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THE RETURN OF JESUS

Jesus often declared to his apostles that he would return at the end of times to put order in his Household. This day of Jesus' return was called "The Day of the Lord" by the apostles and the first Christians (2 Thessalonians 2, 1-2).

1. How does this Return happen?

2. And why does Jesus return?

These are two questions we have to clarify.

In short:

1. How does this return happen? This return will not take place in a physical body, which is visible and seizable. Jesus returns with His Resurrected Body, which is immaterial, unseizable by man, He will be perceptible through the heart.

And why does He come back? To put order in His Household. He returns to uncover the Antichrist and evict his allies during "The trial of the end of times" which precedes His Return. Jesus will initiate a Universal Restoration with those who stood firm during this universal trial and renew God's Household on earth. A new spiritual era is thus established in the world for all mankind.

We shall follow this Return of Jesus in four steps:

I The announcement of the Return of Jesus [Return]

Jesus repeated several times and under different forms, that He would return on earth for a judgment:

- "When the Son of man comes, will he find any faith on earth" (Luke 18, 8).

- "…When the Son of man will come in his glory …" (Luke 9, 26).

- "Be like people waiting for their Master to return from the wedding feast" (Luke 12, 35).

- "What sign will there be of your Coming and of the end of the world?" (Matthew 24, 3).

- "They will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of Heaven…" (Matthew 24, 30).

- "As it was in Noah's days, so will it be when the Son of man comes" (Matthew 24, 37).

- " Blessed that servant if his Master's arrival finds him doing exactly that…" (Matthew 24, 46).

- "You will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of Heaven" (Matthew 24, 64).

- "If I want him (John) to remain till my return, what does it matter to you?" (John 21, 22).

- "Grace and peace to you from Him who is, who was and who is to come… Look He is coming on the clouds, every one will see Him…" (Revelation 1, 4-7).

- "…Hold on firmly to what you have till my Return" (Revelation 2, 25).

- "…If you do not wake up, I shall come to you like a thief and you will have no idea at what hour I shall come upon you… My Return is near" (Revelation 3, 3 / 3, 11).

- "Look I am sanding at the door (of the heart) knocking…" (Revelation 3, 20).

The apostles and the first Christians after them expected an imminent Return of Jesus believing that this will take place in their time. This is the reason why Paul warned them not to expect Jesus to return before the wicked one (Antichrist) appears:

"About the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ… do not be too easily thrown into confusion or alarmed by any prophetical statement… claiming to come from us, suggesting that the day of the Lord has already arrived… This (Return) cannot happen until the great revolt has taken place and there has appeared the Wicked One, the Enemy (Christ's enemy: the Antichrist)… The Lord will destroy him with the breath of his mouth and will annihilate him with the glory of his Coming" (2 Thessalonians 2, 1-8).

These inspired verses clearly demonstrate that Jesus will return, that the Antichrist will precede Him only to be destroyed by Christ's glorious Return.

II How does this Return of Jesus happen? [Return]

Saint Paul enlightens us in his letter to the Hebrews; after having confirmed the second appearance of Jesus he explains how it will happen:

"The Christ, after having offered Himself only once to bare the sins of many, will appear a second time -away from sin - to those who are waiting for Him in order to bring them salvation" (Hebrews 9, 28). This prophecy is clear: It is "after" having offered Himself on the cross a first time that the Christ will appear "a second time". But this second manifestation of Jesus will be:

1- "Away from sin"

2- "Exclusively to those who are waiting for Him"

3- "In order to bring them salvation"

Let us examine closer each of these points.

1 "Away from sin"

By the word "sin" Paul means the human body because man is exposed to sin by the body. Paul could have said: "The Christ will appear a second time not in a human body". In fact Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5, 21: "For our sake, He (God) made the sinless one (Jesus) a sin for us…" This means that God exposed Him to sin by giving Him a human body capable of committing sin. But as Jesus has never sinned and has accomplished, up to the sacrifice of the Cross, the Will of the Father, He triumphed over sin in a sinful body.

