Jesus Christ brought to effect redemption for mankind during his first advent, and because the restoration of all things is a task he is ordained to accomplish, it is the purpose of God that he must come again. Prior to his return he was crowned in heaven as the king of the established kingdom of God and vested with all powers and authority not only to gain full control over his universal dominion but also to subdue all evil forces opposed to him. The occasion of his coronation was a crucial moment in heaven, and the command God thundered out at him was unequivocal: Rule thou in the midst thine enemies!”
It was as a result of the coronation that war broke out in heaven between Jesus (Michael) and the holy angels on one side and the Dragon, Satan the devil and his angels who joined him in the rebellion on the other side. The devil and his angels were woefully defeated and cast out of heaven down to the earth that now they have no more access to the dwelling place of God. And a voice exclaimed in heaven: “Now is come salvation, and strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them day and night…Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea: for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” – Rev. 12:7-12.
The outbreak of World War 1 (1914 1918) was an expression of anger of the nations and therefore a sign that Jesus Christ has been empowered by God Almighty to reign in heaven. (Rev. 11:17,18) It was as well an attempt by Satan in his anger to destroy the human race but Christ stopped it for the sake of his elect. Some years after, Second World War also followed, and since then the devil has not ceased in his futile efforts at employing various agents and agencies apart from wars in slaying men, plaguing and disturbing the peace of mankind. Jesus Christ truly said “that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33; Matt. 24:7,8,22.
It will be appreciated therefore why Jesus Christ in all his promises said he would come in his or in the glory of the Father as a king with his angels. Said he, “When the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels…” (Matt. 16:27) Again he said, “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory…” (Matt. 25:31-34) The King sitting on his throne is none other than Jesus Christ at his second coming.
He promised his apostles, “I go to prepare a place for you” Then he had at the back of his mind the enormous task of setting up of the kingdom of God in heaven and the casting out of Satan and all his followers from there as to get it set for a peaceful habitation of the saints according to the will of his Father. He added, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also.” (John 14:1-3) This explains why he must return.
It is a thing of interest to know that this time of the end of the world in which Jesus Christ has returned in spirit to engage in the restoration of all things and removal of evil in all its ramifications from the surface of the earth, is the most significant period in human history. The Ancient Worthies- men and women of faith before Christ and the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ in the days of the early apostles, looked earnestly to these days being the time of the fulfillment of prophecies long expected. St. Peter spoke of it as the “times of refreshing” with regard to the second coming of Jesus Christ.
The apostle, addressing the Jews, declared: “But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord: and He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began…Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.”-Acts 3:18-24.
In continuation of the work of restoration, which Jesus Christ started in heaven, he has come again, therefore, first, to raise the dead saints to meet him in Mount Zion, the capital of his kingdom in heaven, in fulfillment of his promise. He said, Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom as my Father has appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.-Luke 22:28-30; John 14:1-3.
The raising of the dead saints is the first resurrection in which they are changed to spirits like as Jesus Christ died in the flesh and was raised a spirit by which he was able to preach to the spirits who were disobedient angels imprisoned since the days of Noah when they came down to marry the daughters of men contrary to God’s will. (1 Pet. 3:18-20). In regard to this, St. Paul stated: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice the arch angel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” (1 Thess. 4:16) The apostle stated that they the saints who had borne the image of man of the dust must also bear the image of man of heaven and that flesh and blood cannot inherit heaven. He declared: “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the, trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Cor. 15:49-52.
And St. Paul, speaking of himself as one of the saints and of his expectation at the second coming of Jesus Christ, said: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”-2 Tim. 4:7-8.
Secondly, he has come again to set up his kingdom on earth like a grain of mustard seed by choosing and anointing the remnant of the saints from different parts of the world to propagate the gospel or good news of the kingdom to all nations of men. (Matt. 13:31,32; 24:14,31; 28:19,20; Mark 13:10; 2 Tim 4:1; 1 John 2:27) The setting up of the kingdom is done in a manner unknown to the world, and he told the Pharisees in his days on earth that “the kingdom of God cometh not with observation.” (Luke 17:20,21). And the Bible shows vividly that it is when the governments of the world are still in existence God will establish His own on earth. As it is written: “And in the days of these kings 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 forever.”- Dan. 2:44; see also Isa. 2:2-4; Micah 4:1-3; Matt. 24:15,16.
Thirdly, Jesus Christ has come again to begin the judgement work: the separation of the sheep from the goats and the gathering of the children of God into his kingdom fold, all of which he is doing through the preaching of the gospel in truth by the Anointed Remnant, his Ambassadors and their associates. As it is written: “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on the right hand, but goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” – Matt. 25:31-34.
The goats disobedient to the gospel would be sentenced to everlasting destruction. Any act of disobedience to the truth and hostility to the servants of Christ would incur his anger and would be accounted for by the wicked in his judgement. Said St. Paul: “But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.” Rom. 2:8-10; see also Matt. 25:41-46; 2 Thess. 1:7-9, etc.
The gathering of the children of God otherwise known as “other sheep” into His kingdom in these last days was also portrayed in Christ’s parable of the dragnet. He said, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like into a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind; which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered he good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Matt. 13:47-50) The good fish left represent those worthy of eternal salvation while others cast symbolising those who are away represent the evil ones fitted for destruction. There is corroboration between this parable and that of dividing the people into sheep and goats. The choice and faith of everyone will determine which side or what he or she is, and what his or her fate will be at the end. The judgement of the quick or living is on.
Fourthly, the total destruction of evil from the earth is a task that Jesus Christ has come again to accomplish. For the fact that he will wreak vengeance upon the wicked as punishment from God there will be trouble unprecedented in human experience. And Christ said, ” For there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be”. (Matt. 24:21) St. Paul in his prediction, gave a graphic description of this event that will take place “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints… in that day”-2 Thess. 1:7-10.
Certainly, Satan the devil and the demons will put up resistance, and Jesus Christ will declare war – the Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty – otherwise known as the Battle of Armageddon, that would cause the wicked to be slain and evil brought to an end. “And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried: they shall be dung upon the ground.” (Jer. 25: 33; see also Isa. 28:21; Zeph. 1:14-18; Rev. 16:13-16; 19:11- 16; 20:1-3) However, there will be survivors according to the Scriptures.
And fifthly, Jesus Christ has come again to give protection to his sheep, the righteous, and to deliver them from this evil world into the world to come like as Noah and his family of seven were saved in the great deluge. Daniel prophesied concerning this when he stated, ” And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book.” (Dan. 12:1) Michael is Jesus Christ, the great Prince or Ruler who will command the army of God to victory, and a great multitude of believers will be saved. Rev. 7:9-14.
The need for Christians to be diligent, faithful and steadfast in the service of the Lord becomes so obvious that it calls for no emphasis. Jesus Christ admonished, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all those things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” – Luke 21:36. While the Battle of Armageddon marks the end of this present evil world, it opens beginning a new for the millennium – the Reign of Christ for 1000 years- The World Without End.