"I Will Come Again . . ."

Part 1

"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again,

and receive you unto myself; that where I am,

there you may be also." -- John 14:3

On the last night that Jesus was with His disciples, He used this expression twice -- once as quoted above, and again, after promising He would not leave them comfortless: "You have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I" (John 14:28).

This was one of Jesus' most endearing and enduring promises. Even though His disciples did not at that time understand why He must, "go away” they did have the assurance that if He left, He would return - ". . . come again.” In the Plan of God, it was necessary for Jesus to die, so that He might provide the sin offering that would take away the sins of the world, by giving His perfect life as a ransom for all. But the apostles had also received His promise. Jesus would return and they would be with Him; a promise that was to be given to all who believed on Jesus as a result of their preaching; all who followed Jesus during the Gospel Age, believing that He was the Son of God (John 17:20-21).

No definite date, year or hour was ever given to Jesus' followers during His ministry, or subsequently after He was raised, which could be used to fix the time of our Lord's return (Mark13:32). During His discourse to His disciples about the last times, He said, "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man comes” (Matthew 25:13). Confirming words were given by Jesus to John in Revelation 3:3, and by the inspired Apostles in 1 Thessalonians 5:2-6; 1 Peter 4:7.

When Jesus' sin offering was accepted by His Father, He ascended on high as prophesied (Psa. 110:1), later confirmed in Heb. 1:2-4, and He was seated at the right hand of God (Heb. 10:12, 13). But Jesus also promised that during this Gospel Age, He would be with His disciples, to assure us that we would be comforted and guided (Matthew 18:20, 28:20). The church has not been left comfortless, we have received the Holy Spirit of promise (Jn.14:16-18, 26; 15:26).

For nearly two thousand years, Jesus' disciples have looked forward eagerly to His return. His first advent provided the sin offering, satisfying God's justice, so that the sin passed on to all mankind by Adam’s defection might be removed (John 1:29; 3:16; Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:20-22). It is important to remember that when Jesus said, "I will come again..." He referred to His second advent -- when He would come for His church and subsequently would, with His church, provide the deliverance of mankind. Although we do not know the timing of His return, we do know certain features of it. We will examine briefly two basic scriptures that are frequently used to describe Jesus' alledged invisible return -- frequently labeled as His invisible presence -- in or about the year 1874. When examined carefully and with prayer, the scriptures more realistically identify an, as yet, unfulfilled prophecy of Jesus' future return for His church.

First, Paul describes the manner of our Lord's return: "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 Corinthians 15:52). Two basic elements are given for the resurrection of the church of the first-born, when the faithful are taken home so that where He is in heaven itself that they may be there also:

1) Those who have been asleep, who died since Pentecost, will be raised.

2) Those who are still alive will be changed. (Note: The subsequent judgment of the world, will not be considered in this brief study of our Lord's return.)

The word translated, "moment," in 1 Cor. 15:52 is Strong's #323 and defined as, "indivisible [an 'atom' of time]." Thus no lengthy time period elapses between the raising of the saints who sleep in death and those who are still alive and changed at Jesus' return. In an instant, those in death and those who still live will be taken home, to heaven itself, to be with Jesus for He will receive all of them unto Himself and we will be like Him and see Him as He is (1 John 3:2).

In a parallel passage, the Apostle Paul also promises in 1 Thes. 4:15-18 -- "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (precede) them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

In this passage, it is important to understand the words used. The word translated, "together," must be considered very carefully. It is Strong's #260, hama, which has the meaning of "at the same time," or "together." In Thayer's Lexicon, the specific translation for this word as used in this passage, and also in 1 Thes. 5:10 -- when followed in the Greek by Strong's #4862, the word, sun -- is "with" (Strong's #260). It must be translated in its adverbial sense -- at the same time, and associated specifically with the verb, in this instance, “…shall be caught up at the same time with them….” (Note that this is completely different from the meaning as an adjective, which could be rendered, "to the same location.")

It is proper to notice that several other times, when hama (Strong's #260) is used, the modern language translations specify the adverbial meaning, (at the same time), of this word, even if not associated with Strong's #4862, sun. For example:

Colossians 4:3

"praying at the same time for us as well, that God may open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned.” (NAS)

1 Timothy 5:13

“And at the same time they also learn (to be) idle, as they go around from house to house; and not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper (to mention).” (NAS) The identical time-oriented use of the word is also given in the NAS translations of Acts 24:26 and Philemon 1:22.

Another time-oriented illustration of the word, hama, is given in Matthew 13:29, “But he said, Nay; lest while you gather up the tares, you root up also the wheat with them.” In this parable it is very clear that the meaning is that the tares and the wheat would be pulled up at the same time, together; no attempt is to be made to harvest just the tares or just the wheat before the proper time.

The result of closely examining these prophetical statements of Paul, is that both 1 Corinthians 15:26 and 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 specify a future return of Jesus, when both the sleeping saints and the faithful remaining members of the church, are to be caught up, at the same time, and be united with their Lord. We thus have two very strong scriptural witnesses to present this part of God's Plan for the church. (To be continued.)

H. Snyder