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The Second Coming
Introduction
The Bible gives us some very specific and very interesting details about the Second Coming of Christ. It gives us some indications of when He will return to the earth (although obviously not a specific date), why He will return, how He will return, where He will return, who will return with Him, what will happen after He returns, and much more! The Popular View of the Second Coming
Two thousand years ago Jesus ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives, and many Christians believe that He will descend right back to the Mount of Olives when He returns. This view is based on the following passages: "After [Jesus] said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city." (Acts 1:9-12)These two passages seem to say that Jesus will descend right back to the Mount of Olives at the Second Coming, but is that an accurate understanding of these passages? Let's look carefully at what the above passages say and what they do not say. Acts 1:9-12 (above) tells us that Jesus will return in the same way that He went, but notice that it does not tell us where He will return. Zechariah 14:4 (above) says that Jesus will stand on the Mount of Olives on the day of the Second Coming, but notice that it does not say that He will descend directly to that spot. It turns out that there are no passages of Scripture which say that Jesus will descend from heaven back to the Mount of Olives at the Second Coming. In fact, the Bible paints a radically different picture of Jesus' return to the earth! Background Information
In order to understand the one specific event which will "trigger" the Second Coming, we need to understand some things that happened in the first century. First of all, the Jews knew that the Messiah (or the Christ) would be in the line of King David, and therefore He was sometimes referred to as "the Son of David": ""What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" "The son of David," they replied." (Matthew 22:42)Notice that when Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey He was fulfilling a Messianic prophecy (in Zechariah 9:9), and many Jews greeted Him as "the Son of David": "As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away." This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: "Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'" [Zechariah 9:9]. The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!"" (Matthew 21:1-9)By calling Jesus "the Son of David" they were acknowledging Him as the long-awaited Messiah. They cut boughs from the trees and joyfully greeted Him with shouts of "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," based on Messianic passages such as Psalm 118:25-27: "O LORD, save us; O LORD, grant us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you. The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine upon us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar." (Psalm 118:25-27)However, something was wrong. Rather than rejoicing, Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem: "As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace--but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you."" (Luke 19:41-44)Something was terribly wrong. Although many people were joyfully greeting Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, the nation of Israel as a whole was under the judgment of God. How did that happen? Israel's National Rejection of the Messiah
According to the Hebrew Scriptures, when the Messiah arrived He would be able to do things that no other person could do. For example, there were Jews who went around casting out demons (see Matthew 12:27 and Acts 19:13), but their method was to demand the name of the demon and then use that name to cast the demon out (for example, see The Footsteps of the Messiah  ,
Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, p.205). Jesus possibly used this method in Luke 8:30. However, this method did not work on "mute" demons who prevented the demonized person from speaking, but certainly the Messiah would be able to cast out this kind of demon. Therefore, when Jesus cast out a "mute" demon, people were astonished and they began to ask if He might actually be "the Son of David" (the Messiah):
"Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"" (Matthew 12:22-23)The people understood that only the Messiah could do what Jesus did, so they began asking, "Could this be the Son of David?" The Jewish religious leaders (the Pharisees) were faced with having to decide whether to accept Jesus as the Messiah, or whether to reject Him. But if they rejected Him as the Messiah, then how could they explain what He did? They made their choice, and they sealed the fate of the nation of Israel: "But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."" (Matthew 12:24)The leaders of Israel officially rejected Jesus, and they brought the nation of Israel in that generation under the judgment of God. Watch how Jesus responded: "Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."" (Matthew 12:25-32)The religious leaders of Israel in that generation had committed the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This was a national rejection of Jesus on the grounds that He was demon-possessed. Although many individual Jews accepted Jesus as the Messiah, the leaders of the nation of Israel officially rejected Him and committed "the unpardonable sin." This brought that generation under the judgment of God, and that is why Jesus wept over Jerusalem: "As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace--but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you."" (Luke 19:41-44)The nation of Israel as a whole did not recognize the time of God's coming to them, and this brought judgment on them. In 70 A.D., the Roman army swept down upon Jerusalem and destroyed it, just as Jesus had said would happen (Luke 19:41-44, above). The Romans set fire to the temple, which caused the gold to melt and to run down through the cracks between the stones. In order to get to the gold, the Romans tore the temple apart stone by stone, fulfilling Jesus' prophecy: "Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. "Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."" (Matthew 24:1-2)When the Roman army destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D., they tore the temple apart stone by stone trying to get the gold, just as Jesus had prophesied (The Footsteps of the Messiah ,
Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, p.434). This attack by the Roman army caused a world-wide dispersion of the Jewish people which continues to this day. Judgment came upon that generation because the leaders of the nation of Israel had committed the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
After Jesus' pronouncement of judgment against the nation of Israel, the Pharisees demanded that He do a miraculous sign for them. But notice Jesus' response. He repeatedly described the condemnation which would be heaped onto that generation which had rejected Him: "Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you." He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation."" (Matthew 12:38-45)The leadership of that generation had officially accused Jesus of being demon-possessed. They had blasphemed against the Holy Spirit. As the leaders of the nation of Israel, they had committed "the unpardonable sin." This was not an individual sin (because many individual Jews accepted Jesus as the Messiah), it was a national sin which brought the nation under judgment in that "wicked and adulterous generation." That generation of Jews was living under Roman rule, but at least they were a national entity, and they had their own form of government (the Sanhedrin), and they lived in the Holy City (Jerusalem), and they were able to worship in the temple, and so on. But all of this ended in 70 A.D. when the nation of Israel ceased to exist and the Jewish temple was destroyed and the Jews were scattered across the world. Their final condition was worse than the first, just as Jesus had said it would be (Matthew 12:45, above). Only in our time has the nation of Israel been reborn, and the Jews are now being regathered back to their land in fulfillment of end-times prophecy (see my article called Signs of the Times in End-Times Bible Prophecy). In Matthew 12:38-45 (above), Jesus said that only one sign would be given to that wicked and adulterous generation: "The sign of the prophet Jonah," which He described as being the sign of resurrection. Notice that when Jesus performed the sign of resurrection on Lazarus, many Jews responded correctly and put their faith in Him, but others were looking to the religious leaders for their decision concerning Jesus: "When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go." Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done." (John 11:43-46)Some of the Jews went to the Pharisees and reported what Jesus had done. The Pharisees had already brought themselves and the nation of Israel under the judgment of God, and they responded to the resurrection of Lazarus in a consistent manner: "Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. "What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish." He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life. ... But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him." (John 11:47-53, 57)The leaders knew that Jesus was performing miraculous signs, yet they made their rejection of Him complete by condemning Him to death. Notice that the decisions they were making had national significance. They were acting on behalf of the nation of Israel, and they enlisted the aid of the nation in arresting Jesus so that they could have Him put to death. Their "unpardonable sin" was a national sin. Therefore, many modern Bible scholars believe that the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not an individual sin that people can make today. It was a national sin which only applied to that generation of Jews who rejected Jesus as a nation (still, it wouldn't be very wise for us to accuse any acts of the Holy Spirit as being demonic!). The point of all this is that the nation of Israel in that generation officially rejected Jesus as the Messiah. For example, in chapter 23 of Matthew, Jesus denounced and condemned the leaders of Israel for a variety of sins. In verse 13 He specifically condemned them for leading the nation in rejection of the Messiah: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." (Matthew 23:13)The leadership was held accountable for leading the people of that generation into a national rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. This will turn out to be a key point concerning the event which will "trigger" the Second Coming. After pronouncing numerous "woes" against the leaders of Israel in Matthew 23:15-28, Jesus concluded His condemnation by saying: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation." (Matthew 23:29-36)So that generation of Jews was to be held accountable for all of the blood of the prophets. The Pharisees knew all of the prophecies concerning the Messiah, yet they rejected the One who was fulfilling those prophecies and performing the signs for authenticating the Messiah. After pronouncing severe judgment against that generation, Jesus concluded with this very significant statement: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" (Matthew 23:37-39)Earlier we saw that when Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey in fulfillment of a Messianic prophecy, many people responded with Messianic greetings based on the Psalms (see Matthew 21:1-9 and Psalm 118:25-27, above). Recall that they were acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah, and recall that one of those Messianic greetings was "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." With that in mind, look again at the highlighted part of the passage above (Matthew 23:37-39). Now we are starting to get an idea of the one specific event which will "trigger" the Second Coming! The One Specific Event Which Will "Trigger" the Second Coming
