Most Christians hold the concept that the book of Revelation is a book of Christ’s second coming. It is absolutely correct to hold this concept because Revelation does cover the second coming of Christ. However, throughout the years, Christians have not been clear about the Lord’s second coming. Due to this lack of clarity, there has been much disputing and wrangling about it. The revelation regarding Christ’s second coming is not simple; rather, it is quite complicated and has several aspects. Therefore, it has been difficult for most Christians to understand thoroughly the Lord’s coming again.
During the past century and a half, many books have been written, especially by the Brethren, about the second coming of Christ. Some of the leading teachers among the Brethren held different opinions about the Lord’s coming back, and the first division between them was the result of these different opinions. The so-called Brethren testimony was raised up in 1828 or 29 under the leadership of John Nelson Darby. Darby taught that Christ would come back before the great tribulation, while Benjamin Newton, another leading teacher, said that Christ would come back after the tribulation. Because these two great teachers held different opinions, there were many debates about this matter. Eventually, this brought about the first division among the so-called Brethren between those under the leadership of Darby and those under the leadership of Newton. I was associated with the Benjamin Newton group for seven and a half years during which time I learned all their teachings. They certainly had a strong ground for saying that the second coming of Christ would be after the great tribulation. If you read the best writings of all the great teachers during the past one hundred fifty years, you will find that some taught that Christ’s coming would be before the tribulation and others taught that it would follow the tribulation.
During the past century, the Lord raised up some careful students of the Word, such as G. H. Pember, Robert Govett, and D. M. Panton. These men discovered that Christ’s second coming is not a simple matter. They saw that, on the one hand, Christ will come back after the tribulation, but that, on the other hand, He will also come back before the tribulation. These careful students of the Bible have supplied strong proof to substantiate the correctness of this view. Christ’s coming back has at least two aspects — one before the tribulation and the other after the tribulation. Furthermore, these students of the Word also learned that the rapture of the saints will be of more than two categories. This means that some saints will be raptured before the tribulation and others after the tribulation. Do not react to such statements too hastily. I reacted that way when I was young, but eventually I was subdued and convinced. The Bible is not as simple as some think it is.
In this message, we shall consider the subject of Christ’s coming again. We thank God for all the teachers of the Word who have gone before us. We are grateful to them, and whatever we see, we see as those who are standing upon their shoulders. If we would understand the second coming of Christ, we must study the Bible and also read the books written by these great teachers. Then we shall be able to have a comprehensive view of the matter. If we do this, we shall be fully convinced that Christ’s coming has two aspects: the secret, private aspect and the open, public aspect.
In both Matthew and Revelation we see the secret aspect of Christ’s coming again. Rev. 3:3 and Rev. 16:15 both tell us that Christ will come as a thief and that we should be watchful. No thief comes openly or announces his coming. As we pointed out in a previous message, when the Lord comes as a thief, He will come to steal the precious things. In Matt. 24:40-41, the Lord spoke of His secret coming, saying, “Then shall two men be in the field; one is taken, and one is left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; one is taken, and one is left.” The Lord Jesus was very wise, using two brothers in the field and two sisters grinding at the mill as illustrations. Apparently the two brothers are the same and the two sisters are the same. But suddenly one of the brothers and one of the sisters are taken. After giving this illustration, the Lord said, “Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord comes. But know this, that if the householder knew in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also, be ready, for the Son of Man comes in an hour that you think not” (vv. 42-44). As we are working, having no consciousness that Christ is coming, some of us will be raptured. Since He is coming as a thief, we must be watchful.
The time of the Lord’s secret coming is unknown (Rev. 3:3; Matt. 24:36, 42; 25:13). When Christ comes again, He will come as a Sent One. Because of this, in Revelation He is called the Angel, One who is sent by God. In His second coming, as in His first, Christ will come as One who has been sent by God. This is the reason that only the Father knows the time of Christ’s secret coming (Matt. 24:36; Mark 13:32). The Father is the Sender and the Son is the Sent One. Only the Sender, not even the Sent One, knows the time.