Paul explains what he meant: "God, by sending His own Son in a human flesh similar to sin (as any sinner), has condemned sin in the human flesh (by Christ's impeccability)" (Romans 8, 3). Paul also writes to the Galatians: "The Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming Himself a curse for our sake so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the gentiles in the Christ Jesus" (Gal 3, 13-14). Jesus became a "curse" for us by taking a human body, thus exposing Himself to physical dangers, of which the most obvious was that He could be materially caught and crucified. This fact (the crucifixion) is considered by the Jews and by others a curse: "We thought of Him as someone being punished and struck by God (cursed)…", says Isaiah (53, 4). Many Jews still think that Jesus is cursed by God because He has been arrested and crucified.

The return of Jesus, therefore, will not happen as His incarnation: He will appear without a tangible body. It will be in the conscience that He will manifest Himself, "Away from sin", without a human body, physically unseizable by His enemies: "The Lord Jesus will appear from Heaven with the angels of His Power (the apostles of the end of times)", said Paul (2 Thessalonians 1, 7).

Jesus returns silently, "like a thief". Only those who watch out for His Return will see Him. He had warned us: "I return like a thief" (Revelation 3, 3). The apostles had understood that and had warned us: "For you are well aware, in any case, that the Day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night". (1 Thessalonians 5, 2 / 2 Peter 3, 10 / Rev 16, 15). This blessed return is immaterial; it takes place in one's conscience.

Jesus, therefore, will no more be submitted to the vicissitudes and to the physical dangers. This spiritual aspect of His Return had already been revealed by Daniel the prophet who saw the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven (Daniel 7, 13), and later by Jesus Himself. The clouds represent the immaterial aspect of His Return. It is there, in the soul and conscience, that the Christ "comes down from heaven", to manifest Himself to his chosen ones: "At the signal given by the voice of the Archangel and the trumpet of God, the Lord Himself will come down from heaven" (1 Thessalonians 4, 13). God sends Jesus again in his spiritual and invulnerable body, in order to achieve in our days, by the book of Revelation the Restoration. He had started by the Gospel 2000 years ago.

2 " For those who are waiting for Him"

Jesus returns first to "those who are waiting for Him", the "wise virgins" (Matthew 25, 5-7). He makes of them his apostles of the end of times. Who are they?

They are people who thirst for Love, Truth and Justice; they await Him… often without knowing it. They may be poor sinners as were some of the first apostles (Luke 5, 8), but who come back to spiritual life with the opening of the Book of Revelation, this book qualified as the "Book of Life" (Revelation 20, 12). This book gives back spiritual life to all those who are capable of identifying "the beast" and resisting against it. None could have identified "this beast" had Jesus not revealed Himself its identity on the 13th of May 1970 (refer to our text the "Key of the Apocalypse").

In our apocalyptic time, Jesus "has a new name" (Revelation 13, 12). Those who discover this new name as well as the name of the beast and fight against it, are those who await Jesus. He has already began to manifest Himself to them in order to save them from the seduction of the Antichrist who is "the beast" of the Apocalypse.

Jesus, already in the past, revealed Himself to an elite (Acts 10, 40-41). During his transfiguration he only manifested Himself to Peter, James and John and when He resurrected, he appeared to Mary of Magdala (John 20, 11-21). He then appeared to Paul in order to make of him his disciple (Acts 9). But He never manifested Himself to the members of the Sanhedrin for example nor to Caiaphas in order to convince him. Had he not said: "The world will not see me. But you will see me… who ever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and reveal Myself to him" (John 14, 19-21). "Blessed are the pure in hearts because they shall see God" (Matthew 5, 8).

