This Same Jesus
The last the world saw of Jesus, He was dead on a Roman cross. The last His friends saw of Him, He was rising from the Mount of Olives, and they stood staring at the empty sky. Then two men in white gave them the promise the whole Bible has been leaning toward: this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven (Acts 1:11).
He came the first time lowly, and riding upon an ass (Zechariah 9:9). He will come the second time on a white horse, with many crowns on His head (Revelation 19:11–12). He came as the Lamb to die. He is coming as the Lion to reign.
We believe in the visible, bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth at the end of the Tribulation. Seven years after He comes in the air for His church, He will come with His church in power and great glory. Every eye will see Him. Israel will mourn for the One she pierced and be saved. He will judge the nations and reign on the earth for a thousand years.
For those who love Him, this is the day we have waited for all our lives. For anyone without Him, it will be the worst news he has ever heard. Good news is only good if it arrives in time, and that is why this doctrine belongs in your daily life and not on a shelf.
The visible, bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth with His saints at the end of the Tribulation, to save Israel, judge His enemies, and begin His reign.
Will the day Jesus comes be the best day of your life, or the worst?
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For Deeper Study
- The Return of the LordAmazon John F. WalvoordA short dispensational study (1955) of Christ's coming by a longtime president of Dallas Theological Seminary.
- The Footsteps of the Messiah: A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic EventsAmazon Arnold G. FruchtenbaumA detailed dispensational walk through the last things by a Jewish believer, with careful attention to Israel's national repentance.
- The Bible and the FutureAmazon Anthony A. HoekemaThe amillennial case for one return and one general judgment, by a Reformed scholar. Read it to understand the view this article answers.
- When Shall These Things Be? A Reformed Response to Hyper-PreterismAmazon Keith A. Mathison, ed.Reformed writers answer full preterism (2004). The authors are not dispensational, but they defend a future bodily return and resurrection.
- Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jehovah's WitnessesAmazon Ron RhodesAn evangelical guide to answering Watch Tower teaching from Scripture.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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The Rapture of the Church
Before the seven-year Tribulation, Christ will come in the air for His church, raising the dead in Christ and catching up living believers to meet Him.
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