Parousia- The Manner of Christ’s Return

Get Ready! Get Ready! Get Ready!

As Christ spoke about the signs that would indicate that His coming was near, He also indicated concern that His people not be deceived by false claims. He warned that before the Second Advent “‘false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect.'” He said, “‘If anyone says to you, “Look, here is the Christ!” or “There!” do not believe it'” (Matt. 24:24, 23). Forewarned is forearmed. To enable believers to distinguish between the genuine event and a false coming, several Biblical passages reveal details of the manner in which Christ will return.

A Literal and Personal Return. When Jesus ascended in a cloud, two angels addressed the disciples, who were still gazing up after their departed Lord: “‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven'” (Acts 1:11).

In other words, they said that the same Lord who had just left them—a personal, flesh-and-blood being, not some spirit entity (Luke 24:36-43)—would return to earth. And His Second Advent would be as literal and personal as His departure.

A Visible Return. Christ’s coming will not be an inward, invisible experience but a real meeting with a visible Person. Leaving no room whatsoever for doubt as to the visibility of His return, Jesus warned His disciples against being taken in by a secret second coming by comparing His return to the brilliance of lightning (Matt. 24:27).

Scripture clearly states that the righteous and the wicked will simultaneously witness His coming. John wrote, “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him” (Rev. 1:7), and Christ noted the response of the wicked: “‘All the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory'” (Matt. 24:30).

An Audible Return. Adding to the picture of a universal awareness of Christ’s return is the Biblical assertion that His coming will be made known by sound as well as sight: “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God” (1 Thess. 4:16). The “‘great sound of a trumpet'” (Matt. 24:31) accompanies the gathering of His people. There is no secrecy here.

A Glorious Return. When Christ returns, He comes as a conqueror, with power and “‘in the glory of His Father with His angels'” (Matt. 16:27). John the revelator portrays the glory of Christ’s return in a most dramatic way. He pictures Christ riding on a white horse and leading the innumerable armies of heaven. The supernatural splendor of the glorified Christ is apparent (Rev. 19:11-16).

A Sudden, Unexpected Return. Christian believers, longing and looking for Christ’s return, will be aware when it draws near (1 Thess. 5:4-6). But for the inhabitants of the world in general, Paul wrote, “The day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape” (1 Thess. 5:2, 3; cf. Matt. 24:43).

Some have concluded that Paul’s comparison of Christ’s coming to that of a thief indicates that He will come in some secret, invisible manner. However, such a view contradicts the Biblical picture of Christ’s return in glory and splendor in view of everyone (Rev. 1:7). Paul’s point is not that Christ’s coming is secret, but that, for the worldly minded, it is as unexpected as that of a thief.

Christ makes the same point by comparing His coming with the unexpected destruction of the antediluvian world by the Flood. “‘For as in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man'” (Matt. 24:38, 39, NIV). Though Noah had preached for many years about a coming flood, it took most people by surprise. There were two classes of people living. One class believed Noah’s word and went into the ark and was saved, the other chose to stay outside the ark and the “‘flood came and took them all away'” (Matt. 24:39).

A Cataclysmic Event. Like the simile of the Flood, Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the metal image depicts the cataclysmic manner in which Christ will establish His kingdom of glory (see chapter 4 of this book). Nebuchadnezzar saw a great image whose “‘head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.'” Then “‘a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth'” (Dan. 2:32-35).

Through this dream God gave Nebuchadnezzar a synopsis of world history. Between his day and the establishment of Christ’s everlasting kingdom (the stone), four major kingdoms or empires and then a conglomeration of weak and strong nations would consecutively occupy the world’s stage.

Ever since the days of Christ interpreters have identified the empires as Babylon (605-539 B.C.), Medo-Persia (539-331 B.C.), Greece (331-168 B.C.), and Rome (168 B.C.-A.D. 476).  As prophesied, no other empire succeeded Rome. During the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. it broke into a number of smaller kingdoms that later became the nations of Europe. Through the centuries, powerful rulers—Charlemagne, Charles V, Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm, and Hitler—have tried to establish another world empire. Each failed, just as the prophecy said: “‘They will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay'” (Dan 2:43).

Finally, the dream focuses on the dramatic climax: the setting up of God’s everlasting kingdom. The stone cut out without hands represents Christ’s kingdom of glory (Dan. 7:14; Rev. 11:15), which will be established without human effort at the Second Advent.

Christ’s kingdom is not to exist simultaneously with any human empire. When He was on earth during the sway of the Roman Empire, the stone kingdom that crushes all nations had not yet come. Only after the phase of the iron and clay feet, the period of the divided nations, would it arrive. It is to be set up at the Second Advent when Christ separates the righteous from the wicked (Matt. 25:31-34).

When it comes, this stone or kingdom will strike the “‘image on its feet of iron and clay'” and “‘it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, ‘” leaving not a trace of them (Dan. 2:34, 44, 35). Indeed, the Second Advent is an earth-shaking event.