Christ’s Second Presence

Well, it is true indeed that there have been disagreements amidst us regarding those questions for many years now. Nonetheless, there is almost unanimous harmony amongst us in accepting that the second presence started in 1874 A.D. In this article, we are not going to delve into arguments about whether the Kingdom of God has started or not. In recent times, doubts have cropped up among some amidst us, questioning the very surety of the second presence itself. Many are getting confused. Since mistakes had been made in the Old Chronological studies, some have started speaking against the validity of 1874 A.D. This issue is not about to indulge in chronological research. Rather this will point out that the surety of the Second Presence does not depend on chronological studies. It is natural that doubts can creep up anyone’s psyche. They even affected the mind of John the Baptist, the man who foretold the First Coming of Jesus and also baptized Him himself. He sent his disciples to ask Jesus whether he was the one who was expected to come (Matthew 11:3). How surprising is that! Hadn’t John himself, moved by the Holy Spirit, declared Jesus as the Messiah? What then made him doubt? To doubt is human nature. If we do not continually meditate on God’s Word with humility and utmost caution, our Adversary Satan could easily manage to confuse us. Therefore, let us examine what the Bible says about the Second Presence of Christ.

(2) Many in the Christian world say that Christ’s Second Presence would be visible to the human eye and that He would appear amongst the clouds, seen by everyone. But it is totally wrong to literally interpret the signs mentioned in the prophetic sections of Matthew 24. Even in Matthew 24:30, the very verse that describes the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky seen by everyone, explicitly clarifies beforehand that it is a sign (a symbol). Not only that, if we are to literally interpret Verse 30, then shouldn’t we also do the same for Verse 29? Does that mean stars are literally going to fall from the sky? (Matthew 24:29). It is a scientific truth that the earth would be decimated if even a single star falls on it. In that case, who would be there on earth to mourn when Jesus comes (as in Verse 30)? One cannot explain away the stars falling as just meteorites crashing far off from the earth. Falling meteors are a daily occurrence that people often see. It is ridiculous to think that Jesus would mention that as a major sign. The main reason behind these conflicts is the error in literally interpreting things that have been cited as signs. Only the true symbolic explanations of Verses 29 and 30 of Matthew 24 are neat and straightforward. The sun gives light during the day. The moon and stars do so in the night. None other than these provide light to the world. Using them as symbols, Verse 29 indicates that there are going to be dark times of confusion and trouble on earth before Christ’s coming. If we look at history, the century before 1874 A.D. was indeed a dark period of disorders, troubles and disturbances. Grand wars like the Crimean War of Europe, the series of Napoleonic Wars and the French Revolution took center stage in that period. There was a major mutiny even in India during the year 1857. Countries like Germany and Italy became unified through wars. It indeed was an age of worldwide darkness and chaos.

(3) In such dark/confusing skies/circumstances, Jesus comes amidst the “clouds”. In many places of the Bible, “clouds” have been distinctly used to represent the times of destruction (See Joel 2:2,3, Zephaniah 1:15,16). Even in the present days, don’t we use the phrase “gathering of war clouds”? With the commencement of Christ’s second presence, the end times destruction of this second world has begun. The Verses 29 and 30 of Matthew 24 proclaim the same. Verse 30 in particular foretells that all the nations of the earth will “mourn”. This was fulfilled precisely. There was no occurrence in the history of mankind before 1874 when all the nations of the earth had to mourn simultaneously. But it is a well-known historical fact that during the Two World Wars that happened after 1874, all nations of the world were affected and all people mourned. And of course, that is the primary reason those two wars are called “”World Wars”. Scholars point to the unification of Germany as the root cause for both the World Wars. It is very remarkable that the unification happened in 1871. Furthermore, since the whole world is interlinked due to globalization, nowadays economic collapses and diseases like H1N1 (swine) flu affect the whole world at once. And they make all the nations mourn. It is another historical truth that globalization happened only in the last century. Before 1874, there had been no such instance of a worldwide mourning. There hadn’t even been any remote possibility of such an event. But nowadays events that cause such a worldwide mourning happen. They themselves serve as witnesses before our eyes proclaiming the truth that the Second Presence of Christ has started already. Towards the end, the people of the world would recognize that these clouds/troubles are a “sign of the Son of Man” (as Verse 30 indicates) and also would realize that Christ is indeed “on” those clouds/troubles. That period of realization by the world is to come soon. Thus, if we rightly interpret and understand the prophetic signs, we can see how beautifully they match with the historical events! Instead of that, if we were to literally interpret that which is mentioned, as a sign in the literal sky, then shouldn’t we also consider the woman appearing as a sign in the sky in Revelation Chapter 12 as actually a real woman? (See Revelation 12). As a matter of fact, many Christians do exactly that and wrongly consider that woman as Mary. Should we be making such a mistake in other places? We should also not forget that the Jews made literal interpretations of prophecies during the First Coming of Christ and wrongly expected the Messiah to come as a military commander.

