Important Christian Interpretations on the Second Coming of Christ

Important Christian Interpretations on the Second Coming of Christ- Part 1

The Second Coming of Christ is one of the important theological doctrines in Christianity which has allocated much of The Christian teleology to itself. Most of the Christians, throughout the history of Christianity, have always believed that Christ will return in glory and splendor to fulfill his mission of salvation which was promised in his first advent, and establish a divine Kingdom in its perfect form.

Of course it doesn’t mean that all Christians have had or have the same attitude and understanding of this doctrine, but different deductions of this doctrine have been made during different eras and in various social conditions and in the context of various schools of thought.

Some, relying on the literal and denotative meanings of the verses related to this event, have believed in the bodily and physical Advent of the Christ and his thousand-year superficial sovereignty and others have spiritualized this doctrine, by interpretive approach.

In this article, in addition to introducing the concept of the Christ’s Second Coming, we will follow the exploration of the different interpretations of this doctrine within the specific periods of time during the history of Christianity; These eras include the New Testament period, the Church Fathers period, the Medieval period, and (Catholic and Protestant interpretations) in the modern era.

Initially, and as an introduction, the meaning and explanation of the Christ’s Second Coming, the position of this doctrine will be explained briefly and an overview of the interpretations available in this regard will be presented:

The meaning of Christ’s Second Coming: New Testament emphatically states that Jesus (John, 14:3) suddenly and without prior notice (Matthew 24:32-51) will return to the world in his father’s glory, along with angels (Ibid16:27) and with the success and victory (Luke, 11:19_27) and will save the Israelites and all his believers by forming a divine government and Kingdom.

The Christ’s Advent refers to his second coming during the apocalypse. Christ’s Second Coming is called Second Coming and also Parousia. Parousia is an idiological principle which states: “The final resurrection of the risen Christ, will end the human history” (Ceroke, 2003: 894), it means as the emergence of this universe was rooted in the embodiment of Jesus Christ, the completion of the divine salvation plan also depends on the second coming or the Christ’s Second Coming

Sometimes, the time of the Christ’s Resurrection has been referred to as the day of the Lord or Judgment Day which refers to the role of the Christ [God] in the time of The Second Coming that is judging between the righteous and the wicked. (see: 2^nd Thessalonians 2:4; Matthew 25:31-46; 1^st Corinthians 4:5; 2^nd Thessalonians 1:7-10; 1 Peter 1:13; Thiessen, 1977: 327 onwards).

However, in the Bible and especially in the Old Testament and prophecies of the Israelites prophets about the reappearance of the savior, there have been mergers between the first advent of Christ and his Second Coming, but when we pay attention to the content of these prophecies, we can understand the differences between them.; For example, by paying a little attention, it can be understood that what has been said in the Job 19:25-26, Daniel 7:13-14, Zechariah 14:4 and Malachi 3:1-2, is related to the final return of Christ (see: Thiessen, 1977: 327).

The position of the doctrine of the Second Coming: the New Testament refers to The Second Coming of Christ more than three hundred times and several chapters of the Gospels like Gospel of Matthew chapters 24 and 25, Gospel of Mark chapter 13 and also Gospel of Luke chapter 21 have been dedicated to this topic. Moreover, there are some Epistles in the Bible that only interpret and express this doctrine in all their chapters, like first and second Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians and the Book of Revelation (Sadeq Nia, 2009:243).

By having an overview of the Bible, it can be understood that common principle between different books of the New Testament is that Jesus is the savior for his early followers who were waiting his Second Coming, and accordingly it can be said decisively that the concept of Christs’ Second Coming is one of the most important concepts in the holy book of Christians (in the Bible) (Thiessen, 1977: 327).

According to Paul the philosophy of The Second Coming is to fulfill the plan of salvation of mankind: “Since Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; he will appear a second time, to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:28).

Accordingly, in arguing for the Second Coming and its relationship with the first advent of Christ, Christian says: if we consider the main purpose of the advent of Christ, his mission of salvation, it must be understood that by his first coming after the removal of the barriers to salvation, humans heard the annunciation of a divine kingdom.

Now, humans, by believing in him, make themselves ready to enter that kingdom and with the Second Coming of Christ at the end of the world, they will live in His kingdom (see: Travis, 1993:685). So, the Christianity belief consists of these two advents, the Second coming of Jesus Christ and whatever happens during this period.

