Jesus: The Returning One

One day in a stable a baby was born;

He was the King’s Son, but came unadorned.

That special Babe would be Savior to all.

He was called Jesus and born in a stall.

He was brought to the Temple and praised by some,

Though more did not know what soon was to come.

Joseph and Mary, His father and mother,

Knew not that their Son was above every other.

Jesus was born a poor carpenter’s Son,

But whatever He did was always well done.

He went back to the Temple and got scholars mad;

They said He was crazy; He called God His Dad.

Jesus then traveled around and about;

He got twelve disciples, but one was a lout.

The leaders were mad, but crowds often came

And followed and listened to Him just the same.

His disciples heard things that they did not get,

How Jesus would die but still be with them yet.

One night soldiers came, led by that lout,

To sleeping disciples and Jesus, devout.

A horrible action, so terribly cruel,

To torture and spit and call Him a fool.

Up to the last He said not a word

Even when questioned, although He heard.

Beaten and whipped, with thorns on His head,

He was nailed to a cross and soon He was dead.

After He died He was put in a grave

And all of His friends mourned for three days.

Some women took spices like myrrh and the such,

And went to the tomb, for they loved Him so much!

But it looked like the body had been taken out,

And they worried and cried and then gave a shout

When they learned that Jesus had risen that day.

And still He’s alive, and He hears when we pray.

One day in the future, we don’t know when,

He will return in His glory again.

There’ll be a great battle, but Christ will win,

And Satan shall lose and there’ll be no more sin.

This wonderful poem was written by my daughter Sarah, age 10. She insists that I say that I helped – all I did was smooth out a few rough edges. Today we are going to look at the topic of those last four verses – the return of Christ.

This is the third and final part of our series on Jesus – the One. He is called “the One” with regards to His death, His resurrection, and His return. I consider His return to be every bit as important as His death and resurrection, and I believe Scripture clearly shows that it is every bit as important. One gets this sense simply by looking at how many passages of scripture deal with His return – it is a major topic of Scripture, in the Old Testament, in the Gospels, in the New Testament letters, and of course in the book of Revelation.

Today, as much as possible, when talking about the return of Christ, I really want to focus on Jesus Himself, as opposed to focusing on what our future will be like, or on the details of the events that will happen. I want to focus on questions like, “What is Jesus like?” “What is His character, His personality?” We get perhaps the best picture of this from a number of passages in Revelations, and so I will start with reading these.

I turned around to see the Voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to His feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. Then He placed His right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. – Revelations 1:12-18

What a description! And yet not a description. It is difficult to picture these things. That He was “like a son of man” is saying that John knew that this was Jesus; “Son of Man” was one of Jesus’ favorite ways of describing Himself; it is actually a lowly description, in many ways. Probably the most frequent use of the phrase is in Ezekiel, where God repeatedly tells the prophet to do this or do that, each time calling Him “Son of Man.” So the phrase sends the message of a humble servant doing whatever the Lord God commands. Of course, this is an excellent picture of Jesus – who did the incomparably most difficult assignment ever asked for by God, entering earth as a mere human baby, and living as a limited human – and a humble one at that – only to be told to willingly die an agonizing death on the cross. But also the phrase is meant to bring to mind the unmistakably prophetic visions of Christ that Daniel experienced. Here is the key passage from the book of Daniel:

"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. – Daniel 7:13-14

But back to our description in Revelations 1: Try to actually picture these things. [He was] dressed in a robe reaching down to His feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. Is this an actual physical description or an impression of what John felt when He saw Jesus? I think it was a little of each. What we can be sure of was that the presence of Jesus was absolutely overwhelming. John fell at Jesus’ feet as though dead. But notice the detail of what happens next – this awesome, overwhelming, holy, terrible, fear-inspiring Presence does what? He puts His hand on John and says, “Do not fear. Do not be afraid.”

Do you know that it is absolutely certain that a day is coming when you too will be face to face with God in all His terrible power and might and holiness? You cannot avoid it. If you are a Christian, someone who has believed on Him – not just in Him – but on Him – personally turning over your life to Him, trusting in Him for your salvation, I believe He will no less terrifying, but He will put His hand on you or even hug you, and He will welcome you! He will quiet your fears. Scripture says He will even wipe away every tear! But understand – you will see Him as He really is. He will not be veiled by His pre-resurrection flesh. He will be transfigured, like He was briefly on that mountaintop 2000 years ago with His closest disciples. This is Who He is. He is God. He is overwhelming. The Old Testament people knew – “Who can look on the God and live?” We will not only live, but live eternally, because of what He has done for us.

