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THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS
There are three STAGES to the second coming of the Messiah.
(1) His arrival in the clouds of the sky with power and great glory: This
arrival will be in the sky ONLY. Then from his position in the clouds or ON
THE CLOUD (Rev. 14:14) He will pour out the judgments from God’s wrath
through the trumpets and bowls recorded in the book of the Revelation.
There four phases to it.
(A) The SIGNS phase. Joel 2:30-31; Mat. 24:29-31; Rev. 6:12-14; Isaiah
13:10, 13;
(B) The arrival phase. Mat. 24:30; 16:27; Rev. 6:15-16; Isaiah 30:27-30;
60:1-2; Ps. 96:13; Rev. 19:1-16.
(C) The rapture phase. Matthew 24:31-44; John 14:1-3; 1Thes. 4:14-17;
1Cor. 15:51-52
(D) The judgment phase. Rev. 6:15-17; 1Thes. 5:1-2.
(2) The second stage is His physical descent ONTO the earth at which time He
will personally confront the armies of the world that are gathered into
Palestine to loot and destroy the people of Israel (Zech. 14:3-5a). Through
His physical descent to the earth He will rescue the Jews and prepare for
His earthly kingdom.
There are four phases to it.
(A) The Edom phase. Isaiah 34:6; 63:1-6; Hab. 3:3
(B) The Jerusalem phase. Isaiah 63:1; Zech. 14:4; Joel 3:16.
(C) The Megiddo/Armageddon phase. Joel 3:9-16; Rv. 19:17-21
(D) The separation phase: when all unbelievers will be removed
from the earth and only believers will be left alive to dwell
on the earth in Christ’s kingdom.
Ezek. 34:17-22; Mat. 25:31-46.
(3) The KINGDOM stage when Jesus sets up His 1000 year earthly reign. There
are four phases to it.
(A) The cleansing phase: Ezek 39:9-16.
(B) The building phase: Isaiah 60:4-11; 61:4; Ezek. 43:10-18;
Dan.
8:15-26.
(C) The reigning phase: Isaiah 9:7; Jer. 23:5-6;
Ezek. 37:24-28; Dan. 7:13-14.
(D) The completion phase: 1 Cor. 15:24-28; Rev. 20:7-10.
The Old Testament prophets viewed the second coming and the arrival of the
DAY OF THE LORD as having one starting point. They did
not make a distinction between the Messiah’s initial arrival IN THE CLOUDS
and His subsequent PHYSICAL descent onto the earth. They viewed the second
coming primarily as a visible arrival to the earth that would begin the Day
of the Lord.
Sometimes the prophets focused on the inception of the day of the Lord;
sometimes on some aspect of the judgment that will happen DURING the day;
and sometimes on the kingdom blessing that follows the judgment.
The
reader/interpreter needs to be very diligent to recognize the context in
each of the passages.
But it is
not until the New Testament teaching by Jesus and the apostles that we learn
that Jesus will FIRST arrive in the clouds of the sky.
The first stage of the second coming will be
when Jesus arrives in the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.
Matthew 24:29-30; Rev. 19:11-16. At
that time He will begin to carry out His KINGDOM agenda which includes both
blessing and judgment.
This also constitutes the arrival of the Day
of the Lord, and will be “announced” by several phenomenal things.
(1) The darkness of the sun, moon and stars. Basically, “the powers of the
heavens will be shaken.” Matthew 24:29; Luke 21:25a; Joel 2:30-31; Rev.
6:12b-14a
(2) ON the earth, there will be great earthquakes and turmoil in the oceans.
Luke 21:25b; Rev. 6:12a, 14b;
(3) The specific sign of the Son of Man. Luke 21:25b; Mathew 24:30a
(4) Then his VISIBLE arrival will be seen by all mankind. Luke 21:27;
Matthew 24:30b; Revelation 1:7; 6:16-17.
This is taught by Jesus at Matthew 24:29-31
“But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be
darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from
the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then the sign of
the Son of man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth
will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky
with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great
trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from
one of the sky to the other.”
(Mark 13:27, "FROM the farthest end of earth TO the farthest end of the
sky/heaven," ouranos.")
The MOURNING of all the tribes of the earth will BEGIN as soon as these
awesome signs are seen, so that as Jesus said, “and THEN all the tribes of
the earth will mourn.
But WHILE they are mourning in anticipation of the things that are
happening, as Luke records, “men fainting from fear and the expectation of
the things which are coming upon the world” (Luke 21:26), THEN they will
actually see Jesus “coming in the clouds of the sky with power and great
glory.” At this time the mourning will continue and of course, increase.
Thus at Revelation 1:7, additional “mourning” will occur AFTER “every eye
will see Him.”
This is also portrayed symbolically at the 6th seal of Revelation
6:12-17.
Even though there is not specific mention of the arrival of Jesus in this
passage, it is clear that the many peoples who are mentioned there HAVE SEEN
HIM.
After seeing the heavenly and earthly signs, and the sign of the Son of man,
the people of the earth will try to hide from the FACE (presence) of the
Father and of Jesus (the Lamb). Jesus taught that it is AFTER they see the
“sign of the Son of Man” that “all the tribes of the earth will mourn.”
Here at Revelation 6, it should be obvious that their reaction indicates
they have indeed SEEN Him come in the clouds. After the initial “mourning”
they will then take action to try to hide from Him, for they will be well
aware that “the great day
of their wrath has come and who is able to stand?” Revelation 6:17.
Thus, the return of the Lord will occur right
after verse 14, but before v. 15. It is summarized in a later vision at Rev.
19:11-16.