George Brantle, Catholic author and theologian encourages Christians to wait for the Second Coming of Christ and do something to bring forward his Second Coming and he explicitly declares that believing in Christ’s Second Coming is a part of the Catholic Church’s unchanging tradition: “At the end of the world, Christ victoriously will come again as Judge of all men and angels. This is the judgment and The Second Coming that Christ talked to his disciples about it most of the time. This belief is a part of the Catholic’s solid tradition.” (Brantle, 1381: 274-276)

There are various interpretations on Christ’s return: the final part of the story of Jesus in the New Testament, has consisted of his resurrection from the dead, his ascension to Heaven and his Second Coming promise. Although the Christ’s return is fundamental here, in different parts of the New Testament, this issue has been discussed differently and seemingly contradictory.

This inconsistency in interpretations was evident from the first periods of the history of Christianity among the Companions of the Church and sometimes it has caused some perturbations in the interpretation of this event: “A group of early church fathers and the followers of Christ’s Second Coming were considering the occurrence of the Apocalypse, with all signs that have written in Revelation, to be very near, another group considered themselves at the last millennium which the end of it will be the beginning of millennium of Christ and martyrs and the third group which comprised the majority of Christians, considered the Early Church, that is, the community of Christian believers ,which had been interpreted to the body of Christ, to be the presence of Christ and the Holy Spirit and introduction to fulfillment the Kingdom of God” (Mojtabaei, 1988:143).

The first trend, after a time and inconclusive waiting of people, was converted to waiting for the Second Coming of Christ and occurrence of the incidents which are indicators of Second Advent of Christ at the Apocalypse in the unknown future and since that time until now every big natural or unnatural event, intense wars, spreading of irreligion and similar incidents have been supposed to be the signs of Second Coming and advent of Christ.

The second trend, that is, the hope of the coming of Christ’s millennium period [1], never became a current and prevalent belief, although it had some fans at the beginning and was seen at the next periods sometimes.

But the third trend became the core belief of Christianity in the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. According to this belief, the Church (community of believers) is the manifestation of divine kingdom, and the Holy Spirit is present in it (means in the community of believers) and in the soul of every believer and establishing the churches is the introduction and start of the fulfillment of divine government. The world, outside the Church, is the Devil’s territory and arena (sin place) and whoever joins the community of believers has abandoned himself/ herself from evil domination and will be rescued.

The church is expanding and will eventually reach its perfect position and will spread the entire world. Then the divine Kingdom will be established out of this world and beyond this history, in the New World. (Ibid. Hatch, 1957: 78) In the following, we will know some of the current interpretations in the important periods and influential characters of Christianity with a glance at them.

2. The interpretation of the authors of the New Testament of Christ’s Second Coming

In the viewpoint of Early Christianity authors, Jesus ascended to heaven after resurrection, and achieved The Messianic status (see: romans 1:3; acts 3:36). Following this event, people’s waiting for establishing the divine kingdom only diminished but also increased; because the aspects of the message of Jesus which were enigmatic to the disciples, was revealed:

The Son of Man, Jesus of Nazareth, who suffered and was killed in his terrestrial life, ascended to God as a Spiritual Messiah and sat down at the right hand of Him (Hebrews 1:3), He will come down, riding on a cloud from the Heaven and will establish a divine government, at the Apocalypse that it seems to be very close.

Perhaps due to the historical conditions of that time it can be said that the early Christians were counting the imminent end of the world. The expectation for the imminent coming of Jesus Christ is evident both in the Gospels and Paul’s view (see: Mark 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).

If people could repent and quit commitment of sins against God, salvation time would come and God would resend Jesus to people as Messiah but till then, Jesus should stay in the heaven until everything restitute to its first state, which God informed through his prophets” (acts 3:21-22).

The author of Peter’s first letter by referring to this point that even Jesus himself doesn’t know when he is allowed to reappear and establish his divine government, says:

“Like someone who is waiting for anything pleasant, wait for the Second coming of Jesus Christ” (1 peter 1:13).

He thought that “The end of all things is near” (Ibid. 4:7) and the time of judgment has also been started (Ibid. 4:17).

