The Final Act

The arrival of Jesus will be an event of great victory and finality that will result in the resurrection and the New Creation.

The return of Jesus at the “end of the age” will be a singular event of utter finality. His “arrival” or ‘Parousia’ will be accompanied by celestial and terrestrial upheaval, the installation of the New Creation, the resurrection of the dead, the judgment of the godly and the ungodly, the “gathering of Christ’s elect,” and the end of Death. Decay and mortality will be replaced by immortality. Nothing will ever be the same again!

When responding to believers who denied the coming bodily resurrection of the saints, Paul described several events that would either precede the “arrival” of Jesus or coincide with it, including the consummation of the Kingdom of God, the subjugation of all Christ’s enemies, the resurrection, and the termination of Death:

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• (1 Corinthians 15:24-28) – “Then comes the end, when he will deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death.”

Christians who die before Christ’s return will be resurrected as he was. His past resurrection was the “first fruits” and guarantee of the resurrection of believers when Jesus returns. The resurrection of the saints will be a collective event. All believers will be raised at the same time and reunited with those disciples who are still alive on that Last Day.

This great final day will not come until Jesus has put “all things under his feet,” just as the Psalmist wrote. His sudden appearance on the “Day of the Lord” will mark the consummation of God’s Kingdom. Afterward, there will be no more enemies for the Son of God to conquer. “Yahweh says to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool” - (Psalm 2:6-9, 110:1).

Paul described this event as “the end,” and the “Last Enemy” to be eliminated will be Death itself. It will no longer hold men and women in perpetual bondage and fear. As the Apostle declared:

• “We will not all sleep, but we will be changed, in a moment<…> the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed<…> But when this mortal frame puts on immortality, then will come to pass the saying, Death is swallowed up in victory” - (1 Corinthians 15:51-56).

In his first letter to the Thessalonians, the Apostle declares that the resurrection will occur at the Parousia of Jesus - His “arrival from Heaven.” The dead in Christ will be raised first, then “we that are alive and remain until the Parousia the Lord” together with them will “meet him” as he descends, and “thus will we be with him forevermore”- (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

In his second letter, Paul links the return of Jesus with the “Day of the Lord.” That day will include the “gathering together" of the saints by Jesus, just as he predicted on the Mount of Olives. He will dispatch his angels to gather his “elect” from the four corners of the Earth when the “Son of Man arrives on the clouds.”

All men will witness Christ’s return - “All the tribes of the Earth will see him.” It will affect the entire planet if not the Cosmos. His “arrival” and associated events will certainly not be limited to the Middle East or the nation of Israel! - (Matthew 24:31, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-9).

THE LAST DAY

Years later, the Apostle Peter warned of coming “scoffers” who would mock and ask, “Where is the promise of his arrival” or ‘Parousia’ (παρουσια). Peter, like the Apostle Paul, also linked the return of Jesus to the “Day of the Lord”:

• “God is not slack concerning his promise<…> for the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are in it will be burned up<…> But according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which dwells righteousness” - (2 Peter 3:3-12).

The “arrival” of Jesus Christ will mean the dissolution of the old order and its replacement by the promised “New Heavens and New Earth.” The conditions ushered in by Christ’s appearance will be permanent.

In his letter to the assemblies of Rome, Paul also coordinated the bodily resurrection of the saints with the arrival of the New Creation - At present, the entire universe is groaning and travailing while it “waits for the revelation of the sons of God<…> for the creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God<…> even the redemption of our body” - (Romans 8:19-23).

The Apostolic Tradition consistently presents the day of Christ’s “arrival” as an event of great finality. It will mean nothing less than the resurrection of the righteous, the gathering of the elect, the consummation of the Kingdom of God, the final judgment, the end of Death, the arrival of the New Creation, and the end of the present age. Righteousness will prevail throughout the Cosmos after that day.

• “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruptibility, and this mortal must put on immortality<…> Then will come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory” – (1 Corinthians 15:50-57).

All this will result from the victory that God has given us already, “through our Lord Jesus Christ”, namely, because of his Death and Resurrection, the foundation of the Apostolic Faith – (“Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and he was buried, and he was raised on the third day” - 1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

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SEE ALSO:

• The Last Enemy - (The arrival of Jesus at the end of the age will mean the resurrection and the end of the Last Enemy, namely, Death - 1 Corinthians 15:24-28)

• Christ Conquered Death - (Paul reminded Timothy of the resurrection of Jesus and his victory over death since false teachers were denying the future resurrection of believers)

• Life from the Dead - (Not only does Paul base the salvation provided by the Gospel on the past resurrection of Jesus, but he also links it to the future resurrection of believers)

• To the Nations Also  - (Jesus of Nazareth fulfills the promise to bless all nations in Abraham. Christ is the Patriarch’s Heir and “Seed”)