Brethren, we have seen how the very judgment of the world will be committed to the Saints of the Most High. We are aware of what awesome responsibility and privilege awaits us as we rule and reign with Jesus Christ our Lord. But in what manner does He come? We all know the popular ideas concerning Him coming secretly to snatch away His faithful church, or the images of Him splitting the sky like lightening and touching down on the Mount of Olives. But do these traditions have their basis in truth, or myth? Is the coming of the Lord truly such a visible, public event that will result in open mouthed, wide eyed heathen pointing at the flashing heavens, or at empty spaces that were occupied by saints but a moment ago?

The most popular theory of all concerning the "second coming" of Christ is that He will come secretly and snatch away all believers to heaven in a ‘rapture’, just prior to a seven year tribulation. As is very common with popular views, there is no biblical support whatsoever for this view, which emerged relatively recently, and the greatest publicity in recent years for the ‘rapture’ theory has come, ironically, from a fictional series, ‘Left Behind’, and the very term ‘rapture’ is found nowhere in the Bible. When asked for scriptures, ‘rapture’ adherents are likely to point to something as bizarre as John being told to ‘come up here’ at the beginning of Revelation chapter 4, or ascribe tenuous interpretations to Jesus statements regarding coming "like a thief". However, the view is so discordant, unbiblical and strange, that it can certainly be discounted, and it is not the purpose of this study to go into this vain imagining in any depth.

Another view is that Jesus will ‘crack the sky like lightening’ at the end of a period of great tribulation, and touch down outside Jerusalem, His followers having come up to meet Him in the air, at which point He establishes the Kingdom with a ‘rod of iron’, and rules from Jerusalem.

When dealing with this subject of the coming of the Lord, we would do well to begin by separating fact from fiction. For instance, we must start by carefully examining the idea of a "second coming" altogether, simply because the phrase "second coming" is never found in scripture! It is instead a classic example of an unbiblical expression finding it’s way into the common parlance. We must understand, if we are to gain insight into the manner of Christ’s coming, that His coming is never seen as an isolated, future event, but a continuous stream of revelation and visitation, ever growing in scope and magnitude.

A common misunderstanding regarding the coming of the Lord is the purpose and significance of His coming to and coming for the believer. Why is He coming to us, and where is He taking us? To better comprehend this, let us listen to Jesus’ words to His disciples on the night of His betrayal:

The common understanding of this passage is that Jesus was preparing to go to the city of golden streets, where he would begin a renovation project on several mansions, that the twelve may all live on a specially prepared heavenly cul-de-sac. He would return at the end of time in the clouds to bring everyone back to their real estate in the blue yonder, after which all shall live happily ever after, harps in hand. Dear saints! Let us ignore such nonsense and read this carefully, with the eyes of the Spirit. Jesus, in verse six, states that He is the way to the place He is preparing, and then states that the place is the Father! Selah! Pause and consider! Jesus, having not yet offered Himself up, was going to the cross to prepare a way for all believers into the bosom of the Father! That is our inheritance!

Jesus goes on to speak of He and the Father coming to the one that loves them:

This spiritual coming of God and His Christ is one that grows and grows it’s reality and dimensions. It is the source, the essence, and the sustenance, of the Kingdom Of God and of Heaven.

To truly understand the nature of Christ’s coming, one must first understand the nature of this Kingdom of which He spoke so often. Indeed, Christ preached the Kingdom above all else, mentioning it around fifty times in the Gospel of Matthew alone. But what IS this Kingdom? There have been many erroneous assumptions upon this subject, but to find the true nature of this Kingdom, let us hear the very words of our Lord Himself:

²⁰Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; ²¹nor will they say, "See here!' or "See there!'^[d] For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:20-21)

Jesus reveals the true nature of the Kingdom right here! It is not a Kingdom whose approach is signaled to the natural senses – not a Kingdom where you could observe carefully with the eye of flesh and say "Aha - there it is!". But why not? Because it is within you! Within us! And because it is within us, it must be a spiritual Kingdom, and a Kingdom that issues from the heart of the believer as the Lord reigns in that heart!