Nowadays, Jesus, manifests Himself again for those who love him and "await him". Yet, the book of Revelation says: "Everyone will see Him, even those who pierced Him" (Revelation 1,7). His enemies will therefore see Him too but for their shame and confusion, understanding that the one they rejected, fought and crucified was no other than the only true Messiah. After His resurrection and the expansion of the Gospel, the Sanhedrin and all the Jews who opposed Jesus saw Him, within their conscience, judging them by His triumph (Matthew 26, 64).

Nowadays, the Antichrist and his allies will also see Him, after their defeat, condemning them within their conscience: "All the races of the earth will mourn over Him" (Rev 1, 7). This mourning is the share of all those who, consciously or unconsciously, had fought against Jesus by joining the Antichrist.

Friends and enemies of Jesus are often unaware of their commitment for Him or against Him. This teaching is given to us by Jesus in His parable of Matthew 25, 31-36 concerning the judgment: "Neither the good nor the bad knew that their behavior towards their fellow men was in fact towards the Christ Himself. Jesus' true friends are those who will have demonstrated their love and faithfulness to Him during the Apocalyptical trial which has already fallen "on all those living on the face of the earth" (Luke 21, 34-36 / Revelation 3, 10).

3 "In order to bring them Salvation"

In what consists this salvation?

It consists in passing successfully through the universal trial under the reign of the Antichrist. God, in fact, allows this enemy of the Christ to appear powerfully in this end of times to test the believers and reveal their secret intentions. Paul explains this by saying: "the coming of the wicked One (the Antichrist, the "Beast") will be marked by Satan being at work in all kinds of counterfeit miracles and signs and wonders, and every wicked deception aimed at those who are on the way to destruction because they will not accept the love of the truth and so be saved. And therefore God sends on them a power that deludes people so that they believe what is false and so that those who do not believe the truth and take their pleasure in wickedness may all be condemned." (2 Thessalonians 2, 9-12).

Salvation is the outcome of Christ's support during this final trial: "Because you have kept my commandment to persevere, I will keep you safe in the time of trial which is coming for the whole world, to put the people of the world to the test. I am coming soon: hold firmly to what you already have and let no one take your crown from you" (Revelation 3, 10-11). This trial is actually upon the world through the zionist state.

Our crown is preserved by perfectly securing our "witness of Jesus" (Revelation 19, 10). This witness is say "no to Israel", because recognizing the state which refuses Jesus and awaits another Messiah means denying that Jesus is the only Messiah.

A great number disregarded Jesus' recommendations of vigilance "take care that no one deceives you… and with the increase of lawlessness, love in a great number of people will grow cold but whoever stands firm to the end will be saved" had warned Jesus (Matthew 24, 4-13). In spite of that warning the majority of the "disciples" of Jesus, lead by their chiefs (popes and bishops) rallied to the Antichrist's cause.

The acknowledgment of the legitimacy of Israel by the Vatican on the 30th of December 1993 perfectly illustrates what Jesus predicted about "Love growing cold in a great number of people" (Matthew 24, 12), a fact which He repeated in the book of Revelation: "I have this complaint against you: you have lost your formal love" (Revelation 2, 4). This is why Jesus asked with bitterness: "But when the Son of man comes will he find any faith on earth" (Luke 18, 8). The so-called disciples of Christ have become of complicity to the Antichrist! They will lament together after Christ's triumph realizing their shameful final situation (Matthew 12, 43-45). Jesus addresses Himself to these traitors in the book of Revelation: "You are reputed to be alive, and yet you are dead… I found your life empty… I shall come to you like a thief and you will have no idea at what hour I shall come to you" (Revelation 3, 1-3).

III- The purposes of the Return of Jesus [Return]

The Christ comes back for two reasons:

1- To unmask the Antichrist, the beast of the Apocalypse

2- To establish the Universal Restoration announced by Peter

1 To unmask the Antichrist, the beast of the Apocalypse

We already saw that Paul had announced the apparition of the Antichrist which he calls "the man of lawlessness (or the impious)", "the man doomed to destruction", etc… (2 Thessalonians 2, 3-12). John on his behalf also warned against the Antichrist; (refer to 1 John 2, 22 / 2 John 1, 7-11), he also mentions this enemy in the Apocalypse where he is symbolized by "the beast" (Revelation 13 & 17). Christ appeared on May 13th 1970 to reveal to a priest the identity of that beast. This appearance initiated the Return of Christ, it inaugurated His Return by unmasking the Antichrist (refer to our text: "The Key of the Apocalypse").

