A Singular Event
The New Testament promises that Jesus will return to the earth at the “end” of the present age. His glorious “arrival…on the clouds” will result in the judgment of the ungodly, the resurrection and vindication of the righteous, the arrival of the New Creation, and the termination of death. Thus, it will be an event of great finality.
In his parable of the wheat and the tares,
Jesus portrayed the “Son of Man” arriving at the “end of the age”
when he will divide humanity into two groups - The just and the unjust. The “wheat”
will be gathered in the “barn,” while the “tares” will be tied
into bundles and burned.
HUMANITY DIVIDED
In the parable, the wheat represents the “sons
of the kingdom,” the tares symbolize the “sons of the evil one,” and
the “harvest” of both groups will occur at the “end of the age” -
(Matthew 13:24-30).
Likewise, the parable of the sheep and goats
pictures all nations gathered before Jesus for judgment. “Then shall he
sit upon the throne of his glory.” The “sheep” will inherit the “kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” but the “goats” are
cast into "everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Thus, the first group receives everlasting
life, and the second suffers “everlasting punishment” - (Matthew
25:31-46).
In his ‘Olivet Discourse,’ he taught that when
the “Son of Man comes” he will be accompanied by his angels. All nations
will mourn at his arrival, and he will send his angels to “gather together
his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” - (Matthew
24:29-31).
In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul
states that at his “arrival,” dead Christians will be resurrected and
gathered along with those believers who are still alive to “meet him in the
air” as he descends from heaven.
His “arrival” will be heralded by “the
voice of an archangel and the trumpet of God,” and from that point forward,
believers will be with him “forevermore.”
VINDICATION AND WRATH
Instead of “wrath,” God has appointed
believers to attain salvation through Jesus. In contrast, the “day of the
Lord will arrive with sudden destruction” upon the unprepared, and “they
shall in no way escape.” The same day will bring salvation to the faithful
but destruction to unbelievers - (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 5:1-7).
In his second letter to the Thessalonians, the
Apostle writes that the righteous will be vindicated when Jesus is “revealed
from heaven with his angels,” but their persecutors and all “who do not
obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” will pay the ultimate penalty - “Everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord.”
On that same day, Jesus will be “glorified in his saints.” Once again, at his return, the righteous are vindicated and the wicked are condemned - (2 Thessalonians 1:5-10).
Paul labels this one event the “arrival”
or parousia of Jesus, the “day of the Lord,” and the “revelation
of Jesus from heaven.” Regardless of which term he applies, on that day Jesus
will gather his saints and judge their persecutors, including the “man of
lawlessness” - (2 Thessalonians 2:1-9).
In 1 Corinthians, Paul writes that at
Christ’s “arrival,” the righteous dead will be resurrected, the kingdom
of God consummated, and the “last enemy, death” will be terminated. All
this he categorizes under the term “the
end,” singular (“then comes the end”). Furthermore, on that
day, the saints will inherit the kingdom and receive “immortality” - (1
Corinthians 15:20-57).
Peter links the judgment of the wicked, the
dissolution of the existing creation, and the arrival of the New Creation to
the “arrival” of Jesus, all events that will occur on the “day of God”
- (2 Peter 3:3-13).
The book of Revelation also connects the judgment of the wicked to the coming of Jesus. On that day, “every eye will see him” and “all the tribes of the earth will wail because of him.”
The “day of the Lord” will be the
day of His “wrath” against the wicked. It will be characterized by great
celestial and terrestrial upheaval, and the victory of the “Lamb” will
culminate in the New Heavens and New Earth – (Revelation 1:7, 6:12-17,
11:15-19, 16:12-21, 19:17-21).
The New Testament tells a consistent story.
The one and final “arrival” of Jesus will mean the final judgment, the
resurrection of the dead, both terrestrial and celestial upheaval, the
consummation of God’s kingdom, the cessation of death, the final overthrow of
all God’s enemies, and the New Creation wherein righteousness prevails forevermore.
And thus, that day will arrive with a grand note of finality.
