As stated in the previous posting, most of the world’s inhabitants do not believe in Jesus Christ. Therefore His return is not a topic of their conversation. Of the two billion plus parishioners who profess Him, not all believe that He will return to earth. Among those who do there is no firm agreement as to when, where, how and why the event will take place. Different groups have different theories, each of which is proclaimed to be the “Bible Truth” on the subject. Each of these “truths” can be placed into one of three categories: 1) a “post-millennial coming,” 2) a “secret coming,” 3) or a “spiritual coming.” Let us obey God’s command to “prove all things” (2 Thes. 5:21) by comparing each theory to the Bible standard.

The “post-millennial coming” came on the scene during the 1700’s and featured the church as the central entity–the spiritual machine that would make everything on earth work according to God’s will. This theory, also known as “Preterism,” has the church winning the world to the Lord then heading a religious government that will lead the masses through 1000 years of peaceful bliss. As the theory goes, following 1000 years (the millennium) of good will among all of mankind, Christ will return to a world filled with peace, joy, righteousness and harmony where nations will be in one accord as men strive to help one another in a spirit of mutual care.

The problem with the post-millennial theory is that, A) it isn’t Scriptural, and B) it isn’t being proved out on the world scene. We are told in Scripture that when Jesus returns He will “restore all things” (Acts 3:21). To restore means to return something to its original condition. In this case it means to repair the damage done to the earth by returning it to its original perfect condition. In Revelation 5:10 and 20:4 we are told that when Jesus returns His saints will then begin to reign with Him for a thousand years–the millennium. We are also told that Jesus would rule the world with a “rod of iron” (Rev. 12:5). Obviously, for these two prophecies to be true Jesus would have to come before the millennium begins. And if all will be peace and harmony, who would need to be controlled with an iron rod? Any honest human of average intelligence can see that the world’s people are not growing more Christlike. Even the church that is supposedly winning the masses to Him is growing ever further away from Him and ever closer to Satan.

The “secret coming” (“rapture”) theory is a newer “truth” than the post-millennial theory and, like it, has no Scriptural backing. The extremely popular “Rapture theory” (see The Rapture) has two phases: First, Jesus is supposed to return secretly to snatch up all true Christians to heaven just before the Great Tribulation sends the world into three and a half (some say seven) years of chaos, death and destruction. The second phase has Jesus coming back for all the world to see. The rapture theory was unheard of before the 1830’s. That was when a woman in Ireland had a vision in which all church people were taken up to heaven to be protected during the earth’s most turbulent time. This extremely appealing idea quickly became “Bible truth” even though there is no Biblical backing for it. As is the case with all man-pleasing religious news, the vision caught on and gathered speed. Today throughout the Protestant world this figment of man’s wishful thinking is one of the religion’s most fervently-embraced doctrines– a “Bible truth” that is not to be challenged.

The “spiritual coming” doctrine places Jesus Christ here on earth now. His very visible return supposedly took place on the Day of Pentecost, 31 A.D. in the upper room following His resurrection (Acts 2). His Father’s kingdom was supposedly established at that time in the form of the Church of God. As a result, all of the churches combined constitute the “Kingdom of God.” This theory flies in the face of the apostles who, according to their Spirit-inspired writings, were still looking forward to entering the Kingdom of God following the second advent of Jesus Christ in the future. Recall that the apostles came on the scene after the establishment of the Church of God on the Day of Pentecost. Why would they look forward to something that already existed? Which brings up the question: WHAT IS THE TRUTH CONCERNING THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS CHRIST? To be continued. L.J.