The main focus of Christian eschatology is the Second Coming of Christ. The entire history of Christianity unfolds in the period of time between the First and Second Coming of the Savior. The fates of all people, both living and dead, are woven into this story. The expectation of the Second Coming unites the wandering Church and the triumphant Church. Those who lived before Christ, in particular the Old Testament righteous, are also awaiting the Second Coming.

The Second Coming of Christ will be radically different from His first appearance. The first time Christ came to earth in the kenotic form of a servant, becoming in the likeness of men and becoming in appearance like a man (Phil 2:7), the second time He will come in the glory and majesty of His Divinity. According to Hippolytus of Rome, “the Scripture shows two appearances of our Lord and Savior: one is the first, which was inglorious in the flesh because of His humiliation... and His other appearance will be in glory, when He comes from heaven with the power of the Angels and the glory Father." Cyril of Jerusalem says: “We preach not only the Coming of Christ, but also another, which will be much more glorious than the first. For in the First He proved His patience, and in the Second He will appear in the crown of God the King... In the First He endured the cross, despising the shame (Heb. 12:2), in the Second He will come accompanied by the army of Angels, in glory... The Savior will not come for to be judged again, but he will come to judge those who judged Him.”

The theme of the Second Coming is given much attention on the pages of the New Testament - both in the Gospels, and in the Acts, and in the Apostolic Epistles, and in the Apocalypse. Each of the Synoptic Gospels contains an eschatological chapter in which Christ Himself speaks about His Second Coming and the signs of the end of the world (see: Matthew; Mark 13; Luke 21). According to the Savior, His coming will be preceded by numerous appearances of false Christs and false prophets, who will pretend to be Christ and deceive many with wonders and signs (Matthew 24:5; 24, and; 24:23-25; Mark 13:5-7; 21 -22; Luke 21:8). The time before the end of the world is described as a period of social and natural disasters, when there will be wars, people will rise up against people and kingdoms against kingdoms; and there will be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in places (Mt 24:6-7; Mk 13:7-8; Lk 21:9-11). Christians will be hated for the name of Christ, handed over to torture and killed (Matthew 24:9; Mark 13:9, 11-13; Luke 21:12-29). At the same time, the Gospel will be preached throughout the entire universe, as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come (Mt 24:14; Mk 1:10).

The Second Coming itself is described as an event of universal, cosmic significance:

And suddenly, after the sorrow of those days, the sun will darken, and the moon will not shine its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of heaven will be shaken; then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven; and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; and He will send His angels with a loud trumpet, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other (Mt 24:29-31; see: Mk 13:24-27; Lk 21:26-27).

By “the sign of the Son of Man” the Christian exegetical tradition understands the Cross. As John Chrysostom says, the Cross of Christ, which is “brighter than the sun,” will be revealed to the joy of Christians and to the shame of Jews. “Having heard about the Cross, do not imagine anything sad: Christ will come with power and much glory,” writes Chrysostom. At the moment of the Second Coming of Christ, according to Chrysostom, “Angels will gather the resurrected, and clouds will delight those gathered, and all this will happen in the shortest possible time.”

The Second Coming of the Savior will be sudden and unexpected, it will take by surprise those who are not preparing for it. Hence the call for constant vigilance:

About that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but only My Father alone... So, watch, for you do not know at what hour your Lord will come (Matt. 24:36, 42; Mark 13:32, 35 ).

Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with excess and drunkenness and the cares of this life, and lest that day come upon you suddenly, for like a snare it will come upon all those who live throughout the whole face of the earth; Therefore, watch at all times and pray, that you may be deemed worthy to escape all these future disasters and to stand before the Son of Man (Luke 21:34-36).

The book of the Acts of the Apostles begins with a story about how the disciples, filled with eschatological forebodings, asked Christ: Is it not at the right time, Lord, that You are restoring the Kingdom to Israel? In response, Christ repeated what he said to the disciples shortly before His death on the cross: It is not your business to know the times and seasons that the Father has set in His authority. After this, the Lord rose into the air in front of the disciples, to whom two angels immediately appeared with the words: This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him ascending into heaven (Acts 1: 6-11).

With the event described in Acts, the wait for the Second Coming of Christ began, which has lasted for almost two thousand years. In the early Christian Church there was an opinion that the Coming of Christ would come very soon - perhaps even during the lifetime of the apostles. In part, this understanding was based on the literal interpretation of the words of Christ: This generation will not pass away until all these things happen (Matt. 24:34). The Apostolic Epistles say: the coming of the Lord is drawing near (James 5:8); The end of everything is near (1 Pet 4:7). The Apostle Paul probably assumed that the Coming of Christ would take place during his lifetime: we will not all die, but we will all be changed (1 Cor 15:51); a little more, a very little, and the Coming One will come and will not tarry (Hebrews 10:37). In 1 Thessalonians, Paul writes: ... We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not warn those who are dead ... The dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are left alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).

However, over time, the Christian community came to understand that the Second Coming of the Lord could occur in some more distant future. In 2 Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul even dissociates himself to some extent from his 1 Epistle:

We pray to you, brethren, about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering to Him, not to rush to waver in mind and be confused either by the spirit, or by the word, or by the message, as if sent by us, as if the laziness of Christ is already setting in. Let no one deceive you in any way, for that laziness does not come until apostasy comes first and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above everything that is called God or that is holy, so that he sits in the temple of God, like God, betraying yourself for God. Don’t you remember that while I was still with you, I told you this?.. For the mystery of iniquity is already in action, but it will not be completed until the one who is now holding back is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the spirit of His mouth and destroy by the appearance of His coming, the one whose coming, according to the work of Satan, will be with all power and signs and lying wonders (2 Thess. 2:1-9).

The Apostle Peter in the 2nd Epistle directly answers the question: Where is the promise of His coming? (2 Pet 3, 4). According to the apostle:

...The Lord is not slack in fulfilling his promise, as some count slackness; but he is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish, but for everyone to come to repentance... So, beloved, looking forward to this, strive to appear before Him undefiled and blameless in peace; and consider the longsuffering of our Lord to be salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, as he speaks about this in all his epistles, in which there is something difficult to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, like other scriptures (2 Pet 3, 9, 14-16).

Peter's mention of the Epistles of the Apostle Paul in connection with the theme of the Second Coming leaves no doubt that we are talking primarily about the two Epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians, namely those places in the Epistles where they spoke about the nearness of the Coming of the Lord. Obviously, the question of the date of the Coming of Christ was quite acute and gave rise to various interpretations and disputes among the first Christians. Therefore, the apostles again and again reminded the recipients of their Epistles that, regardless of the timing of the Coming of the Lord, Christians are called to constant vigilance, patience and sobriety:

Therefore, brethren, be patient until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and for it he endures long... Be patient also, strengthen your hearts, because the coming of the Lord is drawing near (James 5:7-8).