2 The Universal Restoration

Addressing himself to the jews in the past, Peter said: "Repent then and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, and so that the Lord may send the time of comfort, and that He may send the Christ he has predestined for you, that is Jesus, whom heaven must keep until the time of the Universal Restoration…" (Act 3, 19-21).

Two important notes appear in this text:

a) God "may send the Christ": this refers to the future. God will therefore send the Christ again. This refers to the return of Jesus.

b) Jesus must remain in heaven for a particular time; He must return for a well-defined purpose: after unmasking and destroying the Antichrist, He will operate a Universal Restoration on earth.

To know more about the matter please refer to our text "The Universal Restoration".

IV The date of the Return of Jesus [Return]

Jesus said that this date is unknown. It will be, although, preceded by warning signs called "the Signs of the Times". Jesus invites us to identify these signs:

A) The date is unknown. Indeed Jesus says: "As for that day and how, nobody knows it, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, no one but the Father alone" (Matthew 24, 36).

B) The Signs of the Times: "When you see all these things (these events): know that He (the Son of Man, Jesus) is near, right at the doors" (Matthew 24, 33).

Please refer to our text "The Signs of the Return of Jesus".

The apostles thought that this Return was imminent because Jesus had said: "Before this generation has passed away, all these things will have taken place" (Matthew 24, 34). Jesus was not speaking about the moment of His Return, but about the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem already predicted by Him: "His disciples came up to draw His attention to the Temple buildings. He replied: 'You see all this? In truth I tell you, not a single stone here will be left on another: everything will be destroyed" (Matthew 24, 1-2). This Temple was indeed destroyed in 70 A.D. by Titus, almost 39 years after the prophecy.

Saint Paul himself was waiting for the Return of Christ in his time, since he wrote to the Thessalonians: "We can tell you this from the Lord's own teaching, that we who will still be alive for the Lord's coming…" (1 Thessalonians 4, 15).

This "Lord's own teaching" to which Paul refers is: "before this generation had passed away, all these things will have taken place" (Matthew 24, 34).

The First Christians, longing for the imminent Return of the Christ, were impatient because of the unaccomplishment of this Return in their time. Saint Paul reprimanded them: "The Lord is not being slow in carrying out His promises, as some people think He is; He is rather being patient with you, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody brought to repentance. The Day of the Lord will come like a thief…" (2 Peter 3, 9-10).

As for Paul, he explained in his second letter to the Thessalonians what he had said in his first letter to them about Jesus' Return. Before the Return of the Christ, "His Enemy" (whom John calls the Antichrist), must appear: "About the Coming of our Lord Jesus-Christ, brothers… please do not be easily thrown into confusion or alarmed by any prophetical words claiming to come from us, suggesting that the Day of the Lord has already arrived… Before this happens, the Great Revolt must take place and there has appeared the wicked one, the Lost one, the Enemy (the Antichrist)…" (2 Thessalonians 2, 1-4).

The book of Revelation is devoted to the Return of the Christ and the manifestation of the Antichrist. Its mystery, as that of the Return of Jesus, is known only by God: "There was no one, in Heaven or on the earth or under the earth, who was able to open the Book and read it" to discover its mystery (Revelation 5, 3). The first sign of the Return of the Christ Jesus was the day, May 13th 1970, in which he appeared to reveal the identity of the Beast, the Antichrist (Please refer to our text "The key of the Apocalypse").

The Day of the Lord is already here. His Return has begun and is marked by the opening of the Book of Revelation and by the events prophesied there and which are actually taking place in the world. Blessed are those who are awake to receive Him.