Coming of Christ

The Coming of Christ encompasses both the first coming — the Incarnation — and the Second Coming in glory at the end of the age. The first coming fulfilled the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament and inaugurated the kingdom of God in humility and suffering. Jesus's own teaching and the apostolic letters speak frequently of the Second Coming (Greek parousia, meaning presence or arrival) as the consummation of redemptive history, when Christ will return visibly and gloriously to judge the living and the dead (Acts 1:11; Acts 3:20–21).

The New Testament grounds the certainty of the Second Coming in the Resurrection: the same Christ who rose is he who will return. Paul describes it as the appearing (epiphaneia) of the great God and Savior, when the dead in Christ will rise first and living believers will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). The timing is unknown — Jesus himself declared only the Father knew the day and hour (Matthew 24:36). The proper response to the Coming is watchfulness, faithful service, and hope: Maranatha — Come, Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 16:22; Revelation 22:20).