When Pilate was questioning the Christ regarding His Kingship, they had the following exchange:

The Kingdom is not only "not from here", but it also it also governed, sustained, and expanded, through different principles than the kingdoms of this world – namely, spiritual principles. This is where we can run into problems as believers, if we mix the spiritual with the carnal. For instance, if we do not shake our carnal concepts of what a kingdom looks like, but instead use the lens of the world to perceive it, we will imagine a kingdom of hierarchy, conquest, and violent suppression – a kingdom that has to be instituted by force, and sustained with a heavy hand of flesh. We have all heard the notions of Christ coming to reign from earthly Jerusalem, bloody sword in hand, while the nations are subdued under His armies of ‘christian soldiers’. A kingdom that can be primarily seen, felt, and experienced with all our earthy senses. Brethren, such a vain imagination will do violence to our spiritual perception, because we will then be seeking a carnal kingdom, rather then the true City of Zion. It is not so with the kingdom of heaven! This is not a kingdom where the lords are a terror to the meek, nor a kingdom where the servants beaten by the masters. It is a kingdom of love and service, from the bottom upwards, and from the inside out. Let us not forget the words Christ spoke concerning ‘rank’ in the kingdom:

Part of this dispute involved James and John wishing to sit at the right and left hand of Jesus in the kingdom. Being not yet filled with the Spirit, all the apostles still had very carnal perception, and were expecting an earthly kingdom in which they would be great lords. Yet Christ again and again stated that the kingdom is not so! The kingdom is not seen thus, nor ruled thus, nor perpetuated thus! A spiritual kingdom must begin with the Spirit of God, and be expressed through the spirits of men into this earthly realm.

Allow me to present an analogy to explain the nature of the kingdom. Imagine if you would an iceberg, towering above the crashing waves, mountainous and impressive. If we only believe the iceberg to be the part which is visible, it remains, indeed, a mountain, but we are in error concerning it’s dimensions and source. The far greater mass of the iceberg is beneath the waves, unseen and invisible to the world above! Indeed, once we realize the true height, breadth and width of the iceberg, we see that the protruding mass is but a visible expression of the invisible! And so it is with the kingdom! This realm is the expression, the visible manifestation, of the things unseen. Thus, we can understand why the kingdom cannot be carnal in origination or continuation, but only in expression!

Seeing then, that the kingdom is earthly in it’s expression, we can better understand the symbols given to describe it. We can understand that when Jesus tells us that in His Father’s house "are many mansions", He speaks not of literal houses with bricks, mortar, and ornamental pillars, but of the Father Himself being a dwelling place and abode for many. We must begin to have a conception of the spiritual principles of this great kingdom! We must begin to comprehend how something begins in the spiritual realm and works itself out through a prepared vessel into an expression in this realm, for this principle is vital to understanding the manner and significance of the coming of the Lord.

Jesus dealt with His coming in many places, notably in the discourse as He was leaving the Temple at Jerusalem. It is very pertinent to note that He prophesied concerning His coming shortly after stating that the earthly Temple would be thrown down. This was in fact a ‘changing of the guard’, as it were – and announcement of a new Temple, built not by human hands. In the scripture above, Christ states the nature of His coming:

This saying of His has led to the assumption that at some future point, Jesus Christ will "crack open the sky" for all nations to see, before touching down on the Mount of Olives and beginning His rule. That good Christians have been induced to believe such an imagining is all the more perturbing in light of the Lord’s explicit earlier comments:

Can we forget these words already? I can solemnly assure you that were our beloved Lord to come and split the sky like lightning, millions of people would be able to say "See here!" or "See there!". In such a case, the kingdom would indeed come by careful observation!