The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, and then the heavens will pass away with a noise, the elements, having flared up, will be destroyed, the earth and all the works on it will be burned up. If all this is destroyed, then what should you be like in holy life and piety, waiting for and desiring the coming of the day of God? (2 Pet 3:10-12).

There is no need to write to you about times and seasons, brethren, for you yourselves know with certainty that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. For when they say “peace and safety,” then destruction will suddenly befall them... Let us therefore not sleep like others, but let us watch and be sober (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3,6).

The Book of the Apocalypse, or the Revelation of John the Theologian, is a symbolic description of the Second Coming of Christ and the events immediately preceding and following it. The leitmotif of the Apocalypse is the struggle between good and evil, ending with the final victory of good. This victory, according to Revelation, takes place in two stages. First, the Faithful and True One appears on a white horse, Who righteously judges and makes war... His name is the Word of God (Rev 19:11-13). He wins the battle with the serpent and the false prophet (see: Rev. 19, 19-21), after which the Angel binds the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, for a thousand years, casting him into the abyss (Rev. 20, 2-3) . All the righteous who did not worship the beast are resurrected and reign with Christ for a thousand years. This is the first resurrection (Rev 20:4-5). At the end of the thousand years, Satan is released from prison and comes out to deceive the nations, but fire from heaven devours those deceived by him, and the devil himself is cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev 2o: 7 -10). The following describes the judgment of the dead whom the sea gave up... death and hell, and everyone is judged according to their deeds, and death and hell are cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death (Rev 20:11-14). The book ends with a description of the new Jerusalem, the heavenly city in which the Lamb reigns and where the righteous enjoy eternal bliss.

In the Christian tradition there has never been a single understanding of the Apocalypse and a single generally accepted interpretation of it. Perhaps precisely because of the difficulty of interpreting the prophecies of the Apocalypse, this book, unlike all other New Testament books, was never read during Orthodox worship. The literal interpretation of some prophecies of the Apocalypse often led to a misunderstanding of the meaning of this book. In the 2nd century, some church authors, based on Rev. 20:4, argued that after the Second Coming of Christ and the general resurrection, a thousand-year reign of the righteous would begin on earth. A similar opinion, later called chiliasm, was shared by Irenaeus of Lyons, Justin the Philosopher, Hippolytus of Rome, and among the Latin writers - Tertullian. By the 4th century, chiliasm had been refuted in both the East and the West, but in the Middle Ages it was revived in the sermon of Joachim of Flora (+1202), and then during the Reformation among the Anabaptists.

In Eastern Christian patristic literature, the theme of the Second Coming of the Savior was revealed, as a rule, from two different perspectives. On the one hand, that spirit of joyful anticipation of the Coming of Christ, which is expressed in the words of the Apostle Peter about Christians expecting and desiring the coming of the day of God (2 Pet 3, 12), in the exclamations of Maran-afa (1 Cor 16, 22), has never been completely lost ), Come, Lord Jesus (Rev 22:20), reflecting early Christian liturgical practice.

On the other hand, church writers paid close attention to those frightening and alarming events that, according to the New Testament, should precede the Second Coming of Christ. In particular, the theme of the Antichrist was developed in Eastern patristics. In the 1st Epistle of John, the term “Antichrist” is used both in the singular and in the plural, indicating both the “lawless one” about whom the Apostle Paul speaks (see: 1 Thessalonians 2:8), and in general to opponents Christianity and false teachers (see: 1 John 2, 18; 2, 22; 4, 3). In the patristic tradition, the term “Antichrist” is associated precisely with that main enemy of Christ and the Church, “who must come at the end of the world” in order to seduce the entire universe and turn people away from the true faith.

The main distinguishing feature of the Antichrist, according to Church Tradition, will be apostasy, resistance to God, and the desire to impersonate God. According to the Apostle Paul, the Antichrist is the man of sin, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above everything that is called God or that is holy, so that he sits in the temple of God as God, showing himself to be God (2 Thess. 2:3-4). Interpreting these words of the apostle, Irenaeus of Lyons writes about the Antichrist:

...He, being an apostate and a robber, wants to be worshiped as God, and, being a slave, wants to be proclaimed king. He, having received all the power of the devil, will come not as a righteous and lawful couple, consisting in submission to God, but as a wicked, unrighteous and lawless, as an apostate, a villain and a murderer, as a robber repeating in himself the devil’s apostasy; he will eliminate idols in order to suggest that he himself is God, but he will exalt himself as one idol and will concentrate in himself various errors relating to other idols, so that those who worship the devil through various abominations will serve him through this idol...

The classic presentation of the theme of the Antichrist was the treatise “On Christ and the Antichrist,” which came under the name of Hippolytus of Rome and had a huge influence on the development of Christian eschatology in the East and West. In this treatise, the Antichrist is presented as a political leader who will gather together the scattered Jewish people and restore the destroyed Temple of Jerusalem. Moreover, his entire life and activity will seem to reproduce the life and activity of Christ, only in reverse perspective:

Our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus, the Son of God, for His royal and glorious dignity was heralded as a lion; in the same way, the Antichrist was predicted by Scripture as a lion, for his qualities of a tyrant and rapist. And in general, in everything the seducer wants to become like the Son of God. Leo - Christ, lion and antichrist; The king is Christ, the king, although earthly, is also the Antichrist. The Savior appeared like a lamb; in the same way he will appear like a lamb, although inside he will remain in the world, in the same way he will appear. The Lord sent apostles to all nations, and in the same way he will send his false apostles. The Savior gathered His scattered sheep, and in the same way will gather those scattered people of the Jews. The Lord gave a seal to those who believe in Him, and he will give it in the same way. The Lord appeared in the form of a man, and he will also come in the form of a man. The Savior resurrected and showed His holy flesh as a temple, and He will also restore the stone temple in Jerusalem.

A significant part of the “Tale of Christ and the Antichrist” is devoted to the interpretation of the image described in the book of the prophet Daniel with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of copper, legs of iron, legs partly of iron, partly of clay (Dan 2, z2-zz). According to Hippolytus of Rome, the various parts of the body of the idol symbolize the great empires of antiquity: gold - the Babylonian empire, silver - the Persians and Medes, copper - the Greeks, iron - the Romans, and clay and iron - those kingdoms that will arise in the future. It is among these kingdoms that the Antichrist will appear.

The idea of ​​the Antichrist as a political leader is widespread in patristics. Some authors link the coming of the Antichrist with the fall of that “restrainer” about whom the Apostle Paul speaks (see: 2 Thessalonians 2:7): in this case, by “holder” they mean the Roman Empire. According to John Chrysostom, “when the Roman state ceases to exist, then he (the Antichrist) will come... because as long as this state is feared, no one will soon submit to (the Antichrist); but after it is destroyed, anarchy will be established and he will strive to steal all - both human and Divine - power.”

