Doctrine
"...I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
John 14:3
The world grows darker, and men's hearts fail them for fear of the things coming upon the earth. But the child of God is not left to despair. He has a bright and certain hope shining over every trouble — the personal, bodily, visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible calls it the blessed hope, and it has comforted believers in every generation. Let us see what God has promised.
The night before He died, the Lord Jesus Christ comforted His troubled disciples with a promise as plain as it is precious.
"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." (John 14:3)
"I will come again" — not merely "I will send my Spirit," nor "the gospel will spread," nor "you will come to me at death," but "I will come again," personally, to receive His own. And when He ascended into heaven, the angels confirmed that He would return in the very same manner — bodily and visibly.
"...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)
Why do we call it the second coming? Because the Lord Jesus Christ has already come once — in humility, to bear our sins at the cross. He will come a second time — not to deal with sin, for that is finished, but to gather and glorify all who are waiting for Him.
"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." (Hebrews 9:28)
He appeared the first time to a manger and a cross; He shall appear the second time in power and great glory. And this second appearing unfolds in two stages, which we must carefully distinguish.
The Bible reveals that the Lord's return has two aspects. First comes that blessed event often called the Rapture — the moment when the Lord Jesus Christ descends into the air and catches up His people, both the dead and the living, to be with Him.
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)
The bodies of believers who have died will be raised, and living believers will be changed and caught up together with them — all in an instant, receiving glorified bodies that can never die.
"Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)
In a moment — in the twinkling of an eye — the whole company of the redeemed will be gathered to their Saviour, to be forever with the Lord.
God gave this promise not to frighten us, but to comfort us. The believer who has laid a loved one in the grave in Christ has not lost them forever; he shall see them again, raised and glorified, at the coming of the Lord.
"Wherefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:18)
So we do not grieve as those who have no hope. We look, with lifted heads, for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour.
"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." (Titus 2:13)
No prophecy remains to be fulfilled before the Lord comes for His people; He may come at any moment. This is why the Lord Jesus Christ pressed His people again and again to be ready and watching.
"Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." (Matthew 24:44)
The one who truly believes the Lord may come today will live differently today. He will keep his heart clean, his lamp burning, and his hands busy in the Master's work.
Because the Lord's coming is so certain, some have foolishly tried to fix the date of it. But the Lord Jesus Christ shut that door plainly.
"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." (Matthew 24:36)
Every man who has ever named a date has been proven wrong, and has brought reproach upon the blessed hope. We are not called to calculate the time, but to be ready at all times. The believer does not need to know when the Lord will come; he needs only to be found watching whenever He does.
It is important to see that the Rapture — the Lord coming in the air for His saints — is distinct from His later coming to the earth in power and glory. At the Rapture, He comes for His saints, and they are caught up to meet Him in the air. At His glorious appearing, He comes with His saints, descending all the way to the earth to judge His enemies and to reign.
"...Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints." (Jude 14)
Notice: He comes with His saints — which means they must first have been caught up to Him. And whereas the Rapture is the hope of the church, His coming to the earth will be seen by all mankind.
"Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen." (Revelation 1:7)
His feet shall stand upon the very mount from which He ascended.
"And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east..." (Zechariah 14:4)
He shall descend to the earth and take His throne. The one event is the church's comfort; the other is the world's reckoning.
Between these two events, the Bible foretells a time of great tribulation upon the earth — an hour of God's wrath poured out. But the child of God need not fear it, for God has not appointed His people to wrath.
"For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thessalonians 5:9)
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself promised to keep His faithful people out of that hour altogether.
"...I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." (Revelation 3:10)
So the believer looks up, not with dread of the coming storm, but with joyful expectation of being taken to be with his Lord before it breaks.
After that hour of judgment, the Lord Jesus Christ will return to the earth in glory, put down all His enemies, and establish His kingdom, reigning in righteousness and peace. The promises God made to Israel and to the world will all be kept, for He is a King whose kingdom shall have no end. Every knee shall bow, and the earth shall at last be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.
"...The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." (Revelation 11:15)
A hope so great cannot leave the heart unchanged. The one who truly looks for the Lord's return finds that hope purifying his life day by day.
"And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (1 John 3:3)
It comforts us in sorrow, steadies us in trial, loosens our grip on this passing world, and stirs us to win souls while there is time — for when the trumpet sounds, the day of opportunity is over. The believer who lives in the light of that trumpet lives with his affections set on things above.
And here is the searching question. If the trumpet were to sound this very hour, and the Lord Jesus Christ were to descend and call up His own, would you rise to meet Him in the air — or would you be left behind? There is only one way to be ready, and it is not to be religious, or moral, or sincere; it is to be saved. It is to have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your own Saviour, so that you belong to Him and are numbered among His people. If you have never done so, do not wait another day, for He may come at any moment. Trust Him now, and the blessed hope becomes your hope, and His coming your gladness rather than your terror.
The last promise of the Bible is the promise of His coming; and the answering prayer of every waiting heart is this:
"...Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."Revelation 22:20