(4) Acts 1:11 is also one another reason for the widely held belief that Christ would appear in the sky visible to all because it says that Christ would return the same way as he ascended. But if we read that verse a little more carefully, it would become clear how wrong that belief is. In that verse, the angels actually tell the men who were looking intently up into the sky not to do so (Acts 1:11). If Jesus was to appear in the sky then shouldn’t the verse advise everyone to actually look up into the sky? Then shouldn’t the angels have told the disciples to stay awake and keep looking at the sky? Moreover, if Jesus were to return in the same state as he had been before, then why does John say that it has not yet been made known how He will be when He returns? (1 John 3:2). So what are those angels actually trying to say? Those disciples were so eagerly expecting the return of Christ. To pacify them, the angels told them that He would return the same way. His ascension was known and seen by only His disciples. Likewise, in 1874, Christ was seen by the spiritual eyes of a small flock of people who were awake at that time as His disciples had been. When he had ascended earlier, only His disciples saw Him and the people of the world did not. Similarly, in 1874, the world did not see Him return. This too is a prophecy rightly fulfilled. Therefore, it is wrong to contradict this verse and say that the entire world would see His Coming.

(5) Why can’t the people of the world see? – This is another question that is constantly raised. Firstly, the Bible tells us that Jesus is now in a state similar to that of the Father (Hebrews 1:3). The same Bible says that men cannot see the Father (Exodus 33:20). In that case, how can it be right for anyone to say that people can see Jesus who actually is in a state like the Father? The second reason is simpler, and it is clearer. Jesus Himself directly said that the world would not see Him (John 14:19). This sentence’s translation is not accurate in some versions of the Bible. The Greek word used here is “ouketi”. It means “no longer”. The NIV puts it as “the world will not see me anymore”. Jesus also added that the Church alone would see him in a little while (John 14:19, 16:16). So the world would not see him is a truth that Jesus directly is directly stated by Jesus. Also Johns tells us that even the members of the Church would not be able to see Him when they were in human flesh, instead they will be able to see Him once they are transformed like Him (1 John 3:2). Next, as we know, the meaning of the Greek word “parousia” is not “coming”, but “presence”. None can refute the fact that “parousia” means “presence”. We encourage those who doubt this to look it up in any Greek dictionary. And of course, it is only because the disciples realize this that they asked Jesus about the signs of his presence. If He were to return visibly to human eyes, why would they have to ask for a sign? Wouldn’t they simply see Him?

(6) Finally, there is irrefutable proof in the Bible that the Church of the period of the Apostles believed that the second coming of Jesus would not be visible to the human eye. The Church of the Thessalonians actually thought that Christ had already returned at that time. To weed out their mistaken belief, Paul wrote thus – “That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand” (2 Thessalonians 2:2). This is the King James translation. In some old translations, it has been mentioned that they thought the day of Christ was near. That translation is totally wrong. The Greek is very clear and unambiguous: “saying that the day of the Lord has already come. “ (NIV), “to the effect that the day of the Lord has come” (NASB), “as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come” (NKJV). If the Apostolic Churches had believed that Jesus would return piercing through the skies, then why would Paul think that they might get confused by word or letter? Not only this, but he provides them with instructions to avoid confusion. He explained to them the signs. He told them that the day would come only after the man of lawlessness was revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:2-4). If Paul had believed that Jesus would come streaking across the sky, then couldn’t he have simply told the Thessalonians “Till the trumpets sound and Jesus appears on the clouds, don’t get confused.”? But he did not say so. Instead he explains to them the signs. That clearly shows us that we could verify the presence of Christ only through the signs. Take a moment and think about how simple it is, but at the same time what a solid proof ! A church believed that Christ had returned with no trumpet sounds and no visible presence in the sky! To that church, Paul did not say “Wait for the trumpets, Christ will appear”. If Paul had believed that, wouldn’t he have told them that right away? But instead he told them that the signs have not yet been fulfilled and asked them to wait. Paul’s belief is our belief too. Since the signs have been fulfilled today, we proclaim that the day of the Lord has begun.