Some people, seeming to know more than the Lord Jesus, have predicted the time of the Lord’s coming. During the past century and a half, there have been many predictions, none of which has been fulfilled. Some predicted that the Lord Jesus would come on a certain date and charged people to prepare themselves by taking a bath and by putting on clean, white clothing. Others have climbed to a mountaintop to await the Lord’s coming back. After World War I, many teachers published books about prophecy, especially concerning the Lord’s coming back. Some of these writers also predicted the time of the Lord’s coming. All these predictions about the time of the Lord’s coming have been proved false. Be careful not to predict anything. According to the Bible, the time of the Lord’s secret coming is unknown.
The place of the Lord’s secret coming will be in the cloud to the air (Rev. 10:1; 1 Thes. 4:17). The cloud is related to the Lord’s coming back. Christ went to heaven on a cloud, and He will come back to earth in the same way (Acts 1:9, 11; Matt. 26:64; Rev. 14:14). In Matthew 26:64, the Lord Jesus said to the high priest, “Henceforth you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Even with the Lord’s coming in the cloud there are two aspects. Firstly, the Lord will come in the cloud. This means that He will be concealed by the cloud. Secondly, He will come upon the cloud. When He comes in the cloud, He will not come to the earth but to the air. Revelation 10:1 reveals that the Lord will come down out of heaven clothed with a cloud, indicating that He will be wrapped up with the cloud. Do not think that He will suddenly descend from the heavens to the earth. Christ is now on the throne in the third heaven. When the proper time comes, the Father will send Him from the throne in the heavens to the cloud in the air. As we shall see in later messages, before He leaves the throne in the heavens, some overcomers will have been raptured to the throne. Rev. 12 shows that the man-child will be raptured, not to the air but to the throne of God. This indicates that some overcomers will have been raptured even before the time of the secret coming of the Lord Jesus. In Rev. 14 we see the firstfruits on Mount Zion in the heavens. Mount Zion in the heavens is where God is in the third heaven; it is not in the air. That the firstfruits will be on Mount Zion in the heavens proves that some of the early overcomers will be raptured to the third heaven before Christ’s secret coming. After these early overcomers have been raptured, Christ will descend from the throne to the air in the cloud secretly.
While He is in the air, the Lord Jesus will do many things. Mainly, He will take up all the believers who have not yet been raptured. After Christ comes to the air in the cloud, many saints will still not have been raptured. Thus, while He is in the air, He will rapture the Christians who have had to pass through the great tribulation. First Thessalonians 4:17 says that they who are alive and remain will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Then, in the air, Christ will set up His judgment seat. This judgment will not be for sinners but for all the saved ones, and it will not be concerned with salvation or perdition but with reward or punishment. After this judgment has been executed, some of the saints will be chosen to receive a positive reward.
According to the Bible, God has had two selections concerning us. Firstly, He selected us before the foundation of the world in eternity past (Eph. 1:4); secondly, after the Lord comes to the air and has raptured all the saints to the air, He will make a second selection. While the first selection in eternity past was for salvation, the second selection in the air at the judgment seat of Christ will be for reward. We all have been selected for salvation, but whether or not we receive a reward will depend upon the second selection at Christ’s judgment seat. Those saved ones who do not pass this judgment will be put somewhere to suffer discipline. Christ will then bring the positive ones with Him to the earth as His army. At that time, He will no longer be in the cloud but upon the cloud. Thus, there will be at least two steps to the Lord’s coming. In the first step, Christ will leave the throne in the heavens, come down to the air wrapped in the cloud, and remain there for a time. Then, from the air, He will take the second step of coming to the earth upon the cloud. This will be the second aspect of His coming back.
Christ’s secret coming will be a reward to the watching believers (Rev. 2:28; Matt. 24:42, 44). Revelation 2:28 says that Christ will appear as the morning star, and Mal. 4:2 reveals that He will appear as the sun. There is a great difference between the appearing of the morning star and the appearing of the sun. If you would see the morning star, you must rise up very early in the morning. If you sleep late, you will miss it. However, no matter how late you sleep, you will not miss the sunshine. Do you expect to meet Christ as the morning star or as the sun? The appearing of the morning star is secret, but the appearing of the sun is open. The Lord promised us that if we are watchful and wait for His coming, He will appear to us as the morning star. This is a promise of a reward. But if we are sloppy, we shall surely miss the morning star.
