The Second Coming of Christ

 

What do you think the bodily coming of Jesus will look like?

I grew up with and was taught to have this image of during the complete destruction of humanity and everything, Jesus would come at the last moment to save the day. Because of the antichrist and the great tribulation, humanity would be devastated, and while some would be protected from the terror, most would be subject to the evils of the “end times”.

Well…things have changed. While I certainly am open to having disagreements with fellow Christians on perspectives of end times and the book of Revelation, I hold a dramatically different view than what I grew up with. I’ve come to understand that certain views of the end times can be used to hold people in fear, keep them in line so they don’t ask questions. “If you want to be protected in the evil days ahead, do as I say”

Are there other options on how to view His coming again? I believe in the physically bodily return of Jesus to rule and reign over His creation with His people in a New Heavens and a New Earth.

Jesus spoke of His Kingdom as a mustard seed. Something that starts small, but over time grows into something very large. In all the parables about the Kingdom we get the idea that His people will be transformative to the world around them, making a difference through the new life He offers empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The work of His Kingdom will not fail. Sadly, when we talk about the end times there is excitement that the Church will fail at its task and Christ will have to come in at the last moment to make it right. Here’s the question that has been stuck in my craw…is the Church supposed to fail?

I don’t think it is. God has His Kingdom as representatives, workers of His way of doing things to impact and change the world around them to reflect how He originally intended His creation to be. The problem as I see it is that some have hyper literalized obviously metaphoric language particularly in Revelation. And instead of seeing the encouragement to God’s people to remain allegiant to King Jesus in the face of anything that comes, we see it is a calendar that once certain things take place, we can begin the countdown to His return. But that’s not how that works. Not even Jesus knows the point of His return. So to say we can have a timeline and know it once things begin to happen contradicts Christ’s own words.

Instead, the image we see presented by Jesus and the apostles is that we the Church are the do the work of spreading the gospel. Our perspective should be that of hope. The Church does accomplish it’s task. Not through our own strength and ability, but through the power of the Holy Spirit, as we see our entire world transformed one life at a time.

And one day, whether its in 1 year, or 10,000 Christ will return in the flesh to a people who will say  ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord !’” (Matthew 23:39)