The Second Coming of Christ, Part 3

What is the blessed hope of the church? An unbeliever, the Bible says, is without God and therefore without hope. But a Christian, one who has trusted in Jesus Christ, has hope. What is that hope? In Titus 2:11-13 we read, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope–the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” The second coming of Christ, this “glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,” is the church’s blessed hope.

In Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 we find what is known as the Olivet Discourse. This was spoken by Jesus Christ as he sat on the Mount of Olives across from Jerusalem on the Tuesday of the last week of his ministry on earth. In the Olivet Discourse Jesus speaks of what we call eschatology, the doctrine of the last things. Matthew 24 specifically deals with answers to two questions asked of Jesus Christ by James, John, Peter and Andrew, the senior disciples. The first question related to a proximate issue: the time of the predicted destruction of the temple, and the second question concerned a remote issue: the parousia , or coming, of Jesus at the end of the age.

First we must note that God’s judgment shown in the destruction of the temple, which took place in A.D. 70 by the Roman army, prefigures God’s ultimate judgment on the world when he comes at the end of the age. We also must note Christ’s reference to the abomination of desolation in this passage. There was a fulfillment of this during the time of Antiochus Epiphanes (168 B.C.) and again when the Roman army surrounded Jerusalem. But there may be another fulfillment at the end of the age, during the last days, when Antichrist shall set himself up in God’s temple and demand that people worship him as God, as we read in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4. Here God’s temple may mean a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, or it may mean the professing church, in which case no temple needs to be rebuilt.

I must acknowledge that interpretation of this chapter is very difficult, and I do not claim finality to every point I make. But on one thing we–meaning those who are born again, who believe in the absolute authority of the Scriptures–must all agree: the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come again suddenly to judge the wicked and save the elect. This is the blessed hope of the church! All believers, no matter what their doctrine of eschatology is, whether they are amillennial, postmillennial, or premillennial, will agree to this biblical doctrine. What Must Happen Before Jesus Comes?

There are three Greek words to describe the coming of the Son of Man. The first is parousia , meaning coming; the second is apokalupsis , meaning unveiling; and the third is epiphania , or epiphany, meaning a visible, glorious manifestation. All these words have reference to the same event: the coming of Christ. Christ will come again, he will be unveiled to all the peoples of the world, and there will be a visible, glorious manifestation of Christ when he comes again. There are people who who would say these three words do not refer to the same event, but I do not agree with them. Others superimpose their own prejudices on the text, and so they begin to see whatever they want to in the text. We need to pray and study the New Testament in the Greek language to see what it is really saying. We need to keep in mind that certain phrases in the Bible–the day of the Lord, the day of Christ, that day, the day–all refer to the second coming of Christ.

1. The Gospel Must Be Preached

Let us, then, consider the coming of the Son of Man. Certain things must happen before Christ comes again, before this blessed hope of the church is fulfilled. First, the gospel must be authoritatively proclaimed in all the world (Matt. 24:14). Why? He has not come yet, Peter says, so that people may hear the gospel, repent of their sins and be saved before his coming (2 Pet. 3:9). We must be witnesses to this glorious gospel. Jesus told us, “Go and make disciples of all nations . . . teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matt. 28:19-20)

Now some people say that Matthew 24, and, in fact, the entire gospel of Matthew, has no reference to the church. They would say that the great commission to preach the gospel throughout the world only refers to the Jewish people in the millennium. They would also say that the Sermon on the Mount and the Lord’s Prayer have no reference to the church.

Such people should pray and seek the Lord, that they may see the wondrous things that are revealed in the Holy Scriptures for our consolation, encouragement and great comfort. The gospel must be proclaimed, and you and I have that responsibility. Christ cannot come until the gospel is proclaimed in all the world.