This type of waiting continued until the second century AD, and although it was said that Second Coming of Christ would not be imminent, and the delay in it was justified, but it was always emphasized that Christ will return someday. In an overview it can be said that the Early Church had great interest to teach people about Christ’s Second Coming (see: thiessen, 1977: 327). In addition, because of the importance of the role of Paul among the early Christian authors we will investigate Paul’s particular interpretation of Christ’s Second Coming.

1.2 Paul’s interpretation of Christ’s Second Coming

Paul is considered as the founder of Christian theology. The fundamental principle of his sermons was “Risen Christ” or “The Resurrection of Christ”. He said both Jews and Non-Jews can enter into the territory of the Risen Christ through believe in Christ and accepting the Gospel. In his view, Christ after his death and resurrection, had become a pervasive truth, the truth that Paul himself, had conceived it in his Revelation (Schroeder, 2003:1).

Paul, who was more educated than other followers of Jesus and the early church leaders, along with other apostles and disciples was advocating the idea of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and he was trying to explain it and make it reasonable based on the Old Testament and also partly based on the conventional understanding of that time. Most of the Epistles of Paul, have been written between the years 50 and 65 AD. He directly or indirectly brings up this doctrine and its aspects in some of these Epistles.

In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul refers to the situation of Christians who have died before the Second Coming of Jesus and they haven’t lived in the divine government. He assumes the Second Coming of Christ as a basis for proving the Resurrection of these dead Christians. The Christians who are dead will rise at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and, along with other Christians, will achieve the salvation that is considered as “rising up” in Paul’s view.

After the resurrection of the dead Christians coinciding with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, “those of us, who are still alive, together with them, will be risen to heaven, riding on clouds, to meet the Lord ” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

In this verse Paul just refers to the coming of Jesus Christ and the Resurrection of the dead Christians and he does not talk about forming a divine government by Jesus. Perhaps because his concern in this verse is the resurrection of the dead Christians, not proving and describing the formation of a Terrestrial divine government.

The Resurrection of Jesus and Christ’s Second Coming in The Apocalypse has been first discussed by Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians in year 52 AD (Sadeq Nia, 2009: 225). Paul connects the resurrection of other dead to the resurrection of Jesus in this Epistle and says: “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, (1 Corinthians 15:20).

So the resurrection of Jesus is the start of the universal resurrection, He is the first who rises but at the time of his Second Coming “All those who belong to Him” will revive. Human is the symbol of mortality and Jesus Christ is the symbol of life after death.

Everyone will die because all are sinful descendants of Adam, but all those who belong to Christ will revive again after death: “Then, the end of the universe will come, after he has destroyed all world powers and he hands over the divine kingdom to God the Father. Because he should rule till the time that all his enemies are defeated by him.

The last enemy to be defeated is death” (1 Corinthians 15:24_25). Since Jesus is a famous eschatological figure in Paul’s and in the early Christians’ view, his acts including his resurrection and ascension are also interpreted teleologically and since Christians, get connected to Christ by their faith in him, they will rise from death too.

PS:

[1]. The concept of Millennium is one of the concepts related to teleological Christian doctrines, it is one of the phenomena of the Apocalypse and one of the signs of Christ Second Coming. Millennium, refers to a period in which evangelical faith and the greatness of Church reaches its climax and nations that hear the invitation of evangelical faith, turn to it and believe it. (Hamoudi, 1994: 60). Some Christian scholars believe that this millennium will begin before the Second Coming of Christ and will end with his coming (Al-Amirkany, 1890: 2/508).In this millennium-maybe millennium refers to a long time not the exact period of 1000 years-the extent of evil doing will be extremely low and the devil will be bound and after that Christ will come. (Najib, 1997: 126). Others believe that this era will begin with the Second Coming of Christ, and this era will be the ideal period of the Christian faith (Thiessen, 1977: 348).

Important Christian Interpretations on the Second Coming of Christ- Part 2

In his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul faced the reality that was the natural consequence of the expecting the imminent end of the world. This fact is that some of the Christians in the Church of Thessaloniki, had stopped working and were living on others’ money because of their Apocalyptic beliefs. In this letter, Paul, in addition to accepting and repeating the belief of the Second Coming of Christ, warns people not to be unsettled by words of mouth or letters that are attributed to us —and assert that the Day of the Second Coming of the Lord (Christ) has already come. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3).

