Awaiting the Second Coming of Jesus Christ

Christians believe that Jesus Christ came to earth some 2,000 years ago and lived as a suffering servant, and, before his ascension (see Chapter 5), he promised to return to earth one final time (John 14:3) – this time as a conquering and triumphant King. Christians believe that only God knows when exactly Jesus will come back to earth, though most every generation since the early Church looks at the events of their day in light of prophecies in scripture and concludes that surely he’ll come within their lifetime. (For more, check out the sections “Enduring Tribulation” and “Being taken up in the Rapture” that follow.)

 

The Bible talks about several events that will take place surrounding the time of Jesus’ Second Coming. However, the Christian Church often debates on the exact timeline, sequence, and meaning of these events.

 

Some Protestants, called premillennialists, believe these are literal events that will take place sometime in the future before the Second Coming. Other Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians hold amillennialist or post-millennialist positions, saying that the biblical references are metaphoric, and therefore the events actually won’t take place prior to Jesus’ Second Coming. (I discuss each of the premillennialist, amillennialist, and postmillennialist positions in the section “Enjoying the Millennium: Peace on earth,” later in this chapter.)

 

Enduring Tribulation

The Bible forewarns that before the Second Coming of Jesus, people will endure a time of great trial and suffering, often referred to as the Great Tribulation (suffering and pain don’t sound so great to me). During this time, Satan’s work in the world will become more and more rampant. Matthew 24 speaks of this as a time of great deception, wars, natural disasters, and intense persecution of Christians. On this stage, a person whom the Bible calls the antichrist will lead the opposition to God. Christians believe he’ll gain power as a leader and even proclaim himself to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:4), demanding power and allegiance (Revelation 13:11-18).

 

Many Protestants believe that the Tribulation will be a seven-year period, based on the prophecies in Daniel 9:24-27. However, the Book of Revelation, the Bible’s fullest account of prophecy relating to Christ’s Second Coming, doesn’t make any mention of a specific period of time. Instead, it talks about three “woes,” or outpourings of wrath from God that will occur in the Tribulation (9:1-12, the first woe; 9:13-21 and 11:1-13, the second woe; and 11:18, the third woe.)

 

Other Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians believe that the Tribulation has been taking place since the first century and that the Tribulation prophecies spoke of events that have transpired since that time.

 

Being taken up in the Rapture

The Rapture refers to the belief that Christians will be physically removed from earth at some point during the Second Coming of Jesus. The basic idea is that Christians will be zapped from where they are on earth – something like the effects of those old Star Trek phasers – and will meet Jesus in the sky (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, 1 Corinthians 15:51-54).

 

Many Protestants believe in a literal rapture, though other Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians don’t. Instead, they say that Paul is writing symbolically, referring to the unifying of the living and dead believers that will take place at the time of Jesus’ Second Coming.

 

However, the Protestants who agree that the Rapture will occur differ on when this event will happen in relation to the Tribulation. Three main views stand out:

 

Before the Tribulation: The pre-Tribulation viewpoint says that Christ will return for Christians before a seven-year tribulation. Christians then are spared from going through the ordeal. If you’ve read or heard of any of the Left Behind books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (Tyndale House Publishers,  1996) that were all the craze at the turn of the millennium, this is the view presented in that fiction book series.

 

In the middle of the Tribulation: Proponents of the mid-Tribulation viewpoint believe that the Rapture will occur in the middle of the Tribulation.

 

At the end of the Tribulation: The post-Tribulation view argues that the Rapture and the Second Coming of Jesus are two parts of a single simultaneous event, occurring after the Tribulation.

 

From the pre-Tribulation perspective, the Rapture can occur at any time, as no prophecy needs to be fulfilled prior to the event happening. Mid- and post-Tribulation proponents naturally believe that the Tribulation must start first. At the same time, some Christians who hold the post-Tribulation position believe that you can’t necessarily pin down the start of the Tribulation, making Christ’s Second Coming still unpredictable.