2. No “Peace and Safety”

Second, we are told about a condition of false security that will prevail throughout the world. In Matthew 24:38-39 we read, “For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, and marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” St. Paul speaks about this in 1 Thessalonians 5:3, “While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”

Man attempts to have security in many ways. No doubt you have heard of the League of Nations, the United Nations, and the Security Council of the United Nations. I am sure you have heard of Social Security. During every election cycle politicians promise that they can deliver economic and political security. All of these things are designed to give us a sense of utopia, peace, and safety. But what does the Bible say? When people say “Peace and safety,” when even the head of the United Nations says “Peace and safety,” what will happen? “Destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”

3. There Will Be Great Apostasy

Third, before Jesus comes again, there will be great apostasy throughout the Christian church, which we are told about in 2 Thessalonians 2. Now both Thessalonian epistles deal with the second coming in almost every chapter, and we should familiarize ourselves with these epistles. In 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Paul says, “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day [the time of the second coming of Christ] will not come until the rebellion occurs. . .” The word for rebellion there is actually apostasy. Apostasy refers to superficial professors of the Christian church, so this is speaking about something happening particularly in the church world.

Certainly this is being fulfilled. J. Gresham Machen wrote a book, Christianity and Liberalism, in which he said that liberal churches are not Christian churches. Why? Liberalism denies supernaturalism, the deity of Jesus Christ, the authority of Scripture, the miracles of the scriptures. Liberalism has nothing to do with Christianity, and yet its adherents continue to be called Christian churches. Apostasy has already occurred in liberal churches worldwide, and it is spreading to other churches. Recently I was in the Far East where I saw a large gathering of so-called Christians. Those participating do not believe in the Bible, the biblical Christ or the biblical view of salvation but this event was labeled as a gathering of evangelicals.

Great apostasy will take place in Christendom. It will be characterized by antisupernaturalism and rationalism prevailing in the church; by churches denying the authority of the Scripture; and by Christianity being reduced to a social action organization and seen as one of the many religions ready to form a united religious organization. As I said, apostasy has already taken place–all through the history of the church we can see how the church persecuted and martyred true believers–but it is going to continue until it comes to an intense culmination.

4. There Will Be Great Lawlessness

What else will happen before Christ comes back? In 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8, we are told of worldwide lawlessness. Haven’t we heard people say, “Don’t tell me what to do. I want to do what I want to do when I want to do how I want to do!” There is already great lawlessness taking place, but it will continue until it comes to complete maturation. “And now you know that what is holding him [the Antichrist] back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed. . .” The Antichrist will come, and there will be a time when lawlessness prevails throughout the world.

There will be the highest degree of anomia , or lawlessness. You see it now even in the church: there is a spirit of antinomianism. Have you heard of the doctrine that one can receive Jesus as Savior, but one doesn’t have to receive him as Lord? That represents lawlessness coming into the church. Many people enjoy this wonderful doctrine, but the Bible says Jesus is Savior because he is Lord. The Bible clearly says you must confess Iesous Kurios , Jesus is Lord (Rom. 10:9), not Iesous Soter , Jesus is Savior.

5. The Antichrist Will Be Revealed

The Bible speaks about many antichrists and false messiahs, but all of them point to the final revealing of the personal Antichrist. The Bible is very clear about this. Look at 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4: “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed [unveiled], the man doomed to destruction. He [the personal Antichrist] will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped so that he sets himself up in God’s temple [a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem or the church], proclaiming himself to be God.”

St. John speaks about this Antichrist in Revelation 13. Verse 1: “And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.” Verse 5: “The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All the inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast–all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.”

We are told in 2 Thessalonians 2:9 and Revelation 13:3-4 that the Antichrist receives his energy and his authority from the dragon, meaning the devil himself. This Antichrist is not yet revealed, but when he is, he will be energized by Satan and will demand worship. Great tribulation is promised for those who do not worship him.

6. Great Persecution against the Saints

So, then, there will be great persecution of the saints by the beast. We read about this not only in Revelation 13:7, but also in Matthew 24:21, “For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now–and never to be equaled again.” This will be a time of great tribulation for God’s people. During this time, the people of God will experience great opposition, not only from the Antichrist, the dragon and the false prophet, but also from all the wicked people in the world.