Do not think that Christ’s coming back is a simple matter of His leaving the throne and coming immediately and directly to earth. He will be in the air for some time. The early overcomers will be raptured before the sixth seal which will be a preface, a warning, of the coming great tribulation that will last for three and a half years. No one can tell when Christ will leave His throne in the heavens and come down to the air. However, it should be somewhat before the great tribulation. There will be an interval between Christ’s descending to the air and His descending to the earth. During this interval, He will complete the rapture of the saints and exercise His judgment upon all the saints to select the overcomers who are to be His army to fight against the army of the Antichrist.
As we have seen, in the secret aspect of His coming again, Christ will come as a thief. But in the open aspect, He will come with power and great glory to be seen by all the tribes of the land (Rev. 1:7; Matt. 24:27, 30). Revelation 1:7 says, “Behold, He comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, those also who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the land shall wail over Him. Yes, Amen.” The Lord will appear as lightning which flashes across the sky from east to west. What a difference between this and His secret coming as a thief. Revelation 1:7 mentions “all the tribes of the land.” The Greek word rendered land in this verse may also be translated earth. This has bothered the translators of this verse, for they have been uncertain whether to translate it as land or earth. Some versions say earth and others say land. After much study, I have concluded that in this verse the Greek word should be rendered land. In other verses it may be translated earth, but here it should be the land, referring to the Holy Land. All the tribes of the Holy Land shall see Him. The basis for saying this is Zechariah 12:10-14, which says that they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced and that the land shall mourn for Him. The tribes mentioned in 1:7 are the tribes of those who have pierced Him. Revelation 1:7 surely is a reference to Zechariah 12. According to the context of Zechariah 12, the tribes are not all the nations of the earth but the twelve tribes in the Holy Land. Based upon this, we may say that the tribes in 1:7 are the twelve tribes in the Holy Land. 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 will weep.
While the day and hour of Christ’s coming in its secret aspect are unknown (Matt. 24:36), the time of His coming in the second aspect is clearly revealed. It is at the last trumpet (the seventh trumpet), at the end of the great tribulation (Rev. 18:1; Matt. 24:15, 21, 27; 1 Thes. 4:16; 1 Cor. 15:52; 2 Thes. 2:1-4, 8). Matthew 24:15 says, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place.” The “abomination of desolation” is an idol, the image of the Antichrist. According to Dan. 9:27, the Antichrist will make a covenant with the nation of Israel for seven years. In the middle of these seven years, he will break this covenant and begin to persecute the Jews. The Antichrist will be absolutely against God and will set himself up as God, putting an image of himself in the temple and compelling people to worship it. In the eyes of God, this will be the abomination that will cause great destruction. This will take place in the midst of the last of the seventy weeks mentioned in Dan. 9. In Daniel 9, a week denotes seven years. In Matthew 24:15 the Lord Jesus indicates that the Jewish believers will see this. As Matthew 24:21 reveals, this will mark the beginning of the great tribulation: “For then there shall be great tribulation, such as has not occurred from the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall be.” Hence, the great tribulation will begin at the time the Antichrist erects his image in the temple and forces people to worship it. By these verses we can see that the Lord’s open coming will not precede the great tribulation. It must occur some time after the beginning of the great tribulation. According to the verses in Revelation, it will be very close to the end of the great tribulation. According to the New Testament, the Lord Jesus will leave His throne in the heavens and descend to the air before the great tribulation. From there, close to the end of the great tribulation, He will come down openly to the earth.
