The Second Advent of Christ

Copyright 1998:
William A. Simpson

Often confused with the return of the Lord to the clouds to remove believers, living and dead, the Second Coming is a demonstrably different event. It takes place seven years later, at the end of the Great Tribulation.  It is a time of judgment, of the separation of the sheep from the goats, the good fish from the bad.   It is the climax of a time of judgment unparalleled in the history of the world.   It follows immediately upon the heels of the the military campaign that is known as the Battle of Armageddon.

J. Dwight Pentecost, ThD, in his excellent one-volume treatment of prophecy, "Things to Come," draws seventeen distinctions between the rapture of the Church and the Second Advent.  He writes:

     "There are a number of contrasts to be drawn between the rapture and the second advent which will show that they are not viewed as synonymous in the Scripture.  The fact of two separate programs is best seen by a number of contrasts drawn in Scripture between the two events.  (1) The translation entails the removal of all believers, while the second advent entails the appearing or manifestation of the Son.  (2) the translation sees the saints caught up in the air, and in the second adventHe returns to the earth.  (3) In the translation Christ comes to claim a bride, but in the second advent he returns with the bride.  (4)  The translation results in the removal ofthe church and the inception of the tribulation, and the second advent results in the establishment of the millennial kingdom.  (5)  The translation is imminent, while the second advent is preceded by a multitude of signs.   (6)  The translation brings a message of comfort, while the second advent is accompanied by a message of judgment.  (7)  The translation is related to the program for the church, while the second advent is related to the program for Israel and the world.  (8)  The translation is a mystery, while the second advent is predicted in both Testaments.  (9)  At the translation believers are judged, but at the second advent the Gentiles and Israel are judged.  (10)  the translation leaves creation unchanged, while the second advent entails the change in creation.   (11)  At the translation Gentiles are unaffected, while at the second advent Gentiles are judged.  (12)  At the translation Israel's convenants are unfulfilled, but at the second advent all her convenants are fulfilled.  (13)   The translation has no particular relation to the program of God in relation to evil, while at the second advent evil is judged.  (14)  The translation is said to take place before the Day of Wrath, but the second advent follows it.  (15)   the translation is for believers only, but the second advent has its effect on all men.  (16)  the expectation for the church in regard to the translation is, "the Lord is at hand" (Phil 4:6), while the expectation of Israel  in regard to the second advnet is "the kingdom is at hand" (Matt. 24:14).   (17)  The expectation of the church at the translation is to be taken into the Lord's presence, whiel the expectation of Israel at hte second advent is to be taken into the kingdom.  These, and other cantrasts which might be presented, support the contention that these are two different programs and can not be unified into one event."

Therefore, let us set the stage for this great event. 

Gentile world dominion will have run its full course, beginning with the invasion of Judah  by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in 586 B.C., and ending at the Second Advent of our Lord, when He crushes the Gentile world powers and sets up His own Kingdom in Jerusalem.  The "times of the Gentiles" will see all of the prophecies of Daniel fulfilled insofar as those prophecies relate to Gentile dominion over Israel, culminating in the final conflict, called Armageddon, at the end of the tribulation, and drawn to a close by the Second Advent.

For some 2,600 years the Gentile powers have ruled effectively over the land that God long ago promised to the Jews, descendants of Abraham through his son Isaac and his son Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, and who was the father of the twelve tribes of Israel.  Even today, the nation of Israel only exists by permission granted under United Nations mandate 242.   That permission could be rescinded at any moment.  That it will not be rescinded is clear from the prophecies concerning Israel during the tribulation.   Nevertheless, the United Nations reserves the right to its sovereignty, and could abrogate that mandate if it desired to do so.  This entire 2,600 year period is called "The Times of the Gentiles." 

Some six hundred years after the times of the Gentiles began, the Jews, in the holy land by the permission of the government at Rome, rejected their Messiah.  This resulted in the temporary setting aside of the nation of Israel by God, that He might open the doors of salvation to Jew and Gentile alike.  For the past two thousand years (nearly), a new Age has been in place in the world, the Church Age.  Seven years prior to the Second Advent, the Church Age will draw to a close with the rapture of the Church.  At this point, God will resume His dealings with the Jews, picking up with the rejection of the Messiah and beginning immediately with "The Time of Jacob's trouble," or the tribulation.

The tribulation is a seven year period wherein two purposes of God will be fulfilled: (1) the punishment of the Gentiles for partitioning the land that God gave to Israel and, (2) the chastisement of the Jews, bringing them to the point where they will accept the Messiah whom they once rejected.   This is to be a time of great judgment, when the wrath of God is poured out on the entire world.

