The Second Coming of Christ

.... Before Jesus ascended to the Father, He promised to return to the earth one day and receive us to Himself:

.... "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."

(John 14:3)

.... When He returns, He will come without warning as a thief in the night (1 Thessa- lonians 5:2). He will come walking across the sky with clouds, and every eye shall see Him (Revelation 1:7). He will shine like the lightning coming out of the east into the west (Luke 17:24), bringing with Him those who sleep in Christ, as the Resurrection of the Just begins to unfold. And those of us who are alive and remain on the earth will be caught up together with Him in the air:

.... "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed– in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

(1 Corinthians 15:51-52)

.... "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord."

(1Thessalonians 4:14-17)

.... The event described in this passage is sometimes referred to as the rapture, although the phrase itself does not appear in the Bible. 'Rapture' means to ‘catch away’, and it is true that we will be caught up into the clouds to be with Jesus when He returns. But it also leads to the common assumption that, when He returns, He will be taking us away to heaven.

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.... Certainly, if we were to die in Christ today, we would go to Paradise, which seems to be part of heaven (Luke 23:43). We discussed this in further detail in a previous posting. But in this passage, Jesus is coming to the earth from heaven, and for the next 1,000 years He intends to rule and reign on the earth.

.... "Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!"

(Revelation 11:15)

.... This will initiate a special period known in Scripture as the thousand years reign, or millennial reign; and we, as Christians, shall reign along with Jesus. For He has "made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth." (Revelation 5:10).

.... "Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years."

(Revelation 20:6)

.... Coincidental with His coming (and preceding the millennial reign itself) will be the first resurrection, which is also called the Resurrection of the Just (Luke 14:14). And once again, at this point (and as discussed in a previous posting), a prima facie case will be made for every person who is still alive at His coming, to determine if they will make it in this resurrection or not. We will discuss that further in our next posting.

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Daily Bible Reading: 2 Timothy 1