Introduction
It’s time! It’s time for the King to return to claim His Kingdom! The first Adam lost the Kingdom through sin. The second Adam will return to claim it. It’s time for the King to come! “Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven!” The King returns to reign and every creature on earth will bow the knee and offer homage to the King just as all do in heaven!
I. When will Christ return, where will He return and how will He return?
- Jesus Christ will physically return to the earth with His angelic army and the saints of His church. He will return at the end of the Great Tribulation during the Battle of Armageddon. His return will prevent the nations from completely destroying the planet and all its inhabitants. He will rescue the chosen, sealed remnant of Israel who have fled to the mountains in the wilderness for refuge.
- The angels, in Acts 1:9-11, tell the watching 11 disciples that Jesus Christ will come back in “just the same way” as He ascended. This means that Christ’s return will be from out of a cloud, visible, personal, to the Mount of Olives. He will be received by “His own” even as He ascended into heaven leaving behind “His own”. Zechariah 14:4-9 indicates that upon touching the Mount of Olives at His return, the mountain range will split leaving a wide canyon through which fleeing Israel will escape.
- Christ will return accompanied by both saints and angels. Just prior to His return, God will give signs in the heavens. The sun will become dark as during an eclipse. The moon, likewise, will be darkened and appear to have a reddish glow (Joel 2:31). The stars in the sky will grow dark and will fall out of their orbits (Is 13:10). Enormous tidal waves in the sea (a result of the moon’s darkening and the earthquakes occurring) will hit the shorelines of the world. Finally, God will give “the sign of the Son of Man” in the sky. I believe that just as God gave a unique star as a sign to guide the magi to Bethlehem at Christ’s first coming, so God will give the Christmas star again as the sign that His Son is coming. It will appear as a huge and brilliant light against the blackened backdrop of the sky. Following His victory over Anti-Christ and the nations at Armageddon, Jesus and His conquering army will proceed to Jerusalem and enter through the sealed “Beautiful Gate” to establish His throne in the temple. He will sit upon “David’s Throne” (2 Sam 7:13) as David’s greatest son ruling all of Israel and the nations from Jerusalem.
II. What are the differences between Christ’s Rapture of His Bride (the Church) and Christ’s Return?
The coming of Christ is seen as twofold in nature with the first being to take His bride home to His Father’s house in heaven and secondly to return with His bride to establish His Kingdom upon the earth. Both parts are unique and distinct in purpose.
Rapture
- Purpose - to retrieve His Church prior to the wrath of God poured out upon the earth. in the Great Tribulation
- Participants – living and dead believers only.
- Physical characteristics – Christ never touches the earth but calls His bride to come up to Him. No signs of His coming—it is imminent.
Return
- Purpose- to conquer the earth and establish His kingdom.
- Participants – comes with saints (Church) and angels. Met by 144,000 (remnant of Israel)