Decoding the End Times: Understand the Second Coming of Jesus
For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be (Matthew 24:27).
Before the foundation of the world, and even before the fall of man, God looked forward through the corridors of time with a plan to redeem His creation (1 Peter 1:20-21).
The big event that has been the focus of all history and prophecy is the return of the Messiah and Savior of mankind to the earth to defeat the enemy and set up His kingdom. This event is the Second Coming of Christ.
As stated earlier, there are two events that are somewhat similar, one being at the beginning of the Great Tribulation and one being at the end. Both events involve the Church. The first event is the Rapture. This is where Jesus appears in the sky to catch away the bodies, both dead and living, of those who have received Him as their Lord and Savior. These bodies will be caught up into the air and transformed into glorified, resurrected bodies like the body that Jesus received at His glorification. These resurrected and raptured saints with glorified bodies, will then go to Heaven with the Lord and experience the Judgment Seat of Christ and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
Jesus Returns with the Saints
The second event is the return of Jesus to earth to set up His kingdom. The raptured saints who now have their glorified, resurrected bodies have been living in Heaven. After seven years, the Lord sends His angels to summon the elect from the far reaches of Heaven. Once assembled and upon the command of the Lord, Christ comes back to earth. Accompanied by His vast army of angels and the saints (the Church), He touches down in Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives.
They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other (Matthew 24:30,31).
In the first event, the Rapture, He comes to earth to get the Church to take the Church to Heaven. In the second event, He returns to earth with the Church to set up His Millennial Kingdom. One takes place before the Tribulation and one takes place after the Tribulation. Again, they are like bookends that mark the beginning and the end of this time of great turmoil on the earth in which the Antichrist attempts to overpower the Son of God and take His kingdom.
Clearing Up the Confusion
My background is a Baptist background. I was born again at the age of seven during summer Vacation Bible School. The pastor preached to us as young children about the subject of hell. He was very excited in his preaching. In fact, he preached as though he had just gotten back! Later that evening, kneeling next to my mother’s bed, I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
From that early age, I rarely missed a church service. Our church had two or three revivals per year that lasted for at least two or three weeks each. With evangelical services every night, by the time I was a teenager, I had heard countless sermons about the return of Jesus.
I remember specifically how the passage in Matthew 24 was used to describe the Rapture of the Church (although Jesus is actually referring to His Second Coming in this chapter). It seemed like any scripture that talked about end times was thrown into a pile of scriptures and used to describe the end of days. Although many people received Jesus as their Lord and Savior in those services, the teaching on the end of days seemed very confusing to me. While at the time many scriptures seemed to contradict each other, the reality is they did not. The confusion was a result of the lack of understanding that the Rapture and the Second Coming are two distinct, separate events that take place seven years apart.
Jesus Answers His Disciples
In Matthew 24, when Jesus spoke privately with His disciples on the Mount of Olives, they came to Him with one specific question. They wanted to know what would be the sign of His coming and the end of the age. Since they did not have the concept yet of the Rapture, and because they were Jews, their question was more precisely, “When are You returning to set up Your kingdom?”
In the following passages, Jesus describes the events that will take place near the end of the Tribulation that will signal His descent to the Mount of Olives and the setting up of His Millennial Kingdom.
But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be (Matthew 24:37-39).
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (Matthew 24:29,30).
Watching for the Signs
On the day of Pentecost after the Holy Spirit had come upon the 120 believers in the upper room, Peter stood up with the other eleven disciples and addressed the men of Judea and Jerusalem in his famous sermon recorded in Acts chapter 2. After explaining that those who were filled with the Holy Spirit were not drunk with wine, but instead filled with the Holy Spirit, he quoted the prophet Joel and prophesied what would take place in the last days.
I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the Lord (Acts 2:19,20).
It’s interesting that in this prophetic word, God said that He would show wonders in Heaven and signs in the earth. He went on to say that the sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the Lord.
Before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the prophets of old prophesied events that would take place before the birth of the Messiah. Although much of the world went on as usual and did not recognize the signs of the coming of Jesus, there were those who had studied the Scriptures and who were watching. They knew from the signs given by the Lord that the Messiah was to be born. The wise men and kings traveled great distances to bring gifts to the infant Jesus. How did they know when to go and where to go? They were watching for the signs. Likewise, in these last days, those of us who study the Bible and watch, we will know.
Touchdown on Earth
And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south (Zechariah 14:4).
The entire earth will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of Heaven and the angels of Heaven will sound a trumpet and gather together the chosen ones, all of the righteous, from one end of Heaven to the other. This group, led by the Captain of the Hosts, will descend to the Mount of Olives where the King of kings and the Lord of lords will stand.
The Final Assault
As the Great Tribulation nears its end, the kingdom of darkness makes a final assault. The beast, the false prophet, and the kings of the earth gather their armies to come against the holy city and the kingdom of God. As they are exerting all their power for victory, the door of Heaven opens. The King of kings and Lord of lords is seated on a white horse prepared for battle. The Bible describes His eyes like a flame of fire. He’s clothed with a robe dipped in blood. He is the Word of God (Revelation 19:11-13).
Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself (Revelation 19:11,12).
As He rides to earth for battle, all of the armies of Heaven, clothed in fine linen, follow Him on white horses. Out of His mouth is a sharp sword and He uses it to strike the nations. The sharp sword, of course, is the Word of God. Jesus used the same weapon when Satan tempted Him three times in the wilderness (Luke 4:8,10,12). Here at the end of the Tribulation, Satan is again defeated by the Word of God.
He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He himself will rule them with a rod of iron (Revelation 19:13-15).
The beast and the kings of the earth and all of their armies are gathered together for battle to make war against the Lord and His army. But for the enemy, things do not go as planned. The beast, along with the false prophet, will be captured. The false prophet, through signs, is responsible for deceiving everyone who receives the mark of the beast. Both of them will be immediately cast into the lake of fire. The kings and their armies will be killed by the sword that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord who sat on the white horse. The devastation will be so great that the vultures of the earth will be filled with their flesh (Revelation 19:19-21).
I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh (Revelation 19:19-21).