In the following Paul expresses the incidents which occurs before the “The Lord’s Day” (the day of The Second Coming of Christ), (2 Thessalonians 2:4 and 8 and 9).

In this letter, Paul confirms the belief of those who expect the imminent Second Coming of Christ; however, he asks them not to develop their expectation to the extent which get them away from daily life. He also asks them not to stop working, and not to get disappointed as they face the delay in fulfilling the expectation of The Second Coming of Christ and not to cause a crisis in the Early Church with those consequences.

However Paul has been quiet at some occasions that he is expected to talk about Christ’s Second Coming. He talks about death as “crumbling of the earthly tent” and then obtaining “an eternal heavenly dwelling” that God has built it, in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 5:1-10), but he doesn’t mention anything about Jesus Second Coming or the resurrection of the dead.

In this sentence, the death itself is the point that causes the Christian believer achieve the spiritual salvation. Also in his letter to the Philippians (Philippians 1:21-25) when he talks about the necessity of  his staying alive, he doesn’t see his surviving as waiting for the Second Coming of Christ and meeting him, but merely as an opportunity to serve Christians more, yet it results in his separation from Christ.

In total, it can be understood from Paul’s words about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ that on the one hand, he had a role in early church belief  of the imminent Second Coming of their savior, but on the other hand, since he felt responsibility and thought that with his dream and his Revelation he has been chosen as a special apostle of Jesus  to lead others and also since he was more educated than other apostles and had more foresight, he didn’t want waiting for Second Coming of Jesus prevent the growth and consolidation of the nascent Church.

Sometimes, he acted in a way as if he could guess that there is no news of the Second Coming of Jesus for long years. The twofold position of Paul can be observed in the Christian marriage topic as well. He wants church members to abstain from marriage because he believes “we have a very short time and a very little opportunity for doing what satisfies the Lord’s” (1 Corinthians 7:29).

But on the other hand, as someone who feels responsible for the mental health of the church followers, he permits everyone who likes to get married, get marry (Ibid. 7:36).

Also, it seems that his view about how Jesus Christ’s Second Coming is, and his view about the final salvation is different from other followers and the apostles of Christ in the early church. Unlike those who waited for physical and imminent return of Jesus Christ, he referred to spiritual salvation that perhaps has nothing to do with the physical coming of Jesus Christ in the Apocalypse. This approach became the basis of interpretations of people like Origen and Augustine. In the following we will discuss them.

3. Christ’s Second Coming in the important Early Creeds

Creeds are statements which begin with the phrase “I believe”) (and generally have been issued by the Christian Councils after the doctrinal disputes (McGrath 2005:55). In the Early Christian Church, two important Creeds were credible and were respected in all over the Church: the Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed. Both Creeds consists of twelve principles of the Christian beliefs that half of them, that is, six principles, are dedicated to Jesus and his Second Coming.

1.3 The Apostles’ Creed

Maybe it can be said that this Creed is the most well-known and the most accepted Christian creed. This Creed consists of three major section about God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. It also includes some topics about the church, the Day of Judgment and the resurrection. The content of the Apostles’ Creed is as the following:

1. I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth,
2. I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
3. The one who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and was born of the Virgin Mary,
4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried,
5. On the third day he rose again,
6. He ascended into heaven and seated at the right hand of the Father Almighty,
7. And he have a Second Coming to judge the living and the dead,
8. I believe in the Holy Spirit,
9. The holy catholic and apostolic Church,
10. The forgiveness of sins,
11. The physical resurrection of the dead,
12. The everlasting life.

As you see, in the seventh paragraph of this creed after indicating of Christ’s ascension to the heaven, his Second Coming has been mentioned explicitly. In this creed, at first, some characteristics have been mentioned for Jesus Christ:

He is the only begotten Son of God, and He was born of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit and at the time of a tyrant governor was crucified and was buried.

After expressing these characteristics, the authors of the creed point out the first resurrection or the first coming of the Christ and His resurrection from the dead and that he is currently alive and sits on the right side of God the Father.