According to the Eastern Fathers of the Church, the Antichrist will combine spiritual power with political power. According to John of Damascus, at the beginning of his reign the Antichrist will put on the guise of holiness, but later, having won victory, he will begin to persecute the Church and reveal all his malice. “He will come with false signs and wonders, imaginary and untrue, and will deceive those who have a weak and weak foundation of mind, and will turn away from the living God, so that, if possible, even the elect will be offended.”

The words of the Apostle Paul that the Antichrist will sit in the temple of God... posing as God (2 Thessalonians 2:4), the Church Fathers understood in the sense that we are not talking about a Christian, but about a Jewish temple, that is, about a destroyed one temple of Jerusalem. According to Cyril of Jerusalem, “if the Antichrist comes to the Jews like Christ, and wants worship from the Jews, then, in order to deceive them further, he will show great zeal for the temple, instilling in himself the idea that he is from the line of David and that he should recreate the temple built by Solomon."

The identification of the Antichrist with the Jewish religious and national leader goes back to the early Christian anti-Jewish polemics, reflected already in Hippolytus of Rome. The latter claims that the Antichrist will “restore the kingdom of Judah.” However, according to Cyril of Jerusalem, the Antichrist will be a Roman emperor: he will “seize power over the Roman kingdom.” Cyril is echoed by Andrew of Caesarea, asserting that the Antichrist will come “as a Roman king”: under his unified rule, the Roman kingdom, as if perishing from division, will again become strong.

So, if John Chrysostom saw the Roman power as a “restrainer” and believed that the fall of the Roman Empire would be the beginning of the reign of the Antichrist, then Cyril of Jerusalem and Andrew of Caesarea, on the contrary, represented the Antichrist as the Roman emperor. This disagreement is due to the subjective approach of the Church Fathers to the topic of the Antichrist, as well as the different political and cultural context within which certain authors lived. It is hardly possible to absolutize the given hypotheses of the Church Fathers or elevate them to the level of church dogma. The doctrinal tradition of the Church includes the idea of ​​the Antichrist as a political and religious leader who, in the era before the Second Coming of Christ, will deceive the entire universe. However, attempts to determine where and when the Antichrist will appear, what state or ethnic structures he will rely on, have always been and will be determined by the uniqueness of the specific historical era to which these attempts date. Such attempts are renewed in every era.

In the Orthodox tradition there is also no generally accepted interpretation of the “number of the beast”, or the “number of the name” of the Antichrist, which, according to the Apocalypse, is six hundred and sixty-six (see: Rev. 13, 17-18; 15, 2). Irenaeus of Lyon believes that this number is the sum of Noah’s age at the time of the flood (6oo years) and the size of the image built by Nebuchadnezzar (60 cubits high, 6 wide), but the arbitrary nature of this interpretation is obvious. According to Hippolytus of Rome, “it is impossible to say anything definite” regarding the name of the Antichrist.

Hippolytus offers several possible interpretations of this name, but stipulates that “it is impossible to predict in advance that (the name of the Antichrist) will really be such, just as it cannot be denied that he cannot be called anything else.” Andrew of Caesarea, regarding the interpretation of the name of the Antichrist and the number of his name, notes: “If there had been a need to know his name, then, as some teachers say, the seer would have revealed it, but the grace of God did not deign that this destructive name should be written in the Divine book. If you examine the words, then, according to Hippolytus and others, you can find many names, both proper and common nouns, corresponding to this number.”

In any case, the Orthodox tradition has always been deeply alien to the magical attitude towards numbers as such, including the number six hundred and sixty-six, which in itself is no different from other numbers. Nowhere in the patristic tradition is there the idea that this very number contains some kind of threat or spiritual danger. Obviously, the number six hundred sixty-six in the Apocalypse is a kind of mysterious symbol, the meaning of which is not revealed by the author of the book; This symbol was not interpreted with any conviction in the patristic era.

Regarding the “mark” of the Antichrist, repeatedly mentioned in the Apocalypse (see: Rev. 13, 17-18; 14, 9-11; 15, 2; 16, 2; 19, 20), we can only say that, according to this very book, as well as most patristic interpretations, it will be a symbol of voluntary submission to the Antichrist. In other words, the mark or seal will not be placed automatically, and no one will end up in involuntary submission or enslavement to the Antichrist. Everyone will have the opportunity to make a conscious choice in favor of Christ or in favor of the Antichrist, and true Christians will reject temptation, even if it costs them their lives:

The forerunner and squire of the Antichrist, with the help of demons, having made an image of the beast, will falsely show it to those speaking, order to beat everyone who does not worship him and will try to put the mark of the disastrous name of the apostate and seducer on everyone’s right hands in order to take away the power to do good deeds, as well as on the forehead to make those who are deceived bold in deception and darkness. But those whose faces are imprinted with Divine light will not accept it. And he will distribute the seal of the beast everywhere, both for purchase and for sale, so that those who do not accept it will die a violent death from the lack of things necessary to maintain life.

The prophecies of the Apocalypse, which, according to the teachings of the Church, will be fully realized only at the end of times, began to come true already in the early Christian era and continued to come true over subsequent centuries. The struggle between Christ and the Antichrist, between God and the beast, which is described in the Apocalypse, has a timeless character. The eschatological battle has already begun, continues and will continue until the end of human history. In this battle, some Christians take the side of Christ, others take the side of the Antichrist, accepting his “mark,” that is, taking the path of compromise and apostasy. We are talking about a moral choice that must be made by every person: his fate in eternity ultimately depends on this choice. Christians made this choice during the era of persecution, be it in the 1st or 20th century: some died for Christ and received the crown of martyrdom, others accepted the mark of the beast and became apostates.

The mystery of lawlessness is already in action, writes the Apostle Paul (2 Thess. 2:7), meaning the same thing as the Apostle John the Theologian when he speaks of the appearance of many Antichrists (see: 1 John 2:18).

The war of the Antichrist against Christ began already at the moment of the First Coming of Christ, and the final battle, colorfully described in the Apocalypse, will take place at His Second Coming. In the period between the two Comings, that division of humanity takes place according to the spiritual and moral principle, about which the author of the Apocalypse says: Let the unrighteous still do injustice; let the unclean one still become unclean; let the righteous still do righteousness, and let the holy one still be sanctified. Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his deeds (Rev 22:11-12).

