God's Work with Planet Earth

Jesus described how He will return, and it’s also described by Bible writers, so we should be aware of this. It’s important because there are many warnings in the Bible about “false christs” (Matthew 24:4-5). But no one will be able to duplicate Christ’s appearing.

Jesus on His Return

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.” Matthew 25:31-32

“For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

“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 24:27, 30

“Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” Mark 14:62

Let’s break down the ways Jesus described His return.

• In glory and on a throne of glory
• “With all the holy angels”
• Like lightning flashing from the east to the west (a glory that will fill the entire sky)
• He will come in/on the clouds of Heaven
• “With power and great glory”

Other descriptions of Christ’s return

“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him…” Revelation 1:7

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God…” 1 Thessalonians 5:16

“…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 (angels to Jesus disciples)

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” 2 Peter 3:10

What do we see in those verses?

• Jesus will come in the clouds
• Every eye will see Him
• A shout and the voice of the archangel, the trump of God
• The sky will disappear with a great noise, even the elements will melt and the things man has built will be burned up
• He left in the clouds, He’ll come back in the clouds

The phrase “like a thief in the night” means by surprise or unexpectedly. It obviously does not mean secret. If the whole sky will be full of His glory, every eye will see Him, there’s a trumpet and voice of the archangel, this will be extremely loud and highly visible.

When will Jesus come?

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.
“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
“Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Matthew 24:36, 42, 44

“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” Matthew 25:13

Jesus mentioned that we cannot know the day or the hour when He will come, so some people say we can know the season or the year (through calculations and interpretation gymnastics). It seems some may have questioned the Apostle Paul about this.

“But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.” 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2

• Greek “hora” (hour) means an hour, a time, or season
• Greek “hemera” (day) means a day or a time.
• Greek “chronos” (times) means a space of time
• Greek “kairos” (seasons) means an occasion, a proper time, or an opportunity.

Since we really do not know when Jesus will return, we are instructed to “watch” and “be ready”. We need to be looking for and expecting Jesus to return at any time. And we should be ready at any time, maintaining a connection to God through prayer and the reading of His word.

Coinciding Events

When Jesus comes, there will be a lot going on. We can start with the first resurrection. It’s clear from the Bible that there will be two resurrections.

“And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Daniel 12:2

“”Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth–those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” John 5:28-29

Revelation 20:13 references the second resurrection, 1,000 years later (verse 7), but we’ll get into more detail about that in a future post.

These passages describe the first resurrection:

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

Those who died with faith in God throughout the history of the world, and those who are still alive, will both be “caught up” to meet Jesus in the clouds. This makes sense because Jesus told His disciples that He was going to “prepare a place” for His people “in my Father’s house” (Heaven), and that He would return to take them to be where He is (Heaven). (John 14:2-3)

Can you imagine graves bursting open all over the planet at the same time, as God’s people who lived during the last 6,000 years are brought back to life?

“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed– in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-54

Paul described a change to our bodies which makes them “incorruptible” and “immortal”. Let’s take a closer look at how God’s people will be changed when Jesus appears.

Glorified

In that last verse, Paul said:

“…we shall all be changed– in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” 1 Corinthians 15:52

To understand a bit more about how we will be changed, we can look at this passage:

“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.” 2 Corinthians 5:1-4

Paul is comparing our current earthly body to a “tent” and our future glorified body to a “house”. Here’s a comparison of terms:

• Destructible, mortal
• Makes us groan
• Feels naked and vulnerable
• It is a burden to us
• A tent is flimsy and temporary

That is how Paul described our earthly bodies, and this is how he described our heavenly bodies:

• “eternal in the heavens, not made with hands”
• Like being “further clothed”
• This body is far more “desirable”
• The mortality is “swallowed up by life”
• A house is durable, more comfortable, and a permanent dwelling

These are both physical bodies, so God doesn’t leave us floating around as a spirit without a body. But we can clearly see they are very different from each other.

Fate of the Wicked

“Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power…” Revelation 20:6

While God’s people are being resurrected from their graves and taken up into the clouds to meet Jesus, something else will happen with the wicked.

“And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.” 2 Thessalonians 2:8

The last of the seven plagues in Revelation 16 seems to wipe out life on Earth. We see the resulting aftermath of the world in Jeremiah’s vision. Notice the references to destroyed mountains and cities in Revelation 16:19-20, which match up with this vision.

“I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void; And the heavens, they had no light.
I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth.
I beheld, and indeed there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled.
I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD, by His fierce anger.” Jeremiah 4:23-26

When Jesus comes the second time, the wicked who are still alive on earth will experience the first death. They have rejected a Creator God who wants to save them, clinging to their stubborn pride and selfishness. But God doesn’t force Himself on anyone. He respects their choice.

1 Peter 3:10-12 describes the earth and “the works that are in it” being burned up and melted. Even the heavens are dissolved and burned up. All through the Bible we see promises of a new heavens and a new earth, but God will wait to do this for another 1,000 years according to Revelation 20 and 21. All traces of sin and the old world will be erased before a new earth is created.

But in spite of all the destruction happening to the world, God’s people will be “caught up” and rescued.

“and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” 1 Thessalonians 1:10

Summary of Events

To summarize what we’ve seen from the Bible in this post, here’s a list of what scripture says will happen when Jesus comes.

• Jesus Christ will come in the clouds of glory on a throne of glory (First He came as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”, but the second time as the King of Kings Who judges and makes war against evil
• The scene will cover the whole sky from east to west
• All the holy angels will come with Him (which is why there will be “silence in Heaven for half an hour”) (Revelation 8:1)
• The “dead in Christ” will be resurrected, and “caught up” into the clouds together with the living in Christ “to meet the Lord in the air”, and at the same time they will receive glorified bodies
• The wicked dead will stay dead, but the wicked living will die the first death, being destroyed “with the brightness of HIs coming”. They won’t live again for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:5)
• Revelation 16 shows us a series of plagues which are God’s judgement of wrath on evil and the wicked, which ultimately make the earth lifeless.

What’s really going on here is God finally taking back control of this world He created and putting an end to the sin rebellion that causes so much pain, suffering, deception, destruction, and death. You know when people say “If God is really all powerful and good, why does He allow these terrible things to go on?” and “If God is truly good and omnipotent, why doesn’t He end evil?”

When Jesus comes again, God’s will rescue His people from a world of sin as it is shut down. He will end evil activity on the earth. As we get further into Stage 4 of God’s Work with Planet Earth, we’ll see how evil will not only stopped, but cleansed and erased from the Universe.