The Second Coming of Christ

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ in Christian doctrine is reflected in the Nicene Creed. It is the return from Heaven to Earth of the Lord Jesus Christ in divine glory and power, which, according to the promise of God, will occur at the end of time. This is the occasion expected by most Christian Churches and proclaimed in the New Testament. For believers who expect and prepare for the Second and Glorious Coming of Christ, the end of history will not be fearful but joyful. However, for criminals, sinners, and those who live a lie, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will be a fearful judgment that cannot be changed. The New Testament proclaims more than once that the day will come when Jesus Christ will return to Earth. Thus, using the method of Biblical Theology, it is essential to research the original documentary record and the commonly known facts about the Second Coming of Christ.

The Basic Focus of Christian Eschatology

Two thousand years ago, the Lord Jesus promised to return to Earth again. Therefore, it is essential to examine the predictions expressed in the Bible. The first sign of the Lord’s return are earthquakes, famines, plagues, and wars. Matthew 24:6-8 states, “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”¹ Wars have erupted frequently, such as the Afghanistan Taliban regime’s overthrow.

The conflict between India and Pakistan and the continually escalating war between Israel and Palestine. Epidemics, fires, floods, and earthquakes can also be expected, most notably a new coronavirus that appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan in 2019. There were also severe wildfires in Australia in September 2019 and a serious locust infestation in East Africa on the other side of the planet; many countries are now facing famine.² It is evident from these signs that this prophecy has become a reality.

The second significant indication of the Lord’s return is the signs of the appearance of heavenly anomalies. The prophet Joel 2:30-31 states, “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. And the moon into blood. Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord”. ³ In recent years, there have been many instances in which the sky has turned blood-red. For example, in two years in 2014 and 2015, a series of four “blood moons” appeared. There was a “blue blood super moon” on January 31, 2018, which occurs only once every 150 years. It is essential to mention that the third sign of the Lord’s return relates to people being turned away from faith in Him. Matthew 24:12 explains, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Desolation is spreading throughout the religious world, and the preaching of pastors and elders has become exhausting.⁴ Some churches appear crowded and lively outside, but many people come to church only to make new acquaintances and sell goods, using the church as a platform for commerce.

It is significant to consider the fourth sign of the Lord’s return, the appearance of false Christs. Matthew 24:4-5 states, “Jesus answered: ‘Watch out that no one deceives you’. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.” ⁵ In recent years false Christs have appeared and deceived people in countries such as China, South Korea, and Japan. These false Christs do not possess the essence of Christ and cannot proclaim the truth but claim that they are the Christ. The fifth sign of the Lord’s return is the restoration of Israel. Many people who believe in the Lord know that the tender branches and leaves of the fig tree refer to the restoration of Israel, and it was restored on May 14, 1948. ⁶ Obviously, this prophecy of the Lord’s return has been wholly fulfilled.

There is a sixth sign of the Lord’s return, the spreading of the gospel to the ends of the Earth. Matthew 24:14 mentions, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” ⁷Nowadays, Christians have spread throughout the world, and many democracies have adopted Christianity as their state religion. It is obvious from the above facts that evidence of the Lord’s return can already be observable in the modern world.

The Difference between the First and Second Coming of Christ

The analogy with the First Coming of Jesus Christ is a relevant one. It was also predicted that the Coming of the Lord was promised to the first people immediately after their fall, as indicated by Genesis 3:15. The Second Coming of Christ will be different from the first appearance.⁸ The first time Christ appeared on Earth in the kenotic form of an enslaved person, becoming like a man because Christ was in the flesh and had blood in Jesus’ veins.

The second time Christ will come in the glory and majesty of the Deity. According to Hippolytus of Rome, the Scriptures depict two appearances of Lord and Savior: “the first, which was in the flesh inglorious through His humiliation, and the other His appearance will be in glory when He comes from heaven with the power of angels and the honor of the Father”⁹. It should be noted, however, that during the First Coming Christ proved that it was possible to be patient, and in the Second Coming Jesus will appear in the crown of the God-King. Thus, the main distinction between these two events is that Christ will not appear to be judged by humans but to bring God’s supreme judgment on persons.

The Second Coming as an Event of Universal, Cosmic Significance

Description of the Moment of Christ’s Second Coming

The theme of the Second Coming is prominently featured in the pages of the New Testament, in the Gospels, Acts, the letters of the apostles, and the Apocalypse. Each synoptic Gospels contains an eschatological chapter in which Christ speaks of the Second Coming and the signs of the end of the world. It is the Second Coming that is described as an event of universal, cosmic meaning: “And now, according to the tribulation of those days, the sun shall fade, and the moon shall not shine, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be broken, then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the families of the earth exclaim, and shall see the Son of a man going in the clouds of heaven with great power”¹⁰. By the sign of the Son of Man the Christian exegetical tradition understands the Cross.

