Christ is Coming Back to Earth 

The second coming of Christ to earth is one of the clearest and most often-expressed doctrines of the Bible. The New Testament states over and over that Christ will return to earth bodily and visibly: “every eye shall see Him.” Someone estimated that the Second Coming of Christ is mentioned 318 times in the 266 chapters of the New Testament.  

In addition, most of the references to Christ in the Old Testament allude to His Second Coming, rather than to His First Advent, which remained a mystery until Christ was born in human form. Even in the Old Testament the Second Coming of Christ was the “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13) of all righteous believers. 

John 14:3: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” 

Heb. 9:28: “So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”

Phil. 3:20-21: “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” 

Jesus is in heaven now, at the right hand of the Father; but heaven is not His ultimate destiny. HE IS COMING BACK TO EARTH. 

Acts 3:19-21: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you — even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets."

This is not referring to the death of believers, or some spiritual coming; nor is it referring to the coming of the Holy Spirit. It is speaking of a literal, visible, bodily return of Jesus Christ Himself. He will return “in the clouds,” visibly, just as He went into heaven. 

Acts 1:9-11:  “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’” 

Rev. 1:7: “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen

It will not be a secret coming, or a secret rapture to be followed later by His real coming. Nor will it be an invisible coming into the regions above the earth, as some teach. When He comes, He will come to the earth, and He will be seen by all. 

Matt. 24:26-27:  “So if anyone tells you, `There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, `Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” 

The Greek word used to refer to Christ’s coming is parousia, which is variously translated “presence, being present, arrival, advent.” The word is used to refer to Christ’s coming to destroy His enemies, and to Christ’s coming to gather to Himself His Church. People who teach that there is a 7 or 3 1/2-year period between the rapture of the Church and His coming must face this fact. There is only one Second Coming, and at that Coming Christ will catch His Church up to meet Him in the air and continue to earth to judge His enemies.  

2 Thess. 2:1-2:  “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come.” 

It seems pretty clear to me that the “coming [parousia] of our Lord,” and “our being gathered to him” refer to the same event, which Paul also calls “the day of the Lord.”  Christ is coming back to take the saints unto Himself. The same word is used of Christ’s coming to destroy the “Lawless One.” 

2 Thess. 2:8: “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor [epiphaneia, literally the appearing] of his coming [parousia].”  

There is no place in this passage, or any other, for a lapse of 3 ½ or 7 years. At the time Christ returns, He will also destroy “the man of lawlessness.” The same word, parousia, is used in verse 1, which speaks of His coming and our being gathered unto Him and verse 8, where He will destroy His enemies. Only one Coming. 

Although the word “rapture” does not occur in the Bible, the concept does. The English word rapture comes from the Latin rapere, to snatch, or catch up. And Paul says that the “dead in Christ” will rise, and those alive at His coming will be “caught up together with them” to meet Christ in the clouds of the air. Thus Bible students have given the name Rapture to this event. 

So when Jesus comes back, His coming [parousia] will be visible to everyone as He appears in the clouds of heaven: “every eye shall see Him.” But His people, living and dead, at the same event “will be caught up...in the clouds, to meet Him in the air.” 

I Thess. 4:14-17: “We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them [that is, the resurrected dead in Christ] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord for ever.” 

Jesus is coming to earth and He will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Him. Their souls are with Him already. But when He returns their bodies will be resurrected, their souls reunited with their bodies. Then those who are alive will be caught up bodily “together with them.” Then Jesus, the resurrected saints, and the raptured saints will continue to earth. Remember, Jesus is bringing them with Him, and He is coming to earth. Jesus has business on earth and so do we. That is presumably why we will need bodies. 

The Greek word Paul uses for ‘meet’ here has some interesting features.  First of all the verb is not used. The word used is the noun apantesis. It is used in three places in the New Testament, where (in every case) it suggests going out to meet someone, in order to return with that person. 

--Matthew 25:1,6:  “ten virgins who...went out to meet (lit. unto a meeting of) the bridegroom...6 the bridegroom is coming! Go out to meet him (lit. unto a meeting).” 

--Acts 28: 15: “The brothers there had heard that we were coming, and they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet (lit. unto a meeting with) us. At the sight of these men Paul thanked God and was encouraged.” 

In both instances, the expected person is coming, and the others meet him in order to accompany him to his destination. Exactly the same meaning is evident in Thessalonians. Jesus is coming to the earth. Those on the earth meet him and accompany Him to his destination. There is no suggestion here of a 7 or 3 ½-year period during which Jesus and His Church enjoy the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Jesus is on his way to earth; the raptured saints “go out to meet Him,” and return to earth with Him.  

As we saw in a verse previously cited, another words used for Christ’s Second Coming is epiphaneia, here translated “splendor.” In every other place in the New Testament (except one, where it speaks of His first coming) epiphaneia is translated “appearing” and refers to the Second Coming of Christ. Some people have tried to discover a period between the rapture and His coming by saying that His “appearing” is different from His “coming,” but that just won’t do.  The two words clearly refer to the same event, the ONE SECOND COMING! A brief summary of the occurrence of this word, epiphaneia, in the New Testament will make it plain that it refers to the Coming [parousia], that there are not two events in mind. 

--"...the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor [epiphaneia] of his coming [parousia].” (Thess. 2:8)

--“...To keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing [epiphaneia] of our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Tim. 6:14)

--“...but has now been revealed through the appearing [epiphaneia] of our Savior, Christ Jesus...” (II Tim. 1:10).  Refers to the First Advent.

--“Christ Jesus...will judge the living and the dead at His appearing [epiphaneia] and His Kingdom.” (II Tim. 4:1)

 --“... those who love His appearance [epiphaneia].” (II Tim. 4:8)

--“While we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing [epiphaneia] of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:13 

Christ’s appearing [epiphaneia] is the blessed hope of Christians, the setting up of His Kingdom, the overthrow of His enemies. There is no scriptural reason whatsoever, except the fond and futile desire to escape the Great Tribulation, for anyone to teach that Christ will first come for the Church, and then (after a lapse of 3 ½ or 7 years) will come to destroy His enemies and set up His Kingdom. 

The last prayer of the Bible is “Even so, Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).  “When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall you also be manifested with Him in glory.” (Col. 3:4). Amen.