Christ's Second Coming

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 24, 1914

Christ's Second Coming

A Bible Study

1. What promise did Christ make concerning his coming?

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 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 14:1-3.

2. To whom is salvation promised at Christ’s appearing?

“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.” Heb. 9:28.

3. Following the signs of his coming, what did Christ say would take place?

“And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” Luke 21:27.

4. Has the exact time of Christ’s coming been revealed?

“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” Matt. 24:36.

5. In view of this fact, what does Christ tell us to do?

“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” Verse 42.

Manner of Christ’s Coming

6. At his ascension, how did the angels say Christ would come again?

“And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up 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 1:9-11.

NOTE.—When Jesus was taken up into heaven, he left his disciples, visibly and in person, “and a cloud received him out of their sight.” So also, according to this promise, when he comes the second time he will come visibly and in person, and seated upon the clouds of heaven; for, said the angels to his disciples, “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.”

7. How did Christ himself say he would come?

“For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels.” Matt. 16:27. “Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Matt. 24:30. “For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.” Luke 9:26.

8. How many will see him when he comes?

“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him.” Rev. 1:7.

9. What wonderful demonstration will accompany the Lord’s coming?

“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.” 1 Thess. 4:16.

10. How visible is his coming to be?

“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.

The Object of His Coming

11. For what purpose did Christ say he would come again?

“I go to prepare a place for you. 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 14:2, 3.

12. What part will the angels have in this event?

“And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matt. 24:31.

13. What takes place at the sounding of the trumpet?

“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.” 1 Thess. 4:16.

14. What is done with the righteous living?

“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.

15. What change will then take place in both the living and the sleeping saints?

“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.

He Will Come for His Own

“And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels.” Mal. 3:17.

He comes not as a thief in the sense of stealing in stealthily and quietly upon the world and purloining goods to which he has no right. But he comes to take to himself his dearest treasure, his sleeping and living saints, whom he has purchased with his own precious blood, whom he has wrested from the power of death in fair and open conflict, and for whom his coming will be no less open and triumphant. It will be with the brilliancy and splendor of the lightning as it shines from the east to the west. Matt. 24:27. It will be with a sound of a trumpet that shall pierce to earth’s lowest depths, and with a mighty voice that shall wake the sainted sleepers from their dusty beds. Matt. 24:31, margin; 1 Thess. 4:16.

We Must Be There

We must bask in the smiles of God, to whom we have become reconciled, and sin no more; we must put off the red garments of our warfare, for the white robes of triumph, and feel that the conflict is ended and the victory gained; we must exchange the toil-worn, dusty girdle of our pilgrimage for the glorious vesture of immortality, and feel that sin and the curse can never more pollute us. O day of rest and triumph and every good, delay not thy dawning! Let the angels at once be sent to gather the elect. Let the promise be fulfilled which bears in its train these matchless glories.

“EVEN SO, COME, LORD JESUS.”