A tie that binds all Christians together is the belief that Jesus, who came to earth as our sacrificial lamb, savior and messiah, will return physically to the earth a second time as the lion of Judah, to rule and reign in Israel on the throne of David as the rightful king of all the earth. This expectation was laid out in the Old Testament and confirmed by Jesus himself and his apostles in the New Testament. Christians differ on exactly how and when and in what order the many biblical prophesies about Jesus’ return will be fulfilled. But we all agree that Jesus has promised to return to earth in bodily form.
I love the way that the Apostle Paul links the return of Jesus to our hope. In fact, Paul calls the return of Christ our “Blessed Hope”. Paul often teaches about Jesus’ return, it is central to many of his epistles:
- Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”
- 1 Thes 2:19 “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?”
- 1 Thes 3:12-13 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
- 1 Thes 4: 13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
- 1 Thes 5:1-11 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
- 1 Thes 5:23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 2 Thes 1:1 -4 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
While Christians might disagree and speculate about the timing of the gathering of the believers in the air (the rapture) and about the timing of the great tribulation (described here as great distress):
- Matt 24:33 21 “For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. 22If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.”
We might also disagree about the timing of our returning to the earth with Jesus and his glorious appearing with his angels, and about when and how the two witnesses of Revelation 11 will be active on the earth (and when the temple will be rebuilt, and how the man of lawlessness will deceive, and exactly what the restrainer is, and when he will be removed…) What we can agree on is that all of this glorious rich detail is provided in the Bible to encourage us to have faith and hope and to guide the last generation that gets to see it all unfold.
Jesus will return. He has not abandoned this earth and will literally fulfill all the promises of God. He will be “God with us”.
God promised David that he would have a descendant, a son, to reign on his throne forever and God reiterated this promise to the people of Israel through the prophet Isaiah:
- Isaiah 9:6-7 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.”
Jesus is this “son” who is also the Everlasting Father, God in the flesh. Notice that the government will be on his shoulders and that it is promised that Jesus will reign on David’s throne. The Jews (including the apostles of Jesus’ time) were rightly expecting the Messiah to be a political king who would restore Israel’s earthly kingdom. They were correct about the scriptures, but didn’t realize that first Jesus had to come as the suffering servant to save us from our sins (Isaiah 53:5) before he would return as the conquering, ruling king.
The prophet Zechariah explains in great detail when and how this kingdom would be initiated (I have taken excerpts from chapters 12-14, but feel free to read all three chapters if you wish):
It happens when all the nations come against Jerusalem. Notice that God shields Jerusalem and destroys the attackers:
- Zechariah 12: 1-3 – A prophecy: The word of the Lord concerning Israel. The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person, declares: 2 “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. 3 On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves….”
- Zechariah 12:8-9 “On that day the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord going before them. 9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.
The Jews in Jerusalem and in all the land of Israel will look upon the “alpha and omega”, whom they pierced, and mourn for the one and only son of God, Jesus. God’s spirit will allow them to see the undeserved favor (grace) that Jesus provides. The Spirit of supplication will allow them to plead and beg for forgiveness (repent) as they mourn and confess their sin of rejecting Him. Jesus is the only fountain that cleanses the sin and impurity.
- Zechariah 12:10-12 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me [אֵת] the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. 11 On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves…”
- Zechariah 13:1,8-9 On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. 8 In the whole land,” declares the Lord, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. 9 This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”
Even more detail is given. All the nations will be gathered to fight against Jerusalem. The city is captured and ransacked. Half the people go into exile. Then Jesus comes and places his feet upon the Mount of Olives, it splits and his people flee to safety. Then the holy ones of God come with him to earth and he will reign over the whole earth.
- Zechariah 14:1-9 “A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls. 2 I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. 3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. 5 You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. 6 On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness. 7 It will be a unique day—a day known only to the Lord—with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light. 8 On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter. 9 The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.”
Jesus’ disciples knew that one day he would restore the kingdom to Israel. But notice as his disciples ask him about this event, he indicates there is a mission for the church first to witness about Jesus to the gentiles (“until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” Luke 21:24). Also notice that the angels say that Jesus will return, from the sky to the Mount of OIives just as Zechariah described:
- Acts 1:6 “Then they gathered around him [Jesus] and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?””
- Acts 1:7-8 “He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
- Acts 1:9-12 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” 12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city.”
The return of Jesus is described by Jude (quoting Enoch) as the coming of the Lord in judgment of the ungodly:
- Jude 14-15 “Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.””
