p. 3 | The Manner and Object of Jesus’ Second Coming

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 6, 1908

The Manner and Object of Jesus’ Second Coming

THE teaching of the Scriptures on this subject is very clear. We are not left to doubt or to conjecture concerning this great doctrine, but need simply to read the plain revelation made in the Word of God.

Inasmuch as “there shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect,” it is necessary that there should be given such distinctive particulars of the manner of Jesus’ coming as shall guard us against deception and enable us to recognize with certainty the approach of the Lord of glory. And these particulars are not lacking. We will therefore note some of them:—

1. Jesus will come back from heaven “in like manner” as he went to heaven after his resurrection. This assurance was given to the astonished disciples, who witnessed his departure. “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing into heaven? 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. As “a cloud received him out of their sight,” so “he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him.”

2. Jesus will come with such a display of glory as shall command the attention of the whole world. His own words are: “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matt. 24:27. This effectually forbids the idea that he comes to each individual at death, or that he will make his appearance unheralded “in the desert,” or “in the secret chambers.” All the tribes of the earth “shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

3. Jesus will come from heaven attended by “all the holy angels,” and heralded by the voice which wakes the sleeping saints. This is made known in these words: “The Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him” (Matt. 25:31); “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.” 2 Thess. 4:16. That method of interpretation which spiritualizes such literal language as this, perverts all religion into mysticism, and changes the truth of God into a lie. Just as certainly as Jesus himself was here upon the earth, a real being, and was crucified, and was raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven, so certain is it that “this same Jesus” will return to this earth, and his coming will be attended by such circumstances as will declare him to be the only begotten Son of God.

4. Jesus will come from heaven as the destroyer of those who have rejected him as their Saviour. This terrible truth is just as clearly revealed as that he will come as the deliverer of those who have accepted him. “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints.” 2 Thess. 1:7-10. No created being can counterfeit such a retinue of attendants or such a display of overwhelming radiance as is here called “flaming fire.” This is the fulfilment of the psalmist’s words: “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.”

Those who keep these scriptures in mind have secure protection against all false teaching concerning the manner of Jesus’ coming, and need not be swept away by the delusion, even if Satan himself, who can transform himself into an angel of light, should attempt to counterfeit the coming of our Lord.

The coming of Jesus is the crowning act in the whole work of the gospel. He came the first time to give himself a sacrifice that he might redeem both the earth and its inhabitants from the curse which resulted from sin. He returned to heaven to plead that sacrifice in behalf of sinners, and to make ready a place for his people, and his people for that place. He will come again to reap the fruit of his sacrifice and his ministry,

and this coming will be the culmination of the eternal purpose of God which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. We may designate the object of his coming more particularly under the following divisions:—

1. Jesus will come to raise the dead, both the just and the unjust. Thus we read: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming” (1 Cor. 15:22, 23); “but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” Rev. 20:5. The righteous dead are raised in immediate connection with the second advent, and the wicked at the close of the millennium, which is with the Lord as only one day later.

2. Jesus will come to translate to heaven the righteous whom he raises from the dead, and the living who are waiting for him. After describing the descent from heaven and the resurrection of “the dead in Christ,” the apostle Paul says: “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 Thess. 4:17. The prayer of Jesus, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am,” will then be fully answered.

3. Jesus will come to bestow immortality upon all believers. “Behold, I show 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. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” 1 Cor. 15:51-53. It is an astonishing perversion of the truth which makes inherent in man that which the Scriptures teach is given at the coming of him who “hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

4. Jesus will come to take his people to himself, and thus to re-unite with the family of heaven those who have been separated from the immediate presence of God on account of sin. To his disciples, he said: “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.” We do not go to be with Jesus at death, but we wait for him to take us to himself at his coming. This has been the hope and comfort of true believers during their earthly pilgrimage, to whom the coming of Jesus has been their highest expectation and joy.

This brief consideration of the manner and object of Jesus’ second coming emphasizes the importance of this central truth of the gospel. The consummation of all our hopes centers in the coming of Jesus. Resurrection, translation, immortality, being with Jesus—all these depend upon the coming of Jesus. Truly it is “that blessed hope,” and the time of his coming is “the crowning day.” And even now his coming is near. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”