Sunday evening, March 10, 1996
The Second Coming of Christ, Part 4
Matthew 24:29-31; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:50-52
(see also Mark 13 and Luke 21)
By P. G. Mathew, M.A., M.Div., Th.M.
Copyright © 1996 by P. G. Mathew
We have been studying the blessed hope of the church. What is that hope? It is the second coming of Christ, the glorious appearing of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13). Now we must ask, why does the return of Christ give us hope? When Jesus comes again, Christians will receive glorious bodies like his glorious body, and they will be united with Christ forever. This is the hope that will not make us ashamed. If this is not our hope, then we are living lives that are below the Christian gospel. If this is our hope, we will purify ourselves from all that defiles us. As the bride of Christ, we will be ever looking forward to that day of marriage, the day of his glorious appearing, and keep ourselves clean and pure, living blameless and spotless lives in this world.
So the blessed hope of the church is not that God will help us to
get good jobs, good wives, good husbands, good children or good
houses. Those are all of this world. We have a hope that
transcends all of these, which is to meet our Savior, our
bridegroom, and be united with him forever.
Characteristics of the Second Coming
In what way will Jesus come again? In Matthew 24:29-31 we read,
"Immediately after the distress of those days [meaning the
great tribulation of those days] 'the sun will be darkened, and
the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the
sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.' At that time the
sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the
nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man
coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And
he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will
gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens
to the other."
- At the time of the second coming, there will be
total darkness. "The sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall
from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be
shaken." Certain cataclysmic events will take place
and there will be total darkness.
- Christ's coming will be public and visible.
Christ is going to appear in a way that will be visible
to all. Look at Matthew 24:27: "For as lightning
that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so
will be the coming of the Son of Man." This will be
an amazing sight. Against the background of absolute
darkness, suddenly there will be a sign--the coming of
the Son of Man. It will be public and visible to all.
There is no secret coming of Christ taught in the
Scriptures.
- Christ will come suddenly in great glory and power.
In Matthew 26:64 Jesus was asked if he was the Christ,
the Son of God. "'Yes, it is as you say,' Jesus
replied. 'But I say to all of you: In the future you will
see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the
Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.'"
This public, visible coming of Jesus Christ will be in
great glory. He is also going to come with great power.
Matthew 24:30 says, "They will see the Son of Man
coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great
glory." He will come suddenly, as we read in Mark
13:36.
- Jesus will come personally for his church.
Jesus will not send someone else to represent him. First
Thessalonians 4:16 says, "For the Lord himself will
come down from heaven. . ."In Acts 1:11 we read,
"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."
- Jesus is going to come audibly. Not only
will the second coming be visible and public, but there
will be sound accompanying it. We read about this in 1
Thessalonians 4:16: "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."
- Jesus will not come by himself. When Jesus
comes again, he will come with the holy angels, as well
as with the spirits of those who died in Christ. Those
spirits are in heaven now, but when Christ comes again,
these spirits will come with him.
Events of the Second Coming
- The angels will gather the elect. When
Christ comes, what will happen? First, he will send his
angels throughout the world to gather his elect. Matthew
24:31 says, "And he will send his angels with a loud
trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the
four winds, from one end of the heavens to the
other." The holy angels are commissioned to go
throughout the earth to gather the elect. Jesus described
this in Luke 17:34. "I tell you, on that night, two
people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the
other left." Now we could argue whether
"taken" means taken for judgment or
"left" means left for salvation. But one thing
is very certain: it will be a separation of the elect
from the non-elect, a separation of true believers from
unbelievers.
- This separation might occur during the daytime, night or early morning,
depending where people are. In Matthew 24:40 we are told, "Two men will be in the field;
one will be taken and the other left." so here we
see it occurring in the daytime, while men are working in
the fields. And in verse 41 we read, "Two women will
be grinding with a handmill; one will be taken and the
other left." This could be occurring in the early
morning, when women grind grain for the day. At that time
there will suddenly be a separation, and one is taken,
the other left.
- The dead in Christ shall rise first. When
the angels gather the elect, that means not only those
who are living at the time, but also all those who died
in faith in Christ, including all the saints of the Old
and New Testaments. The spirits of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Paul, Peter and all who ever died in faith will be raised
and gathered up. We read about this in 1 Thessalonians
4:16 and 1 Corinthians 15:52. Do you think there were
believers in the Old Testament? If you question this,
read the eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews, which
speaks about the one people of God.
These spirits shall come with Jesus Christ and unite with their glorious bodies. These bodies are Spirit-engineered, made to exist in the presence of God. These bodies are spiritual, glorious and physical, just as the body of Jesus Christ was. Our spirits shall join with these glorious bodies at the last trumpet call. The dead in Christ shall rise first, and the angels will gather them to Christ.
