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Bible Study		February 3, 2017
Holes in his Hands?

At the Second Coming will the Messiah have holes in his hands and side?

Revelation doesn't address this in any direct way, but it presents something that leads in that direction. Therefore it isn't found in the body of the body of the book but it touched on it in Appendix E "Where the feet lead."

There is a problem in the various Second Coming events that is very similar to a problem that was in the First Coming events. Prophecy described the Messiah being born in Bethlehem and coming out of Egypt and there has even a hint that he would be from Nazareth. To this day because of this, the Jews are not sure if they should be expecting one Messiah or two.

They struggle to understand how both could refer to the same person. We know he was born in Bethlehem, then his family fled to Egypt, then they came back out of Egypt.

But the Second Coming has the same problem. When Jesus ascended into Heaven, the angels told the disciples, he would return in the same way he had just left. All the descriptions of the Second Coming, however, depict a shout and trumpet blast in the sky, and the faithful ascend to be with him. Note the differences.

Now let me remind you of something God said through Zechariah.

And one will say to him, 'What are these wounds between your arms?' Then he will say, 'Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.' (Zechariah 13:6)

Here and in other places we see God's promise that he will bring his people back to him at the very end of time.

Some people resolve the two end-time comings by making them into one event; first Jesus returns as conquering king in the sky then he goes to the Jews somewhere and shows them his hands and they recognize that they killed him and repent.

Does that sound at all right? The Jews failure was that they would not accept Jesus by faith and were always wanting proof. Would Jesus at this time give them that proof so they would believe? No, faith is not faith when proof is present. It only makes sense that they would receive him in faith. But faith takes time to build.

Now think about this. Jesus' body bore the marks of crucifixion at his resurrection. We know he will be seen again with those marks in the end-time. But at the Second Coming we will put off our old bodies and receive new bodies that do not bear the damage received during this life. There is every reason to think the Messiah would also put off his physical body.

Therefore the Messiah must return in his physical body BEFORE the Second Coming. There are other reasons to believe this as well but I can't fit the whole appendix into this article.