Finally, to connect these topics that sometimes appear, seemingly unrelated, and to complete the Christian faith, they point out his Second Coming. This six-part series that constitute half of the Creed, state that Christology is not completed without understanding Jesus’ Second Coming and this doctrine is the one which gives meaning to the Christian faith. About our subject, there are interesting points in this creed including:

1. The place where Christ is and will return from there is the heaven.
2. The place where Jesus Christ is, is beside God the father.
3. Jesus is present in this place and that position with his body; because in the second paragraph of the Creed it has been pointed out that: “On the third day, he rose from the dead” and we know that he will have a Second Coming physically and with a stunning glory.
4. Jesus Christ will have a Second Coming to judge the living and the dead.

2.3 Nicene Creed

Council of Nicaea was held in June 325 CE at the invitation of Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, in the city of Nicaea (Iznik city in the modern Turkey) with the aim of resolving disputes concerning the Christology. This Council is considered as the first global council (in the sense of a council composed of bishops all around the Christian world that its decisions are mandatory and are considered as basis of all the churches) (McGrath, 2005: 57). In the Nicene Creed we read:

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, creator of all visible and invisible things. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father. Through him all things were created; all things that are on the earth and in the heaven.

He came down from heaven for us and for our salvation; he was personified as human. He suffered and rose on the third day and ascended into heaven. He will have a Second Coming to judge the living and the dead. One of the noticeable points in the text of the Creed is introducing Jesus role in people’s salvation. . In This theological classic text Christ’s salvation deed has some steps:

1. He descended from heaven, it means that, he is divine and has a heavenly dignity.
2. He is a God who embodied and personified as a human.
3. He suffered for human’s salvation and was killed.
4. On the third day he rose from the dead and resurrected.
5. His current place is in heaven, that is, he ascended again.
6. He will Fulfill his salvation deed is his Second Coming.
7. He will have a Second Coming to judge both the living and the dead.

So the Second Coming of Jesus is the final loop of his salvation deed for it he descended from heaven and was embodied; that is, if we omit Christ’s Second Coming from this cycle, believe in Christ will not be meaningful anymore.

Important Christian Interpretations on the Second Coming of Christ- Part 3

4. Available Interpretations in the period of church fathers.

Fathers’ era (100-451 AD) is one of the most important periods in the history of Christianity thought so that Christian current thoughts try to refer the roots of their beliefs to that era. (McGrath, 2005: 32 and 33).

In the Fathers era, although the belief in the Second Coming of Jesus had not been appeared as a quite regular belief, but Christians believed in it deeply. During this period, Christ’s Second Coming doctrine referred to the Apocalypse and was affected by its Jewish type (Sadeq nia, 2009: 239).

Under the influence of the concept of forming a divine kingdom and the New Jerusalem in the book of Daniel, and especially the implications of the millennial reign of Christ in the book of Revelation, the idea of the earthly kingdom of Jesus Christ and his physical Second Coming had many fans among the early church fathers.

For example, about the Second Coming of Christ and the final judgment, Justinian (165 AD), believed that Jesus will judge all the people who lived from the time of Adam to the end of creation after his Second Coming.

He believed that the saints will rise from the dead and along with Christ, in a restored Jerusalem will rule for a thousand years. Irenaeus (200 AD) was a millenarian believer and believed in the Second Coming of the Christ firmly. He says in his book against the heresy about The Apocalypse:

“The righteous will be alive right after the destruction of the Antichrist and his followers and they will rule on the earth. They will live together with the angels and the New Jerusalem will be established on earth after it was restored by Christ. The human race will be created in a new form so that no one will grow old. At First the righteous will be revived, and then those who committed evil deeds will be resurrected and judged” (Adli, 2010: 186).

Believing in the Second Coming of the Christ and the Millennium beliefs can be seen in the works of other fathers like Tertullian, Lactantius and Cyprian. But some Fathers have presented different interpretations of this doctrine. In the following text we will investigate the interpretation of two of the most influential church fathers, namely Origen and Augustine.

4-1. Origen’s different interpretation; Towards Spiritualization

After two centuries of fruitless waiting for Christ’s Second Coming, doubts were raised about this doctrine in the late second century and even the book of Revelation was sometimes questioned. In such an atmosphere, some began making spiritual interpretations of this doctrine.

Origen (185-254 AD) was born in Alexandria in the late first century AD and grown up in the same atmosphere. Origen with adherence to the ideas of its predecessor, Clement of Alexandria, attempted to reconcile Christian faith with Hellenistic teachings in a way that Christianity can be rendered as the perfect culmination point of all religions.

