Part 1 · How Will Jesus Return?

Nov 3

6 min read

Updated: 5 days ago

Part 1 of 3 · The Second Coming of Christ

Crowned Christ and trumpeting angels descending in bright golden clouds above the Earth, John 14:1–3

From Genesis to Revelation, the crowning hope of the Scriptures is the personal, glorious return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Yet Jesus Himself warned that in the last days, powerful delusions would arise regarding how He will return. By comparing Scripture with Scripture in the King James Bible, God leaves no room for deception.

I. The Promise & Certainty of His Return

What solemn promise did Jesus give His disciples before ascending to heaven?

Verse: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:1–3, KJV)

Explanation: Christ’s departure was never a permanent farewell. Having ascended to minister in the heavenly sanctuary and prepare mansions for His redeemed family, He pledged His own word—“I will come again”—as the unfailing guarantee that His people will dwell with Him forever.

Why did the apostle Paul call the Second Coming the “blessed hope”?

Verse: “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” (Titus 2:13–14, KJV)

Explanation: Across every century of trial and martyrdom, the Second Coming has been the polar star of the Christian church. Notice how this hope transforms the daily life: those who genuinely look for Christ’s appearing do not live in carelessness, but allow His grace to redeem them from all iniquity and make them zealous of good works.

Did the angels at Christ’s ascension confirm that His return will be literal and personal?

Verse: “And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:10–11, KJV)

Explanation: “This same Jesus”—not a mystical spirit, not an inward feeling, and not another representative—will return “in like manner” as He ascended: bodily, visibly, and in the clouds of heaven.

II. The Visible, Audible & Glorious Manner of His Appearing

Will Christ’s Second Coming be a secret event known only to a few, or will every eye behold Him?

Verse: “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.” (Revelation 1:7, KJV)

Explanation: Scripture leaves no place for a hidden or invisible return. When Jesus returns in the clouds of glory, every living person upon the face of the earth—“all kindreds of the earth”—will witness His appearing with their own eyes.

With what unmistakable comparison did Jesus describe the visibility of His coming?

Verse: “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matthew 24:27, KJV)

Explanation: No one needs to be told when lightning flashes across the entire horizon from east to west. In the same way, Christ’s return will blaze across the heavens simultaneously in overwhelming majesty.

Will His return be silent, or will it be accompanied by the voice of God and the trump of heaven?

Verse: “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, KJV; see also Psalm 50:3: “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence”)

Explanation: Far from being quiet or invisible, the Second Coming is the most audible event in earth’s history: the Lord Himself descends with a commanding shout, the voice of the Archangel, and the trumpet of God that pierces the deepest graves.

Who accompanies Jesus when He returns, and what happens to the sleeping and living saints?

Verse: “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:17, KJV; see also Matthew 24:31: “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”)

Explanation: Accompanied by all the holy angels (Matthew 25:31), Jesus calls forth the righteous dead from their dusty beds in the first resurrection, transforms the living righteous in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:51–53), and His angels gather them up to meet the Lord in the air. Notice that Christ’s feet do not touch the earth at the Second Coming; His saints are caught up to meet Him in the clouds and ascend to the Father’s house.

III. Guarding Against End-Time Counterfeits

What urgent warning did Jesus give against false Christs and counterfeit appearances before His return?

Verse: “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.” (Matthew 24:23–26, KJV)

Explanation: As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will personate Christ—appearing in various places on earth as a majestic, dazzling being, working miracles and claiming to have changed the seventh-day Sabbath to Sunday. Yet God’s people will not be deceived, because they test every manifestation by the Word: the true Christ never walks the earth or appears in localized “deserts” or “secret chambers” at His Second Coming; He remains in the clouds of heaven while His angels gather His elect to meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

How does the Second Coming affect the wicked who have rejected God’s mercy?

Verse: “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Revelation 6:15–17, KJV; see also 2 Thessalonians 2:8)

Explanation: To those who have clung to sin and rejected the blood of the Lamb, the brightness of Christ’s coming is a consuming fire (2 Thessalonians 2:8). Instead of a second probation during the millennium, Christ’s appearing brings probation to a close and slays the wicked by the brightness of His glory.

Can any human being set a specific date for the day and hour of Christ’s return?

Verse: “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” (Matthew 24:36, KJV)

Explanation: God has withheld the exact day and hour so that no one may indulge in fanatical time-setting or put off preparation until the last moment. Instead, Christ calls us to watch the prophetic signs of the times and live in daily readiness.

What joyful cry will burst from the lips of God’s waiting people when they look upward and see their Redeemer?

Verse: “And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25:9, KJV)

Explanation: For those who have kept the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12), the parting clouds reveal not a stranger, but their best Friend and Redeemer. All the sorrow of earth is forgotten in a single moment as they behold the King in His beauty.

Conclusion & Personal Appeal

Do not be deceived by earthly counterfeits or lulled to sleep by the cares of this life. Anchor your soul in the Word of God, walk daily in the light of Christ’s sanctuary ministry, and lift up your head—for your redemption draweth nigh!

Continue the course: All parts of The Second Coming of Christ