The word “apocalypse” (literally meaning “revelation”) in the perception of modern people is strongly associated with horrors and disasters that must precede the end of world history. This perception is not alien to some Orthodox Christians, in whose minds the thought of the “end of the world” causes horror, and the image of the Antichrist almost displaces the image of Christ as the Conqueror of hell and death, the Savior and Redeemer of the human race. Hence the attempts to guess the date of the coming of the Antichrist, numerous predictions about the imminence of the end of the world, panic around the number six hundred and sixty-six, and the escalation of an atmosphere of fear and suspicion.

At the same time, however, it is overlooked that the “main hero” of the Second Coming will be Christ, and not the Antichrist, and the Second Coming itself will not be a moment of defeat, but the greatest moment of the glory of God, the victory of good over evil, life over death and Christ over Antichrist. It is no coincidence that the theme of victory is one of the leitmotifs of the Apocalypse. All those who took the side of good in the global battle between good and evil will participate in this victory. They, according to the Apocalypse, will sit on the throne together with the Son of God and themselves will become the sons of God, they will be clothed in white robes, and their names will be written in the book of life:

To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God (Rev 2:7).

He who overcomes will not be harmed by the second death (Rev 2:11).

The one who conquers the lamas will eat the hidden manna and the lamas will give him a white stone and a new name written on the stone, which no one knows except the one who receives (Rev 2:17).

He who overcomes will be clothed in white robes; And I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels (Rev 3:5).

He who overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will no longer go out; And I will write on it the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name (Rev 3:12).

For the conquering lama to sit with Me on My throne, just as I also conquered and sat down with My Father on His throne (Rev. 21).

He who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son (Rev 21:7).

The Second Coming of Christ will mark the completion of world history, but this completion is not a tragic and painful break in the fate of mankind, but that glorious goal towards which history, by the Providence of God, is steadily moving. Christian historiosophy presupposes precisely this view of the “end of the world” - a view with which “apocalyptic” fears and concerns are incompatible, a view imbued with joyful and bright hope.

The second coming of Jesus Christ is one of the fundamental teachings of the Bible. In the Old Testament, God's prophets prophesied about the coming of the Messiah. The first four books of the New Testament speak of the Messiah or Christ coming to Earth as the Savior. These books tell us that He lived as a man (Jesus of Nazareth), died on the cross, rose from the dead, and returned to heaven. But the New Testament also clearly says that Jesus will come again! “He will appear the second time, not to cleanse sin, but to those who wait for Him for salvation” (Heb. 9:28).

Why do we believe that Jesus will come again? Bible -it is the word of God (2 Tim. 3:16,17). God cannot lie (Heb. 6:18). Therefore, when the word of God says that Jesus will come again, we accept this fact in the same way we accept the facts that He died for our sins, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day (1 Cor. 15:3,4) . These days we often hear people talk about the second coming of Jesus, but much of what people say is not based on the Bible and is misleading to others. So what does the New Testament teach about the second coming of Jesus?

Can we really be sure of the second coming of Jesus?

Jesus Himself said to His apostles: “And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself, that where I am you also may be” (John 14:3). Immediately after Jesus' ascension into heaven, two of God's messengers said to the apostles: "Men of Galilee, why do you stand and look at heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him going into heaven" (Acts. 1:11). The Apostle Peter describes the second coming of Jesus as “the day of the Lord,” and says that that day will come like a thief in the night (2 Pet. 3:10). Two New Testament books that emphasize the second coming of Jesus -these are 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. In these letters, the Holy Spirit declares again and again that Jesus will come again (1 Thess. 1:10; 2:19; 3:13; 4:13-18; 5:23; 2 Thess. 1:7; 2:2 ,3). If we believe the Bible, we cannot doubt that Jesus will come again!

When will Jesus come again?

When Jesus spoke about the time of His second coming, He said: “But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but only My Father... Watch therefore, for you do not know at what hour your Lord will come. ... Therefore you also be ready, for at an hour you do not think, the Son of Man will come" (Matthew 24:36,42,44). The New Testament clearly teaches that the day of the Lord will come “like a thief in the night” (1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Pet. 3:10). Thus, His coming will be sudden and unexpected. We must accept the fact that “The hidden things belong to the Lord” (Deut. 29:29). The time of Jesus' second coming isone of the hidden things that belong to God. So we do not know when Jesus will come again, for God has not revealed it to us. Despite this, there are many instances throughout history of people trying to predict when Jesus will come again. Each of the predictions was false and those who made these predictions showed themselves to be false prophets! The Bible does not emphasize the time of Jesus' second coming, but rather that we must be ready before that day comes!

How will Jesus come?

The second coming of Christ, of course, will not be a secret, for it is written: “Behold, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him” (Rev. 1:7). His second coming will not be quiet, for the Holy The Spirit says, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God” (1 Thess. 4:16). Notice this verse shows that Jesus will come in person and body. This reminds us of the words, spoken to the apostles by God's messengers: "This Jesus... will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11).Please note that nowhere in the Bible does it say that Jesus will return to walk and live on planet Earth. Rather, it is said that when He comes, the faithful will be caught up in the clouds to be with the Lord Jesus (1 Thess. 4:16,17).

What will happen when Jesus comes again?

When Jesus comes again, He will not die on the cross to save us from our sins. This was the purpose of His first coming to earth (Luke 19:10). It is important that we also understand that when Jesus comes again, He will not establish His Kingdom and rule on planet Earth for a thousand years. Kingdom of Jesus -spiritual, not physical! Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). The kingdom of Jesus has already existed for over 1,900 years, having been established in the first century, just ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven. The Christians in Colosse were already in the kingdom of Jesus in the first century (Col. 1:13). Thus, the purpose of Jesus' second coming is not to establish His Kingdom.

When the Lord comes again, He will raise all the dead. “For the time is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who have done good will come forth to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil willto the resurrection of judgment" (John 5:28,29). But when will the dead be raised? Jesus Himself said that the resurrection of the dead would take place "at the last day," in other words, the day He comes again (John 6:39 ,40,44).

When Jesus comes again, He will judge all nations. God has appointed a day on which He will judge all people in righteousness through Jesus (Acts 17:31). On that great day, “all nations must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that everyone may receive what he has done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). Therefore, we will be judged by Him who created us (John 1:1-3) and died to save us (1 Tim. 1:15). When will this trial take place? “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. And all nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:31, 32). The New Testament also clearly teaches that when Jesus comes again, the earth and the atmosphere around it will be burned with fire (2 Pet. 3:10,12).

Why is the second coming of Jesus important to each of us?

On the day that Jesus comes again, for the first and last time, all the people who have lived on Earth will gather in one place and for one purpose. This will be the day of judgment! After judgment, each of us will receive our eternal destiny, either eternal life in heaven or eternal punishment in Gehenna (Matthew 25:46). Are you ready for the second coming of Jesus? A wise man -one who prepares for the coming of Jesus by submitting to His will so that his sins may be washed away by the Blood of the Son of God! May God help each of us to have the courage to follow Jesus while we still have the opportunity.