As is often the case with such misinterpreted passages, there is a key word that unlocks the true meaning. In this passage it is the Greek word that has been translated "lightning". The word is ‘astrape’. The basic meaning of this word is ‘a bright shining’. It can indeed be translated as ‘lightning’ in some contexts, but here it means something altogether different. Let us look again at the context:

Saints of God, lightning does not come from the east and flash to the west! There is no set direction that lightning flashes from or towards! Indeed, the Greek word for "flashes" is ‘phaino’ which is more accurately translated ‘shine’, as in the King James:

 ²⁷For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west…(KJV)

Brethren, there is a light that comes from the east and shines to the west. There is a ‘bright shining’ that fits the very description, a light that ‘gives light to all men coming into the world’. The great light our world revolves around - The Sun!

A good friend recently relayed to me how, in His communion with the Lord, He has received the revelation that the whole of creation is a metaphor to teach us about God and His Christ. Thus, Farmers can see the laws of reaping and sowing at work, parents understand something more of the Fatherhood of God, while husbands and wives understand a new dimension of Christ and His bride, the church. In other words, Christ did not look around Him for natural ways to explain the unseen realm - those things around Him were created for that purpose! When we can understand the metaphors, and the spiritual language of God, many truths that were before unrecognized, though right in front of our face, become apparent.

One of the greatest symbols and metaphors for the Lord Jesus Christ is the Sun. There are too many dimensions to this truth to go into them all here, but consistently, throughout scripture, we find Christ to be both the morning star (the star that appears on the horizon shortly before dawn, and the Sun, the Day Star itself:

Behold even the time when His followers went to His tomb:

When both the Son and the Sun had risen! What a beautiful metaphor! Understand, saints, the significance of this symbol. Lightning comes by flashings and thunder, but the Sun rises slowly, gradually, warming the earth with its rays gently, till it dominates the whole sky. "For as the sun rises in the east and shines to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be…" This truth is radically different from the orthodox perception of His coming.

The question remains, however. How can Christ come gradually, like the rising of the Sun? Brethren, the mystery involves His Body, which we are!

¹ Arise, shine;
       For your light has come!
       And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.
       ²For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
       And deep darkness the people;
       But the LORD will arise over you,
       And His glory will be seen upon you.
       ³The Gentiles shall come to your light,
       And kings to the brightness of your rising. (Isaiah 60:1-3)

What a staggering truth we see here! The glory of the Lord rising on His chosen people, Zion! His glory will be seen upon us! His glory – not ours. He will arise over us! Gentiles (unbelievers) will come to that light, to the brightness of that rising!

Christ being the Sun of Righteousness, we can also begin to have a better grasp of just what ‘The Day of the Lord’ is. The dawning of His light into the darkness of carnality, ignorance, and rebellion. A light that is a glory to all that is Godly, and a judgment on all that is vile:

Here we see God’s judgment against all things carnal, as anything offensive in His kingdom is burned (judged). We also see that this takes place at the end of the age. Referring back to Malachi, we see that it is the day which is coming that burns them up.

It is the brightness of the coming of the Lord that destroys the lawless one, the carnal man seated in the Temple of God claiming to be God. It is the dawning of that Day that spells the end for the works of the flesh, for sensuality and darkness.

Brethren, it is essential that we comprehend the nature and scope of the Lord’s coming, as much as our spirits can grasp it. Understand that the church, under the influence of the carnal mind, has been waiting for an isolated, external event, that will signal the "second coming" of Christ and institution of His government upon the earth. Yet the phrase ‘second coming" is found nowhere in scripture! The coming of the Lord is more than a single, universal occurrence – as if one could divide time into "before His coming" and "after His coming". Rather, His coming is a continuous event, and manifests in different ways at different times. And the great coming that "every eye shall see (know, perceive)" is dawning like the great Day it is, gradually and certainly. As the body is purged, refined and pruned, it is being prepared to receive the fullness of the Head, the very Temple of God receiving its capstone!

