The Second Coming Of Christ (2)

II. PURPOSE OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.

1. A PERSONAL AND VISIBLE COMING.

Acts 1:11 -- "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." 1 Thess.4:16, 17 -- "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven." Rev.1:7. From these scriptures we learn that by the second coming of Christ is meant the bodily, personal, and visible coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to this earth with His saints to reign.

2. ERRONEOUS VIEWS CONCERNING THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.

a) That the Second Coming Means Christ's Coming at Death.

This cannot be the meaning, because --

Death is not attended by the events narrated in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17. Indeed the second coming is here set forth as the opposite of death for "the dead in Christ shall rise" from the dead when Christ comes again. According to John 14:3, Christ comes for us, and not we go to Him: "I will come again, and receive you unto myself."

John 21:21-23 -- "Peter seeing him (John) saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die; yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?"

1 Corinthians 15:50-57 declares that at the second coming of Christ we overcome, not succumb to, death. See John 8:51; Matt.16:28.

The foolishness of such interpretation is seen if we substitute the word "death" for the second coming of Christ in such places where this coming is mentioned, e.g., Phil.3:20; Matt.16:28 -- "Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."

b) That the Second Coming Means the Coming of the Holy Spirit.

There is no doubt but that the coming of the Holy Spirit is a coming (John 14:21-23), but it is by no means the second coming, and for the following reasons:

Many of the testimonies and promises of the second coming were given after Pentecost, e.g., Phil.3:21; 2 Tim.4:8; 1 Thess.4:16, 17; 1 Cor.15:51, 52.

Christ does not receive us unto Himself, but comes to us, at Pentecost. In the second coming He takes us, not comes to us.

The events of 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17 did not occur on the day of Pentecost, nor do they occur when the believer receives the Holy Spirit.

c) That the Second Coming refers to the Destruction of Jerusalem.

Reply: The events of 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17 did not take place then.

John 21:21-23, and Rev.22:20 were written after the destruction of Jerusalem.

From all that has been said then, it seems clear that the second coming of Christ is an event still in the future.

3. THE NEED OF RECOGNISING THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN CHRIST'S COMING FOR HIS SAINTS AND WITH HIS SAINTS.

There is a distinction between the presence and the appearing of Christ: the former referring to His coming for and the latter with His saints. We should
remember, further, that the second coming covers a period of time, and is not the event of a single moment. Even the first coming covered over thirty years, and included the events of Christ's birth, circumcision, baptism, ministry, crucifixion, resurrection, etc. The second coming will also include a number of events such as the rapture, the great tribulation, the millennium, the resurrection, the judgments, etc.