THE DOCTRINE OF
CHRIST'S SECOND COMING
A look at God’s Word by
Gary Ray Branscome
While popular
writers have distorted and
misrepresented the truth of Christ's return, as well as the events that
accompany His return, the doctrine that God wants us to teach consists
of what the Bible explicitly says, without human embellishment
(Jeremiah 23:28). Furthermore, we are to reject and condemn any
interpretation that contradicts what the Bible explicitly says (Isaiah
8:20).
THE
DAY CHRIST RETURNS
"All that are in
the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth"
(John 5:28-29).
"And every eye
shall see him, and they also which
pierced him" (Revelation 1:7).
"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"
(Matthew 24:30).
He will destroy the
Anti-Christ "with the brightness of his coming" (2
Thessalonians 2:8).
And He "shall judge
the living and the dead at his
appearing" (2 Timothy 4:1).
[Comment: We know that the
resurrection will take place when Christ
returns because the Bible tells us that He, "shall judge the living and
the dead at his appearing" and that those who "pierced him" shall see
Him returning (2 Timothy 4:1, Revelation 1:7).
We also know that
this will take place on the last
day because the Bible tells us that both the judgement and the
resurrection will take place on "the last day" (John 6:40, 11:24,
12:48, 1 Corinthians 15:52).]
JUDGEMENT
DAY
On the last day,
"there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of
the just and unjust" (Acts 24:15 compare with 2 Timothy 4:1 and John
11:24).
And, "every idle
word that men shall speak, they shall give account
thereof in the day of judgment" (Matthew 12:36 compare with 2
Corinthians 5:10).
At that time, "all
that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And
shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of
life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation
(John 5: 28-29).
"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" (1 Thessalonians 4: 16).
"In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye… we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put
on immortality" (1 Corinthians 15:52-53).
"Then we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
"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. Then shall the King
say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world… Then
shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels…
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous
into life eternal" (Matthew 25:31-46).
"And I saw a great
white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose
face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place
for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and
the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book
of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were
written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the
dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second
death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:11).
[Comment: In order to understand the
final judgement, you need to
realize that it is faith in Christ, not obedience to the law, that
makes us righteous before God (Romans 3:28 and 10:4). Therefore, when
it is time to account for "every idle word," those who seek
righteousness by the law will be condemned (Romans 3:20). Yet no sin
will be imputed to those who trust in Christ (Romans 4:1-8, John 5:24).
Furthermore, the
Bible specifically
tells us that Christ will raise up
believers on "the last day," not before the last day (John 6:39, 40,
44, 54). In fact, whenever the Bible describes the final judgement, it
speaks of believers and unbelievers standing together before the
judgement seat (Acts 24:15, John 5:28, Matthew 25:31-32, Revelation
20:11).]
THE
LAST DAY
On the last day,
"all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the
heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll" (Isaiah 34:4).
"The heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein
shall be burned up" (2 Peter 3:10).
Then there shall be
"a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven
and the first earth were passed away" (Revelation 21:1).
"And He shall reign
for ever and ever" (Revelation 11:15)
"And of His kingdom
there shall be no end" (Luke 1:33).
[Comment:
These verses mean just what they say. Furthermore, because Christ said,
"My kingdom is not of this world," we know that He is not going to
physically preside over an earthly kingdom prior to the last day (John
18:36).]
LET'S
STICK WITH THE FACTS
We will only be
teaching the doctrine that God wants us to teach if we stick to what
the Bible actually says, while eliminating any opinions that contradict
what it says. Therefore:
1- Because Christ said that He will raise up believers “on the last
day,” we know that the resurrection of believers, and rapture,
described in 1Thessalonians 4: 13-17 will take place on the last day
(John 6:40)
2- Because the resurrection and
rapture will take place “on the last day,” we know that there will not
be seven years of tribulation after Christ raises believers from the
dead, and that Christ will not remove believers from the earth prior to
the events described in chapters four through twenty of the Book of
Revelation (John 6:40).
3- Because the resurrection,
rapture, and judgement will take place “on the last day,” we know that
Christ will judge believers and unbelievers on the same day (John 6:40
and 12:48).
4- And, because Christ is going
to judge believers and unbelievers on the same day, we know that the
"bema" seat mentioned in 2Corinthians 5:10 is the same seat that is
called "the throne of His glory" in Matthew 25:31, and "a great white
throne" in Revelation 20:11. [Pilate's seat is called a "bema" seat.
Matthew 27:19]
Likewise, because the Bible plainly tells us that
the seven heads of the beast described in Revelation 13:1 are seven
mountains we can be certain that the seven headed beast is not a man,
and therefore not the anti-Christ (Revelation 17:9).
Furthermore, because the Bible says of Christ,
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" we know that no
one ever was, or ever will be saved in any way other than through
personal faith in Christ (Acts 4:12). In fact, if men could have been
saved by the Law in any period of history, God would not have sent
Christ to the cross (Galatians 3:21). Therefore, we should regard
anyone who contradicts the Bible by teaching that salvation was of
works in the past, or will be of works in the future, as a false
prophet (Romans 3:4, 19, 20).
CONCLUSION
God expects His
church to teach His doctrine, the doctrine that He has
explicitly stated in His Word, not human opinion and conjecture. For
that reason, our emphasis must be on the bare words of Scripture, not
interpretations. And the prophetic passages of Scripture should always
be understood in a way that agrees with what the Bible clearly and
objectively says (Isaiah 8:20).
In contrast to sects, those who are
truly orthodox allow the actual
words of Scripture to be their doctrine, and so teach nothing that is
not taught in God's Word.