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They had no sign, no halo, no warning that their whole life - their very existence - would be judged by their response to the moment: to the message that they had heard, and to His Person. Although warned in the scriptures, they had not an inkling as to the true manner Christ would come to them. They had formed their own vision of Christ's Coming, yet God's plan was being carried out according to His own wisdom and His vision surpassed those of mortal man. Those who accepted Christ knew to some extent the role they were playing in God's plan. Those who rejected Him played a role opposite the one they had fondly imagined they would play (12:3) Now, with His Second Coming, what assurance do we have that we will know the role we will play? To be utterly wrong, yet feel utterly righteous, is well within the capability of human beings. The Bible abundantly demonstrates this truth (12:4) Looking back on that time, with the perspective we now have, it is all too easy to understand the things that went wrong at Christ's First Coming - the people's misunderstandings, their blindness and pride. There are certainly things which we, at this time, understand about the plan of God which simply could not have been understood by the people to whom Christ appeared. But this fact should not deceive us into thinking that we fully understand His plan, that God has blessed us with knowing what the future holds. Of course we understand those things that have gone before us and of which we have a record in the scriptures, but so did the people of Christ's time. At any point in time, God has given to His people a sacred record of the past, and promises of the future. The past is understood; the promises of the future are not. Yes, we understand the prophecies referring to Christ's First Coming because their meaning was revealed through His First Coming, but how can we presume to understand those referring to His Second Coming until we witness it?
(12:5)
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