As John Chrysostom says, the Cross of Christ, which is brighter than the sun, will be presented to the joy of the Christians and the shame of the Jews. At the moment of Christ’s Second Coming, the angels will gather the resurrected, and the clouds will capture the assembled, all of which will take place in a shorter time. The Second Coming of the Savior will be sudden and unexpected, surprising those not preparing for it. Christ stated that no one knows the day or the hour, not even the angels.¹¹ Therefore, Jesus invited people to observe and prepare for the coming of it. At the same time, Jesus provided instructions for people. Christ encourages human hearts not to be drawn to food and drink and people to live according to God’s commandments. In this way, it will assist them in becoming pure before Jesus at the Second Coming and in avoiding the calamities that may be occasioned on Earth.

The Book of Apocalypse or Revelation of John the Evangelist

The Book of the Apocalypse, or Revelation of John the Evangelist, is a symbolic description of the Second Coming of Christ and the events immediately preceding and following it. The keynote of the Apocalypse is the struggle between good and evil, culminating in the final defeat of good. This victory, according to Revelation, occurs in two different stages. First, people were to observe Jesus on a white horse; the purpose of Christ was to bring the proclamation of God to the groups. Christ wins the battle with the serpent and the false prophet. After that the angel restrains the serpent, the old beast, also the devil and Satan, for a thousand years, throwing them into an abyss. ¹²All the righteous who did not worship the beast arise and reign with Christ for a thousand years. Hence, these events describe the first resurrection of Christ.

After a thousand years, Satan will be released from prison and will be released to incite and seduce the nations, but fire from heaven will devour those who Satan induces. The devil will be thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where there is already a beast and a false prophet, and they will be there day and night, forever and ever. ¹³Then the judgment of the dead is described, which the sea has delivered away, and death and hell. Meanwhile, everyone will receive a just sentence according to their deeds while alive. The book ends with a description of the New Jerusalem, the heavenly city where the Lamb reigns and where the righteous enjoy eternal bliss.

In the Christian tradition, there has never been a single understanding of the Apocalypse or a standard, universally accepted interpretation of it. It may be due to the problem of interpreting the prophecies of the Apocalypse that this book, in contrast to all other New Testament books, has never been read during Orthodox worship. The literal interpretation of some of the prophecies of the Apocalypse has often led to a misunderstanding of its implications. In the second century, some church authors stated that there would be a millennial kingdom of the righteous on earth after the second coming of Christ and the general resurrection. ¹⁴A related idea, later named Chiliasm, was shared by Irenaeus of Lyon, Justin the Philosopher, Hippolytus of Rome, and Tertullian of the Latin writers. By the fourth century, Chiliasm had been disproved both in the East and in the West. Still, in the Middle Ages, it was revived in the preaching of Joachim of Floria (1202) and later in the Reformation by the Anabaptists. ¹⁵ Therefore, the book of the Apocalypse is important in the course of Christ’s Second Coming.

Comprehension of the Apocalypse

Eastern Christian Hierarchical Literature

In Eastern Christian sacred literature, the theme of the Second Coming of the Savior has been revealed, as a rule, from two different points of view. On the one hand, the spirit of joyful anticipation of the return of Christ was never wholly lost. It is expressed in the words of the Apostle Peter about Christians waiting for and desiring the coming of God’s Day¹⁶. On the other hand, church writers have paid close attention to those terrible and disturbing events which, according to the New Testament, should precede the Second Coming of Christ.

In particular, the theme of the Antichrist was developed in Eastern literature. In the First Letter to John, the term “Antichrist” is used in both singular and plural, indicating both the “unjust,” of whom the Apostle Paul speaks and, more generally, the false teachers of Christianity. In the pontifical tradition the term “Antichrist” is associated precisely with that main enemy of Christ and the Church¹⁷. One who should come at the end of the world to seduce the whole universe and distract people from true faith. The main distinguishing feature of the Antichrist will be divine apostasy, resistance to God, and the desire to impersonate God.

The classic exposition of the theme of the Antichrist was the treatise “On Christ and the Antichrist,” which originated under Hippolytus of Rome. It had an enormous influence on the development of Christian eschatology in the East and the West. In this treatise, the Antichrist is presented as a political leader who would reunite the scattered Jewish people and rebuild the destroyed temple in Jerusalem¹⁸. At the same time, his entire life and activity will reproduce Christ’s life and activity, only in reverse perspective.