The seventh angel sounded His trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign for ever and ever." And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were angry; and Your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding Your servants the prophets and Your saints and those who reverence Your name, both small and great—and for destroying those who destroy the earth." – Revelations 11:15-18

This passage in a few verses tells us much about what it will be like when Christ returns. He will reign with God the Father. He will judge – terrible judgment will be pronounced on all who have rejected Christ, from beggars to kings, it will make no difference. This judgment is eternal judgment. If you die without turning to Christ, it will be too late. Death will feel like the briefest sleep, and then you will be face to face before the terrible and mighty Creator of the Universe, and though you too may fall at your feet as though dead at the sight of Him, He will not take you by the hand and welcome you. It will be as if He never knew you – in fact, this may be exactly what He says to you. We too would receive that judgment if it were not for God’s salvation in Christ that we have taken hold of by faith.

And He will reward those who have turned to Christ – again, from beggars to kings, it will make no difference. What are these rewards? In some passages they are referred to as crowns. If you want to do a wonderful word study sometime, study all the passages with the word crown. In Psalm 8:5 you see the crown “of glory and honor” bestowed on men; in Psalm 103:4, the crowns “of love and compassion,” and in Psalm 149:4, the crown “of salvation.” In Isaiah 35:10 and Isaiah 51:11 there is the crown “of everlasting joy.” I really like that thought. In the New Testament Paul talks about receiving a crown in I Cor. 9:25 and 2 Tim. 2:5, and he even goes to say that the friends he is writing to are his crown from God in Phil. 4:1 and I Thess. 2:19. I really like that thought too. Can you imagine someone that you partner with God with to bring to a saving knowledge of Christ? This person will, perfected and completed as you will be perfected and completed, will be your dear friend forever – what a crown! 2 Tim. 4:8 talks of the crown “of righteousness,” Hebrews 2:9 and I Peter 5:4 the crown “of glory and honor,” and James 1:12 and Rev. 2:10 the crown “of life.” I really like that thought, too. That word “life” in Greek is zoe, and it means not just being alive, but the absolute fullness and richness and blessedness of life. It’s the same word that appears in John1:4, which says of Christ, “in Him was life”; that is the kind or quality of life we will have. It’s not just that we will be have new bodies that don’t decay, although that is certainly a part of it. But we will be alive! We won’t just not hate anymore, we will love with a depth that will make our deepest professions and commitments of love in this life look like mere wisps, nothings. I think perhaps this part of why there won’t be marriage in heaven – frankly, even though we have Christ living in us, a relationship with a spouse and children is all we can handle, and we don’t handle that very well. This life, this zoe we will experience, will be filled with love – emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, at a depth that we be like the difference between my 4-year old daughter Hannah playing the piano and Beethoven playing the piano.

We need to keep moving… here is another passage from Revelations that focuses on Christ:

I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one "like a son of man" with a crown of gold on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. – Revelations 14:14

Again the Son of Man. What is in His hand? A sickle. Not just a sickle, but a sharp sickle. There is so much Old Testament symbolism involving the sickle, but I don’t have time today to do it justice. Many people have looked at the various Old Testament feasts and holidays as symbolic of things of Christ. Many think, and I also think, that the Feast of Tabernacles is the one feast that has not yet been fulfilled in a meaningful way by Christ, and will be fulfilled at Christ’s return. If you think about the whole process of growing a crop, the last step is the sickle, the cutting down the crop, leaving stubble, leaving plants that will die as winter approaches. After the harvest, that planting season is over. It is final. It is done.

The return of Christ signals the end of this age. The time for the harvest is here. A sickle gathers the crops in from the field. But a sickle can also be used to cut down things you do not want to live, such as weeds. Later in Rev. 14, we see an angel also with a sickle, and this sickle is used to cut down grapes – not a normal use for a sickle, because we normally see grapes as something good, something picked by hand carefully, not hacked at with a sickle. But the purpose of the angel’s sickle, it seems to me, is to put an end to the grapes. The vine symbolically is Israel in many passages, and so the implication here may be that there is a gathering, once and for all, to those who are not in Christ. I think this refers to everyone in the whole world who is not in Christ. Symbolically, this passage describes these grapes as being trod by the winepress of God’s wrath.

We could go on and on with passages from Revelations, but I want to turn to several passages elsewhere that speak of Christ’s return.

Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him. – Hebrews 9:27-28

Didn’t Christ already bring salvation with His death? In one sense the answer is yes, but in another it is no. When, by faith, we believe in the Lord and trust in Him that His death is payment for our sins, it is as if we receive a promissory note, something like a concert ticket. We know that the ticket is good for admission, but we haven’t yet been to the concert. When Christ returns, that is like the concert. What is this ticket? Consider this verse from 2 Corinthians:

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. – 2 Corinthians 1:21-22

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. – 2 Corinthians 5:1-5

That word “life” is zoe. When Christ returns, what is mortal will be swallowed up by the fullness of life that God has always intended for us. So what is our ticket to the concert? It is the Holy Spirit in our hearts. I once had this thought of what it might be like for God looking down on humanity – I picture a high bird’s eye view, up a few thousand feet, where people look more like ants, and I imagine that people who are Christians, who have this deposit of the Holy Spirit, are somehow clearly marked – perhaps when God looks down on them He sees a cross on those who are in Christ and nothing on those who are not. I realize this is just my imagination, but I don’t think it is far from the spiritual truth. The preacher Charles Stanley has talked about those who are not in Christ as “walking dead men.” We too are walking dead men, but we have the “ticket” of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, guaranteeing what is to come when Christ returns.

This makes me excited about the return of Christ despite the fact that I am also apprehensive. Aren’t there terrible things that will be going on before He returns? Won’t the whole earth experience pains like the pains of childbirth? Now I realize I am on shaky ground, as a man, talking about the pains of childbirth, but let me ask you mothers – when you were pregnant with your first child, weren’t you apprehensive about the coming date, about having to go through the pain of delivery? Actually, perhaps I should be asking the husbands – God miraculously wipes the memory of most unpleasant things associated with childbirth in mothers. But he doesn’t wipe the memory from us husbands! We remember. I may get myself in trouble here, but with the upcoming birth of our first child, my wife was totally consumed with the delivery event. I hope I wasn’t too insensitive, but my main concern was what happened after the delivery. We are going to have this little creature to care for! How in the world will we do that? But my wife wasn’t worried about that at all – it was just going through the delivery that was her focus.

Again, I am probably going boldly where no man should go, but ultimately, I was right! The delivery was temporary – a handful of hours, in our case – but I am still trying to figure out how to care for this creature (far from little, now) that God has given us to care for, along with the three other creatures He has now also given us.

And so it should be with us and how we view Christ’s return. Compared to eternity, what is a year? What is an entire lifetime on earth? Nothing! A thousand years from now, a million years from now, a billion years from now, what will our memory of any unpleasant things associated with Christ’s return be like? If we remember it at all, it will be like an ancient, distant, foggy dream.

Now given that the Holy Spirit in our hearts is a deposit guaranteeing what is to come, given that it is like in some ways a concert ticket, what is going to happen when Christ returns? Will we still have the Holy Spirit in our hearts? I don’t know. But I am pretty sure that even if we do, it will be a totally different experience. Certainly the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, will be totally different – listen to Paul:

But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. – I Corinthians 13:8-12

I don’t know about you, but this excites me. This makes me not worry so much about trials and tribulations we may have to experience before we are transformed by Christ and with Him forever. What exactly will this future life, this zoe, be like? We don’t know, but we know it will be good. It will be incredible!

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. – I John 3:2

I believe that no one can really see God as He is until He is transformed on the day of His appearing. Even John, in His visions in Revelations, did not see Him as He is, but saw powerful, overwhelming visions of Him symbolic of His power, His future roles. But we shall see Him as He is, unfiltered, unlimited. Today no one could see Him like this and live. But we – in our transformed bodies, and with our transformed hearts – will see Him and experience Him fully. Even then, will it be an overwhelming experience? Absolutely! But it will be awesome. It will be wonderful.

I have one more passage I would like to look at, from I Thessalonians:

Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.  But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. – I Thessalonians 5:1-11

As a “take home” application, I would encourage you to do what this passage says. I know we are all busy, and the busyness of life can make us discouraged and make us forget our calling, our future. I would just remind you to make time in the week, even a little time, to call each other or email each other or even make a short visit. Encourage one another and build each other up. You know the little secret about doing this, don’t you? The secret is that if you do this, it will usually encourage you and build up you even more than it does the person you call or visit!

We are not destined for the destiny of this world. We are just visitors here. We have an eternal future, eternal zoe, with Christ. Live with hope and peace and joy because this is true.

One day in the future, we don’t know when,

He will return in His glory again.

There’ll be a great battle, but Christ will win,

And Satan shall lose and there’ll be no more sin.