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Scripture Reading: Matt. 24:3, 27, 36-43; Rev. 12:5; 14:1-4; 2 Thes. 2:8; Rev. 1:7; 10:1; 1 Thes. 4:16-17; Rev. 14:14-20; 2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Cor. 4:5; Luke 19:15; Rom. 14:10, 12; Rev. 11:18b; Luke 14:14; Matt. 24:45-47, 50-51; 25:19-46; Luke 19:16-26; Rev. 19:7-9; Luke 14:8a; Matt. 22:2, 11-14; Rev. 19:11-21; Matt. 24:28; Zech. 12:9-14; Rev. 17:14; Rom. 11:26-27; Dan. 7:13-14; Luke 19:12; Rev. 11:15; 20:4, 6
We have seen that the apostles’ teaching is concerning God’s New Testament economy from the incarnation of God to the consummation of the New Jerusalem. It is the entire teaching of the New Testament from the first page of Matthew to the last page of Revelation. The apostles’ teaching concerning God’s New Testament economy includes the incarnation of the Triune God; the all-inclusive death of Jesus Christ; the resurrection of Jesus Christ; the ascension of Christ; the outpouring of the Holy Spirit for the baptizing of all His believers into one Body; the ministry of Christ in His ascension; the rapture of the saints; the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls in relation to the rapture of the saints and the second coming of Christ; the second coming of Christ; the thousand-year kingdom; and the New Jerusalem. In this chapter we want to fellowship concerning the second coming of Christ. The second coming of Christ is a great subject. His first coming was in His incarnation, the incarnation of God. His second coming will bring His kingdom to the earth.
The second coming of Christ is the promised parousia (presence=coming) of Christ. Parousia is the Greek word for coming (Matt. 24:3, 27, 37, 39) and means “presence.” This word was used for the coming (presence) of a dignified person. Before the Lord Jesus ascended, He promised that He would come again. Christ’s second coming will be His presence with His people. The promised parousia is Christ’s complete presence with His believers.
Even today we enjoy the Lord’s presence, but it is not His complete presence. Today His presence is just in the Spirit, not physical. One day He will be with us not only in the Spirit but also physically. Today we can sense the Lord’s presence, but we cannot see Him physically (1 Pet. 1:8). But one day we will see Him physically in resurrection. His second coming will be His complete presence with us. In Matthew 28:20 the Lord promised that He would be with us all the days. The Lord is with us today, but the unbelievers do not believe this, because His presence with us is unseen. The day will come, however, when Christ will come openly to the earth, and all will see Him because His presence with us will be visible.
Christ’s second coming, His parousia, begins from the rapture of the man-child and the firstfruits to the heavens (Rev. 12:5; 14:1-4) and ends with His appearing on the earth with His saints. His parousia will probably last about three and a half years. The Bible tells us that the end of this age will be a period of seven years, which is the last week of the seventy weeks mentioned in Daniel 9:24-27. The second half of these seven years, the last three and a half years of this age, will be the time of the great tribulation (Matt. 24:21). Daniel 12:7 and Revelation 12:14 refer to these three and a half years as “a time and times and half a time.” Revelation 11:2 and 3 tell us that this tribulation lasts forty-two months, or a thousand two hundred and sixty days. This is about three and a half years. The Lord’s parousia will last about the same amount of time.
The Lord’s parousia will begin from the rapture of the man-child mentioned in Revelation 12:5. The universal woman in Revelation 12 signifies the totality of God’s chosen people. She is clothed with the sun, the moon is underneath her feet, and on her head there is a crown of twelve stars. This means that although she is on the earth, she is a heavenly woman (see footnote on v. 1, Recovery Version). Out of God’s chosen people, typified by this woman, a man-child will be born. That child is actually a corporate child, signifying the stronger part of God’s people. The man-child is composed of the dead overcoming saints in both the Old and the New Testaments. Old Testament saints, such as Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, will be included in that man-child, which will be raptured to the throne of God. Revelation 12 reveals that this rapture takes place before the three and a half years of the great tribulation (vv. 5-6).
The rapture of the living overcomers also takes place before the great tribulation. This is the rapture of the firstfruits of the believers seen in Revelation 14:1-4. These living overcomers are raptured to the heavenly Mount Zion (Heb. 12:22). They will be the first ripe ones in God’s field. Hence, they will be reaped before the harvest as “firstfruits to God and to the Lamb” (Rev. 14:4). The Lord’s parousia begins from the rapture of the overcomers.
This parousia of the Lord will end with Christ’s appearing on the earth. Second Thessalonians 2:8 refers to the “manifestation of His coming.” The manifestation, or appearing, of the Lord’s coming will be with a kind of shining. The appearing of Christ’s coming is the shining of His parousia. Antichrist will be brought to nothing by the shining appearance of the Lord’s parousia. First, His parousia will be secret and hidden in the heavens. Then this parousia will be brought to the air on the way. Eventually, His parousia will have an appearing, and that shining appearing will bring Antichrist to nothing.