Origen divides all Christianity into three major parts: God and all His manifestations, the fall of the creatures’ spirits from heaven, salvation and complete Resurrection. Although Origen’s interpretation of Christian doctrine got not completed, but he was a pioneer in spiritualization of the doctrine of Christ’s Second Coming. As the Resurrection was concerned, Origen believed that in “the Apocalypse” all creatures will resurrect. And finally God will be all in all and even the evil spirits will be salvaged and evil will be destroyed completely and everything will return to its pure and original spiritual status.

He considered eternal salvation for all, although he was not so sure about the salvation of the Satan and the banished angels. He referred to the I Corinthians treatise to defend his views; it is stated there that finally, God would be “all in all” (15: 27-28); accordingly, there is forgiveness for everyone in the end (Kung, 2003).

4-2. Augustine’s spiritual interpretation of Christ’s Second Coming

Although In the fourth century there were still tendencies towards the apocalyptic Second Coming of Christ and millennial kingdom – For instance, Lactantius wrote one of the most detailed books on the subject in this period – however in this period, the literature of the Apocalypse and millennial kingdom had been superseded. Even those who believed in the physical Second Coming of Christ and his kingdom in its literal sense – like Matthews from Olympus and Victorinus of Pettau who wrote the oldest commentary on the book of Revelation – didn’t believe in the earthly views of the second century AD.

Some authors believe there were two factors which abolished the belief of the physical Second Coming of Christ in this era: One of them was the conversion of Constantine to Christianity which made Christianity to transform into a tolerant and even victorious religion from a persecuted religion and the other one was the emergence of interpretations that were based on inner nature trend of thought and were signifying figurative and spiritual meanings more (Sadeq Nia, 1388: 240).

Augustine (354-430 AD), was the most prominent theologian who opposed the literal understanding of the Revelation book. He reconsidered the Christian views concerning the history and society. The pivotal point of this position was not only to reject the political views of authors like EUSEBIUS and AMBROSE, who used to bond the fate of Rome and Christianity together and interpreted messianic promises in terms of the Christian Roman Empire, but also to attack any theology of the Apocalypse; theologies which were using the last book of the New Testament as a model for the interpretation of the history and the Apocalypse.

Augustine offered two alternative spiritual interpretations of millennial rule in the twentieth chapter of the book of Revelation: Thousand year reign of Christ means either the success of Christianity in exorcising the Satan and evil and imprisoning it in the hearts of evil doers in the early period of Christianity or all the years after Christ; For, a perfect time may be expressed by a whole number (e.g. thousand). According to both interpretations, “The church is already in the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of heaven. And so, now the saints rule alongside him, although it is different from what it would be in the next world” (ibid.).

One of the most important works of Augustine is “City of God” in which all his eschatological views are reflected. In explanation of his famous theory “City of God” and “Secular City”, he says:

Christian believers live in a period between the incarnation of Christ and his glorious Second Coming; as a result, the church (the community of believers) is in the period of exile and although it is in the world but it is not.

In the book “City of God”, Second Coming of Christ has been interpreted as a spiritual being without body, along with other eschatological elements such as millennial kingdom of Christ together with the righteous, Satan’s failed attack which would be neutralized immediately by God, resurrection, the final judgment, and the creation of a new heaven and a new earth.

Augustine, by referring to the end of the world, considers the judgment day as the separation of divine and earthly cities. Augustine, historically, considers Jerusalem as the City of God; the city of prophets, the place in which Judaism and Christianity were formed and the symbol of faith. Babylon is the “Secular City”; the city which is the center of idolatry and materialism. He considers the Catholic Church as the historical form of Heavenly Jerusalem and the City of God (Ilkhani, 1382: 115).

Augustine is completely sure that the kingdom of God in this earthly and mundane era has a physical form and it is the Catholic Church: The church is the very embodiment and manifestation of God’s kingdom on earth but it is not completely the same as the City of God; as it is still influenced by the Secular City. According to Augustine, it is only the God who knows the chosen ones. According to Augustine, the Judeo-Christian conception of the church by itself can be considered as a teleological movement and would be guided, by God, towards the Eternal City, the kingdom of peace and the kingdom of God (Kung, 2003:121).

