The Second Coming
1.
Jesus Christ Will Return to the Earth.
The Bible records hundreds of prophecies that Christ will return. Thus, God has promised it over and over. It is absolutely sure and inevitable. Jesus Himself said that He will return (John 14:3). All history awaits this great event, which will be as important to history as Christ's first coming was. We call it the Second Coming as per Heb. 9:28. Jews who reject Christ as Messiah still await the first coming. The Bible describes this great event as His coming, His revelation, His appearing. He will return, descend, invade and intervene. There will be nothing like it in the history of the world.
2.
His Second Coming Will Be Different from His First Coming.
Both comings were predicted by prophets. Both had been foreordained by God. The same Jesus who came will come again (the Second Coming is not the coming of a second Messiah, like Sun Myung Moon). But there are also big differences. He will not come as a baby, but as an adult. He will not come as a servant, but as a king. He will not come in relative obscurity, but openly for all to behold. He will not come in humility, but in victory. He will not come to die, but to execute. Those who saw the first coming generally saw Him only as a man, but at the next coming we will see Him as the God-Man. He came veiled in secrecy, He will return in full glory. It won't be by birth at Bethlehem, but from the sky on a white horse. It will be far greater than we can imagine.
3.
Christ Has Not Returned Yet.
All sorts of theories have been spun to say that Jesus has already returned. Some say He returned in 70 AD at the Destruction of Jerusalem. However, 2 Peter, Jude, I John and probably Revelation were written after 70 AD and looked forward to His return. Others say that Pentecost was the Second Coming. No, that was the special coming of the Spirit, not of Jesus. Still others say the Second Coming refers to our conversions or even our deaths. No. In the one, Christ comes into us spiritually, but that is radically different from the Second Coming. At death, we go to be with Him; He does not come to be with us. Then there are cults who say that Jesus returned invisibly in 1914, 1917, or other dates. But the Second Coming will be open for all to see, and He will judge unrepentant sinners. .
4.
No One Knows When Christ Will Return.
People have been guessing for centuries when Christ will return. They have all been wrong. God simply has not revealed the date, not even information from which we could deduce an approximate date. God alone knows (Mark 13:32). Beware those who think they can add up numbers in the Bible and name the date. It may be centuries away for all we know. Our job is to get the Gospel out, not pry into unrevealed secrets (Acts 1).
5.
There Will Be Only One Second Coming.
There is a popular but erroneous theory that says there will be more than one Second Coming. It is called the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory. It says that Christ will come halfway to Earth in a cloud, take us out of Earth, then come again all the way to Earth 7 years later. This would be a second and third coming. But the terms coming, appearing, revelation and descent all are interchangeable and refer to the same event. There is no "secret coming" of Christ. The theory is sensational and popular, but is not found in the Bible. Christ does several things together at the one Second Coming, not separately at a second and third comings.
6.
Christ Will Return Visibly.
"Every
eye shall see Him" (Rev. 1:7). Christ compared it to the lightning that is seen
from one end of the sky to the other (Matt.24:27). Believers will see Him and
rejoice. Unbelievers will see and recoil in terror. They will plead for the
mountains to fall on them (Rev.6). He will return with the blast of a trumpet
and shout of an angel. That will be loud enough to wake the dead. It will be
seen and heard and felt by all. It is open and plain, not secret. He will
appear in blazing fire and glorious splendor (2 Thess. 1).
7.
Christ Will Come with Angels and Saints.
Christ will not be alone when He comes. He will come with millions of angels (2 Thess. 1:7). He will be accompanied by a heavenly entourage of archangels, seraphim, cherubim, guardian angels, principalities and powers, all with swords drawn and following His lead. Christ will also be accompanied by His people. He will bring with Him the souls of those saints who have already died, and will reunite their souls with their bodies as He comes. He will then take all living Christians to be with Him in the descent from the sky in a cloud. All together, there will be millions and millions, all aglow with the glory of God. But it is the Lord Jesus who is the center and focal point of it all.
8.
Christ Will Defeat His Enemies.
One of the major reasons for the Second Coming is to defeat all ungodly enemies of God. He will slay all unbelievers with the sword of His mouth (Rev. 19). He will be ablaze in flaming fire that will go forth like a flame-thrower or laser. None will escape. He will come to begin the work of judgement on them for their sins. They will know for sure that He is Lord and King. But it will be too late for salvation. Christ will also execute judgement on Satan and the Antichrist at this time (Rev. 19:20). They will be thrown alive into the Lake of Fire. Satan will not be able to resist, but will crumble like a cobweb under a tank. Christ will come in overwhelming power and victory.
9.
Christ Will Rescue and Vindicate His People.
Christ will rescue His people who have been persecuted. He will snatch them away from the clutches of the Antichrist. He will also vindicate them and show that they were right after all. See 2 Thess. 1. He will rescue us from death, pain, and especially sin. It will be the culmination of His wonderful work of redemption for us. That is why the Bible calls it the blessed hope (Tit. 2:13). Every Christian longs to be alive to witness this. But whether we are dead or alive, we will both witness and experience it. We will be on the winning side.
10.
Christ Will Appear in Glory.
Christ is
already filled with glory. But that is mainly hidden from us now. At the Second
Coming, the curtains will be pulled back, the wrappers will be taken off, to
show what is already there. It will be the greatest of all revelations,
revealing the splendor of the glory of God as nothing else in history or Creation
ever has. It will be the direct and full glory of God. Christ is the living
conduit of the glory of God, like a prism or funnel. The glory will be let
loose like the waters flowing from a broken dam. Sinners will shudder in
terror, while saints will marvel in holy awe. The curtain between Heaven and
Earth, between the natural and the supernatural, will be pulled back. He will
shine in the radiance of His internal pure glory as on the Mount of
Transfiguration. It is His by right.