In my article called Why Did Millions of People All Over the World Suddenly Vanish? I showed that the future Antichrist will some day gather his forces at the place called Armageddon, and he will attack Jerusalem. One of the prophecies concerning this invasion of Jerusalem is in the book of Zechariah: "behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling unto all the peoples round about, and upon Judah also shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it. ... And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born." (Zechariah 12:2-3, 10, ASV)Never in the history of the world have all the nations of the earth gathered together to attack Jerusalem. This is a future invasion which is often called "the Battle of Armageddon" (although no fighting will actually take place at the mountain of Megiddo, which in Hebrew is called "Armageddon"). According to the passage above, when the Antichrist gathers together the armies of the nations against the Jews, the Jews will humble themselves before God and will make some kind of request or prayer or petition (which is what "supplication" means). Specifically, the above passage says that they will look unto Jesus whom they had pierced, they will mourn for Him, and their request will be a plea for Him to return, as we will see in a moment. Another passage which describes this is in Hosea: "Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt. And they will seek my face; in their misery they will earnestly seek me." (Hosea 5:15)In this Old Testament passage, the Lord said that He would one day go back to His place (heaven). This implies that He would first leave heaven, which we know happened when Jesus was born on the earth: "No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man." (John 3:13)In Hosea 5:15 (above), the Lord said that He would go back to heaven until the Jews admit their guilt. Jesus was put to death by the Romans, but it was because the Jews as a nation had rejected Him as the Messiah. According to Hosea 5:15 (above), when the Jews admit their guilt and earnestly seek Him, He will return. As we just saw in Zechariah, the Jews will mourn for Jesus and look to Him for deliverance while the Antichrist is trying to destroy them at the end of the seven-year Tribulation. Notice that Leviticus 26:40-42 says that the Jews must confess the single, specific iniquity by which they and their fathers trespassed against the Lord. Then He will remember His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: "If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land." (Leviticus 26:40-42, KJV)The AMP, ASV, KJV, NASB, NKJV, RSV, and Young's Literal Translation all have "iniquity" (singular) in the passage above (not "sins" as the NIV says). As we have already seen, there is one specific iniquity or sin that the Jews must humbly confess: Their national rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus will remain in heaven until they admit their guilt (Hosea 5:15, above). The prophet Jeremiah described the blessings that Israel will experience after the Messiah comes, but he said that first they must acknowledge their guilt and return to the Lord: "Go, proclaim this message toward the north: "'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the LORD, 'I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful,' declares the LORD, 'I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt-- you have rebelled against the LORD your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,'" declares the LORD. "Return, faithless people," declares the LORD, "for I am your husband. I will choose you--one from a town and two from a clan--and bring you to Zion. Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land," declares the LORD, "men will no longer say, 'The ark of the covenant of the LORD.' It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. In those days the house of Judah will join the house of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your forefathers as an inheritance."" (Jeremiah 3:12-18)This passage describes the blessings which will come to Israel in the Messianic Kingdom (which is often referred to as "the Millennium" - see my article called Beyond the Second Coming). The context in the above passage is the future kingdom after the Second Coming, but the passage specifically says that first the Jews must acknowledge the guilt or iniquity by which they rebelled against the Lord. Notice that Psalms 79 and 80 also describe the Jews confessing their guilt and asking the Lord to come and save them when the armies of the nations are trying to destroy them: "A psalm of Asaph. O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble. They have given the dead bodies of your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of your saints to the beasts of the earth. They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead. We are objects of reproach to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us. How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire? Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name; for they have devoured Jacob and destroyed his homeland. Do not hold against us the sins of the fathers; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need. Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name's sake." (Psalm 79:1-9)Psalm 79 (above) describes the armies of the nations destroying Jerusalem, defiling the temple, and slaughtering the Jews. These things will happen after the Antichrist gathers the armies of the world at Armageddon, as we have seen. Then the Jews will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers (which includes the sin of rejecting Jesus as the Messiah), and they will plead for the Lord to come deliver them. In Psalm 80 (above), the Jews will plead for the "Shepherd of Israel," "the man at your right hand," and "the son of man" to come and save them. Notice that Jesus is the "Shepherd" (Hebrews 13:20), and He is "the Son of Man" who sits "at the right hand" of God (Mark 14:62). So when the armies of the Antichrist are trying to exterminate the Jews at the end of the seven-year Tribulation, the Jews will confess their national guilt and they will plead for Jesus to come and save them. Because of the way in which the following passage ties in with other passages which we will look at in a moment, it appears that the Jews may spend two days confessing their national sin, and on the third day the Lord will return to save them: ""Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt. And they will seek my face; in their misery they will earnestly seek me." "Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."" (Hosea 5:15-6:3)We have already examined the first part of this passage, where the Lord says that He will go back to heaven until the Jews admit their guilt and earnestly seek Him. As the Antichrist is trying to destroy the Jews, the final three days of the Tribulation will begin, according to Hosea's prophecy (above). For two days there will be a call for the nation to repent and return to the Lord. They now understand why the Tribulation has come upon them, and they recognize that the Lord will heal them and bind up their wounds. They will press on for two days, acknowledging the Lord, as the nation becomes regenerated and saved. On the third day Jesus will appear at the Second Coming, and He will defeat the armies of the Antichrist. When the nation of Israel turns to the Lord in repentance, a national regeneration will take place as the Lord takes away their sins: "I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins."" (Romans 11:25-27)The above passage says that when the Deliverer (Jesus) takes away the sins from "Jacob" (Israel), then all Israel will be saved. This is because when the seven-year Tribulation is over (at the Second Coming), it will mark the end of the 70 'sevens' in Daniel's prophecy: "Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy." (Daniel 9:24)In my article called The Rapture of the Church - Part Two I showed that the 70 'sevens' is a period of 490 years, and that 69 of those 'sevens' (483 years) ended when Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey. The last 'seven' (the 70th 'seven') is the future seven years of the Tribulation, which will end at the Second Coming of Christ (as that article shows). According to the passage above, part of the purpose for the 70 'sevens' was for Israel to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, and to bring in everlasting righteousness. When the Jews confess their national guilt and turn to Jesus as the Messiah during the final three days of the seven-year Tribulation, they will have reached the end of the 70 'sevens.' They will have finished transgression, they will have put an end to sin, they will have atoned for wickedness, and they will be bringing in everlasting righteousness. They will become regenerated, "And so all Israel will be saved" (Romans 11:25-27, above). Here is another passage which describes the Jews turning to the Lord at the end of the seven-year Tribulation: "This is the word the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians : "Announce and proclaim among the nations, lift up a banner and proclaim it; keep nothing back, but say, 'Babylon will be captured; Bel will be put to shame, Marduk filled with terror. Her images will be put to shame and her idols filled with terror.' A nation from the north will attack her and lay waste her land. No one will live in it; both men and animals will flee away. "In those days, at that time," declares the LORD, "the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the LORD their God. They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten."" (Jeremiah 50:1-5)Revelation 18:1-24 says that Babylon will be destroyed shortly before the Second Coming. The above passage says that in the days when Babylon is destroyed, the Jews will seek the Lord in tears and they will bind themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant. This describes their national repentance and regeneration, as we have seen. The prophet Zechariah said that in the days when the armies of the nations are gathered together to destroy Jerusalem, the remnant of the Jews will call on the Lord and He will answer: ""Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!" declares the LORD Almighty. "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones. In the whole land," declares the LORD, "two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.' A day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided among you. I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city."" (Zechariah 13:7-14:2)The above passage says that by the time Jesus returns at the Second Coming, two-thirds of the Jewish population of the earth will have been killed during the seven-year Tribulation. The remaining one-third is the "remnant" which is refined in the fire like silver or gold. As the above passage says, they will turn to Jesus and call for His return, and He will answer them. He will come down from heaven and wage war on their behalf against the Antichrist and his armies. We saw at the end of the previous section that when Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey in fulfillment of a Messianic prophecy, many people responded with Messianic greetings based on the Psalms (see Matthew 21:1-9 and Psalm 118:25-27, above). One of those Messianic greetings was "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." We also saw that Jesus said that He will not return until He is greeted as the Messiah by the nation which had rejected Him: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" (Matthew 23:37-39)So now we know the one specific event which will "trigger" the Second Coming! As the armies of the Antichrist are trying to exterminate the Jews at the end of the seven-year Tribulation, God will pour out a spirit of grace and supplication on the nation of Israel. They will admit their national guilt, and they will look unto the One they had pierced, and they will mourn for Him. They will earnestly seek Him and acknowledge that He is the Messiah, and they will ask Him to return. The Jews will be regenerated (saved) as a nation, then heaven will open up and Jesus will return to do battle on their behalf, defeating the Antichrist and his armies! The Second Coming
