SEEK 32 – The Second Coming
Question: When will Jesus come back. Also, who is Jesus going to take and who is he going to leave behind? Will Jesus also take the innocent children of the people who are not Christians?
Bible Reading: Matthew 24:36-51
Text: “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect him.” (Matthew 24:44)
Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ was one of the biggest grossing films ever. As is the case with successful movies there has to be a part two. So what follows the Cross? At the time of writing Gibson is planning The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection which, according to the trailers will have as much to do with the Second Coming of Christ – as it will with the actual resurrection. Given the speculation about the Second Coming, and the drama involved, it certainly offers a filmmaker like Gibson a great opportunity for special effects and bloodthirsty horror. And therein lies the problem. There has been far too much speculation about the Second Coming. It is good for us to distinguish between the speculation that adds to the Bible, the unbelief that takes away from it.
In ASK 23 the question was about the end of the world – I won’t repeat what is said there – other than to remind you that we don’t know when the end of the world will be. And so, we don’t know when the return of Jesus will be – although we can be sure that every day brings it a day closer.
But let’s look at Matthew 24 and draw from it some certainties about the second coming which I hope will help answer your questions.
- It will happen. The Second Coming refers to the visible return of Christ to the earth.
- Before it does happen there will be great trouble on the earth, great apostasy in the Church, and many false messiahs.
- The Second Coming, unlike the First, will be with great power and glory (v.30). Everyone will see. This will be a world-wide event – and will signal the end of the world.
- We do not know when it . Even Jesus when he was on earth did not know (v.36).
- We need to be ready. Because we do not know when he will come, we must live every day as though he were about to return. It’s a bit like your parents going away and leaving you to have the house to yourself. You know they are going to return, and you know they don’t want to see the house in a mess. You don’t want to upset them, so because you don’t know when they are going to come back, you have things ready for them. We are to keep watch.
- We are to long for it. At least Christians are. Again, it’s like a child standing at the window waiting for their father to return. Or have you ever seen one of those welcome home videos of soldiers returning from a tour of duty overseas? The child longs to see their parent, or their returned father. So, we must be longing for Jesus. That’s why the early Christians prayed ‘Maranatha’ (1 Corinthians 16:22) Maranatha is one of the few words in the Bible that is in Aramaic – the language that Jesus spoke. Maranatha means ‘come, O Lord’. It is also reflected in the Greek of the second last verse of the Bible (Revelation 22:20) – “Amen, Come, Lord Jesus”.
You ask about who Jesus will leave behind. I suspect that is because you have been influenced by a particular teaching about the Second Coming, called the Rapture. This is the belief that Jesus will return secretly in the clouds and ‘rapture’ his people up to heaven, then he will return again with his people to reign for a thousand years, then he will go away, and then return again. I’m not sure how many ‘comings’ that makes! It seems to me far more complex than the Bible is. I think the biblical evidence is that there will only be one Second Coming – and that that will usher in the end of the world, the judgement day, the second resurrection (that is the reuniting of believers’ spirits with their bodies). It will be an astonishing event. No one will be ‘left behind’ – in the sense of being left to live on earth. But only believers in Christ will be gathered with him to take part in the great wedding feast of the Lamb.
“Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord”. (1 Thessalonians 4:17)
In terms of your question about children go back to question 16 where we discuss that.
The important thing for you and I is that we do not get so caught up in the speculation about details that we forget the most important truth here – Jesus is returning, and we need to be ready for that.
Consider: If we really believed that Christ could return at any time, what difference do you think it would, or should, make to our lives? Is this a comforting or challenging truth? Or both?
Further Reading:
The Momentous Event – W.J Grier
Prayer: Lord, we thank you that you have promised to return and that it will be soon. Even so we pray ‘Amen, Come, Lord Jesus”
SEEK 31 – Before Birth – Where was I Before I was Born?
