The Arrival of Jesus

The arrival of Jesus will be an event of victory and finality. That day will include the resurrection of the saints, judgment, and new creation.

The return of Jesus at “the conclusion of this evil age” will be an event of complete finality. His “arrival” or ‘Parousia’ (παρουσια) will be accompanied by celestial and terrestrial upheaval, the arrival of the New Creation, the resurrection of the dead, the judgment of the unrighteous, the destruction of “the Man without law,” the gathering of Christ’s elect, and the end of death itself.

Decay and mortality will be replaced by righteousness and immortality when Jesus returns, raises the dead, and gathers his saints to himself. Nothing will ever be the same again!

[Sunset - Photo by Bianca Castillo (Mexicali, BC) on Unsplash]

Responding to believers who denied the coming bodily resurrection, the Apostle Paul described several events that will precede or coincide with the coming of Jesus, including the consummation of the Kingdom of God, the subjugation of all Christ’s enemies, the resurrection of the saints, and the termination of Death:

• (1 Corinthians 15:24-28) – “Then comes the end, when he will deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he will abolish all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death.”

Believers who die before Christ’s return will be resurrected just as he was. His past resurrection is “the first fruits” and the guarantee of our resurrection. The raising of the saints from the dead will be a collective event. Every believer will be raised at the same time and reunited with those disciples who are still alive on the last day.

• “But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who fall asleep, that you sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, those also who have fallen asleep in Jesus, God will bring with him. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left unto the arrival [‘Parousia’] of the Lord, we will certainly not precede those who sleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will together with them be seized in clouds for a meeting with the Lord in the air. And thus, we will be evermore with the Lord” – (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17).

• “For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your sins. Then they also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who sleep. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then those who are Christ's at his arrival [‘Parousia’]” – (1 Corinthians 15:16-23).

To reiterate, all believers will be raised from the dead at the same time, and those saints who remain alive when Jesus appears will be transformed, so that together, both the living and the dead, will meet Christ when he descends from Heaven.

This great day will not come until Jesus has put “all things under his feet,” just as the Psalmist wrote. His sudden appearance will mark the consummation of God’s Kingdom. Afterward, there will be no more enemies for the Son of God to conquer:

• “Yahweh says to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool” - (Psalm 110:1).

• “Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. You will shepherd them with a rod of iron. You will shatter them like a potter's vessel” - (Psalm 2:6-9).

• “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” - (1 Corinthians 15:25).

The Son of Man will not return until the Gospel of the Kingdom of God has been proclaimed to all nations. Indeed, the proclamation of this good news by Christ’s Church is how Jesus rules the nations and conquers his enemies – (Matthew 24:14).

• “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you: and you will be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth” – (Acts 1:8).

THE JUDGMENT

In First Corinthians, Paul describes this event as “the end,” and “the Last Enemy” that will be eliminated is Death. No longer will death hold men and women in bondage and fear. As the Apostle also declared:

• “We will not all sleep, but we will be changed, in a moment, in the blink of an eye <…> the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed <…> But when this mortal frame puts on immortality, then will come to pass the saying: Death is swallowed up in victory!” - (1 Corinthians 15:51-56).

In his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul links the return of Jesus to “the Day of the Lord” and “the gathering together” of the saints, just as Jesus predicted on the Mount of Olives:

• “Now, we implore you, brethren, on behalf of the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being assembled to him, that you are not quickly shaken from your mind, neither alarmed, whether from spirit, whether from word or from letter, as by us, specifically, that the day of the Lord is imminent” – (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2).

• “But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give her light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the heavens. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And he will send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” – (Matthew 24:29-31).

All men will witness Christ’s return - Every tribe and nation of the Earth will see him. The arrival of Jesus will affect the entire planet if not the Cosmos. The events of that day will certainly not be limited to the Middle East or the nation of Israel!

Paul also teaches that the arrival of Jesus will mean the punishment of the wicked and the judgment of “the Son of Destruction.” Similarly, Jesus declared that when the Son of Man comes, he will judge the nations of the Earth:

• “And to you who are afflicted, relief with us, at the unveiling of the Lord Jesus from heaven, with his angels of power, in flame of fire, giving retribution to those who do not know God, and to those who are not obeying the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, who will pay a penalty, everlasting destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might” – (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).

• “And then the lawless man will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will consume with the breath of his mouth, and paralyze with the manifestation of his arrival [‘Parousia’], the arrival of whom will be according to the energy of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness in those who are being destroyed, instead of which they did not accept the love of the truth that they might be saved” – (2 Thessalonians 2:8-10).

• “But when the Son of Man will come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory, and before him will be gathered all the nations. And he will separate them one from another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats…” – (Matthew 25:31-32).

THE NEW WORLD ORDER

Years later, the Apostle Peter warned of coming “scoffers” that mock and ask, “Where is the promise of his arrival” or ‘Parousia’. Like the Apostle Paul, Peter also linked the return of Jesus to “the Day of the Lord” and the New Creation:

• “God is not slack concerning his promise <…> for the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are in it will be burned up <…> But according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which dwells righteousness” - (2 Peter 3:3-12).

Christ’s arrival in glory will mean the dissolution of the old order and its replacement by the promised New Heavens and New Earth. The new conditions brought in by his appearance will be permanent.

In his letter to the assemblies of Rome, Paul also coordinated the bodily resurrection of the saints with the arrival of the New Creation. At present, the entire universe is groaning and travailing because of sin and death as it is…:

• “Waiting for the revelation of the sons of God <…> for the creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God <…> even the redemption of our body” - (Romans 8:19-23).

The Apostolic Tradition consistently presents the day of Christ’s return as an event of great finality. It will mean nothing less than the resurrection of the righteous, the gathering of the elect, the consummation of the Kingdom of God, the final judgment, the end of Death, the arrival of the New Creation, and the end of the present age. Thereafter, righteousness will prevail throughout the Cosmos, “and God will be all in all” – (1 Corinthians 15:28).

All this is the result of the victory that God achieved through the obedient death and the consequent resurrection of Jesus Christ. His Death and Resurrection constitute the immovable foundation of the Apostolic Faith:

• “Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and he was buried, and he was raised on the third day” – (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

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SEE ALSO:

• Key Final Events - (The New Testament predicts several key events that will occur before the arrival of the Son of Man in glory)

• The Sign of the End - (According to Jesus, the End will not come until the Gospel of the Kingdom of God has been proclaimed to all nations – Matthew 24:14)

• Rumors and Disinformation - (Rumors about the Day of the Lord caused alarm and confusion in the Thessalonian congregation – 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2)

• La Llegada de Jesús - (La llegada de Jesús será un evento de victoria y finalidad, e incluirá la resurrección de los santos, el juicio y la nueva creación)