Chapter 35: His Second Coming

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 14). When the Word became flesh, He became Immanuel—God with us (Matthew 1:23)—and He was called Jesus, for He would give His life to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). That was His first coming: to live among us in the flesh. He preached the gospel to the poor, healed the sick, and destroyed the works of the devil; then He was crucified, died, and was buried; and on the third day He rose again, fulfilling His promise of redemption and reconciliation between God and man. Then He returned to where He had been before—to heaven (John 6:62; Acts 1:9).

But He did not simply leave. He promised He would come back—and come back the same way He went: not merely in Spirit, but physically, visibly, bodily. The two angels at the ascension made the promise unmistakable:

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 (Acts 1:10–11).

“This same Jesus”—not a symbol, not merely His influence, but the same Person—“shall so come in like manner.” He went up bodily and visibly; He will return bodily and visibly. This is one of the most certain promises in all of Scripture, repeated some three hundred times in the New Testament. The One who came the first time in humility will come the second time in glory.³⁵¹

The Son of Man Coming in the Clouds

Trace the pattern of who He is at each stage. He is the Word from the beginning. He became flesh and lived among us, and was called the Son of Man, for He was truly man, with a physical body and a soul. He died and rose again, and the church was born, and to the church He is the Son of God who saved us from our sins. Then His Spirit came—the Holy Spirit, our helper, guide, and comforter, who teaches us all things and reveals Christ. And one day He will come back physically, the same way He went—as the Son of Man coming in the clouds:

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other (Matthew 24:30–31).

And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven (Mark 13:26–27).

Notice the title He bears at His return: the Son of Man—the very title from Daniel 7, where “one like the Son of man” comes with the clouds of heaven to receive an everlasting kingdom and dominion over all peoples (Daniel 7:13–14). At His first coming that glory was veiled; at His trial He was mocked when He claimed it. But at His second coming it will be unveiled before every eye. “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him” (Revelation 1:7).

A Lamb the First Time, a King the Second

Here is a contrast we must not miss. The first time, He came as the Lamb—to be slain, to save people from their sins. And all we need do is believe in Him and receive Him for the forgiveness of sins, and be delivered from the wrath to come and from the second death. But the second time, He will come as the King—to rule and to execute judgment, not as a Lamb or a Saviour offering mercy, but as the righteous Judge of all the earth. The day of grace will have closed; the day of the Lord will have come.

The apostle John, in the book of Revelation, was given a breathtaking vision of that coming King:

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… and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God… 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 hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS (Revelation 19:11–16).

The same Jesus who rode into Jerusalem on a lowly donkey, meek and bringing salvation (Zechariah 9:9), now rides forth on a white horse of conquest, crowned with many crowns, His robe dipped in blood, the armies of heaven behind Him—Faithful and True, the Word of God, the King of kings and Lord of lords. The gentleness is not gone, but the day for judgment has come.

And John saw the outcome of that day: the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered to make war against the rider on the horse—and their utter defeat. “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet… These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse” (Revelation 19:20–21). His second coming will be glorious beyond words—and terrifying to all who refused Him. The rulers and armies of earth will muster against Him, and they will be destroyed by the mere word of His mouth. What a day that will be!

What Will Happen at His Coming

Now, this book is not chiefly about the end of the world; it is about the revelation of who Jesus Christ is. But since His return is the great unveiling of His glory as King, let us summarize, in brief, what Scripture indicates will take place at His second coming:

• His glorious coming with the hosts of heaven (Revelation 19:11–14; Jude 14).

• Every eye shall see Him (Matthew 24:30; Revelation 1:7).

• He will end the war of Armageddon; the armies, the beast, and the false prophet will be defeated, and the beast and false prophet cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 19:19–20).

• The unbelieving—the tares—will be judged and removed (Matthew 13:30, 40–42).

• His people, the believers, will be gathered to Him (Matthew 24:31; Mark 13:27).

• Those martyred during the tribulation for refusing the mark of the beast will be raised to reign with Christ; “the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished” (Revelation 14:13; 20:4–5).

• The beginning of the thousand-year reign of the Lord Jesus Christ on the earth—the fulfillment of His reign on the throne of David (Revelation 20:4–6; Luke 1:32–33).

These things are set out in the framework this book follows; sincere Christians differ on some of the details and their order, as we will note in the next chapter. But on the central truth there is no dispute: Jesus Christ is coming again, in power and great glory, to judge the living and the dead and to reign as King. And that certainty presses upon each of us the most personal of all questions. When He splits the sky and every eye beholds Him—when the tribes of the earth mourn and the King of kings rides forth—on which side will you stand? Are you ready to meet Him?