If believers go to be with Christ when they die, why do they still need him to come back? Isn’t heaven enough? The answer shows how complete salvation is.

Not Yet the Final State

When believers die, their souls immediately share heaven’s blessedness. But that is still incomplete: their bodies lie in the grave, separated from the soul. So believers in this in-between time are still in the state of death, as Jesus was before his resurrection, though his soul was in paradise. Scripture calls them those asleep in Christ;¹1 Thess. 4:14, 16 and 1 Cor. 15:18. their death is called sleep (John 11:11 and 1 Cor. 11:30) and seeing corruption (Acts 13:36). This is not the final state. Christ, the perfect Saviour, will redeem the body as well as the soul. God’s kingdom will be complete only when Christ has conquered every enemy, including the last enemy, death (1 Cor. 15:24-26).

Come, Lord Jesus

So heaven and earth long for the final victory. The souls of the martyrs cry out, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on earth?” (Rev. 6:10). On earth the Spirit and the bride say, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly! (Rev. 22:17, 20).

Christ himself prepares a place for his people in his Father’s house, and will come and take them to himself (John 14:2-3). On earth he reigns, by grace in the church and by power in the world, until all his enemies are subdued (1 Cor. 15:25). His message is: See, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me (Rev. 22:12, 20).

The Lord of the Ages

History between the ascension and the return is a continuous coming of Christ, gathering his church and subduing his enemies. Often we can’t see it, but he is the King of the ages, the Alpha and the Omega (Rev. 22:13). Because the Father loves the Son, he created the world in him and chose the church to behold his glory (John 17:24).

So the kingdom’s completion isn’t the product of natural development or human effort. Like a seed, it grows without people knowing how (Mark 4:27); Paul plants, Apollos waters, but God gives the growth (1 Cor. 3:6). It is always God who sustains the world and makes history.

The Day He Appears

At the end, God will step into history in an extraordinary way: at Christ’s appearing, time will pass into eternity. Sent by the Father (Acts 3:20 and 1 Tim. 6:15), Christ will come on the clouds. As he was taken up, so he will return (Phil. 3:20), the clouds spread beneath him like a victory chariot (Matt. 24:30 and Rev. 1:7). He came first as a servant; he will come again with great power and glory (Matt. 24:30), King of kings on a white horse, surrounded by angels and saints,²Matt. 25:31; 1 Thess. 3:13; and Rev. 19:14. heralded by the archangel’s voice and the trumpet of God.³Matt. 24:31; 1 Cor. 15:52; and 1 Thess. 4:16.

Whatever the imagery, this much is certain: the same Christ is coming back, born of Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, risen and ascended. He who came down is the one who went up (Eph. 4:10). He who humbled himself is the one God exalted (Phil. 2:6-11). He who was offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time, without sin, to save those who wait for him (Heb. 9:28).

The Saviour and the Judge is one and the same person.

That is the church’s comfort, its Maranatha: the one who gave himself for her will come back to share his glory with her for ever.

Two Returns?

This comfort is significantly changed by supporters of premillennialism, who split Christ’s return in two. At the first he will defeat the antichristian powers, bind Satan, raise the believing dead and rule the nations through his church, especially a repentant Israel. Later, Satan is released, and Christ returns again to raise and judge everyone and set up the perfected kingdom on the new earth.

That postpones the end into an interim period whose nature and length premillenialists themselves dispute.

Promises Already Being Kept

The root error is a mistaken view of how the Testaments relate. God chose Abraham’s descendants not to put Israel at the head of the nations, but to bless all nations in Abraham’s true seed.⁴Gal. 3:16; Gen. 12:3; and Gal. 3:8 and 14. Israel was chosen not at mankind’s expense but for its benefit.

So the Old Testament promises began to be fulfilled in Christ’s church, and are being fulfilled continuously until his return. Christ is the true prophet, priest and king, his sacrifice the true Passover.⁵Rom. 3:25 and 1 Cor. 2:11 and elsewhere. His church is the true seed of Abraham, the true Israel, the true temple and the real Zion. All Abraham’s blessings belong to the church in Christ.⁶Rom. 9:25-26:11:17; 2 Cor. 6:16-18; Gal. 3:14, 29 and elsewhere.

The Church Under the Cross

But as Christ went through humiliation to exaltation, his church enters glory through suffering. The suffering church is not in Purgatory, as Roman Catholicism claims, but is the struggling church on earth, never promised worldly power in this age. If they persecuted Jesus, they will persecute his followers (John 15:19-20); in the world they will have trouble (John 16:33). Only in the age to come will they receive eternal life (Mark 10:30), for if they suffer with Christ they will be glorified with him (Rom. 8:17).

Indeed, wickedness and apostasy will increase towards the end.⁷Matt. 24:37ff.; Luke 17:26ff.; and 18:8. Before Christ’s day comes the man of sin, the antichrist (2 Thess. 2:3ff.), prepared for by false prophets and false christs.⁸Matt. 7:5; 25:5, 24; 1 John 2:22; and 4:3. He will gather power in a world empire (the beast from the sea, Rev. 11:7 and 13:1-10), backed by false religion (the beast from the earth, Rev. 13:11-18), based in Babylon (Rev. 17 and 18), and launch a last desperate attack on Christ and his kingdom.

Reigning With Christ

But at his appearing (Rev. 19:11-16) Christ ends both beasts’ power for good (Rev. 19:20) and subdues Satan in two stages: Satan is bound as tempter of the Christian peoples (Rev. 20:1-3; compare 12:7-11), and later as tempter of the nations at the four corners of the earth (Rev. 20:7-10).

Meanwhile, believers faithful even to death live and reign with Christ in heaven, a period pictured as a thousand years (Rev. 20:3, 4, 6-7), while Satan, driven from the nations where the church has spread, gathers new power among the heathen.⁹Rev. 20:4; compare 2:26; and 3:21. This living and reigning with Christ is the first resurrection. Those who share in it need not fear the second death; they are already priests of God and of Christ (Rev. 20:6), and will become citizens of the New Jerusalem.

—

• 1
  1 Thess. 4:14, 16 and 1 Cor. 15:18. ↩︎
• 2
  Matt. 25:31; 1 Thess. 3:13; and Rev. 19:14. ↩︎
• 3
  Matt. 24:31; 1 Cor. 15:52; and 1 Thess. 4:16. ↩︎
• 4
  Gal. 3:16; Gen. 12:3; and Gal. 3:8 and 14. ↩︎
• 5
  Rom. 3:25 and 1 Cor. 2:11 and elsewhere. ↩︎
• 6
  Rom. 9:25-26:11:17; 2 Cor. 6:16-18; Gal. 3:14, 29 and elsewhere. ↩︎
• 7
  Matt. 24:37ff.; Luke 17:26ff.; and 18:8. ↩︎
• 8
  Matt. 7:5; 25:5, 24; 1 John 2:22; and 4:3. ↩︎
• 9
  Rev. 20:4; compare 2:26; and 3:21. ↩︎