THE Creed tells us that the resurrected and ascended Lord will return again to judge all humankind. Throughout its history, the hope of the Christ's return and the consummation of the Kingdom of God at the end of history has always been part of the church's discourse, in its theology as well as in its worship.
The New Testament church in particular anticipated, confessed and prayed for Christ's return with eagerness and a marked sense of urgency. This is expressed in the simple prayer recorded in Revelation (22:20) whose history can be traced to earliest Christianity: "Come, Lord Jesus!" (Maranatha!). This urgency is somewhat lost in the modern church which has waited more than two millennia for the Lord's return. This delay has caused some theologians to reject the belief of the primitive church and others to re-interpret it differently.
The Second Coming is psychologised to refer to one's existential encounter with the risen Christ. The horizontal dimension of the return of Christ has been replaced with the vertical. Christ's coming and judgment are no longer future events. They are current realities that are experienced by anyone who is personally and profoundly challenged by the radical Word of God.
The great fresco of Michaelangelo in the Sistine chapel has lost its theological significance. The Second Coming of Christ has curiously become the interest of art historians and perhaps sectarian fundamentalists. It has lost its force, its power to instil awe and mobilise action in the church.
What does the Bible teach about the return of Christ? Space does not allow a full exposition of the biblical teaching on this subject. What will be attempted here is a presentation of the most salient points, and some reflection on the consequences of the Second Coming on Christian discipleship.
The New Testament speaks of the day of judgment that will take place in the future when the Kingdom of God comes in all its fullness. Jesus, speaking of the terrible wrath that would visit Korazin and Bethsaida, pointed to the "day of judgment" when He declared, "But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you." (Matt 11:24). This picture of the day of judgment and its relationship with the Second Coming of Christ is presented with clarity in Matt 16:27. There, Jesus proclaimed: "For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with His angels, and then He will reward each person according to what He has done."
These passages also make clear that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will be the judge of all humankind when He comes again in glory, seated at the throne and at the judgment seat (See Matt 25:31-33). Scripture is also unequivocal about the basis of judgment. On the one hand, the judgment is based on what each individual has done (or failed to do) in his earthly life. Thus, Paul, speaking about the final judgment, could say that "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due to him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad". (2 Cor 5:10).
On the other hand, the Bible also tells us that we bring judgment upon ourselves when we reject Jesus Christ and His Word. "There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day." (Matt 12:48). Furthermore, the New Testament teaches that this judgment will be final and irrevocable. There is no hint that the judgment, once made, can be changed (Matt 25:46).
Curious minds will no doubt speculate about the time of the return of Christ and the close of the age. Indeed the history of the church is replete with examples of speculations regarding the "when" of Christ's return - from the "end time" prophecies of the sectarian movement called Montanism in the second century to its modern instantiations among certain fringe groups in the church. But the same history has shown all these speculations to be both fruitless and futile. The Bible makes it very clear that such efforts will not only frustrate but they will distract Christians from what is truly important and urgent.
Paul, writing to a group of Christians who were given to such speculations, impressed upon them of just how pointless such exercises were by describing Christ's return analogously with the coming of a thief and by emphasising its suddenness. (1 Thess 5:1-2).
In a profound sense the Second Coming of Christ must be seen as the fulfilment of His first advent. The Second Coming has significant bearing on the way in which we understand the first advent of Christ because it insists that the first advent is part but not all of our Christian history.
Church must look forward to Saviour's glorious return
To put this differently, we may say that it seems that the resurrection and ascension of Christ, and Pentecost serve as a perfect finale to the story of salvation. The Son whom the Father has sent has completed His work in the cross and the resurrection. He returns to the Father and takes His seat at the right hand of the Father, while the Father sends the Holy Spirit to guide and comfort His people, the church. But the New Testament makes it very clear that this is not the end of the story, and that there is more to come. The church, which has been baptised by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, is part of a continuing story which moves inexorably to the end which is signalled by Christ's return and the consummation of the Kingdom of God.
The church which exists between the times, so to speak, must not only look back into history to the death and resurrection of its Saviour, but it must also look forward to its Saviour's glorious return as Judge and King. In fact, this glorious future to which the church looks in anticipation helps it to define and understand the past event of cross and resurrection. It helps it to see the death and resurrection of Christ not just as a historical event. These events themselves point to the future, and indeed are actually part of that future.
The Christ who died and rose again is the Christ who will come again. To put the matter in a somewhat different way, we may say that it was the returning Christ who died on the cross, and who rose from the dead. In this way the Second Coming of Christ interprets the cross and the resurrection.
The Christian must therefore live his life not just with a glance to the past - to the past events of the cross and resurrection. The Christian is to live his life in the light of the future, for it is this future which sheds light on the past. It is this future which interprets the past and gives it meaning. But this future also orders the life of the Christian.
The future return of Christ, with its promised
judgment, will expose all evil and falsehood. The Christian therefore
lives his life in anticipation of this glorious day, in which
he will be received into God's wonderful Kingdom and enjoy the
great banquet of salvation.