Great catastrophes will characterize this time, with most of the world's population dying and the Jews being nearly wiped out completely.  Natural disasters will accompany world war.   Isaiah prophesies that during the tribulation the earth will reel to and fro on her axis like a drunkard.  All the mountains will be brought low.  All marine life will be exterminated.  There will a total drought that will last for the final three and one half years of the seven.  There will be hailstorms, with hailstones weighing upwards of seventy-five pounds.  There will be famines and pestilences and great meteorites will strike the earth.  Earthquakes, demonic activity, world-wide anarchy and rebellion, darkness over all the land, and vast destruction everywhere -- all these and more will be the judgments of God upon rebellious men.  The waters will be poisoned, the vegetation will be destroyed over the earth, and cattle of all kinds will starve to death.  Carnivorous beasts will rampage in their hunger, men will seek death and death will flee from them.  El Nino will seem but a gentle breeze.   The world's economies will fail, communications will be destroyed, transportation systems will be rendered inoperative by the destruction of roads and bridges and the raging of the seas.  Delivery of electricity and oil will be interrupted.   People will gladly kill one another over a can of peas or a loaf of bread.   There will be no way to get goods to market, so that the world will starve.   Earthquakes will destroy the sanitation systems of the great cities, and their water systems will be broken beyond repair.  All these things and much more will be the charateristics of the tribulation period, a time of trouble such as the world has never seen, nor will ever see until that time.

In the midst of it all, a world dictator will arise, the last of the great Gentile powers, who will claim to be God, and who will set up his image in the temple in Jerusalem, demanding to be worshiped as God.   He will be a Western leader, head of the New World Order.  All the nations of the North, the South and the East will fight against his tyrannical rule, and all the nations will be persecutors of the tiny state of Israel.

Near the end of the seven years, the armies of the world will be gathered in the plains of Megiddo, preparatory to a final assault on Jerusalem.  Just as the coalition forces gathered in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm, so will they be gathered in northern Israel before they make their move to push Israel into the sea.  Surely, there will be thousands of missiles targeted on strategic sites in Israel.  All the world will be represented in that valley that stretches out beneath the hill town of Megiddo, some sixty miles to the north of Jerusalem.

A sign will be seen in the heavens, the sign of the returning Lord and His armies of saints, believers of the Church Age.   He and all His followers will be seated on white horses, wearing white robes.   The armies of the earth will turn their missiles skyward, retargeting them on the advancing armies of heaven.  But their missiles will have no effect upon either the Lord or His saints.  Slowly, dramatically, the advance will move inexorably earthward.  The armies in the plains of Megiddo will be slain.  Their blood will flow as deep as the horses' bridles through the entire valley.  They will raise their arms to defend themselves, and their arms will be broken.

Jesus will descend toward the earth until His feet touch upon the Mount of Olives, which will immediately split, forming a great valley.  Here shall all the remaining men and women and children of the earth be gathered for judgment.  The Gentiles will be judged on the basis of their treatment of the Jews during the tribulation period.  The Jews will be judged on the basis of their faith in the gospel that was preached over the entire earth during the tribulation.  The sheep will be separated from the goats.  There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth as the lost will be cast into torment to await the final judgment.

As the Lord descends through the heavens, we re told that the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  The entire created universe was cursed in the Fall of man in the Garden of Eden.  As Christ descends, the curse will be lifted and the heavens will show forth the glory of God.   when He touches the earth, the curse on the earth will also be lifted, so that the whole earth will be transformed into an Edenic condition.  Our God shall not rule over a cursed earth.

Following the judgments upon the Gentiles and the Jews upon Christ's return, the surviving Gentiles will be dispersed over the earth again to repopulate the nations.  The Jews will be gathered from all over the globe.  Those who constitute the sheep will settle in the nation of Israel under the reign of their Messiah.  The Church Age saints who have spent the previous seven years in the New Jerusalem in heaven will be dispersed over the earth to rule over the nations.  The millennial Kingdom will begin seventy-five days thereafter, and Christ will reign for a period of one thousand years.

The Second Advent of the Jewish Messiah marks the fulfillment of premillennial prophecy.  It is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the high point of human history, the pinnacle of all the earth's hopes and fears, the beginning of righteousness, the culmination of all that was begun in the book of Genesis, and the beginning of the end of all that is prophesied in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.