Dub McClish
The New Testament not only frequently and plainly tells us that Jesus Christ will return, but it also tells us what things will occur when He comes.
• Great sounds and noises will be heard, including “a shout,” “the voice of the archangel,” and “the trump of God” (1 The. 4:16).
• He will obliterate all material things, including space (“the heavens”), the base elements, and the earth and all that men have produced (2 Pet. 3:4, 10). His coming will mark “the end” of time (1 Cor. 15: 23–24).
• He will raise all the dead “at his coming” (1 Cor. 15:22–23; 1 The. 4:16), including good and evil in the same “hour” (John 5:28–29).
• He will judge “all the nations” (Mat. 25:31–46; cf. 2 The. 1:7–10), a Judgment Day no one will escape (2 Cor. 5:10).
• When He comes, He will deliver His presently existing church/kingdom (Mat. 16:18–19; Mark 9:1; Col. 1:13; Rev. 1:9) to God the Father (1 Cor. 15:24). He has gone “to prepare a place” for His people (i.e., Heaven), to which He will take us to be with Him forever (John 14:2–3).
• When He comes, no one will miss it (Rev. 1:7).
With these Biblical facts before us, we note that when Jesus returns:
• Everyone will be aware of this momentous event, not merely a few (the righteous), as the “Rapture” theorists aver. (The spectacular sounds and sights will be unavoidable.) “Every eye shall see him” when He comes (Rev. 1:7).
• He will return only once, contrary to the “Rapture” doctrine that requires at least two “Second Comings.”
• He will raise all the dead in only one universal resurrection, rather than allegedly raising the righteous dead at a “first” Second Coming, followed by that of the unrighteous dead at a “second” Second Coming a millennium or more later, per the “Rapture” doctrine. The New Testament knows of only one Second Coming.
• He will not establish a political kingdom on earth for even one year, much less for a millennium, for there will be no earth upon which to establish it and no time remaining in which it might exist.
Speculations concerning the time of the Lord’s return and its accompanying events are both numerous—and dangerous.