The arrival of the Lord is also envisioned by Joel as the arrival of THE DAY
OF THE LORD.
Joel saw the signs as occurring BEFORE the Day of the Lord arrives. Joel
2:30-31.
”And I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth,
Blood, fire, and columns of smoke.
The sun will be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.”
From the apostles we learn that that “the day of the Lord” will BEGIN at the
very moment of Christ’s arrival in the clouds, and upon His gathering of the
saints at the rapture.
1
Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2; 2 Peter 3:10.
Jesus will NOT step foot ONTO the earth at this time, but will remain in the
clouds, or rather, ON THE CLOUD to administer God’s wrath through the
trumpet judgments of Revelation 8-11 and the first 6 bowl judgments.
Revelation 14:14-16.
1.
The first thing that will happen when Jesus arrives in the clouds of the
sky, will be the gathering out of the believers through the rapture.
Matthew 24:31; John 14:1-3; 1 Thes. 4:14-17
This was not taught by the Old Testament prophets.
In
fact, the Old Testament prophets did not see the arrival in the clouds as
distinct from His physical descent to the earth. The main things they
focused on were -
(A) The coming of the Messiah
(B) Physical deliverance for Israel
(C) And judgment on all the spiritual rebels of the world.
(D) And the Messiah’s earthly reign over Israel.
It is not until we look to New Testament revelation that we are able to see
the distinction between these two STAGES of the second coming. The New
Testament focuses on the arrival in the clouds, the rapture, and the
judgment of the earth-dwellers that will occur after the rapture. But it is
not until Revelation 14:17-20; 16:17-21 and 19:17-21 that we are shown
indication of His physical decent ONTO the earth.
2. After the rapture of the saints, God will return to using Israel as the
evangelistic agent for proclaiming the Messianic promise to the world.
A. Israel’s evangelistic commission:
Exodus 19:5-6; Deut. 4:5-6;Rom.
9:4-5;
Isaiah 41:8-9; 43:7; 49:3; 7:6; 28:9-10; Psalm 118:1-4
B.
See Topic: ISRAEL’S
NATIONAL DISCIPLINE
C. This is through the conversion of the 144,000 Jewish bond servants. Revelation
7:1-8; 14:1-8
3. After that He will begin to pour out His judgments on the world as
portrayed by the first six trumpets. Rev. 6:12-17; 8-9.
4. Those six judgments will conclude at the end of the 70th week.
Rev. 10:7; 11:1-17.
5. Then will come the FINAL expression of divine wrath. This is portrayed by
the 7th trumpet and the bowl judgments, and will occur during the
next 30 days after the end of the 70th week. Dan. 12:11; Rev.
11:14, 18-19; 15-16; 19.
THE PHYSICAL DESCENT ONTO THE EARTH
For details see The Physical descent.
THE SECOND STAGE of the second coming is when Jesus will descend physically
to the earth to confront the worlds armies assembled in Palestine. The last
two bowl judgments portray this physical descent of the Messiah to the
earth. Revelation 16:12-21.
Zechariah 14:3-5a.
The second stage is usually called the Armageddon stage, and has four
phases.
As portrayed in the last two bowl
judgments Jesus will descend PHYSICALLY to the earth toward the end of the
30 day-period that follows the end of Daniel’s 70th week (Dan.
12:11). At that
time, He will come down from His cloud (Rev. 14:14), from where He has been
administrating the trumpet and bowl judgments after the rapture (6th seal).
The physical descent of Jesus has four phases.
(1) The descent to Edom.
(2) The descent to Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives.
(3) The descent to the Valley of Megiddo for the battle of Armageddon.
(4) The Cleansing phase, when all unbelievers will be removed from the
earth. Ezekiel 34:17-22; Mat. 25:31-46.
Quite often the Old Testament prophets viewed the Messiah's arrival simply
as the FACT of His arrival, and then revealed some event involved with the
day of the Lord. Other times they would reveal some event involved with the
day of the Lord, and then backtrack to show the arrival as the basis for the
event in view.
Many times these details will have a LOCALIZED
focus and only the people in those specific areas will see His coming. The
arrival in the clouds of the sky, however, which will precede the physical
descent by several months, will have a UNIVERSAL focus and “every eye will
see Him.” Revelation 1:7 with Matthew 24:30.
John's
vision at Revelation 19:11-16 does the same
thing. It states the arrival of the Messiah in glory, that was anticipated
at Rev. 1:7 and indicated at the 6th seal of Rev. 6:12-17.
This is not the so-called "second coming" in contrast to the rapture. This
is in fact THE one and only second coming.
“And I saw the sky/heaven (ouranos) opened; and behold, a white horse, and
He who sat upon it {is} called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He
judges and wages war.
And His eyes {are} a flame of fire, and upon His head {are} many diadems;
and He has a name written {upon Him} which no one knows except Himself.
And {He is} clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The
Word of God.
And the armies (angels) which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white
{and} clean (Rev. 15:6), were following Him on white horses.
The armies are all the holy ones; the angels who come with Him.
Mat. 16:27; Mat. 24:30-31; 25:31; Mark 8:38; 2Thes. 1:7, 10; Jude 14.
And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the
nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine
press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.”
Then the
vision skips over the events of the trumpet and bowl judgments, and shows a
vision of the final battle at Armageddon at Rev. 19:17-21.
Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice,
saying to all the birds that fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great
feast of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of
commanders, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who
sit on them, and the flesh of all people, both free and slaves, and small
and great.” And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies,
assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse, and against His
army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed
the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received
the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were
thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone. And the rest
were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the
horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.
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