[1] Last Things: Second Coming of Christ

[23] Last Things: Second Coming of Christ

76. What is the nature of the second coming of Christ? When will this happen?

a. The second coming of Christ is one of the most widely taught doctrine in the NT.

b. Charcteristics of the second coming of Christ:

a personal coming (Ac 1:11; Mt 24:44)
a visible coming (Ac 1:11; 1Th 4:16; Rev 1:7)
a glorious and triumphant coming (Dan 7:13-14; 1Th 4:16)

c. Biblical terms describing the second coming; they are used interchangeably:

Gr. parousia meaning presence or arrival; pointing to the coming that results in Christ’s presence (Mt 24:3,27,37; 1Co 15:23; 1Th 2:19; 3:13; 5:23; 2Th 2:1; Jas 5:7-8; 2Pe 1:16; 3:4,12; 1Jn 2:28)
Gr. apocalypsis meaning revelation or unveiling; pointing to the removal of that which now obstructs our vision of Christ (1Co 1:7; 2Th 1:6-7; 1Pe 1:7,13; 4:13)
Gr. epiphaneia meaning appearance or manifestation; referring to Christ’s coming forth out of a hidden background with the rich blessings of salvation (2Th 2:8; 1Ti 6:14; 2Ti 4:1,8; Titus 2:13-14)

d. Timing of the second coming:

nobody knows (Mt 24:36-37; 25:13; Mk 13:32-33)
an unexpected time, take some people by surprise, "like a thief" (Mt 24:42-44,50; Mk 13:34-37; Lk 12:40; 1Th 5:2; 2Pe 3:10) [Note that this day is called "day of the Lord"]
imminent, very near (Heb 10:25; Jas 5:7-9; 1Pe 4:7; Rev 1:3; 22:7,12,20); "very near" in God’s time scale meaning anytime as Christians have been expecting this since the 1st century

e. Attitude of Christians towards the second coming:

eagerly long for His return (1Co 16:22; Php 3:20; Titus 2:12-13; 2Pe 3:12)
be prepared, be watchful (Mt 24:42-44; 25:13; Mk 13:35; Lk 21:36)
Christians ought to plan for ministry as if the second coming might not happen in a million years, but they should also watch and pray as if it were to happen today – because it could.

77. Where are the signs that precede the Second Coming? a. The Bible teaches that many signs will appear before the second coming of Christ. The purpose of these teachings is: (1) to intensify our expectation of Christ’s return (Lk 21:28), and (2) to keep believers from following false messiahs (Mk 13:5-6,21; 2Th 2:3).

b. Types of signs:

(1) Gospel: preaching of the gospel to all nations (Mt 24:14; Mk 13:10; Ro 11:25)

(2) Church: great apostasy and many deceived by false christs (Mt 24:4,10-12; 1Ti 4:1; 2Ti 3:1-5); false prophet working signs and wonders (Mt 24:23-24; Mk 13:22)

(3) Israel: founding or re-establishment of the nation (Mt 24:32-33); salvation or conversion to Christianity as a nation, though not every person (Ro 11:12,25-26; Zec 12:10; 13:1; 2Co 3:15-16)

(4) Nature:

intensification of destructive signs in nature, including eathquakes, famines, blackening of sun and moon, and falling stars (Mt 24:29-30; Mk 13:24-25; Lk 21:25-27)
intensification of destructive signs in the world, including wars, rumours of wars, conflicts between countries, conflicts between cultures (Mt 24:6-7,14)

(5) Tribulation (Mk 13:7-8,19-20; Mt 24:15-22; Lk 21:20-24):

