The Second Coming of Our Lord

“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

There are many different words used in the Greek New Testament concerning the Lord’s Second Coming. The Scriptures show that Jesus will return to gather His bride unto Himself, raising those that sleep (died) in Jesus, and changing those who are still living, to be with Him forever. This is beautifully shown in 1 Thess. 4:13-18. This Second coming for His saints is sometimes confused with His coming with the church to establish His earthly thousand-year kingdom which will occur after the marriage of the Lamb and His bride has taken place, spoken of in Rev. 19:6-9.

We will look now at the many references and expressions that refer to the Lord’s returning for His bride. They are given as words of encouragement to Jesus’ followers from Pentecost down to our present time. These are some of the Greek words referring to the Lord’s Second Advent: Parousia, Epiphania, Apokalupsis, Phaneroo, Phanero, and Katabisis. In writing to the various churches, the Apostles used different Greek words in relating to the same event, depending on the context. Let us look at some of these Scriptures:

“Waiting for the Son of God from Heaven”-1 Thess.1:10. In I Thess. 3:13 & 5:23, Paul is telling the church to wait for the Lord’s presence (Gk. parousia). James also exhorted the Christians to be patient, for the Lord’s presence (Gk. parousia) was near (James 5:7-8).

“Waiting for His appearing” - In 1 Tim. 6:14, Paul was exhorting Timothy to keep the commandment spotless until the Lord’s appearing (Gk. epiphania) See also Titus 2:13. Paul was expecting to receive the crown of life in that day of the Lord’s appearing (2 Tim. 4:8).

“Waiting for His revelation” - In 1 Cor.1:7, Paul exhorted the church to be faithful until the Lord would be revealed (Gk. apokalupsis). See also 1 Pet. 1:7, 13; 4:13.

“Waiting for His manifestation” - In Col. 3:4, Paul is reminding the church in Colossae that they are dead to this world and it’s sin laden activities and their new life is hid with Christ in God and that when Christ...shall appear (Gk. phanerothete) they would also appear with Him in glory. In his first epistle, Peter also, while previously using the word apokalupsis three times, now in chapter 5, vs. 4 uses the word phanero. See also 1 John 3:2.

“Waiting for Him to descend” from heaven. (Gk. Katabaino) See 1 Thess. 4:16. 

In brief -- the church was encouraged to:

• Wait for His parousia or presence - 1 Thess. 3:13; 5:23; Jas. 5:7, 8.

• Wait for His epiphania or appearing - 1 Tim. 6:14; 2 Tim. 4:8. Titus 2:13

• Wait for His apokalupsis or revelation - 1 Cor. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:7, 13. I Thess.4:13

• Wait for His phanerosis or manifestation - Col. 3:4; 1 Pet. 5:4. I John 3:2

• Wait for His katabaino or descending - 1 Thess. 4:13-17.

From the above we can readily see that these various words are to all take place at the same time, when the completed church will be resurrected and rewarded together. They could not possibly denote different time periods, for why would the Apostle Paul tell the Thessalonians to wait until the Lord’s parousia, tell Timothy and Titus to wait unto the Lord’s epiphania, the Corinthians to wait unto the Lord’s apokalupsis, and the Colossians until the Lord’s phanerosis, etc? One reason for the use of thesevarious words in the Greek text was to meet the Greek grammatical requirements. Since these words  are not synonymous, they could only be used interchangeably because they have a common time application. The various Greek words could be used interchangeably only when the context is of one dealing with time.

After the Lord Jesus Christ comes for His bride and the marriage of the Lamb has taken place, then they will return together to raise the dead and establish the Kingdom of God on earth. 

Some Scriptures that refer to this time of blessing are: Ephesians 1:10; 1 Cor. 15:25-28; 2 Tim. 4:1; Rom. 8:17; 1 Cor. 6:2; Isaiah 26:9.

The Lord will indeed be coming soon for His Church at His Second Advent. It may well be in our lifetime -- so let us be watching, faithful and ready!