In Zechariah, as elsewhere in the prophets, we see the Lord speak concerning His temple. Indeed, the whole journey of Nehemiah, Ezra, etc, from Babylon to Jerusalem to rebuild the holy city and, ultimately, the temple, is a great foreshadowing of the bringing forth of the glorious temple of God out of the hopelessness of an apostate church (symbolized by Babylon and those who remained there) to the beauty of a fulfilled Zion.

The book of Haggai has much to say on the matter: In the first chapter we see the people rebuked by the Lord:

There are many great symbolic truths contained in this passage. The people of God are dwelling in their own house while the Lord’s house lies in ruins (living their own lives with no regard to the life of God or His people – the true temple). Because of this attempted self sufficiency they are sowing much and bringing in little, and not having enough to eat (performing the works of the flesh to little fruit, and not feeding on the true bread from Heaven – Christ, but starving on the meager fare of their own religion). They drink, but are not filled with drink (are not filled with the Spirit). They clothe themselves without warmth (they clothe themselves with the rags of their own works, not the righteousness of Christ). And so on. The Lord admonishes His people to be concerned with His holy habitation above all, and in chapter two we see the fulfillment of these commands:

After a period of darkness and distress, God sovereignly stretched out His mighty hand to rebuild the ruined temple at Jerusalem, and so it is with the true Temple of God! After these centuries of darkness and deception, He is surely once again stretching forth His hand to gather the living stones, and to fill His temple with the glory of Jesus Christ!

We see here the Lord depicted as coming to His temple, as He sits and refines the sons of Levi – the priesthood of God. It is He who is building this great temple – the temple that shall bear His own glory! When this temple has been fully prepared, it shall be flooded with His glory, and so shall the words be fulfilled:

For this is our great destiny, and perpetually unfolding reality, to be the living temple of the Lord!

Remembering, brethren, that all the scriptures are for our instruction, take time to meditate upon the constant references to the temple, from the scriptures previously mentioned, to the painstaking measurements and calculated dimensions of the temple in Ezekiel and Revelation. This things all pertain to the glorified body of Christ – His temple:

Considering this in the light of His coming, is it not apparent that as He is, so we must also be, that we may become His express image?

When He is revealed in His body, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is! And we shall see Him as He is, for we shall be like Him! Praise His glorious name! Knowing that we are in His image will mean that we can now see Him as He is, in His multi-membered body! The new man – the completed Temple! This glorious fulfillment of our union in Him is reason to fill every spirit-born child of God with unspeakable joy! How unstoppable and certain is the increase of that kingdom, that coming, that temple! We can now understand the beauty of the stone (Christ) of Daniel’s prophecy that strikes and destroys the kingdoms of this world, becoming a kingdom that fills the whole earth:

The kingdom of God began in a seed, even Christ Jesus. And that seed has reproduced Himself in many, that:

Not only that, but He is preparing us to bear His image, and to bear His ministry – not of ourselves, but as sanctified vessels filled with His Holy Spirit, presence, faith, compassion and love!

Esau (the carnal man) shall be judged by the body of the savior, and liberation shall go forth unto the dark world:

What a hope! What a gloriously high calling! And what a wise, all powerful, God of love! His glory shall increase and increase, His kingdom shall expand as the soothing rays of the sun, till it touches all that was cold and hard and dead!

God’s coming judgments shall be a cause of joy, as His mercy endures forever, and as the Holy Lamb stands as a beautiful banner to all peoples! Saints of the Most High – this is the God we serve! Put away those heathen notions of a God who tortures, who inflicts cruel terror in endless waves, and come to the Rock of our Salvation and rejoice!

The Lord Jesus Christ, as promised, is coming. He is ever coming. He came, and comes, and cometh still. His coming is the coming of a King – and a kingdom. He is the full expression of that kingdom, the preeminent one, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and the Head of the body. The King – and the kingdom – are coming in and through His holy temple, the place of God’s habitation in the Spirit, and they are coming through a people sanctified and conformed to His blessed image. There is a new man – Head and body, that will minister to the hurts of the world, shine great light into the dark places, and seek that which is lost. Of the increase of this kingdom there will be no end! Hallelujah!