7. The Saints Will Not Experience God’s Wrath

Before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, God will pour out his wrath upon the wicked of this world. In the book of Revelation you read about seals, bowls, and trumpets, and you see the wrath of God being poured out upon the wicked. But as you read Revelation, you will also notice that the saints, the church, will be protected. In Revelation 7:3 we read that they will be sealed. This does not mean the church will not be persecuted. We just said there will be a time of great persecution and tribulation for the saints. But the church will be sealed from experiencing God’s wrath.

Now, there is a doctrine which pretends to be the blessed hope of the church. What is it? That before any persecution occurs, God will rapture believers secretly and take them away for seven years. Do you know how that doctrine originated? In the 1830s there was a minister of the church of Scotland named Edward Irving. In one of his church meetings a woman stood up one day, started speaking in tongues, and gave a revelation that there was going to be a secret rapture of the church from this world, so the church did not need to be concerned about any kind of tribulation.

This extrabiblical doctrine of the secret rapture of the church is not found anywhere in the Bible. Yet, amazingly, it is the most dominant teaching among evangelicals today. How did that happen? It was embraced by a man named J. N. Darby and others, and through their teaching it spread throughout the world. To their credit some people at the time told Darby that this teaching was “the height of speculative nonsense,” but others embraced it and spread it wherever they went.

The sealing of Revelation 7:3 does not refer to a secret rapture. If you study the Bible, you will find there is a rapture mentioned, but it is not a secret rapture in which the church is taken away to heaven for seven years to keep it from tribulation. The church will experience tribulation, but in Revelation 7:3 we see that the church will be sealed and not suffer the wrath of God . This is what justification means. When you are justified, the wrath of God is removed from you. It is similar to how the people of God were protected from the plagues of Exodus, even though they were in the midst of Egypt, or how, during the flood, God’s people were protected from his wrath by going into the ark. God’s people will not suffer God’s wrath.

8. Persecution Cut Short

In Matthew 24:22 we read, “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.” You see, the elect, the people of God, will not have to experience the wrath of God, but they will have to go through the antipathy of the Antichrist and of the wicked of this world. This is nothing new. In the history of the church, Christians have been beaten, beheaded, burned, boiled, cut into two and fed to wild animals. There is no exemption for Christians from persecution by the world and by the Antichrist. What hope can a Christian have in the midst of persecution? A Christian knows that God’s grace is sufficient to enable him or her to go through these severe pains. God will keep the elect; they will endure to the end and be saved.

9. Signs in the Sun, Moon and Stars

Finally, before the second coming of Jesus Christ, there will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. In Joel 2:30-31 we read, “I will show wonders in the heavens and on earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” Look at Luke 21:25-26: “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and the tossing of the sea. Men” meaning wicked, unbelieving men “will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.”

What Is Our Hope?

What is the blessed hope of the church? The second coming, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. What effect does this hope have upon those who believe it? It causes us to purify our hearts, live soberly, and be watchful. Those who believe it will not suffer, as Mrs. Lot did, from being drugged into sleep by worldliness–by the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the boasting of things, and the pleasures of life. No, Christians have an other-worldly view. They know Jesus Christ is coming again. They are not locked into this world, nor is their hope in this world.

Do you get depressed if you do not get a promotion? Are you distressed if you do not get into a school? If so, perhaps you are suffering from Mrs. Lot’s disease. If you really believe in God who is coming again, if that is your hope, nothing in the world shall depress you. To the degree we are depressed, we are suffering from this disease of worldliness. What did Jesus say? “Remember Lot’s wife!”

We need to know about this doctrine of the second coming of Christ, that we may live lives of readiness and preparation for his coming, and separation from the world. We must not trust in this world and the things of this world, which are all destined for destruction. What is our blessed hope? The glorious appearing of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, and our being united with him.

May we be filled with the Spirit and study the Scripture without prejudice, that we may learn this doctrine. If we are hoping in the things of this world, may we repent and trust in Jesus Christ alone, who took the wrath of God upon himself for the sake of those who believe in him. Amen.