This is a period of great suffering, traditionally thought to be 7 years long based on Dan 9:24-27 (the "seventieth seven") and references to 3½ years (1,260 days) in Rev 11:3; 12:3,6,14.
Historically, the Church has always believe that Christians will live through the 7-year tribulation but a new school of thought appeared in 1830 saying that rapture of Christians will occur before the tribulation.
The tribulation is described in Rev 5-16; it includes 7 seals, 7 trumpets, and 7 bowls.
7 seals (Rev 5-7): ¹white horse [Imperialism?], ²red horse [Communism?], ³black horse [oil crisis?], ⁴grey horse [plagues, AIDS?], ⁵cry of martyrs, ⁶earthquake, blackening of sun and moon, falling stars, ⁷the 7th seal is the same as the 7 trumpets following
7 trumpets (Rev 8-9): ¹hail and fire mixed with blood (similar to 7th plague in Egypt, Ex 9:22-26), ²fiery mountain [volcano?] thrown in the sea, ³great star [asteroid?] fell from the sky, ⁴darkness [eclipse?], ⁵scorpion-like locusts (8th plague in Egypt, Ex 10:13-15), ⁶invasion of armies and horses [demons?], ⁷the 7th trumpet is the same as the 7 bowls following
The 7th trumpet marks the midpoint of the 7 years. The second half of the 7 years is frequently called the "Great Tribulation" (from Rev 7:14) because of the high intensity of suffering as a result of the outpouring of God’s wrath (Rev 14:19; 15:1,7).
7 bowls (Rev 15-16): ¹sores (6th plague in Egypt, Ex 9:8-12), ²sea of blood, ³rivers and springs of blood (1st plague in Egypt, Ex 7:19-24), ⁴scorching of the sun, ⁵darkness (9th plague in Egypt, Ex 10:21-23), ⁶drying up of Euphrates, gathering of armies at Armageddon, ⁷lightning, rumblings, thunder, severe earthquake, plague of hail.

(6) Antichrist and his rebellion: (a) Different names: antichrist (1Jn 2:18,22; 4:3; 2Jn 7), man of sin and son of perdition (2Th 2:3-10), beast from the sea (Rev 13:1-8), the little horn (Dan 7:8,24), the small horn (Dan 8:9,23-25), the ruler who will come (Dan 9:26), the anti-God king (Dan 11:36)

(b) He is called antichrist because he assumes the guise of Christ but opposes the real Christ.

(c) He is a man with tremendous political power who will confirm a covenant with the Jews (Dan 9:27) at the beginning of the tribulation.

(d) At the midpoint of the 7 years, he will break the covenant and stop sacrifice and offering in the Temple in Jerusalem [implying that a Temple for the Jews has been reconstructed, thus the reconstruction of the Temple is counted as one of the signs], proclaim himself as God (2Th 2:4), make people worship him ("an abomination that causes desolation", Mt 24:15), and persecute God’s people (Dan 7:25, Rev 13:7).

(e) He will finally be destroyed by a supernatural act of God (Dan 8:25).

c. Based on our observations, most of the signs are unlikely to have been fulfilled but it is also possible that the signs have already been fulfilled. (1) Gospel: may not refer to every tribe in the world but to language groups, or may be in a representative sense (Col 1:23)

(2) Church: many different cults, rampant witchcraft and demonic activities

(3) Israel: founding of Israel in 1948

(4) Nature: destructive signs could occur in very quickly succession

(5) Tribulation: initially thought to refer to the Jewish War of AD 66-70 (which is likely referred to in Mt 24:16-20; Mk 13:14-18; Lk 21:21-23); for many persecuted Christians like those in Muslim and communist countries, they are already in tribulation

(6) Antichrist: initially thought to refer to Roman emperor Nero, later Hitler, but may be someone already in power today

d. Many have made definitive predictions about various signs and tried to link the signs to contemporary events. Others have claimed new insights (such as the recent predictions about the second coming at the turn of the millennium). This kind of predictionism (sign-seeking and date-setting) has become institutionalized in publications and public media. Christians should use extreme caution in such activities as they may lead believers into false expectations and they may lose credibility when such predictions did not come true and their claims need constant revisions.