Recently we have finished a podcast about the Rapture of the Church. This podcast will come out the front part of August 2018, so look for it. But in today’s blog post, we want to look at the intimately connected Second Coming of Jesus. The Rapture of the Church precedes the Second Coming on the prophetic timeline. In one sense, you could look at the Second Coming as one event with two parts. Jesus comes for the Church, that’s the first part of “The Coming.” Then, seven years later after the Great Tribulation has occurred, part two of the Second Coming occurs.

[Tweet “The Second Coming of Jesus speaks of the King of Kings, coming to revisit planet earth.”]

The Day of the Lord

• In the scriptures, the term the ‘Day of the Lord’ has two possible meanings.
• The first could refer to a day of immediate judgment on the people of God for their sins against the Covenant.
• This passage in the book of Amos is an example.

Amos 5:18 (ESV) — 18 Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light,

• But it can also refer to the future day when God brings in the physical manifestation of the Kingdom of God.

Joel 3:14–21 (ESV) — 14 Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. 16 The LORD roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But the LORD is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel. 17 “So you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall never again pass through it. 18 “And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the LORD and water the Valley of Shittim. 19 “Egypt shall become a desolation and Edom a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the people of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. 20 But Judah shall be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem to all generations. 21 I will avenge their blood, blood I have not avenged, for the LORD dwells in Zion.”

• The future day of the Lord is not to be thought of as a single twenty-four-hour period.

2 Peter 3:8 (ESV) — 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

• For more information on this thought see the Podcast entitled #S4-042: Why We Need to Be Really Smart About the Things of God.

Characteristics of the Second Coming: As a Thief in the Night

Matthew 24:42–43 (ESV) — 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.

• The Greek word ‘thief’ means a criminal who typically relies on stealth to take property belonging to someone else.
• The Day of the Lord comes as a thief but not just as a thief who is ready to steal.
• The emphasis is on the time of day the thief comes.
• The Day of the Lord comes as a ‘thief in the night’.

1 Thessalonians 5:2 (ESV) — 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

• When Jesus comes, He is not coming to take what doesn’t belong to Him.
• It’s quite the opposite.
• He is coming to collect those who DO belong to Him.

1 Corinthians 6:20 (KJV) — 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

• If you are a child of God, you belong to Him.
• When He comes, He’s coming for His own.
• This aspect of the Coming of the Lord is known as the Rapture of the Church.

Greek Words for the Second Coming

• Why should we look at the Greek terms for the Coming of Jesus?
• For one, the words ‘Second Coming’ is not found in the Bible.
• The closest the New Testament comes to using the term is found in Hebrews nine.

Hebrews 9:28 (ERV): 28 so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation.

• Three different Greek words are used to describe the Coming of Jesus.

The first is the word ‘parousia’.

Matthew 24:30–31 (ESV): 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming (parousia) on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

• ‘Parousia’ means the arrival or the presence of someone.
• It means the movement of someone toward something or somebody.
• When applied to Second Coming passages, it refers to the physical personal arrival of Jesus.
• The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia states that the word is used in a semi-technical sense of the visit of persons of high rank, especially kings and emperors visiting a province.¹
• Combining these ideas makes it easy to see that ‘parousia’ speaks of a King, the King of Kings, our Lord Jesus Christ coming to revisit planet earth.

The second word used in connection with Jesus Advent is ‘apocalypses’.

• This word means an unveiling or a disclosure.
• It means the communication of knowledge previously hidden to man by a divine or supernatural agency, especially communications that proceed from God or Christ.
• For short, the disclosure of secrets belonging to the last days.
• The word is compounded with ἀπό from, and καλύπτω to cover. Hence, to remove the cover from anything; to unveil.

2 Thessalonians 1:7–8 (ERV): 7 and to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation (apocalypses) of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, 8 rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus:

• Jesus Second Coming is an unveiling.
• An unveiling implies a revelation.
• It implies that something was previously hidden but has now come to light.
• This supports the hidden thief in the night aspect of the Second Coming.

Luke 17:26–30 (ERV): 26 And as it came to pass in the days of Noah, even so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27 They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise even as it came to pass in the days of Lot; they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29 but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all: 30 after the same manner shall it be in the day that the Son of man is revealed.

The third term is epiphaneia which means ‘divine appearance’.

• It indicates the visibility of Jesus return.

Titus 2:13–14 (ERV): 13 looking for the blessed hope and appearing (epiphaneia) of the glory is of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works.

• When Jesus comes, every eye shall see Him.

Revelation 1:7 (ERV): 7 Amen. Behold, he cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they which pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him. Even so, Amen.

Call to Action:

Today’s call is simply this question, ‘Are You Ready for His Coming?’

Question of the Day: What do you think believers need to do to get themselves ready for Jesus return? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

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