My Christ-loving brothers, listen to the Second and terrible coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. I remembered that hour and trembled with great fear, thinking what would be revealed then. Who will describe this? What language will it express? What kind of hearing will contain what is heard? Then the King of kings, having risen from the Throne of His glory, will come down to visit all the inhabitants of the universe, make settlements with them and, as a Judge should, give a good reward to those worthy, and also execute those who deserve punishment. When I think about this, my members are filled with fear, and I am completely exhausted; my eyes shed tears, my voice disappears, my lips close, my tongue becomes numb, and my thoughts learn silence. Oh, what an urgent need I have to speak for our benefit! And fear forces me to remain silent.

Such great and terrible miracles have not happened since the beginning of creation and will not happen throughout all generations. It often happens now that if lightning flashes stronger than usual, it terrifies every person, and we all bow to the ground. How then will we bear it, how soon will we hear the voice of the trumpet from heaven, surpassing all thunder, calling out and awakening the righteous and the unrighteous who have fallen asleep from time immemorial? Then in hell human bones, hearing the voice of the trumpet, will run diligently, looking for their compositions, then we will see how every human breath will rise from its place in the blink of an eye, and everyone from the four corners of the earth will be gathered for Judgment. For the Great King, who has power over, will command all flesh and immediately with trembling and diligence they will give - the land of their dead, and the sea of ​​theirs. What the beasts tore to pieces, what the fish crushed, what the birds plundered - all this will appear in the blink of an eye. Not a single hair will be lacking. How will we bear this, brothers, when we see a river of fire flowing with fury, like a fierce sea, eating mountains and wilds, setting the whole earth on fire and things that are on her! Then, beloved, from such a fire the rivers will become scarce, the springs will disappear, the stars will fall, the sun will darken, the moon will pass by, according to what is written, the sky scrolls like a scroll(Isa.34:4). Then the sent Angels will flow, collecting chosen from the four winds, as the Lord said, from the end of heaven to the end of it(Matthew 24:31); then we will see that, according to His promise, the sky is new and the earth is new(Isa.65:17). How will we bear it then, lovers of Christ, when we see the prepared terrible Throne and the appearing sign of the Cross, on which Christ was nailed by his will for us? Then everyone will see the terrible and holy scepter of the Great King appearing on high, everyone will finally understand and remember the word of the Lord who predicted that the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven(Matthew 24:30), and it will become known to everyone that after this the King will appear.

At this hour, my brothers, everyone will think about how to meet the terrible Tsar, and will begin to trust all their deeds; then he will see that his deeds - both good and bad - stand before him. Then all those who are merciful and sincerely repentant will rejoice when they see the prayers they have sent; the compassionate will see that the poor and wretched, to whom they showed mercy here, plead for them and proclaim their benefits before Angels and men. Others will also see tears and labors of repentance, and they will appear joyful, bright, glorious, waiting for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of the Great God and our Savior Jesus Christ(Titus 2:13).

Why not tell me briefly about the most important things? When we hear this great voice and terrible cry, which from the heights of heaven will say: Behold, the Groom is coming(Matthew 25:6), - behold, the Judge approaches, behold, the King appears, behold, the Judge of judges is revealed, behold, the God of all comes to judge the living and the dead! - then, lovers of Christ, from that cry the foundations and the womb of the earth will tremble from its ends to its ends, and the sea and all the depths; then, brothers, oppression and fear will come upon every person, and frenzy from the cry and the sound of the trumpet, from fear and expectations of what is coming to the universe, for, according to what is written, The forces of heaven will move(Matthew 24:29). Then the Angels will flow, the faces of the Archangels, Cherubim and Seraphim will gather, and all the many-eyed will exclaim with strength and power: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, Who is and is and is to come(Rev. 4:8). Then every creature in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth will cry out with trembling and strength: blessed is he who is to come(Matthew 21:9) King in the name of the Lord. Then the heavens will be torn apart, and the King of kings, our Most Pure and Glorious God, will be revealed, like terrible lightning, with great power and incomparable glory, as John the Theologian preached, saying: Behold, he is coming from the clouds heavenly, and every eye will see him, and those who are like him will give birth, and all the tribes of the earth will weep for him.(Rev. 1:7).

What soul can then find so much strength in itself to endure this? For heaven and earth will flee, as the Theologian says again: I saw the Throne great and white, and Him who sat on it, from whose presence heaven and earth fled, and no place was found for them(Rev. 20:11). Have you ever seen such fear? Have you seen such extraordinary and terrible things? Heaven and earth will flee: who will be able to stand after that? Where will we, sinners, run away when we see the Thrones set up and the seated Lord of all ages, when we see countless armies standing in fear around the Throne? Then Daniel's prophecy will be fulfilled. In vain,- it is said, - until the Thrones were erected, and the Ancient One was gray, and His clothes were as white as snow, and the hair of His head was as pure as a wave, His Throne was a fiery flame, His wheels were scorching with fire. A river of fire flows forth before Him: thousands of thousands serve Him, and ten thousand stand before Him: the Judgment is seated, and the books opened(Dan.7:9-10). There will be great fear, and trembling, and frenzy at that hour, brothers, when He gathers an impartial judgment, and those terrible books are opened, where our deeds and words are written, and everything that we said and did in this life, and that thought, as it is written, to hide from God, the testing hearts and wombs(Apoc.2:23), for the power of your head, all the essence(Luke 12:7), that is, the reasoning and thoughts in which we will give an account to the Judge have been taken into account.

Oh, how many tears we need for this hour! And we arrive in negligence. Oh, how much we will weep and groan for ourselves when we see the great gifts that those who have labored well will receive from the King of Glory! Then with our own eyes we will see the indescribable Kingdom of Heaven, and, on the other hand, we will also see the terrible torments that are opening, in the middle - every knee and every breath of man from the progenitor Adam to the one born after all, and everyone bows their knees with trembling and bows down, as it is written: As I live, says the Lord: For every knee will worship Me.(Rom. 14:11). Then, lovers of Christ, all humanity will be placed in the midst of the Kingdom and condemnation, life and death, amidst security and need. Everyone will be waiting for the terrible Judgment Hour, and no one will be able to help anyone. Then what will be required from everyone is a confession of faith, an obligation to Baptism, a faith pure from all heresy, an unbroken seal and an undefiled tunic, according to what is written: Everyone around Him will bring gifts(Ps. 75: 12) to the terrible King. Because from everyone who entered into citizenship in the Holy Church, an account of the strength of each will be required: the torture will be even stronger(Wis.6:6), - according to what is written. To everyone much will be given to him, much will be demanded from him(Luke 12:48). Measure in moderation every, will measure up to him(Mark 4:24).

