His Return

The arrival of Jesus will mean the resurrection of the dead, the commencement of the New Creation, and the final judgment.

Several Greek terms are applied by the New Testament to the return of Jesus, including ‘Parousia’ (“arrival”), ‘erchomai’ (“coming”), ‘apokalupsis’ (“revelation”), and ‘epiphaneia’ (“appearance”). Regardless of which one is used, it is always singular in number, it always refers to only one future “arrival,” “appearance,” “revelation,” or “coming.”

The term ‘Parousia’ or “arrival” is used most often in the letters of Paul, though not exclusively so. It denotes an “arrival” rather than the process of someone or something “coming.” For example, in the city of Corinth, Paul was “comforted by the arrival of Titus,” his ‘Parousia’.

[Clouds of Heaven - Photo by Arto Marttinen on Unsplash]

The first application of ‘Parousia’ to Christ’s return is in his ‘Olivet Discourse’ recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. Just as lightning flashes from east to west, “so will be the arrival of the Son of Man” - (Matthew 24:27-28, 1 Corinthians 16:17, 2 Corinthians 7:6-7).

When Jesus arrives “on the clouds of Heaven,” the creation itself will be disrupted (“The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give her light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken” - Matthew 24:29).

Moreover, “all the tribes of the Earth will smite their breasts” when they see the “Son of Man.” The effects of this event will not be limited to Palestine or the Middle East. They will be global if not cosmic in scope. All nations and peoples will see and experience his return. Some will greet it with great joy, while others will experience dread and dismay. Jesus will dispatch his angels to gather his saints from every inhabited corner of the planet. All nations will be brought before him for judgment - (Matthew 24:30-31, 25:31-46, Zechariah 12:10-14).

• “Behold, he is coming with the clouds; and every eye will see him, and they that pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him <…>  and in the midst of the lampstands, one like unto a Son of Man” – (Revelation 1:7-13).

• “I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a Son of Man, and he came even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him” – (Daniel 7:13).

• “And then shall they see the Son of Man coming with clouds with great power and glory” – (Mark 13:26).

• “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to each man according as his work is” – (Revelation 22:12).

The godly will “inherit the Kingdom,” but the ungodly and those who refuse to show mercy to the weak and the suffering, “these the least of my brethren,” will be cast “into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.” The Day of the Lord and the arrival of Jesus will include judgment – (Matthew 25:41, 2 Thessalonians 2:5-10).

Before the “arrival” of the Son of Man, life will be “as it was in the days of Noah” when men were “eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage” until the Flood came and destroyed them all. This is a picture of normalcy – men and women going about their daily business as if nothing catastrophic will ever occur – (Matthew 24:37-39).

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul responded to individuals who denied the future resurrection of the righteous. In the process of doing so, he listed several events that will transpire on or just before the ‘Parousia’ of Jesus, including:

• The consummation of the Kingdom of God.

• The bodily resurrection of dead believers.

• The subjugation to Jesus of all “rule and all authority and power.”

• The cessation of Death, the “Last Enemy.”

• The bodily transformation of believers who are still alive from mortality to immortality (“For this mortal must put on immortality!”).

Writing to the Thessalonians, Paul describes how the saints will become his “crown of boasting” at the arrival of Jesus “with all his saints.” On that day, believers will be wholly sanctified and made blameless before him - (1 Thessalonians 2:19, 3:13, 5:23).

When Jesus appears, dead believers will be resurrected and assembled along with those saints who remain alive for “a meeting of the Lord in the air” as he descends from Heaven. He will be accompanied by the sound of a great trumpet and the “voice of an archangel.” Thereafter, believers will “be with the Lord forevermore” - (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).

THE DAY OF THE LORD

In his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul locates the ’Parousia’ on the “Day of the Lord” when believers will be “gathered” to Jesus just as he promised in his ‘Olivet Discourse’ (“And he will send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” – Matthew 24:31, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2).

The “Day of the Lord” will not occur until the “Apostasy” and the unveiling of the “Man of Lawlessness” whom the “Lord Jesus will paralyze with the manifestation of his arrival” take place - (2 Thessalonians 2:1-9).

In his second letter, Peter states that the ’Parousia’ will mean the “Day of Judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” Like Paul, he links Christ’s return with the “Day of the Lord”:

• “But the Day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein will be burned up” - (2 Peter 3:10).

The old order will make way for the “New Heavens and the New Earth in which righteousness dwells.” Christ’s “arrival” will cause the demise of the present order and inaugurate the New Creation.

• “If so be it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you, and to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus, who will suffer punishment, everlasting destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he will come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believed” - (2 Thessalonians 1:5-10. Regarding Christ’s ”revelation” or ‘apokalupsis’, compare 1 Corinthians 1:7, 1 Peter 1:7).

The New Testament tells a consistent story. There will be only one return of Jesus at the end of the age. It will be a universal event. All men, women, and children on Earth will experience it, and it will be marked by celestial and terrestrial upheaval.

When Jesus “arrives,” he will gather his people to himself. The final judgment will take place. The righteous will be vindicated and inherit everlasting life, and the ungodly will receive “everlasting destruction.”

Christ’s future coming will mean the final defeat of all God’s enemies, including “Death,” and the consummation of His unopposed reign, events that will occur at or just before the appearance of the Son of Man. Thereafter, “God will be all in all” – (1 Corinthians 15:28).

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SEE ALSO:

• The Final Assembly - (The saints will be assembled before Jesus on the Last Day, and the wicked will be collected and cast from his presence)

• Death, the Last Enemy - (The arrival of Jesus at the end of the age will mean the end of the Last Enemy, namely, Death - 1 Corinthians 15:24-28) 

• The Day of Christ - (Jesus will arrive on the Day of the Lord at which time the dead will be raised, the wicked judged, and death will cease forevermore)

• Coming on the Clouds - (All men will see the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of Heaven when he comes to gather his elect and judge the nations –Mark 13:21-27)