Jesus Will Return - When and How?

JESUS WILL RETURN

WHEN AND HOW?

Let me say as a preamble to this post that there is immeasurable and unfathomable suffering right now throughout the world. Thousands upon thousands will die this very day due to hunger and curable disease. Many will be children. And most will go into eternity without Christ. I find people who are obsessed with times and dates and who self righteously champion their view of end times chronology as distasteful and repugnant. Many do not reflect the Spirit of Christ and live constantly with some ax to grind. They should be avoided and denied fellowship.

The Bible is replete with references to what is generally referred to as the “second coming of Jesus Christ” with Bethlehem being His first coming. To ignore prophecy is to ignore a large segment of Scripture. However we can get so obsessed that we lose the essence of these prophetic glimpses and even enter into a doctrinal clique which loudly professes a sort of prophetic inerrancy concerning its views. There are many people who believe their view concerning the end time events is unassailable and all other views are not only wrong but seem to carry some precarious implications in the future. And lost in all this is usually the two main points of prophecy which are that Jesus will come back and everyone must be prepared. The exact time or place is in God’s hands.

When we say that Jesus is coming back many evangelicals mean that there are two revelations of His coming. The first being the catching away of the church or the rapture, and the second being the literal coming of the Lord Jesus Christ back to this planet. The word “rapture” is a Latin term used to denote the secret return of Christ in the clouds where he translates His true followers from the earth and unto Himself. I am not going to spend the time to go into a verse by verse study here. You can google hundreds of thousands of sites where it is taught and also where it is denied.

There are two major views concerning the rapture of the church. One is called pre-millennial and the other post-millennial. Many Christians believe that there is coming a thousand year period upon this earth called the millennia. Most pre-millennial views call it the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. There is also an a-millennial view which denies a literal millennia at all. Are you beginning to see that colossal jungle concerning prophecy and the end time’s chronology? Good, because it gets worse. And like a man who becomes obsessed with fixing the lock on his car’s trunk but never gets around to driving the car, so is much of the verbiage and arguing over when the rapture will take place or how to line up the events or even which events are literal and which are allegory. And if you suggest certain views you will step right into the crosshairs of many ungracious opinion holders.

Generally my view is two fold. Jesus is coming back, and you must be prepared. But if pressed I hold to a per-millennial view. And another event called the Great Tribulation comes into play here. There are three major views about the rapture within the per-millennial perspective. They are called the pre-tribulation view, the mid-tribulation view, and the post-tribulation view. Those labels are self explanatory. I hold loosely to the pre-tribulation view which suggests that the rapture will take place just before the Great Tribulation period begins. Again, there are many teachings on the internet or in book stores on this subject. Please remember that prophecy is filled with imagery and metaphors and in my opinion is the least exact revelation. When we deal with salvation or the Person of Christ we see a multitude of clear and unambiguous Scriptures. But when we deal with prophecy there are many verses that are difficult to piece together. I believe God did this so that He receives all the glory and that men cannot claim to be wise in their own conceits.

I could list the verses that are generally used to support a pre-tribulation perspective however since I believe they generally provide a platform for argument and most often do not generate a deeper love for Christ and a more intense looking for His return I will not. And although there are verses that suggest that view, there is also something outside of Scripture that seems to provide a template.

In the Hebrew culture at the time the New Testament was written the marriage of a bride and a bridegroom was very interesting. The engagement was arraigned and agreed upon by the two fathers many times even before the man and woman ever met. Now after the contract was made, the father of the man went home and told his son. Now it was the son’s duty to prepare a place for his bride, but only the father could give his permission for the son to go and get his bride. That would insure that everything was ready and the son was not carried away and go prematurely.

Matt.24: ³⁶ But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

The bride to be was supposed to be preparing for her bridegroom’s arrival. She, of course, did not know when he was coming. She would even stay up late because many times the bridegroom came at midnight.

Matt.25: ¹³ Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

So when the father of the man said that his son could go and get his bride, he would take some of his friends and then would head out for the bride’s home. When the man came close to the house his entourage would call out, “The bridegroom is coming!” The bride, who was supposed to be waiting, would ready herself to leave.

Matt.25: ⁶ And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

And it was the custom to have a week lone wedding feast after the bridegroom brought the bride home.

Rev.19: And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:

² For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
³ And again they said, Alleluia And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.
⁴ And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
⁵ And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.
⁶ And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
⁷ Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
⁸ And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
⁹ And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

And so I believe the chronology of the Lord’s return will generally mirror the Jewish culture as it pertains to marriage. Now let me also say that I could be wrong, and in general I do not consider a difference in eschatology a reason for breaking fellowship unless the person is arrogant and judges everyone else according to their endtimes chronology. Does a person believe that Jesus will return literally? That is the vital question. As soon as we make almost everything an allegory or imagery than we eviscerate the Scriptures.

So have a healthy view of the Second Coming and the rapture, and allow the Spirit to use it to guide you into a deeper commitment to the Lord Jesus. But refuse to make it your gospel and thereby enter into self righteousness. Discussions are good and many times exhort us to study the Word. Think about this: What has been ordained to happen as it pertains to the events surrounding the end times are ordained and already set in place. No man can change them. So do not become obsessed with dates and chronology and the particulars of the Second Coming. Be obsessed with Jesus and all things will be in God’s hands. He is coming and He is calling all men to repent and believe the gospel. And to His Bride He says sanctify yourselves and submit your lives to the cleansing of the spirit and the flesh.

Even so, come Lord Jesus.