However, whether someone is great or small, we still confessed the faith and accepted the holy seal. Everyone equally renounced the devil by breathing on him, and everyone equally made a promise to Christ by worshiping Him - if only you understood the power of the Sacrament of the font and the renunciation of the alien (demon). For the renunciation, which we undertake to do at holy Baptism, is apparently expressed not by many words, but by the thought contained in it, and it is very important. Whoever was able to preserve it is blessed. For in a few words we renounce everything that is called bad, which only God hates; we renounce not one, not two, not ten bad deeds, but everything that is called bad, everything that is hated by God. For example, it is said: I renounce Satan and all his works. What's going on? - Listen: fornication, adultery, uncleanness, lies, theft (robbery), envy, poisoning, fortune-telling, sorcery, irritability, anger, blasphemy, enmity, quarrels, jealousy, I renounce drunkenness, idle talk, pride, idleness, I renounce mockery, drunkenness ( playing the flute), demonic songs, child molestation, fortune-telling by the flight of birds, invoking spirits, fortune-telling writing on leaves, renouncing sacrifices to idols, blood, strangled and carrion. But why talk a lot? There is no time to list everything. Let's leave a lot and say simply: I renounce everything that happens in the sun, moon and stars, in springs and trees, at crossroads, in liquids and cups, many disorderly deeds, which it is shameful to even talk about. We renounce all this and the like - everything that we all know is the works and teachings of the devil - through renunciation at holy baptism. We learned many bad things when we were previously in darkness under the power of the devil, until the light touched us, until sold we were for sin(Rom.7:14). When the humane and merciful God was pleased to deliver us from such error, the East visited us from above, the saving grace of God appeared, the Lord gave Himself for us, redeemed us from idolatry’s flattery and deigned to renew us with water and spirit. Therefore we renounced all this, putting off the old man with his deeds(Col.3:9), put on the new Adam. So, whoever, after receiving grace, does the evil deeds mentioned above, has fallen from grace, and Christ will not benefit (help) him in the least while he remains in sin.

Have you heard, lovers of Christ, how many evil deeds you have renounced in a few words? This renunciation and good confession will be required of each of us at that hour and day, for it is written: Be justified by your words(Matthew 12:37). And the Lord also says: I judge from your mouth, wicked servant(Luke 19:22).

So, it is clear that our words will either condemn or justify us at that hour. How will everyone be interrogated? Shepherds, that is, bishops, will be questioned both about their own lives and about their flock; From everyone they will demand the (good) verbal sheep that he received from the Chief Shepherd Christ. If, through the bishop’s negligence, a sheep dies, then its blood will be exacted from his hands. In the same way, the priests will give an answer for their Church, and together the deacons and all believers will give an answer for their house, for their wife, for their children, for their male and female servants: did he educate them in the discipline and teaching of the Lord,- as the apostle commanded (Eph.6:4). Then kings and princes, rich and poor, great and small, will be asked about all the deeds that they have done. For it is written that We will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ(Rom.14:10); let everyone accept what he has done with his body, either good or evil(2 Cor. 5:10). And elsewhere it is written: there is nothing that will be snuffed out of my hand(Deut. 32:39).

“We ask you to tell us what will happen after that,” they ask me. With my heart disease I will say that you will not be able to hear what will happen after this. Let’s stop talking better, lovers of Christ.

The Christ-loving ones again said: “Is this really more terrible than what was said before, which we have already heard from you?” The teacher, crying again, said: “I tell you with tears, without tears it is impossible to tell everything, because it will be the last. But since we have a commandment from the Apostle to betray Siya is a faithful person(2 Tim. 2:2) - and you are faithful, then I convey this to you, and you tell others too. If I am sick at heart while telling this story, then be compassionate towards me, blessed brothers.

Then, lovers of Christ, after the deeds of everyone will be examined and declared before Angels and men, and He will put all enemies under His feet(1 Cor. 15:25), will abolish all principality and all authority and power(1 Cor. 15:24) and Every knee will bow God (Rom. 14:11), - according to what is written. Then the Lord will separate them from each other, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Those who have good deeds and good fruits will be separated from the unfruitful and sinful. And they will shine like the sun; it is those who have kept the commandments of the Lord, who are merciful, loving the poor, loving the orphans, hospitable to strangers, clothing the naked, visiting those in prison, interceding for the oppressed, visiting the sick, weeping now, as the Lord said (Matthew 5:4), who have now become poor for the sake of riches , kept in heaven, they forgive the sins of their brothers, they have kept the seal of faith, unbroken and pure from all heresy. The Lord will place these on the right hand, and the goats on the left, that is, precisely those who are barren, have angered the good Shepherd, do not heed the words of the Chief Shepherd, are arrogant, ignorant, who at the present time of repentance, like goats, play and bask, who spend the entire time of their lives in gluttony, drunkenness and hardness of heart, like the rich man who never showed pity to poor Lazarus. That is why they are condemned to stand on their feet, as unmerciful, uncompassionate, having absolutely neither the fruits of repentance nor oil in their lamps. And those who bought themselves oil from the poor and filled their vessels with it will stand at the right hand in glory and joy, holding brightly burning lamps, and will hear that blessed and merciful voice: Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world(Matthew 25:34). Those standing on the left will hear this formidable and severe sentence: Depart from Me, curse, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angel(Matthew 25:41). Just as you did not show mercy, so you yourself will not now have mercy, just as you did not listen to My voice, so now I will not listen to your complaints, because you did not serve Me: you did not feed the hungry, you did not give drink to the thirsty, you did not take in strange things. , they did not clothe the naked, they did not visit the sick, they did not come to Me when I was in prison. You have become workers and servants of another master, that is, the devil. Therefore, depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. Then these go into everlasting torment: but the righteous into everlasting life(Matthew 25:46).

John F. MacArthur

Jesus answered and said to them, “Beware that no one deceives you, for many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will deceive many. You will also hear about wars and war rumors. See, do not be horrified, for all this must happen, but this is not the end yet: for nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in places; yet this is the beginning of illness. Then they will hand you over to torture and kill you; and you will be hated by all nations because of my name; and then many will be offended, and will betray one another, and will hate one another; and many false prophets will arise and deceive many; and because iniquity increases, the love of many will grow cold. He who endures to the end will be saved. And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come" ( Matt. 24:4-14)

The actual Olivet Sermon begins in verse 4, which Jesus delivered in response to the disciples’ question: “Tell us, when will this be? And what is the sign of Your coming and the end of the age? (v. 3). As stated in the previous chapter, the Twelve “thought that the kingdom of God was about to be opened” (Luke 19:11), and the events of the last few days had cemented this thought even more firmly in their minds. They had long believed that Jesus was the Messiah and that John the Baptist was His prophesied forerunner. The cheering of the crowds at Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the cleansing of the temple, the condemnation of the religious leaders, and His prediction of the destruction of the temple all led them to believe that the Lord would soon reveal His messianic glory, subdue the nations that rebelled against Him, and establish His eternal Kingdom. . They were unable to accept Jesus' numerous predictions that He would first suffer, die, and be resurrected.