In my article called The Rapture of the Church - Part Two I showed that Israel will sign a seven-year covenant with a man whom Christians refer to as "the Antichrist." The signing of this treaty is the event which will begin the seven-year Tribulation period. At the end of the Tribulation, Jesus will return to the earth and defeat the Antichrist and his armies. At the mid-point of the seven-year Tribulation period the Antichrist will break his covenant with Israel, and he will desecrate the Jewish temple (as the above article shows). At this point, an intense persecution of Jews will begin, and all Jews in Israel should flee to the mountains: "So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel--let the reader understand-- then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains." (Matthew 24:16)The above passage says that the Jews should flee to the mountains, but where specifically? Here's another clue: "The woman [i.e. Israel - see my article called The Rapture of the Church - Part One] fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days." (Revelation 12:6)The above passages say that the Jews should flee to the desert where they will be taken care of during the last three and a half years of the Tribulation. So the Jews should flee to a mountain region which is in the midst of a desert. The specific place where they should go is a place called Bozrah: "I will surely assemble, O Jacob [Israel], all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men." (Micah 2:12, KJV)Strong's Dictionary says that Bozrah was a city in ancient Edom (which was in the area of present-day Jordan), and it says that the Hebrew word bozrah means "sheep fold." There is a city in southern Jordan called Petra, which is located in a mountain range in the middle of a desert. Petra is a rocky fortress in the shape of a giant sheep fold, and many Bible scholars believe that this is the location of the ancient city of Bozrah (although a nearby place called Buseira is another possibility). After the majority of the Jews have fled to Bozrah and the armies of the Antichrist are marching towards them at the end of the seven-year Tribulation, the Jews will acknowledge their national sin of rejecting Jesus, and they will confess that He is the Messiah. They will plead for Him to return (as we saw in the previous section), and then Jesus will come back to the earth: "For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. Immediately after the distress of those days 'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.' At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory." (Matthew 24:27-30)The above passage says that Jesus will return to the earth "on the clouds of the sky," which is similar to the way that He left the earth in the first century (Acts 1:9). The above passage also says that when Jesus returns, vultures will gather on the dead bodies. Why is it talking about dead bodies at the Second Coming? It's because when Jesus returns, He is coming to make war: "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." (Revelation 19:11-16)As the nations of the earth are gathered against the Jews under the leadership of the Antichrist, Jesus will ride out of heaven on a white horse and do battle against them. Here are some important points in the above passage:
Continuing on in Revelation 19:17-21 we see some things which will happen immediately after the Second Coming: "And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, "Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great." Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh." (Revelation 19:17-21)So immediately after the Second Coming, we see that the Antichrist (who is referred to as the "beast") and the false prophet and the armies of the earth will be killed, and birds will gorge themselves on their flesh. Remember, the Antichrist will gather his armies at the place called Armageddon, and he will attack Jerusalem, and then he will turn his armies southward towards Bozrah where the majority of the Jews had fled. As we have just seen, when Jesus comes down out of heaven He will kill the Antichrist and his armies at Bozrah. Therefore, it appears that when Jesus returns at the Second Coming He will return to Bozrah in Edom, not to the Mount of Olives as is commonly taught! Now watch! When the apostle John described the Second Coming, he said that Jesus will be wearing a robe dipped in blood (Revelation 19:13, above). Many people assume that this represents the blood that He shed for our sins, but this is reading into the verse something which it does not actually say. The word "dipped" comes from the Greek word bapto which means "dip," according to Strong's Greek Dictionary. Jesus' robe has been dipped in blood. Why? Notice that Revelation 19:15 (above) says that Jesus "treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty." In other words, He will wage war against the Antichrist and his armies, and His robe will be dipped in their blood (from "treading" on them). Remember, the armies of the Antichrist will be at Bozrah at this point, so again, it appears that when Jesus returns at the Second Coming He will go straight to Bozrah in Edom, He will not descend directly to the Mount of Olives. Here's another passage which describes the slaughter of the armies of the world at Bozrah in Edom: "Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it! The LORD is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter. Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will send up a stench; the mountains will be soaked with their blood. All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree. My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; see, it descends in judgment on Edom, the people I have totally destroyed. The sword of the LORD is bathed in blood, it is covered with fat-- the blood of lambs and goats, fat from the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in Edom. And the wild oxen will fall with them, the bull calves and the great bulls. Their land will be drenched with blood, and the dust will be soaked with fat." (Isaiah 34:1-7)According to the above passage, the Lord will personally slaughter all of the armies of the nations (to the Jews, a reference to "the nations" specifically means "the Gentile nations"). This has never happened in the history of the world, but it will happen at the Second Coming. This passage says that the sword of the Lord is bathed in blood, and we have already seen that His robe is dipped in blood as well. This passage specifically tells us that the Lord will have a great slaughter at Bozrah in Edom, which is where the armies of the Antichrist will be at the time of the Second Coming. So again, it appears that Jesus will go straight to Bozrah at the Second Coming in order to rescue the remnant of Jews and to slaughter the armies of the Antichrist. Jesus will not descend directly to the Mount of Olives at the Second Coming as is commonly believed. When the majority of the Jews are gathered at Bozrah, Jesus will come down from heaven and break them free from the siege of the Antichrist: "I will surely assemble, O Jacob [Israel], all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as a flock in the midst of their pasture; they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. The breaker is gone up before them: they have broken forth and passed on to the gate, and are gone out thereat; and their king is passed on before them, and Jehovah at the head of them." (Micah 2:12-13, ASV)This passage says that after Jesus breaks the Jews free at Bozrah, He will go before them at the head of them. But where are they going? Isaiah tells us that they are heading to Jerusalem. Notice that in Isaiah 62:1-10 God makes some promises to Jerusalem, and then Isaiah 62:11-63:6 describes a conversation with the Savior, who is coming towards Jerusalem from Bozrah in Edom on the day of the Second Coming: "The LORD has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: "Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your Savior comes! See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.'" They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the LORD; and you will be called Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted.Notice that in Isaiah's vision (above) he specifically saw the Savior coming towards Jerusalem from Bozrah in Edom! Also notice that Jesus' clothes are stained with blood because He has trodden the winepress of God's wrath, slaughtering the armies of the nations at Bozrah. Again, at the Second Coming Jesus will go straight to Bozrah in Edom (southern Jordan), He will not descend straight down to the Mount of Olives (just east of Jerusalem). At some point, there will be so much blood that it will reach as high as a horse's bridle: "Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, "Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth's vine, because its grapes are ripe." The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia." (Revelation 14:18-20)The NIV footnote for Revelation 14:20 (above) says that 1,600 stadia is about 180 miles, which is the approximate distance from the mountain of Megiddo ("Armageddon") to Bozrah (for example, see The Footsteps of the Messiah ,
Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, p.251). So this 180-mile distance just outside the city of Jerusalem will be filled with blood up to a height of about four feet! Notice that once again we see that the armies of the Antichrist will be "trampled in the winepress," which is why Jesus' robe has been "dipped in blood" (Revelation 19:11-16, above).
As Jesus continues on towards Jerusalem from Bozrah in Edom on the day of the Second Coming, trampling the armies of the nations, He will then ascend the Mount of Olives: "I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him." (Zechariah 14:2-5)Notice the order here. First, the armies of the nations will destroy Jerusalem. Then the Lord will come down from heaven to make war against the Antichrist and his forces (at Bozrah in Edom). As we have seen, Jesus will then lead the Jews towards Jerusalem from Bozrah in Edom, trampling the armies of the nations along the way. Then, still on the day of the Second Coming, He will ascend the Mount of Olives (just east of Jerusalem). There will be a huge earthquake which will split the Mount of Olives in two, and then the Messiah will once again enter Jerusalem. Hallelujah! This will bring the seven-year Tribulation to an end, and it will mark the completion of the 70 'sevens' in Daniel's prophecy (Daniel 9:24, above). Conclusion
Many Christians believe that Jesus will descend directly to the Mount of Olives at the Second Coming. This view is based on the following passages: "After [Jesus] said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city." (Acts 1:9-12)We have seen that Jesus will return in the same manner that He left, just as Acts 1:9-12 says (above). We have also seen that Jesus will stand on the Mount of Olives on the day of the Second Coming, just as Zechariah 14:4 says (above). However, the Bible gives us a great deal of specific information about what will happen after Jesus descends to the earth and before He stands on the Mount of Olives! It appears that Jesus will return to the earth at Bozrah in Edom (southern Jordan) rather than descending directly to the Mount of Olives as is commonly taught. The Bible also gives us an amazing amount of specific information about what will happen after the Second Coming, so I invite you to continue on to my article called Beyond the Second Coming. |