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Christ is coming!
Bible teaching about his return
IT WAS once fashionable in religious circles to say that Jesus Christ would never return to the earth. There are still plenty of professing Christians who believe that. But there are now many others who have come to believe that the Second Coming is a very important event.
Christadelphians have always taught that the return of Jesus Christ to the earth is vital to the fulfilment of the purpose of God. This booklet reviews Bible teaching about the Second Coming, both the events that will lead up to that miracle and the reason for the Lord’s return.
New Testament teaching
Someone has counted the New Testament references to this great event, and they number 318 occurrences! If you reflect that the number of times the word for Christian love occurs is only 115, you will begin to see the importance of this topic. Nor is it simply the case that only one or two New Testament writers refer to the matter in their writings. Treatment of the subject is widely spread.
Jesus spoke often about the kingdom of God and his Second Coming. His parables, for example, were told to those who thought the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. He was like a nobleman who had to go “into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return” (Luke 19:12). More than once he spoke of the “coming of the Son of man” (e.g. Matthew 24:27,30,37,39,48; 25:27; 26:64). And when he assured his disciples of his continuing spiritual, but invisible, presence “even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20), he inferred that then he would be visibly present with them for ever.
The testimony of the apostles was equally plain. They had been clearly taught by the risen Lord who, during the forty days before his ascension into heaven, instructed them about the kingdom of God, the restored kingdom of Israel (Acts 1:3,6). It was the opening theme of his post-resurrection appearances that all the Old Testament promises were coming to their fulfilment in him (Luke 24:27). At the time of his ascension, as he was being taken up from the Mount of Olives into the clouds, God sent His angels to explain:
“Ye men of Galilee”, they said to the watching apostles, “Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)
It is not therefore surprising that when the apostles began to teach in the streets of Jerusalem, they said that their Lord Jesus Christ was to return to the earth as king. Peter gave the lead when he boldly announced that the grave could not keep Jesus imprisoned. He referred his hearers to a statement in Psalm 110:1, used also by his Lord, to show that he had gone to heaven only until his enemies have been subdued (2:34,35). Note the authoritative use of the Old Testament.
But also note a vital point. Bible teaching is never given just for the sake of informing us what happens next. It always has a deeper intention, for we are meant to use the knowledge it confers to prepare ourselves for those coming events:
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ … Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.” (Acts 2:36,38)
It should follow that our consideration of Bible truth concerning the return of the Lord should also cause us to search our hearts.
Other New Testament writings
But what of the writings of other New Testament authors? Let us look at just one of the New Testament letters, the first written by Paul to the Thessalonians. Notice how he centres his entire message on the truth of the personal return to the earth of the Lord:
“Wait for his Son from heaven … which delivereth us from the wrath to come.” (1:10)
“What is our hope or joy? Are not ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?” (2:19)
“He may stablish your hearts unblameable … at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.” (3:13)
“The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout.” (4:16)
“The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” (5:2)
“I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (5:23)
You could try extending this investigation, if you wish. The emphasis on the Lord’s coming continues in all the New Testament letters, but it is always related to practical Christian living. Because the Lord is coming again, there were matters in their lives that required attention! And it is so for us.
Old Testament teaching
The same person who counted 318 references in the New Testament extended the search to the Old Testament, and discovered 1,527 such references to an event in God’s purpose which can be no other than the coming of Christ as king. Let it be clear that the exact number is unimportant; there is always room for some difference of opinion about the occasional passage. But it is perhaps startling to some readers to consider that there could be five times as many references to the Second Coming in a part of the Bible which has suffered widely from neglect over the years.
The fact of the matter is this: the New Testament can only be understood once the Old Testament has also been studied. The two Testaments belong together as interdependent parts of God’s revealed truth. What the Old Testament foretells the New Testament fulfils, in part. But a very large amount of Old Testament prophecy remains unfulfilled.
Consider these promises of a king who will reign over God’s kingdom on earth, and ask yourself whether they have ever been fulfilled:
Genesis: “Thy seed (a descendant of Abraham) shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” (22:17,18; see Acts 3:25; Galatians 3:16)
2 Samuel: “And when thy days (David) be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed (descendant) after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house (a temple) for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.” (7:12,13)
Psalms: “The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” (2:7,8; see Acts 4:25,26)
“He (the promised king) … shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.” (72:6-8)
Isaiah: “It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house (His temple) shall be established in the top of the mountains (at Jerusalem) … and all nations shall flow unto it … for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations.” (2:2-4)
“Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever.” (9:7)
Jeremiah: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch (descendant), and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is the name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness.” (23:5,6)