When Christ comes openly from the air to the earth, it will be at a time when the Antichrist will be attempting to exterminate the whole nation of Israel. For this purpose, the Antichrist will gather his army to a place called Armageddon (Rev. 16:16). This will be according to God’s purpose, for God’s plan is to assemble all the earthly armies together at Armageddon and there destroy them and rid the earth of them. The intention of the Antichrist will be to use his army to exterminate the nation of Israel. Israel will be surrounded by his army and have no way of escape. At that juncture, when escape is impossible, the Lord will appear as a flash of lightning and set His feet upon the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4). Before this time, the nation of Israel will not believe in the Lord Jesus, but the threat of the army of the Antichrist will force them to repent. When the Lord Jesus puts His feet upon the Mount of Olives, it will split in half. This will provide a way of escape for the persecuted Jews who will then repent, weep, and confess what they have done in crucifying the Lord.
If we put all the verses together, we can see that the Lord’s open coming will probably be near the end of the great tribulation. As long as the temple in Jerusalem has not been rebuilt, it is impossible for the Lord Jesus to come back openly. Although we have some idea about the time of His open coming, we do not know the time of His secret coming. The Bible says that no one knows this. However, the New Testament reveals clearly that Christ’s open coming will not precede the great tribulation, that is, it will not precede the time when the Antichrist will force people to worship his image. But we are not waiting for the Lord’s open coming; we are waiting for His secret coming. The Lord is very wise in this matter, knowing that it will cause us to be watchful.
The place of the open aspect of the Lord’s coming back is clearly revealed — on the cloud to the earth (Rev. 1:7; 14:14; Matt. 24:30; Zech. 14:4; Acts 1:11-12). According to Acts 1:11-12, the Lord shall come in the same way as He went up into heaven. Since He ascended from the Mount of Olives, this means that He will come back to the Mount of Olives. Zechariah 14:4 says, “His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west.” As this verse makes clear, the Mount of Olives is outside the wall of Jerusalem, not far from the city. The Lord will descend to the very spot from which He ascended. However, we are not waiting to see Him on the Mount of Olives. We want to meet Him at the throne in the third heaven and then come back with Him to the Mount of Olives. He has ascended to the heavens, and we are waiting to be raptured to the heavens. We are not waiting to die and go to heaven. This is religious. We are waiting for our whole being to be raptured to the third heaven, to the throne of God, that we may come back with Christ, firstly to the air and then to the earth. This is the way we shall visit Jerusalem. We shall go there by way of the throne in the third heaven. However, if you are defeated, you will miss this visit to Jerusalem.
When the Lord Jesus comes openly, He will come with the overcoming saints to fight against the Antichrist and his army at Armageddon (Rev. 19:11-21; 17:13-14; 16:12-16; Zech. 14:3, 5; 2 Thes. 2:8). This will be to tread the winepress of the wrath of God (19:15; 14:18-20). At Armageddon, all the worldly armies will be gathered together, with some coming from the Far East, others from the North, and still others from Europe. This gathering together of all the earthly forces will be according to God’s wisdom. Eventually, the riches of the world will be concentrated in the Middle East, and all the nations will be greedy to seize them. While the armies of the earth will be gathering at Armageddon, the Lord will be sitting in the air observing them, saying, “Are you ready?” When we come to chapter fourteen, we shall see that the gathering of the armies will be the gathering of the grapes into the great winepress. In the eyes of God, the earthly armies are likened to grapes, and Armageddon will be the great winepress. As the kings, generals, and leaders gather all the armies at Armageddon, they will be like grapes gathered into the great winepress. Then the Lord will descend to tread this winepress of God, and a great river of blood will flow out of it. What a huge number of evil people will be killed there at that time! This will occur at the time of the Lord’s open coming to the earth. The purpose of the Lord’s open coming will be to exterminate all the worldly forces. After this, war will cease from the earth.
In Rev. 22:12 and Rev. 22:20 the Lord Jesus gives us a warning, saying, “Behold, I come quickly.” Our loving response should be, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (22:20; 2 Tim. 4:8). Our concern in these messages is not with mere teaching and doctrine concerning the so-called second advent. We are studying the heart’s desire of the Lord, which is to gain a group of overcomers who are watching and waiting for His coming back.
