“Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him” . . . So shall it be! Amen.
Revelation 1:7
Children usually look forward to seeing their father at the end of the workday, but not when someone says, “Wait until your father gets home!” This is a threat as much as it is a promise. Jesus’ teaching about His Second Coming also has elements of both blessing and warning.
For those who have trusted in Christ, the prospect of His Second Coming is one of blessing. They will appear with Him in glory (Col. 3:4). They will reign with Him (Matt. 19:28). But for all those who reject Christ, the Second Coming will be a day of great distress.
When He ascended into heaven, the angels assured the disciples that “this same Jesus” would come “the same way” they had seen Him go into heaven (Acts 1:11). Their promise underscored two important features of Christ’s Second Coming. First, it will be a personal return. The church is not waiting for a new incarnation of the Messiah. We are waiting for the same Jesus we read about in the Gospels and who was nailed to the cross and raised from the dead.
Second, the return of Christ will be visible. At His Ascension the disciples were able to see Jesus “taken up before their very eyes” on the Mount of Olives until “a cloud hid him from their sight” (Acts 1:9). Jesus’ Second Coming will take place “in the same way,” only in the opposite direction. Unlike the Rapture, during which only believers will see Jesus, the Second Coming will be visible to all (v. 27).
The cosmic portents that lead up to that day will culminate in the appearance of Christ in the sky (v. 30). Jesus’ feet will touch the Mount of Olives and it will be split in two (Zech. 14:4). The first time Jesus came to accomplish salvation. Jesus will come a second time to act as judge.
Apply the Word
Scripture is clear in the prediction that Jesus Christ will return, but it does not reveal the exact day or time. Jesus warned His disciples that it was not given to them “to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority” (Acts 1:7). We should not speculate about things which only the Father knows. Faith, not timing, will matter most on that day.