(7) To show that 1874 A.D. is the year of Christ’s Presence, we do not need support from chronological studies. From the 1260, 1290, 1335 days mentioned in Daniel 12, the year 1874 stands firmly rooted in prophetic understanding. Sometimes, it is said that 539 A.D. is not the right year to be used as the benchmark year in these calculations. The basic question is: When was the man of lawlessness – the abomination that causes desolation – setup? To say it was not in 539 A.D. would be to contradict history. In 533 A.D., the Bishop of Rome was ordained as the Head of all Christian Churches, the head Pope by a decree of Emperor Justinian. The Goths who had been against this decree were defeated in 539 A.D. and the Pope became the unchallenged Head of Christianity. Exactly 1260 years after 533 A.D., during the French Revolution in 1793 A.D., Christianity under the Pope – the religion itself – was banned. And in 1799 A.D., the Pope died as a prisoner in France. How wonderfully exact do the years match! The Pope got established during the period between the years A.D. 533 – 539. 1260 years later, in the years from A.D. 1793 – 1799, the kingdom of the man of lawlessness was destroyed. A table that further explains the beauty of this match is attached with this issue. Even Roman Catholic scholars would accept that 1799 A.D was indeed the worst year in their history. If we move 1290 years forward from 539 A.D., we come to A.D. 1829. The Bible says that the times when the wise would understand would begin after 1290 days (Daniel 12:10,11). Likewise, only from the A.D. 1830’s, not only Miller, but countless preachers started understanding Biblical prophecies in the right manner. 1829 A.D. was the beginning when the seals were broken and the understanding of prophecies became clearer. If we move 1335 days forward from 539 A.D, we arrive at 1874 A.D. It is said in the Bible that blessed are those who wait for and reach that year (Daniel 12:12). Since it has been mentioned as just “blessed”, a question might arise as to how we could be sure that it in fact indicated the Second Presence of Christ. Read carefully the entire chapter of Daniel 12. Daniel asked twice about the fulfillment of the astonishing things (Daniel 12:6,8). It is only to this question that he is told that “blessed” are those who wait and reach the end of the 1335 days. We know that the day of Christ is the end. And since the context makes that clear, it is then obvious that the verses of Daniel 12:1-3 speak of the same too.

(8) Furthermore, we could go on citing various other signs of the times past and present. We could prove that the Second Presence of Christ began from 1874 A.D. from a variety of angles like – the gathering of the Jewish people (the nation of Israel), Jubilee (corrected) calculations, an explanation of Matthew Chapter 24 and the Times of the Gentiles. We have published a small book explaining Matthew 24. Please do contact us (only available in Tamil as of now) if you would like to get a copy of that. Christ’s answer to John (the Baptist) when he doubted the First Coming is very remarkable. He says “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” (Matthew 11:6). Well past Daniel’s 1335 days, we who are in the days of the Presence of Christ are blessed indeed! We are the blessed who have the clarity of the Truth and the knowledge of our own place in the prophetic timeline. Let God help us not to fall away and lose that blessedness!

Table
Pope Attaining Authority	Pope’s Authority Destroyed
533 A.D. – Emperor Justinian’s decree instituted the Bishop of Rome as Head of Christianity, the Pope.   536 A.D. – Justinian’s famous general, Belisarius entered Rome and defeated Ostrogoths who were against the Pope.   538 A.D. – Belisarius left Rome under the control of Pope.                   539 A.D. – By the fall of Ravenna, the Goth capital, the last remaining enemy challenging Pope was destroyed.   540 A.D. – Having firmly established the authority of the Pope, General Belisarius returned home jubilant.	1793 A.D. – Amidst the French Revolution, Christianity under Pope – the religion itself – was banned.   1796 A.D. – Napoleon was appointed as the commander of France’s Army of Italy. He waged war against the Pope.   1798 A.D. – The vanquished Pope was taken out of Rome as a prisoner.   1799 A.D. – The defeated Pope was taken as captive to France, where he died a prisoner.   1800 A.D. – Pius VII was constituted as the new powerless Pope, with the Papacy stripped off its earlier political authority.
The Book of Revelation says that the woman of the abomination that causes desolation sits on seven hills (Revelation 17:9). Historically, even till today, Rome has been called the ‘City of Seven Hills’. What a beautiful match this is! The city of Rome comes under the authority of Pope in 538 A.D. When the Goths who oppose that are destroyed in 539 A.D., the Pope becomes the sole authority of Rome. Yes, 539 A.D. is the year when the woman of the abomination sat on the seven hills. 1260 years from 538 A.D., in A.D. 1798, the Pope is evicted out of Rome as a prisoner by Napoleon. In the next year of 1799 A.D., the Pope dies as a prisoner in France. The neatness in the fulfillment of this prophecy amazes us indeed!