A significant part of “On Christ and the Antichrist” is devoted to the interpretation of the creation described in the book of Daniel, with a head of gold, chest, and hands of silver. It also has a belly and thighs of brass, shins of iron, legs of iron, and a private of clay. According to Hippolytus of Rome, the different parts of the body symbolize the great empires of the old. That is, gold represents the Babylonian empire, silver symbolizes the empire of the Persians and Medes, copper indicates the Greeks, and iron the Romans, clay, and iron those kingdoms which will arise in the future.¹⁹ Therefore, the Antichrist will appear among these kingdoms before the Second Coming of Christ.

People’s Perception of the Apocalypse

The predictions of the Apocalypse, which, according to the Church, would not be fully fulfilled until the end of time, began to be realized in the early Christian era. They also continued to occur throughout the centuries that followed. However, the battle between Christ and Antichrist, between God and the Beast, described in the Apocalypse, is extemporaneous. The eschatological struggle has already begun, continues, and will continue until the end of human history. ²⁰ In this battle, some Christians take the side of Christ, and others become on the side of the Antichrist, accepting the “mark” of evil.

It is a moral choice that each person should make: their eternal destiny ultimately depends on this selection. Such a choice was made by Christians during the time of persecution, whether in the first or the twentieth century. Accordingly, some people died for Christ and received the martyr’s crown, while others took the banner of the beast and became apostates. At the same time, the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, writes the Apostle Paul, meaning the same message as the Apostle John the Theologian when describing the appearance of many antichrists. The war of the Antichrist against Christ began already at the First Coming of Christ, but the final battle, vividly described in the Apocalypse, will occur at the Second Coming²¹. In the period between the two comings, humanity is divided into spiritual and moral principles.

The word apocalypse (literally means revelation) in the perception of modern people is stably associated with the horrors and catastrophes that should precede the end of world history. Such a vision is not alien to some Orthodox Christians, in the minds of whom the idea of “the end of the world” causes horror. However, the image of the Antichrist replaces the one of Christ as the Victor of hell and death, the Savior and Deliverer of the human race. Hence, there arise attempts to guess the date of the coming of the Antichrist. There are also numerous predictions of the nearness of the end of the world, panic around the number sixty-six, creating an atmosphere of fear and suspicion.

People often forget that the protagonist of the Second Coming will be Christ, not the Antichrist. The Second Coming will also be not the moment of defeat but the most significant point of God’s glory, the victory of good over evil, life over death, and Christ over the Antichrist. It is no coincidence that the theme of success is one of the leitmotifs of the Apocalypse. ²² This victory will involve all those who took the side of good in the worldwide battle between good and evil. According to the Apocalypse, they will sit on the throne with the Son of God and become sons of God themselves, and their names will be recorded in the Book of Life. The Second Coming of Christ will signify the completion of world history. However, this consummation is not a tragic and painful rupture in humanity’s destiny but the glorious goal toward which history, by God’s Providence, is moving steadily. Christian historiosophy implies precisely this view of the end of the world, a concept with which apocalyptic fears and apprehensions are incompatible.

Prediction of the Second Coming of Christ

The Bible expresses accurately and clearly of the glorious Coming of Christ, which will be visible, and every person will have the opportunity to see it. Waiting for the Savior to appear for 2,000 years has produced many unfulfilled predictions and disappointments in prophecies and prophets. In 1917, knowledge of the place of the Second Coming was established in the Catholic Church immediately after the apparition to a crowd of thousands of witnesses of Our Lady in the village of Fatima, near Lisbon, Portugal²³. The secret of Fatima has not yet been openly announced.

Although in the texts of the Bible, Jesus Christ and the apostles not only do not indicate the day and hour of the second coming, but they even explicitly mention the impossibility of knowing it. In the fig tree parable, Jesus Christ indicated a way of determining the approach of the day of the Lord. Specifically, when the trees are blossoming, summer is near, and when the Coming of Jesus is imminent, the disciples will be capable of knowing it. It is significant to observe that Joseph Wolf, Edward Irving, William Miller, and Joseph Smith view the following nineteenth-century historical events as the possible beginning of the fulfillment of Jesus Christ’s prophecy of his Second Coming. These are the events of the Lisbon earthquake of November 1, 1755, the two-day Starfall of November 12 to 13, 1833, and the Edict of Tolerance in the Holy Land of March 21, 1844.²⁴ Therefore, the human race tries to establish the approximate time of the Second Coming and prepare for it.

