The Second Coming

The Old Testament speaks in a number of places of the Lord's coming (Psalm 40:7; 96:13; Zechariah 2:10; 9:9; 14:3-5), but does not make a distinction between a first and a second coming. This is because had Christ been received when he came the first time there would have been no need for a second coming. God, with his foreknowledge, knew what would happen and that Christ would be rejected by the inhabitants of Jerusalem and their rulers (Acts 13:27), but that was not realised by Christ's disciples, to whom Christ spoke specifically of his rejection more than once. They didn't take in what he said as it was not what they wanted to hear. Now, with hindsight we can see that in order that much in the Old Testament could be fulfilled two comings were necessary. A perusal of the quotations made above and others will show that some were clearly fulfilled when Christ came the first time, but others have yet to be fulfilled. Further, scriptures such as Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 have largely been fulfilled, but others such as Psalm 2 and Isaiah 32:1 that speak of Christ as reigning clearly have not.

However, the intention of this article is to show that Christ is coming a second time (i.e. once more), but there are not two further comings. He is coming to raise the dead saints from the grave, change the living, catch them both away and then he will appear to Israel and men generally, all this being part of his second coming, though between the saints' catching away, and his dealing with the world in judgement the last week of Daniel may be fulfilled and also much else (In Daniel 9:25 the Messiah comes at the end of the 69th week. His second coming would appear to signal the beginning of the 70th week. What comes between the 69th and 70th weeks is not really the subject of prophecy). The New Testament speaks often of Christ's coming again, telling us what he will do when he comes, but there is no suggestion that there is more than one further coming. Consider, John 14:3; Acts 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 2 Thessalonians 1:10; 2 Peter 3:4; Jude 14 and Revelation 1:7. It may be noted that Paul speaks of those that overthrew the faith of some by saying that the resurrection had taken place already (2 Timothy 2:18). The faith of the some was probably undermined because they thought that because Christ had not taken them to be with Himself when he raised the dead that they had been left behind for judgement.

The passages of Scripture that speak of Christ's coming to take his own to be with him are two. The first is in John 14; the second in 1 Thessalonians 4. John 14:3 reads "I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that where I am ye also may be". This verse follows Christ's statement as to his Father's house - that there are many abodes in it and that he was going to prepare a place for them. He also spoke afterwards of his going to the Father and that he was the way by which they would be able to come to the Father. All this may suggest that as the Father's abode is in heaven (Matthew 6:9), Christ when he comes for his own will take his disciples there straight away. However, though no doubt heaven will be the saints' home, the immediate point in the verse is that the disciples will be with the Lord where he is. He is coming to reign over the earth and, no doubt, his disciples will be with him. Christ is not going to take them to heaven and leave them there while he returns to earth.

As to what will happen when the Lord comes, we are told about the resurrection of the dead and the changing of the living in 1 Corinthians 15:51-57, but this passage does not really carry us any further as resurrection is the subject of the chapter. The fact of the resurrection is brought in to show that everything does not end in death and therefore our toil is not in vain in the Lord (verse 58). However, what we get in Thessalonians 4:13-18 goes beyond the resurrection and speaks of our being caught up to meet the Lord in the air (verse 17). There is nothing about our being taken to heaven, but the passage speaks of our being taken off the earth to meet the Lord who is coming to the earth. The meeting is said to be in the clouds, that is, above the earth. It would appear that once the saints have left the earth, moral conditions will deteriorate rapidly and judgement will follow shortly. The time of greeting in the air may well not be just momentary, but could well be prolonged. The Lord never moves until the time is right. We often move too soon or too late. If we are with the Lord our timing will always be right. To summarise: (1) The Lord himself... shall descend from heaven. (2) We shall be caught up to meet him in the air. (3) From then on we shall be always be with him. This is as far as the passage goes. The point was to encourage the Thessalonian believers (verse 18). The matter is really summarised by Paul in verse 1 of 2 Thessalonians 2 when he speaks of: "The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him". The thought is that we our going to be gathered together (all the saints brought together) and that to him. He will be the focal point of the gathering.

However, some may think that verse 14 of 1 Thessalonians 4 supports the idea that we are going to come with Christ from heaven because it says: "For if we believe that Jesus has died and has risen again, so also God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus." This does not mean that Christ will bring the saints with him from heaven. He will bring angels (Zechariah 14:5; Jude 14/15; Revelation 19:11-16), but these will no doubt stand aside while he greets his saints. There are several reasons for thinking that the words "bring with him" do not mean "bring with him from heaven". The reasons are as follows:-

(1) The first part of the sentence speaks of the resurrection of Christ. The second is connected with it so that we have an "also" where the saints are spoken of. The point is that the saints will also be raised (brought) from among the dead.