Written by A.D.H. Thomas

Brethren Of Christ Articles - Prophecy

When will Jesus Christ return to this earth? Where are we in the Divine timetable?

Without his return there can be no resurrection of the dead; no establishment of the kingdom of God; no fulfilment of the promises to Abraham, David and all those who shared their faith; and no deliverance from the curse of sin and death, which continues to blight the earth.

The personal, literal return of Jesus Christ back to this earth is essential for the realisation of the Gospel or the One Hope set forth in the Bible. For believers of the gospel then, the return of the Lord Jesus Christ must surely be the single most important event on which all their hopes and expectations are centred.

Not only would we expect that his coming, and the events surrounding it, be the subject of much of the Scriptures, but that its Author would also reveal the time of his coming, for the benefit of those who are looking for and desirous of Christ’s return. And we would not be mistaken in this assumption.

From these we learn that: -

1. He comes when the world is in a state of spiritual darkness, (Isaiah 59:20, 60:1-3, Ephesians 4:17-18).
2. He comes at a time of international anxiety and distress, (Luke 21:25-27).
3. He comes when Israel is in need of deliverance from a Russian led confederacy of Nations, (Ezekiel 38:1-9, Micah 5:2, 5).
4. He comes when there is a peace and safety cry, (1 Thess. 5:2-3).
5. He comes when the world is spiritually asleep, (1 Thess. 5:2, 6, 7).
6. He comes when the sins of the nations cry out for judgement, (Joel 3:1, 2, 9-16).

It might be argued that there have always been times when, apart a Russian invasion of Israel, these conditions have prevailed, but not at one and the same time.

The Scriptures which refer to the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ make it clear that he is coming for the purpose of: -

1. Resurrecting the dead.
2. Judging and rewarding individuals.
3. Setting up his kingdom, over which he will reign as king.

Our purpose in this article is to determine what the Scriptures have to say about the time of his coming, not the purpose of his coming. But it is those Biblical references to the purpose of his coming, which provide the clues, as it were, to the time of his coming.

For example, in the 11th chapter of the book of Revelation verse 15, we read that“and the seventh angel sounded (the seventh trumpet, Rev. 8:2); and there were great voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”

From this we learn that it is during the sounding of the seventh angel’s trumpet, that Christ will return to begin to his reign over all the kingdoms of the world.

Now it is evident from many other Scriptures that this transfer of the rulership of the kingdoms and dominions of the world, will be by conquest. For example, in the 2nd chapter of the prophecy of Daniel we have the interpretation of a dream seen by the great king of Babylon, as depicting the overthrow of all human governments at a certain epoch. The kingdoms of men, prior to the time of their dramatic dissolution, are represented in the dream as a human colossus, comprised of different metallic elements. The destruction of this mighty image was by a certain stone power, which ground it to pieces so effectually that its remnants are described as chaff blown away by the wind. The stone power then became a great mountain that filled the whole earth, (Dan 2:31-35). As to the meaning of this God given dream, we learn that it prefigured the conquering of the world by the stone power and the setting up of an everlasting kingdom on the earth, “in the days of these kings (represented by the feet of the image) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand for ever…..the dream is certain and the interpretation sure,” (Daniel 2: 44, 45). Who or what is the stone power that accomplishes such a dramatic change in the political geography of the world? None other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He identifies himself with this stone in Matthew 21:42 as “the stone which the builders rejected” and speaking of its destiny says, in verse 44, “on whomsoever it shall fall it shall grind him to pieces.”