Conclusion

Therefore, the primary documents indicating the Second Coming of Christ are analyzed using the method of Biblical Theology. The essential facts, which have become common knowledge in the modern world, are also considered. Accordingly, the fundamental difference between the Second Coming and the First Coming is the purpose of Jesus to bring judgment upon the Earth. This coming will be preceded by the main signs described in the primary sources and interpreted by modern researchers. At the same time, after analyzing the authorities, it can be noted that when Jesus comes to Earth, everyone will see it. By that time, the Antichrist, also specified in the prophecies of the Apocalypse, will rule the Earth. Thus, only the Second Coming of Christ will enable people to overcome evil and find peace.

Bibliography

Garrick, Allen. “Paratexts and the Reception History of the Apocalypse.” The Journal of Theological Studies 70, no. 2 (2019): 600-632.

Behr, John. John the Theologian and His Paschal Gospel: A Prologue to Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.

Benner, Jeff. The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible. Texas: Ancient Hebrew Research Center, 2021.

Berardi, Franco. The Second Coming. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2019.

Bruce, Frederick Fyvie. The Origin of the Bible. Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 2020.

Dibelius, Martin. From Tradition to Gospel. Hamburg: BoD–Books on Demand, 2022.

Drane, John. Introducing the New Testament. Oxford: Lion Hudson Ltd, 2019.

Evans, Tony, and CSB Bibles by Holman. The Tony Evans Bible Commentary. Tennessee: B&H Publishing Group, 2019.

King, James. The Holy Bible. New York: World Publishing Company, 1979.

Kilcrease, Jack. “New Dictionary of Theology: Historical and Systematic.” Anglican and Episcopal History 87, no. 3 (2018): 357-358.

Michael, Bird, Craig Evans, Simon Gathercole, Charles Hill, and Chris Tilling. How God Became Jesus: The Real Origins of Belief in Jesus’ Divine Nature. A Response to Bart Ehrman. Michigan: Zondervan Academic, 2014.

Treier, Daniel, and Elwell, Walter. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Michigan: Baker Academic, 2017.

Twomey, Jay. The Pastoral Epistles Through The Centuries. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2020.

Footnotes

1. Martin Dibelius, From Tradition to Gospel (Hamburg: BoD–Books on Demand, 2022), 31.
2. Martin Dibelius, From Tradition to Gospel (Hamburg: BoD–Books on Demand, 2022), 34.
3. Frederick Fyvie Bruce, The Origin of the Bible (Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 2020), 86.
4. Martin Dibelius, From Tradition to Gospel (Hamburg: BoD–Books on Demand, 2022), 37.
5. Martin Dibelius, From Tradition to Gospel (Hamburg: BoD–Books on Demand, 2022), 31.
6. Frederick Fyvie Bruce, The Origin of the Bible (Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 2020), 87.
7. John Drane, Introducing the New Testament (Oxford: Lion Hudson Ltd, 2019), 102.
8. John Drane, Introducing the New Testament (Oxford: Lion Hudson Ltd, 2019), 74.
9. Jeff Benner, The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible (Texas: Ancient Hebrew Research Center, 2021), 43.
10. James King, The Holy Bible (New York: World Publishing Company, 1979), 51.
11. Michael Bird, et al., How God Became Jesus: The Real Origins of Belief in Jesus’ Divine Nature. A Response to Bart Ehrman (Michigan: Zondervan Academic, 2014), 29.
12. Tony Evans and CSB Bibles by Holman, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (Tennessee: B&H Publishing Group, 2019), 82.
13. Allen Garrick, “Paratexts and the Reception History of the Apocalypse,” The Journal of Theological Studies 70, no. 2 (2019): 603.
14. Allen Garrick, “Paratexts and the Reception History of the Apocalypse,” The Journal of Theological Studies 70, no. 2 (2019): 605.
15. Jack Kilcrease, “New Dictionary of Theology: Historical and Systematic,” Anglican and Episcopal History 87, no. 3 (2018): 357
16. Jack Kilcrease, “New Dictionary of Theology: Historical and Systematic,” Anglican and Episcopal History 87, no. 3 (2018): 358.
17. Daniel Treier and Elwell Walter, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Michigan: Baker Academic, 2017), 64.
18. John Behr, John the Theologian and His Paschal Gospel: A Prologue Theology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), 75.
19. John Behr, John the Theologian and His Paschal Gospel: A Prologue to Theology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), 78.
20. Jay Twomey, The Pastoral Epistles Through The Centuries (New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2020), 32.
21. Jay Twomey, The Pastoral Epistles Through The Centuries (New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2020), 46.
22. James King, The Holy Bible (New York: World Publishing Company, 1979). 72.
23. Franco Berardi, The Second Coming (New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2019), 103.
24. Franco Berardi, The Second Coming (New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2019), 103.