This is consistent with how Zechariah describes it when Jesus returns to Jerusalem. The assailants surrounding Jerusalem will rot and then panic, and they will turn on each other. As a result, Jerusalem will be inhabited, and secure thereafter.
- Zechariah 14:11-13 “It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure. 12 This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. 13 On that day people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another.
The nations will then come to worship the true King, the Lord Almighty, Jesus, who reigns from Jerusalem.
- Zechariah 14:16-17 Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. 17 If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain.”
The Apostle John describes these same events with even more wonderful detail in Revelation 19-20. First the gathering of the church (called the bride of Christ) at the return of Jesus is described as the “wedding of the lamb”.
- Rev 19:6b – 8 “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)
- Rev 19:9 Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”
- Rev 19:10 At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”
Then Jesus comes with the armies of heaven to destroy the armies of the nations and the beast and false prophet (demonic leaders) who deceive them:
- Rev 19:11-16 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords.
- Rev 19:17-21 And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.” 19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20 But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 21 The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
In Revelation 20 John is given more detail about what happens after Jesus comes back to earth. Satan is bound for a 1000 years during which time Jesus rules and reigns on earth with his resurrected priests. This period is called the millennial kingdom. After this time Satan is again freed to deceive and causes a final huge battle before Satan is cast in the lake of fire. Then comes the 2nd resurrection, not only of the faithful, but of all the dead, and the great white throne judgment. Finally, death itself and Satan are destroyed and cast into the lake of fire and God creates a new heaven and new earth in which all things are made new.
My church says it this way:
We believe in the Blessed Hope and the personal, pre-millennial and imminent return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Thessalonians 5:1-11; Matthew 24 and 25; Jude 1:1-25; Revelation 19:11-21
So my church believes in a “premillennial” return of Christ, meaning before the 1000yr kingdom reign and a bodily (personal) return of Jesus to the earth. We believe that his return is “imminent”. This means that he could come, like he warned, as a “thief in the night” at any time to gather his church, his bride, to bring them to be with him in heaven. We don’t want to be like the virgins who weren’t ready for the bridegroom (see Matt 25:1-13). For those who don’t believe Christ’s return is imminent they can be fooled into complacency. This rapture will trigger the resurrection of dead believers and certainly indicate that all the events of the great tribulation described in Matthew 24, Luke 21, Mark 13 and in Revelation 6-19 are imminent if not ongoing.
Why is it important to believe that Jesus is literally coming back to earth? It is a sad thing to lose the very hope that is central to the faith and teachings of the apostles. Over the last 2000 years, there are many who have attempted to “spiritualize” this hope and claim that Christ will never come back to earth at all. Peter warned us to be vigilant because belief in the coming of Jesus would wane:
- 2 Peter 3:4 “They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.”
There are others who try to replace the irrevocable promises to Israel with promises to the church rather than seeing the church as grafted into Israel (losing sight of the clear teaching of Romans 11, specifically Romans 11:29). Sadly this “replacement theology” renders Isaiah, Zechariah, John, Paul and many others as false prophets. One is forced to pick and choose which scriptures to “spiritualize” and which to take at face value. Jesus clearly believed that the words of God would literally be fulfilled.
There are others who, losing sight of the promises about the return of Christ, create fictitious expectations about heaven. For instance, Mormons teach that each saved person is given their own planet. Honestly, to me this sounds like eternal separation from community, which I would describe as hell not heaven.
There are also those who falsely claim that Jesus already returned and we all missed it. This is despite Jesus saying “For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matt 24:27). Paul warning us repeatedly not to be disturbed by false teachers who make this claim (see 2 Thes 2:2 above). One flavor of false teachers of this sort today are called full preterists. They believe that Jesus came back in 70AD when the temple was destroyed by the Romans (despite the next generation of disciples, like Polycarp, a disciple of John, still looking for Christ’s return between 110 – 130AD). Clearly Jesus did not overthrow the Romans (the nation surrounding Jerusalem) as prophesied by Zechariah and John. Neither did his angels gather the elect (Matt 24:31). The consequences of this sort of error can be quite severe and unsettling. Full preterists teach that we are in our resurrected bodies, this is the new heaven and new earth, there is no longer a spiritual enemy because Satan has been cast into the lake of fire. This sort of error leads to bizarre ideas totally in conflict with the revelation of the New Testament. For example, in this scenario the source of evil in the world is entirely human (hence we are the problem not the victim as described in Ephesians 6!!).
In contrast, Christians cling to this pervasive promise:
Rev 22:-13 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
Even the very last words of the Bible point back to remind us of this blessed hope that we all share:
Rev 22: 20-21 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.
Atheist to Elder 