The Purpose Of The Second Coming

The Purpose of the Second Coming

Mark 13:24-27

Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, 25 AND THE STARS WILL BE FALLING from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken. 26 “Then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN CLOUDS with great power and glory. 27 “And then He will send forth the angels, and will gather together His elect from the four winds, bfrom the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven.

The second coming of Jesus has been a part of the Christian tradition since the church's inception. Perhaps it developed because Jesus did not complete the mission that the people were looking for. The Roman occupation continued long after Jesus’ ascension. In the sense that Jesus was to implement the Kingdom of Heaven, a spiritual kingdom, He did accomplish His mission of starting the transition. He will return when the task is complete

How can I say this? Because of the expression “on the clouds.” This is an Aramaic figure of speech, meaning that a mission or task is complete. When Jesus returns, He will be on a cloud. Thus, as His followers, we are left to defend Him and to continue the mission. We have to complete the conversion of this world into the Kingdom of Heaven. Are you doing your part to achieve the mission that Jesus brought us? That is a question every disciple of Jesus Christ has to ask themselves.

A second thought is to integrate the two Messiah theology from Zechariah 9:9 and the Zohar. The Zohar is the Book of Splender and is the basis of Judio-Christian mysticism. You have probably never heard of this theological position. In Zechariah 9:9, the Messiah will return on a colt and a donkey. The Gospels try to avoid the two Messiah theology with odd language about a colt and a donkey. The Zohar takes this verse seriously and says that there are two appearances of the Messiah. If we accept that Jesus came and will return, we have two occurrences of the Messiah on Earth. The Zohar does not say that the two Messiahs are two different persons. Therefore, Jesus can be both.

The first appearance of the Messiah was to be Messiah ben Joseph. The Messiah’s first appearance was to “repair” the people's spirituality. Thus, Jesus initiating the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth fits the description of the first Messiah.

The second Messiah will be Messiah ben David, who will restore the physical kingdom of Israel. He will separate the good people from the evil and purify the Earth by initiating the new Earth and new Heaven that Isaiah spoke of. There is a theological belief that the Messiah's two appearances can be one person. If Jesus saw himself as the first Messiah, then He would have uttered these words. If He did not, then it is a mechanism that early Christianity created to explain to would-be disciples why the Messiah came and did not appear to do what everyone thought. Since the second coming narrative was written thirty years after Jesus, this possibility is plausible.

Do Christians today care about the second coming of Jesus? Probably not since so many who call themselves disciples do not attend church or follow the Bible's commandments. The people in Paul’s day, 40 to 65 CE or so, believed that Jesus was going to return in their lifetime. Paul was convinced of this, and this idea can be found in his letters to the churches. But it did not happen. Paul died, Peter died, the rest of the disciples died, and there was no return of Jesus. It is almost 2000 years later, and Jesus has not returned. Will He return? If Jesus said the words about His return, we have to believe that He will. If Jesus did not say these words, then we are waiting for something that will not occur.

You will find this piece of Christian history interesting. “Preterists believe that most or all of Bible Prophecy has already been fulfilled in Christ and the ongoing expansion of His Eternal Kingdom.” Preterists believe that the Second coming of Jesus occurred in 70 CE when the Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed. From the point of view of the Jewish people the end of their religion had occurred. Now they had to rebuild their response to the forgiveness from sin. The animal sacrifice system was gone and was replaced by a prayer system. Thus, the spiritual Kingdom of Heaven is fully established. Therefore, Jesus came to see the Temple destroyed, the second coming, and left.

Which is correct? Did Jesus not say that He will return? Did He return in 70 CE? Is He going to return at some later date? The church has decided that Jesus’ second return will be somewhere in the future. The Revelation places the second coming around 2000 years after Jesus’ death. We could spend a lot of time discussing why this was done. Let me quickly summarize it this way. Paul told the people that Jesus would return before his death. Around 100 CE all of the apostles were gone. Paul died in 64 CE. Jesus had not yet returned. Therefore, to explain this situation to the people why Jesus had not returned, the Revelation was written.