How Will Christ Come?
Will His coming be a secret, or does the Bible tell a different story? The truth may shock you.
Second Coming: 2 of 2
What did Jesus promise prior to His crucifixion?
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
When Jesus speaks, His word cannot fail; it will be fulfilled. Just as light appeared when He said, “Let there be light,” we can be just as certain that Jesus is coming back for His people to take them to heaven with Him—simply because He said so.
How will He come back?
And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Jesus will return in a visible, bodily, and personal manner, just as He left. In other words, He will come literally—in a body of flesh and bones.
Will it be possible to miss His coming?
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Contrary to the popular but unbiblical teaching of a secret rapture,[1][2] Christ’s second coming will be anything but silent or secret. It will be, in fact, the most awe-inspiring, thunderous, and radiant event in Earth’s history—utterly impossible to miss.
What else will take place?
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
The Bible teaches that those who have died in Christ will be resurrected, and together with the living who are ready for His return, will be caught up to meet Him in the air to spend a thousand years in heaven. Because He remains in the air and does not touch the earth, His coming will not be an earthly appearance, but one in the sky—an important detail that helps us identify counterfeit christs (Matthew 24:4-5). Put simply, if anyone—even an angel—appears on the earth and claims to be Christ, we can be certain this is contrary to Scripture, for Paul plainly states that the redeemed will meet Jesus in the air, meaning He will remain in the clouds above the earth.
What kind of bodies will the saved have?
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
… we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
The redeemed—both the living and the resurrected—will receive new, perfect, glorified, and immortal bodies at Jesus’ coming.
How will the saved respond?
And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Christ’s coming will either be the best day of one’s life or the worst. Those who have loved Him enough to surrender their hearts to Him and submit to His will, through the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:11), will rejoice at His appearing because He has become their best Friend and Lord of their lives.
How will the lost respond?
And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
In contrast to those who are saved, the lost—who had a superficial Christianity that never moved beyond mere profession, never surrendering all that they had and were to Him (Matthew 7:21-23)—will experience no peace or joy at Christ’s coming. To them, His coming will be a terrifying experience, so much so that they will seek death rather than face their Creator. Because they have chosen to cling to sin, they will be destroyed by the brightness of His coming, for anyone who holds on to sin cannot live in the presence of a holy God.
Sin will be destroyed by Christ one way or another, because it is a manifestation of selfishness, which has no place in His kingdom of love. The only question is: will we be destroyed with it? He can either purge us from our sins now (Malachi 3:3), as we invite Him to take over our lives, or He will purge us along with our sins at His coming. But how can we be washed now? By His Word! When we read the Bible, it begins to read us (Hebrews 4:2), bringing conviction that, if yielded to, will cleanse us from sin (Ephesians 5:26). But if we neglect it, that same conviction will come at His appearing—at which point it will be too late to do anything about it. Now is the time to come to know Christ through His Word and to be transformed by His grace.
Why must the lost be kept out of heaven?
He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Because heaven is a place where righteousness dwells, anyone who clings to sin cannot be happy there. Excluding those who have repeatedly resisted God’s wooing grace and chosen to persist in sin is, in fact, an act of mercy toward the unconverted, for heaven would be a place of torment to those who have no longing for righteousness. It also secures the eternal peace and happiness of the citizens of God’s everlasting kingdom, for the removal of sin means the end of the pain, suffering, and misery that it always brings.
Will there be a third group of people?
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
When Jesus returns, there will be only two groups of people—the saved and the lost. By then, it will be too late to change sides, for He will return with His reward, showing that judgment has already taken place and every case has been decided. In fact, the citizens of God’s eternal kingdom will have been determined when probation closes, which happens before His Second Coming—just as the door of Noah’s ark was shut seven days before the rain began (Genesis 7:10).
How is Jesus portrayed when He returns?
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
Because He has triumphed over Satan, Jesus will return as the victorious King, accompanied by the innumerable host of His angelic army.
What happens to the earth and the lost?
And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger. For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.
The Bible teaches that just before Christ’s return, during the outpouring of the seven last plagues described in Revelation 16, the earth will be utterly devastated and rendered uninhabitable.[3] Those of the lost who survive the plagues will be slain by the brightness of His glory, and since Christ will take the redeemed to heaven, the earth will, for the first time since creation week, be completely devoid of all life. This desolation makes the belief in an earthly millennium following Christ’s return an impossibility.
What invitation does Revelation give us?
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. … He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
While it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
One day the door of mercy will close forever; one day the summer will end and the harvest will pass (Jeremiah 8:20). People will then run to and fro seeking salvation, but it will be too late (Amos 8:11-12). There is no reason to end in such a tragedy, yet there is not a moment to lose (Matthew 24:44; Luke 21:34-35). Today is the day of salvation.
Proponents of the secret rapture theory believe the rapture will be followed by a seven-year tribulation, during which those who were not taken to heaven will have another opportunity to repent and be saved. But offering such a second chance makes God appear arbitrary and unfair, granting one group a new opportunity for salvation while denying it to others. Furthermore, the theory provides false security to those who wish to continue in sin, as they may presume they can repent during the tribulation. How devastating will it be when they realize there is no second chance and that they have squandered the only one they had? ↩︎
Luke 17:34-36 is often cited as biblical evidence of a secret rapture, yet the context shows that Jesus was referring to the judgments in the days of Noah and Lot (Luke 17:26-29). In each case, a few were “taken” to safety while the rest were “left” to be destroyed: Noah and his family escaped safely in the ark, while Lot and his daughters fled the doomed city. Jesus warned that the same pattern will be repeated at His coming (Luke 17:30): the saved will be gathered to meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17), while the lost will be destroyed by the brightness of His coming (2 Thessalonians 2:8). ↩︎
Could it be that part of the reason the earth is completely destroyed at Christ’s coming is that it was being worshiped? ↩︎