The manifestation of His coming is a particular term. This indicates that the Lord’s coming is hidden before it appears openly. This also indicates that the Lord’s coming involves a period of time. It will remain in secret, and then it will appear to the public. Matthew 24:27 says, “Just as the lightning comes forth from the east and shines to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” The lightning coming forth from the east and shining to the west means that the Lord’s appearing will be around the globe. The lightning signifies the open aspect of the Lord’s coming. Christ will be clothed with a cloud (Rev. 10:1) in the air for a time and then will suddenly appear like a flash of lightning to the earth.
His appearing on the earth will be seen by all men. Revelation 1:7 says, “Behold, He comes with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the land will mourn over Him. Yes, amen.” All the eyes on the earth will see Him. The tribes mentioned here are the twelve tribes of the Holy Land who had pierced Him and who are referred to in Zechariah 12:10-14. These verses say that they will look upon Him whom they have pierced and will wail over Him. When the Lord appears as lightning, coming with power and glory to be seen by all in the Holy Land, the twelve tribes will behold Him and weep. The Lord will appear as a flash of lightning and will set His feet upon the Mount of Olives (14:4). He will descend to the very spot from which He ascended (Acts 1:11-12).
Matthew 24:36-43 describes what it will be like during the secret aspect of the Lord’s coming in the heavens. If we do not have the concept of the secret aspect of His coming, we cannot understand these verses. Verse 37 says that the Lord’s coming, parousia, will be as the days of Noah. This indicates that the Lord’s parousia will be a period of time. This period will be as the days of Noah; that is, the situation of the Lord’s parousia will be like that in the days of Noah.
Revelation 14:1 and 12:5 also refer to the secret aspect of Christ’s coming in the heavens. Revelation 14:1 shows that Christ and the firstfruits, the hundred and forty-four thousand, are standing on Mount Zion in the heavens. Revelation 12:5 tells us that the overcomers will be raptured to where God is on His throne.
The Lord’s parousia will travel. It will be on the way. His parousia, His presence, will travel from the throne of God in the third heaven to the air.
Revelation 10:1 reveals Christ coming down out of heaven and being clothed with a cloud in the air. At this time He is clothed with a cloud, not yet “on the cloud” as in 14:14 and Matthew 24:30 and 26:64. To be “on the cloud” is to come openly, whereas to be “clothed with a cloud” is to come secretly.
Christ will linger in the air for a while to do a number of things. First, He will rapture the majority of the believers into the clouds. First Thessalonians 4:16 and 17 say, “The Lord Himself, with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are living, who are left remaining, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will be always with the Lord.” These verses refer to the rapture of the majority of the believers, including all the dead saints of the Old Testament.
The man-child and the firstfruits, the overcomers, will be raptured to the third heaven before the last three and a half years of the great tribulation. The man-child will be raptured to the throne of God in the heavens, and the firstfruits will be raptured to Mount Zion in the heavens. But the majority of the saints will be raptured into the clouds in the air. They will be raptured after Christ’s parousia travels from the third heaven to the air. While Christ is lingering in the air, He will rapture all His believers. Verse 17 says that the majority of the believers will be “caught up...in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” As believers in Christ, we should all expect to be raptured, but do we expect to be raptured to the throne or to the air? The throne is higher than the air. The throne of God is the peak. To climb a mountain to reach its peak is not so easy. If we want to be raptured to the throne, we must overcome.
While the parousia of Christ is lingering in the air, Christ raptures the majority of the believers. They are the harvest, not the firstfruits. The firstfruits are mentioned at the beginning of Revelation 14 (vv.1-5), and the harvest is mentioned near the end (vv. 14-16). Between the firstfruits and the harvest is the three and a half years of the great tribulation (vv. 6-13). Revelation 14 tells us four things: the rapture of the firstfruits to Mount Zion in the heavens, the manifestation of Antichrist to damage the world, the harvest of the majority of the believers near the end of the great tribulation, and the gathering of the grapes (the evildoers) for the great winepress at the end of the great tribulation (vv. 17-20). Wheat in typology signifies God’s people, but grapes signify the evil persons, who include Antichrist and the evil, worldly forces, whom Christ will destroy at Armageddon (16:13-16).
After this rapture of all God’s chosen people in both the Old and New Testament times, Christ will judge all the saints at His judgment seat (2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Cor. 4:5; Matt. 25:19; Luke 19:15; Rom. 14:10, 12). Many believers think that when Christ comes again, everything related to them will be all right. Surely, if we are overcomers, everything will be wonderful to us when He comes. But what if we are defeated Christians? Matthew 24 and 25 reveal that if the Lord’s slaves are faithful, He will reward them. But if they are not faithful, they will be punished. Matthew 24 says that the evil slave will have his portion with the hypocrites, where there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth (vv. 48-51). In Matthew 25 the Lord told a parable of a man going abroad and distributing talents to all his slaves. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one. When he came back, he asked his slaves to give him an account. In this parable the slaves with five and two talents fully used their gift and doubled what their master gave them (vv. 16-17). But the slave with one talent went away and hid his talent in the earth (v. 18). The Lord said that this useless slave will be cast out into the outer darkness where there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth (v. 30). When the Lord comes back, He will ask His slaves to give Him an account at His judgment seat. Many Christians will have problems when they appear before the judgment seat of Christ. In Matthew 12 the Lord said that men will have to give an account in the day of judgment concerning every idle word that they speak (vv. 36-37). If we always gossip and criticize others, what will be our situation at the judgment seat of Christ?