The disciples thought that Jesus' preaching, healing, consolation, judgment, and restoration of Israel would all occur during the same period of time. Like the Old Testament prophets who spoke about the Messiah, the disciples imagined only one Coming, including a whole series of events (see, for example, Isa. 61: 1-11).

Perhaps the first key to understanding that the Coming of Christ would occur in two stages was Jesus’ reading of this passage from the book of the prophet Isaiah during a service in the synagogue of Nazareth. Jesus stopped short of reading verse 2, omitting the phrase “and the day of vengeance of our God.” Then He explained, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:18-21). Jesus emphasized that at that time He did not come to judge, but to preach the Gospel and heal diseases.

But since the disciples did not understand His prompting, as well as many other specific teachings that He came to die for the sins of the people, they expected Jesus to complete His messianic mission then, perhaps in the next few days or so. weeks The students were expecting something dramatic. They felt that the Son in Isa. 9:6 was ready to place upon His shoulders the government of the Kingdom of God, and that the stone which was cut out of the mountain without hands (Dan. 2:34) was ready to destroy the power of wicked men. The Messiah, the Prince, was ready to put an end to sin, stop iniquity, bestow everlasting righteousness, and become the anointed King, the holiest of all kings. They looked forward to how the Son of Man would soon be given an eternal kingdom and glory. They were convinced that very soon Israel would turn to the Lord and call on His name, and that the Lord would say, “These are My people,” and they would say, “The Lord is my God!” (Zech. 13:9).

But in the Olivet Sermon, Jesus makes it clear that all this will happen in the future. Chapters 24-25 of the Gospel of Matthew are a prophetic sermon that tells the twelve disciples about a time that has not yet come, about a time in which they themselves will not live.

There are at least six indications in the sermon itself that it is talking about the distant future and that it cannot be applied to events associated with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, as many interpreters believe, or to the era Churches, as others suggest.

The first such sign is birth pangs, where false Christs (Matt. 24:5), wars between nations (vv. 6-7a), famines and earthquakes (v. 7 b) are only the “beginning” (v. 8). The figurative expression “birth pangs” was often used by ancient Jewish writers, especially in connection with the end times. The great modern Jewish scholar Alfred Edersheim writes: “The Jewish scriptures very often speak of the birth pangs of the Messiah.”

The pangs of birth do not occur at the time of conception or during pregnancy, but just before birth. Therefore, the figurative expression “birth pangs” could not personify either the destruction of Jerusalem that occurred at the beginning of the Church era, or the Church era itself as a whole.

Paul reminded the Thessalonians that Christ would come as a thief comes at night—unexpectedly, quietly, and suddenly. Using the same figurative expression that Jesus used in the Olivet Sermon, the Apostle said: “When they say, ‘Peace and safety,’ then destruction will suddenly come upon them, just as the pain of childbirth comes upon one who is pregnant, and they will not escape” (1 Thess. 5:1-3).

The pangs of birth begin just before labor, and contractions gradually become more frequent until the baby is born. In the same way, the events associated with the Lord's return will begin immediately before His Coming and will quickly increase and intensify until they turn into a series of catastrophes. This same period is depicted in the book of Revelation as the seals of judgment are broken and events unfold, probably over several years (see 6:1-8:6). Then the trumpet judgments occur in a much shorter period of time, probably weeks (see 8:7-9:21; 11:15-19), and the bowls of God's wrath are poured out on the earth, most likely over a period of days or even hours (see 16:1-21).

The second indication that these events belong to the future is noted in Matt. 24:13-14, where Jesus talks about believers who will endure birth pangs to the end. Since the disciples clearly did not live to see the end of the age, the events of chapters 24-25 could not apply to them or to other believers, including those living today. All believers who will be alive at that time will be raptured immediately before the Great Tribulation (1 Thess. 4:17), so all these events will not affect them. These events can only apply to those who believe in Christ during the Great Tribulation, whose true faith will be confirmed by their perseverance to the end (Matt. 24:13).

The third sign is the proclamation of the Gospel throughout the world (Matt. 24:14). This event completely excludes the apostolic era, when even the Roman Empire was not entirely evangelized. This event cannot be applied to our time, when, despite the spread of the Gospel through modern media throughout the world, there are still billions of people who have never heard the Gospel. In Matt. 24:14 is implied, and in Rev. 14:6-7 explains that the future proclamation of the gospel throughout the world that Jesus speaks of will happen miraculously and in an instant.

The fourth sign is “the abomination that makes desolate, [spoken] through the prophet Daniel” (Matthew 24:15). Daniel predicted that just before the Messiah would establish His Kingdom and judge the world, the Antichrist would “[stop] sacrifice and oblation, and the abomination that makes desolate will be upon the pinnacle of the sanctuary, and the final decreed destruction will come upon the desolator” (Dan. 9:27). This has yet to happen.

The fifth sign that Jesus is talking about future events is “great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, nor will there be” (Matt. 24:21). The terrible events that Christ describes in this sermon will be the most tragic in the history of mankind, and they will occur at the end of the age, when the full and final judgment of God will be poured out on wicked people. Jesus speaks of the time prophesied by Daniel when “a time of trouble will come, such as never was since men existed until this time,” which will be accompanied by the resurrection of the righteous to eternal life and the wicked to eternal damnation (Dan. 12: 1-2).

The sixth sign is “after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken; then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven” (Matt. 24:29-30). These supernatural events have clearly not yet occurred.

The seventh and final sign that Jesus was talking about the distant future is illustrated by the fig tree (Matt. 24:32-35). Just as the budding leaves of the fig tree indicate the approach of summer, so the events that Christ mentions here will be a sign of His near Coming. “This generation will not pass away,” that is, the generation that will live at the end of the age, “after all these things have happened” (v. 34). The signs described in Matt. 24-25, will take place before the eyes of one generation - the generation that will witness the Coming of Jesus Christ.

Thus, everything that Christ said in the Olivet Sermon will be fulfilled in the future. This does not mean that most of the circumstances and events mentioned here have never occurred before. There have been wars and rumors of war practically since the time of the flood; Throughout history, humanity has suffered from famine, and earthquakes have occurred throughout history. But the events recounted in Matt. 24-25 will be unique and end-time, both in description and in consistency, scope and power. Some of them, such as the destruction of the physical universe (24:29), will be completely unique.

