Come, Lord Jesus!

'The second coming of Jesus Christ is the core of the biblical
worldview, the climax of the biblical message, the cornerstone of biblical
theology, and the centrepiece of authentic biblical faith for the twenty-first
century.'






At the heart of this bold opening statement by Stephen Motyer is the
conviction that Jesus Christ is the 'centre' of the Scriptures,
even though he only appears at the end. For the New Testament writers, Jesus
Christ revolutionized their understanding of the Scriptures and gave them a new
centre around which to interpret the work of God in the world - and the
climax of that work is the second coming" of that same Jesus " Christ.






Jesus himself used the language of the Scriptures to promise his
'coming again', the 'coming of the Son of Man'. Hence
we need the whole of Scripture to understand what the second coming means for
us today. The fact that the Bible ends with the prayer 'Come, Lord
Jesus!' (Revelation 22:20) is deeply appropriate. The second coming is
the 'end' of the biblical message, its 'omega point',
its grand finale, the denouement when all the players in the drama of earth
history, both human and angelic, are gathered in the drawing room to hear the
Master unpack the plot and give the verdict.






Motyer's comprehensive, stimulating study is divided into two
parts. Part One, 'The biblical frame', examines three Old Testament
passages and lays the foundation for Part Two, 'New Testament hopes and
visions', which explores a series of key texts. He focuses on the second
coming, rather than on millennialism or the 'end times', in order
to provide the fundamental biblical theology that must underlie our whole sense
of God's future for his world.