The second coming of Christ
Jesus Christ will, as he promised, return to earth to judge and rule all nations in the Kingdom of God. His second coming in power and glory will be visible. This event heralds the resurrection and reward of the saints. (Johannes 14,3; Offenbarung 1,7; Matthäus 24,30; 1. Thessalonicher 4,15-17; Offenbarung 22,12)
Will Christ return?
What do you think would be the biggest event that could happen on the world stage? Another world war? The discovery of a cure for a terrible disease? World peace, once and for all? Or contact with extraterrestrial intelligence? For millions of Christians, the answer to this question is simple: the greatest event that could ever happen is the second coming of Jesus Christ.
The central message of the Bible
The entire biblical story centers on the coming of Jesus Christ as Savior and King. In the Garden of Eden, our first parents broke their relationship with God through sin. But God foretold the coming of a Savior who would heal this spiritual break. To the serpent that tempted Adam and Eve to sin, God said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (1Mo 3,15).
This is the earliest prophecy in the Bible of a savior who would shatter the power of sin, which sin and death exert over humanity (“he will crush your head”). How? Through the sacrificial death of the Redeemer (“you will strike his heel”). Jesus accomplished this at his first coming. John the Baptist recognized him as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (Joh 1,29).
The Bible reveals the central meaning of the incarnation of God at the first coming of Christ. The Bible also reveals that Jesus is now entering the lives of believers. And the Bible also says with certainty that he will come again, visibly and with power. Jesus comes in three different ways:
Jesus has already come
We humans need God's redemption—his salvation—because Adam and Eve sinned and brought death upon the world. Jesus brought about this salvation by dying in our place. Paul wrote in Kolosser 1,19-20“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” Jesus healed the rift that first occurred in the Garden of Eden. Through his sacrifice, humanity can be reconciled to God.
The prophecies of the Old Testament pointed to the Kingdom of God in the future. But the New Testament begins with Jesus proclaiming the good news of God: “The time is fulfilled… and the kingdom of God has come near,” he said. (Mk 1,14-15)Jesus, the King of the kingdom, walked among people! Jesus “offered a sacrifice for sins.” (Heb 10,12)We should never underestimate the significance of Jesus' incarnation, his life and work some 2000 years ago.
Jesus came. Further - Jesus is coming now
There is good news for those who believe in Christ: “You too were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you used to live according to the ways of this world… But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, made us, who were dead in our sins, alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (Eph 2,1-2; 4-5).
God has now raised us up spiritually with Christ! By his grace "he raised us up with us, and instituted us in heaven in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace through his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (verses 6-7). This passage describes our present condition as followers of Jesus Christ!
God, “according to his great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, and is kept in heaven for you.” (1Pt 1,3-4)Jesus now lives in us. (Gal 2,20)We have been spiritually born again and can see the Kingdom of God. (Joh 3,3).
When asked when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus answered: “The Kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will people say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.” (Lk 17,20-21)Jesus was in the midst of the Pharisees, but he lives in Christians. Jesus Christ brought the Kingdom of God in his person.
In the same way that Jesus lives in us, he introduces the kingdom. The coming of Jesus to live in us foreshadows the definitive revelation of the kingdom of God on earth at Jesus' second coming.
But why does Jesus live in us? Let us consider: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph 2,8-10)God has saved us by grace, not by our own efforts. But although we cannot earn salvation through works, Jesus lives in us so that we may now do good works and thereby glorify God.
Jesus came. Jesus is coming. And - Jesus will come again
After Jesus' resurrection, when His disciples saw Him ascend, two angels asked the question:
“Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Apg 1,11)Yes, Jesus is coming again.
At his first coming, Jesus left some messianic predictions unfulfilled. That was one reason why the Jews rejected him. They saw the Messiah as a national hero who would liberate them from Roman rule.
But the Messiah had to come first to die for all humanity. Only later would Christ return as victorious King and then not only exalt Israel, but make all the kingdoms of this world his kingdoms. “And the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.’” (Offb 11,15).
“I am going there to prepare a place for you,” Jesus said. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (Joh 14,23).
Jesus' prophecy on the Mount of Olives (Mt 24,1-2546) addressed the disciples' questions and concerns about the end of this age. Later, the Apostle Paul wrote to the church how “the Lord himself will come with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, descending from heaven. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). At Jesus’ second coming, he will raise the righteous who have died to immortality and transform the believers who are still alive to immortality, and they will meet him in the air (verses 16-17). 1Kor 15,51-54).
But when?
Over the centuries, speculation about the Second Coming of Christ has caused a multitude of disputes - and countless disappointments, as the various scenarios of the predictors proved wrong. The overemphasis on when Jesus will return may distract us from the central focus of the gospel - Jesus' redemptive work for all people, achieved through his life, death, resurrection, and ongoing redemptive work as our heavenly high priest.
We can be so engrossed in prophetic speculation that we fail to fulfill the legitimate role of Christians as lights in the world by showing the loving, compassionate Christian way of life and glorifying God by serving other people.
"If any person's interest in the biblical announcements of the last things and the second coming degenerates into a subtle projecting of precisely worked out future events, then they have departed far from the substance and spirit of Jesus' prophetic statements," says the New International Bible Commentary on this Gospel of Luke” on page 544.
Our focus
If it is not possible to find out when Christ will come again (and therefore unimportant compared to what the Bible really says), then where should we direct our energies? We should focus on being ready for Jesus' coming whenever it happens!
“Therefore you also must be ready!” said Jesus, “for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Mt 24,44)“But whoever endures to the end will be saved.” (Mt 10,22)We must be ready for him so that he can come into our lives now and guide our lives at this moment.
The focus of the Bible
The entire Bible revolves around the coming of Jesus Christ. As Christians, our lives should also revolve around his coming. Jesus came. He is coming now through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And Jesus will come again. Jesus will come in power and glory, “to transform our lowly bodies so that they may be like his glorious body.” (Phil 3,21)Then “creation too will be set free from its bondage to decay and into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” (Röm 8,21).
YES, I am coming soon, says our Savior. And as believers and disciples of Christ, we can all answer with one voice: “Amen, yes, come Lord Jesus.” (Offb 22,20)!
Norman Shoaf