The fact that Jesus spoke in the second person, especially in chapter 24, is not proof that He spoke to the disciples about their generation. The Old Testament prophets also often addressed their words to distant descendants. God miraculously transported the prophet to the time about which he was to prophesy. And the prophet seemed to be directly addressing people of future generations (see, for example, Isa. 33:17-24; 66:10-14; Zech. 9:9). Jesus was essentially saying, “You who live at that time...”

Since Matt. 24:4, Jesus answers the disciples' questions: “When will this be? And what is the sign of Your coming and the end of the age? (v. 3). But He gives the answer in reverse order. Jesus does not address the question of “when” until 24:36, where he declares, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but only My Father.” In 24:4-14, Jesus answers the second question by naming the first six signs, the “birth pangs,” that will begin immediately before His Coming: the deception of false Christs (vv. 4-5), enmity between the nations of the world (vv. 6-7a) , widespread catastrophes (vv. 7b-8), the delivery of believers to suffering (v. 9), the apostasy of professed believers (vv. 10-13) and the proclamation of the Gospel throughout the world (v. 14).

John F. MacArthur, Interpretation of the Books of the New Testament, Gospel of Matthew, 24-28, Slavic Evangelical Society, 2008

Many have heard about the second coming of Christ, but not everyone knows what exactly will happen, what are the signs of this event and what outcome should be expected. The Bible says a lot about this event and many predictors spoke about it.

What is the second coming of Christ?

Orthodoxy professes an important truth that indicates that Jesus will come to earth one more time. This information was communicated to more than 2 thousand followers at the moment when the Savior ascended to heaven. The second coming of Jesus Christ will be completely different from the first. He will come to earth as a spiritual king in divine light.

1. It is believed that by this time each person will make a choice on which side to take, good or evil.
2. In addition, the second coming of Christ will occur after the dead are resurrected and the living are transfigured. The souls of people who have already died are united with their bodies. After this there will be a division into the Kingdom of God and Hell.
3. Many people are interested in whether Jesus Christ will be human at the Second Coming or will appear in a different form. According to existing information, the Savior will be in a human body, but he will look different and his name will be different. This information can be found in Revelation.

Signs of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ

In the Bible and other sources you can find a description of signs indicating that “time X” is approaching. Each person himself decides to believe in whether there will be a second coming of Christ or not, it all depends on the strength of faith.

1. The gospel will be spread throughout the world. Although modern media distributes the text of the Bible, millions of people have never heard of this book. Before Christ comes down to earth again, the gospel will be spread everywhere.
2. When figuring out what the second coming of Christ will be like, it is worth noting that there will be the appearance of fake prophets and Saviors who will spread false teachings. As an example, we can cite various psychics and magicians, whom the church calls a manifestation of demonism.
3. One of the signs is called falling. Due to the growth of lawlessness, many people stop loving not only each other, but also the Lord. People will betray, children will rebel against their parents, and so on.
4. When figuring out when the second coming of Christ is expected, it is worth pointing out that before this event there will be wars and disasters on earth. Natural disasters are also inevitable.
5. The devil will send the Antichrist to earth before the second coming.

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ – when will it happen?

When the Savior himself spoke about his own return, he argued that no one knows when this will happen, neither angels nor saints, but only the Lord God. It is possible to independently understand when the second coming of Jesus Christ will be, since the Bible contains a description of the events that will definitely occur before this great day. Believers close to the Lord will receive a sign that Jesus will soon come to earth, even before the events described in the Bible.

What will happen after the second coming of Christ?

The main idea of ​​the re-coming of Jesus to earth is a universal judgment of people - not only the living, but also the dead. The Second Coming of Jesus Christ will be the complete opposite of the Incarnation. After this, worthy people and the souls of the dead will inherit the eternal Kingdom, and those who sinned will be subject to torment. It is believed that after this great event, heaven and earth will unite, with the exception of the sphere where God is with the inhabitants of heaven. There is also an indication in the Bible that the earth and heaven will be created in a new way.

The Second Coming of Christ – What Does the Bible Say?

Many people seek information about the appearance of the Savior in the most important source for believers - the Bible. The Gospel indicates that before this happens, Jesus will come to earth, who will carry out a fair judgment, and it will concern both the living and the dead. When the second coming of Christ will occur according to the Bible is unclear in terms of the exact date, since this information is known only to the Lord.

The Second Coming of Christ - Prophecies

Many famous soothsayers predicted a great event when Jesus would come to earth and all sinners would pay for what they had done, and believers would receive a reward.

1. The biblical prophet Daniel made predictions about the second coming of Christ. He was talking about the date of this event, even before Jesus first came into the world. Researchers who deciphered the predictions determined the approximate date - 2038. Daniel argued that after Christ's reappearance, people who do not accept the mark of the beast will live with Jesus on earth for another thousand years.
2. Edgar Cayce offers two prophecies. The first option indicates that in 2013 in America the church was supposed to recognize Christ in a nine-year-old child, but, as we see, this prediction did not come true. According to the second option, the Messiah will appear in the same image and age at which he was crucified on the cross. This event will occur at the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century. He made one more clarification that this would happen after the Atlantean library was found under the Egyptian Sphinx.

The second coming of Jesus Christ - the revelation of John the Theologian

One of the apostles in his sermons talked about how Christ will definitely descend to earth a second time, but he will no longer appear as a humiliated son of man, as he did the first time, but as the true Son of God. He will be surrounded by angelic servants. Prophecies about the second coming of Jesus Christ indicate that this event will be terrible and formidable, since he will not save, but judge the world.

The apostle does not say when this event will take place, but he points out some signs of the great event. This concerns the impoverishment of faith and love among people. He confirms many prophecies of the Old Testament that numerous cataclysms will sweep across the earth and signs will be visible in the sky. At this moment, you will be able to see a sign in the sky about the appearance of the Son of the Lord.

Prophecy of Nostradamus about the second coming of Christ

The famous predictor described future events not only verbally, but also through drawings, the number of which is enormous.

1. One of the images shows Jesus descending from heaven with many angels around him.
2. Nostradamus says about the second coming of Christ that when this happens, the church will not at first recognize the new Messiah. This is explained by the fact that many clergy have already desecrated their souls, so they simply will not be able to recognize Jesus.
3. Another image shows the Savior and a warrior pointing a sword at his face. By this, Nostradamus wanted to say that many people and social groups will not accept the second coming of Christ and will resist him, but the Lord will intercede for him.
4. Another picture shows that the new Messiah will be completely ordinary, that is, he will not stand out among ordinary people.

Vanga about the second coming of Christ

The famous fortune teller helped people through prayers and was often asked if she had seen Jesus. Vanga has talked more than once about the second coming of Christ, which will happen in the near future. Jesus will descend to Earth in his white robes and the chosen people will feel in their hearts that an important time is coming. Vanga argued that the truth should be sought in the Bible, which will help all those who have purified themselves and risen morally.