remove it. The love we enshrine in our hearts for Him is the key for His Presence, this means He delights to be with those who love Him. Isaiah 9 tells us the identity of the Messiah, His name being Emmanuel “God with us” then corresponding this with “The Word that was made flesh and dwelt among us” “gave power to become sons of God”. There is a difference between Isaiah 9 and John 1, Isaiah 9 tells us God’s intention through His Son, John 1 tells us how He did it. 

So God wanted to be with us, look at the transitions, He comes in the form of a man, Word made flesh, so that we may also become sons and heirs. Our sonship is the transition from the visitation to habitation. We have become part of the divine family, and soon enough the manifestation of that in end times Comings of Christ will show this sonship more and more. 

The visitation becomes manifestation through the Son being revealed in His Coming which reveals and manifests the sons of God in His covenant people

The Coming of Christ reveals the sons who have allowed themselves to be inhabited by the spirit of sonship that cries “Abba father” Galatians 4. 

¹⁹ For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. Romans 8:19

The purpose of the Coming of the Lord in the end times is also for revealing those who are sons with the Son, His appearing is for their revealing. So when we transition from a visitation to a habitation we are guaranteed a manifestation. Ephesians 1 tells us that part of our sonship is revealed now, in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, but we will walk out the manifestation of it as Jesus appears, we shall be like Him. Our catching up to be with Him is part of this, where our sonship is made plain to the world. So our vision about His Coming changes because it is not just about His Revealing, but ours also. How will we be like Him? We will be like Him because in becoming His Habitation our lives are prepared and lived out by submitting to His Character and His Purpose. Then His Coming becomes our revealing as sons unto the image that created us: Jesus. 

Concluding thoughts!

To summarise

We are now coming to the crux of our series together, the engagement we need to have in our theology of our eschatology. This engagement means we are not spectators watching the devil dominate everything, but rather preparing for Jesus’ coming by becoming His Habitation and waiting for His Appearing so that we are revealed executing the judgment reserved for Kingdoms and governments. The angel that sounds the 7th trumpet will announce the new Divine Government manifest on the earth by the appearing of the Son and the revealing of sons.