- Those who are living shall be changed. What
about believers who are alive when Christ comes? They
will be changed. First Corinthians 15:51-52 tells us,
"We will all be changed--in a flash, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet." What a
wonderful experience--to be transformed without
experiencing death!
So there will be a gathering of the elect, including a separation of the elect from the non-elect. The dead in Christ shall rise first, and their spirits will be joined with their glorious bodies. Those who are living will also be changed and receive glorious bodies.
The Rapture of the Saints
What else is going to happen? There will be a rapture. Look at 1
Thessalonians 4:17, which is the only place where we find a
reference to this idea of rapture: "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." Now, the Greek word
for "caught up" is harpagesometha , future
passive, from harpazo , meaning to seize, snatch, or
catch. The Latin of harpazo is rapio ,
from which you have rapture.
When Jesus Christ comes back, he will descend personally,
visibly, powerfully, gloriously, and audibly. He will be followed
by angels and the spirits of those who died in faith. He will
commission the angels to gather the elect from throughout the
world. The elect who died in Christ will be raised from the dead,
while the elect who are living will be transformed. Together both
groups will be raptured, caught up "in the clouds to meet
the Lord." Jesus will come with power and will cause us to
be caught up to meet him in bodies able to do so. This is what
the term rapture means.
What is the purpose of our rapture? "To meet the Lord in the
air." What does that mean? The word "meet" conveys
the idea of a great dignitary coming to a city, for example,
Rome. The Roman senators and others from Rome will go a certain
distance outside the city to greet this dignitary, and together
they will come to the city. So the word "meet" means
that you not only greet someone, but your direction then becomes
the direction of the other person. Who is this great dignitary we
will be caught up to meet? The Lord Jesus Christ! And where will
he be going at that time? From heaven to the planet earth.
This is not the secret rapture idea that is popular among Christians today. The "secret rapture" means that Jesus will come mid-air to rapture his people and take them back to heaven. As we have said before, this idea originated in an extra-biblical revelation that a woman in the congregation of Edward Irving received in the 1830s, and it has nothing to do with the Bible.
No, this rapture will be different. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will be raptured. Peter, James, John, and Andrew will be there. All those who have loved the Lord throughout history will be there. They will be caught up--for what purpose? To meet the Lord in the air. They will be like those meeting the bridegroom in Matthew 25. When the cry rang out, "The bridegroom cometh!" what did the attendants do? They went out to meet him, and those with oil were admitted to the bridegroom's feast. That is the idea of meeting. What a glorious day that will be! The hope, the blessed hope of the church, will have been realized.
What else does it say? "And so we will be with the Lord
forever." Oh, what a joyous statement! We will never be
separated from Christ. This is eternal life. This is joy
unspeakable and full of glory--to be with the bridegroom forever.
That is the hope of the church.
Reaction to the Second Coming of Christ
When Christ comes, then, there will be lightning from one end of
the earth to the other, total blackness, and then this
brightness, this glory, as the Son of Man descends, with power,
glory and authority, followed by angels. When those who have not
trusted in Christ see these things, how will they react? Read
Matthew 24:30 "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will
appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will
mourn." There will be great mourning among the unbelievers
of the earth. Why? They will see this Christ whom they mocked,
cursed, and treated with contempt and total unbelief, coming in
great glory and power.
Look at Luke 21. In verse 25 we read, "There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and the tossing of the sea." There will be total confusion, perplexity and anguish. Those who denied the existence of Deity, angels and everything to do with God will not be able to understand what is happening. Verse 26: "Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." This will not be secret. The unbelievers will see it all, and experience anguish, perplexity, and faintness of heart. They will mourn, weep, and even cry to the mountains, "Fall on us! Fall on us! Cover us!" as we read in Revelation. They want to die as they see the day of the wrath of the Lamb coming (Rev. 6:16-17). What about the church, the believers? How will they react? It is stated very clearly in Luke 21:28: "When these things begin to take place," Jesus counseled his people, "stand up, lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." That word "redemption" means the receiving of our glorious bodies. Only when we have received our glorious spiritual physical bodies will we have our complete redemption. So Jesus encourages his people to lift up their heads, stand up and rejoice, knowing that when they see these events of his coming, their redemption is drawing nigh.
How will you react? Have you believed in Jesus, or are you treating him with contempt? In what are you believing? You may not believe in Deity, in the Creator, in the infinite personal God who is spirit and truth. You may not believe that he is coming again. But he is coming, whether you believe it or not.
I counsel you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. If you do so, when he comes, you can then stand, lift up your heads and rejoice, because your redemption will be drawing nigh. The second coming is the blessed hope of the church. May you share in this hope as you trust in him. Amen.
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of International Bible Society.
"NIV" and "New International Version" are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark office by International Bible Society.
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