The term the judgment seat of Christ is found in 2 Corinthians 5:10. Romans 14:10 calls this judgment seat “the judgment seat of God.” The judgment seat of Christ is the judgment seat of God. In 1 Corinthians 4:5 Paul says that we should not judge anything before the time when the Lord comes. This verse indicates that the Lord will judge everything at His judgment seat. Matthew 25:19 and Luke 19:15 both show that the Lord’s servants will render an account to Him, and He will either reward or punish them. The judgment at Christ’s judgment seat will be for a reward to the overcomers (Rev. 11:18b; Luke 14:14; Matt. 24:45-47; 25:20-23; Luke 19:16-19). It will also be for the punishment of the defeated believers (Matt. 24:50-51; 25:24-30; Luke 19:20-26).
The third thing that the Lord will do during His parousia in the air will be to marry His overcomers (Rev. 19:7-9). At His judgment seat, He will make clear who the overcomers and the defeated ones are. He will marry the overcomers, leaving the defeated ones in shame, in a position of punishment to be disciplined. Because the defeated ones are not perfected, they need to be disciplined. The marriage of Christ to His overcomers will be on the way of His parousia.
Following the wedding is the wedding feast. This wedding feast will be the kingdom of a thousand years (Luke 14:8a; Matt. 22:2, 11-14). The feast will last one thousand years, which is one day in the eyes of God (2 Pet. 3:8). The entire kingdom is a feast. We should remember that on the way of His parousia, Christ will do three things: rapture the majority of the saints, judge all the saints at His judgment seat, and marry His overcomers. This also, as the part of the Lord’s parousia in the third heaven, is the secret aspect of His coming in the air.
Now we come to the open aspect of Christ’s parousia, presence, coming, to the earth. As we have seen in Matthew 24:27, Christ’s parousia will be like the lightning coming forth from the east and shining to the west. His coming will be around Jerusalem where Antichrist and his armies will be (Zech. 12:9; Rev. 19:19-21; Matt. 24:28). Zechariah 12:9 says that at that time the Lord will destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. Revelation 19 tells us that Christ as the heavenly Warrior with His married bride will defeat Antichrist, the kings under him and their armies, and the false prophet at Armageddon (vv. 11-21; 16:14, 16). Matthew 24:28 says, “Wherever the corpse is, there will the vultures be gathered together.” Antichrist and his evil armies, who will war against the Lord at Armageddon, will be, in the eyes of the Lord, the corpse good for the vultures’ appetite. Both the Lord and those who trust in Him are likened to the vultures, eagles (Exo. 19:4; Deut. 32:11-12; Isa. 40:31), and the swift destroying armies are also likened to the flying eagles (Deut. 28:49; Hosea 8:1 — NASB). Therefore, the vultures here, raptorial of the eagle kind, must refer to Christ and the overcomers, who will come as a swift flying army to war against Antichrist and his armies and destroy them, thus executing God’s judgment upon them at Armageddon.
The open aspect of Christ’s coming will be at Jerusalem, where the tribes of Israel will be (Zech. 12:10-11; Rev. 1:7). As we have seen, Christ, together with His newly married overcomers, will come to defeat and destroy Antichrist and his followers (19:11-21; 17:14; 14:17-20). His coming will be to save the whole house of Israel. Romans 11:26-27 and Zechariah 12:10-14 describe this. When Christ returns, the house of David, the whole house of Israel, will repent and be saved by Christ.
His coming will also be to judge the nations, to prepare the “sheep” to be the people on the earth in the millennium. Matthew 25:31-46 shows that when Christ comes in His glory, all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will divide the sheep from the goats. By doing this, Christ prepares the sheep to be the people on the earth in the millennium.
In the open aspect of Christ’s coming, He will cause Satan to be bound and cast into the abyss (Rev. 20:1-3). The abyss is a bottomless pit into which Satan will be cast and bound for one thousand years. Christ’s coming will also bring His kingdom to the earth and establish it as the kingdom of a thousand years (Dan. 7:13-14; Luke 19:12; Rev. 11:15; 20:4, 6). In Daniel 7:13-14 we are told that Christ as the Son of Man comes to God the Father to receive the kingdom from Him. Luke 19:12 also tells us this. After He receives the kingdom, He comes back with the kingdom. Revelation 11:15 says that at the Lord’s coming back the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. The Lord will establish His kingdom on earth as the kingdom of a thousand years.
This chapter presents a brief yet full and proper picture of the second coming of Christ. We have to realize that there will be different judgments given by the Lord during and after His second coming. The main judgment will be the judgment concerning who will enjoy eternal salvation and who will suffer eternal perdition. This judgment will occur at the great white throne after the millennium (20:11-15). In John 5:29 the Lord called this “the resurrection of judgment.” But there will be another judgment at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10) before the millennium. This judgment is not concerning our eternal salvation or eternal perdition. This judgment is concerning our reward or punishment. We have to be clear about these types of judgment.