About the Augustine’s interpretation of the return of Jesus Christ, it can be said: He, after depicting the City of God and the Secular City, believes that Christian believers are living in a period that is between the embodiment and the early coming of Jesus Christ and his final return and his second coming. There was already a similar interpretation in the writings of the apostle Paul that apparently the church is in a period of exile and is away from its origin. He spiritualizes the Second Coming of Christ by a realistic interpretation and gets away from the rudimentary interpretations which are based on the physical and imminent Second Coming. But, it should not be considered as denial of the Second Coming of Christ since a deep eschatological attraction can be seen in the works of Augustine.

5. Interpretation of Christ’s Second Coming In Medieval

The opposition of Augustine and other authorities of the Catholic Church, prevented the literal comprehension of twentieth chapter of the book of Revelation at least in the Latin world for a thousand years later. Consequently, in the Middle Ages there was no attention to the eschatological concepts and nobody paid attention to this doctrine. However, during this period there were also some tendencies towards millenarian and some kind of earthly happiness was expected.

One of the very well-known figures in the Catholic Church, Joachim of Fiore (1135-1202M), tried to depict tendencies towards millenarian in terms of the Christ’s Second Coming. He was the first who transformed some of the mild eschatological views into a historical theology. He offered new interpretation of Christ’s Second Coming and millennialism which was based on the book of Revelation and not the book of Daniel.

In his opinion, Augustine was right to believe that the Christ’s Second Coming and millenarian should not be understood and interpreted earthly and literally, but he was wrong to maintain that the twentieth chapter of the book of Revelation does not ensure a better prophesied future for the church. Joachim considers three periods of survival for the history of Church and Christianity: The period of the Father, the period of the Son and the period of the Holy Spirit. In his opinion, the next period which is a better one for the church and it is the monastic period of peace after the defeat of the Antichrist, is the called the “Period of the Holy Spirit”.

In Joachim’s millennialism, the Pontifical Foundation also had both a positive role and a negative role. On the one hand, he raised the hope for coming of a new leader as a Pope, at the end of the second period and before the start of the third period and on the other hand, according to some reports, he feared lest the Antichrist is already born and has usurped the Holy See (Ajeer, 1384: 210; Sadeq Nia, 1388: 241).

During this period, although the interpretations of the concept of Christ’s Second Coming and earthly millennialism did not mean to be materialistic, but it was increasingly worldly and political. Some non- religious and religious events were considered as signs of the coming of Judgment Day, including: change of head and members of the Church, alliance of the Church of Rome with Church of the East, peace in Italy, Crusades and the conquest of the Holy Land, Jews’ and Muslims’ conversion to Christianity. Some unfortunate events like major Western schism led the schism period (i.e 1378 to 1415) to be recognized as the period of the Antichrist and made people expect the last emperor who was often called the second Charlemagne.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, even before the formation of the Protestant millenarian movements, the tendency to wait for the Second Coming of Christ and millennialism in Christian community had been intensified. There are some reasons for the escalation of this tendency which generally can be divided into positive and negative factors. Some of the most important positive factors are:

Renaissance thinkers’ were fascinated by the classical traditions related to the return of the “Golden Age” and new geographic areas were explored. These were considered as the expansion of the Christian world or proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ to other nations and a prerequisite for the coming of a better world.

The Famous explorer, Christopher Columbus, in his letters of discovery and especially in his book of prophecies which was written with the help of a priest, has clearly used the concepts related to the Apocalypse and regarded the discovery of the New World as the gateway to the re-conquest of Jerusalem which must be fulfilled by the Kingdom of Spain as the last emperor of the world.

Negative factors that had disastrous aspect and were possibly attributed to anti-Christ, were in turn divided into partial and general factors. Partial factors include events such as the invasion of Italy by Charles VIII in 1494 AD and the sack of Rome in 1527 AD, and the general factors include the growing crisis of the modern era, the growing threat of the Turkish Empire and reformist movement.

The conquest of Constantinople In 1453 by the Turks and their progress towards Europe made the belief in the last emperor of the world in terms of waiting for Christ’s return come alive once more. Predictions emerged about overcoming a quasi-messianic figure on the Turks; for example, a German priest named Wolfgang Itinger  in 1496, predicted that the Turks will be defeated by the last emperor in 1506 AD.

But he wasn’t sure who will be the last emperor, if he is Philip of Burgundy or Ladislaus from Poland. , . Another work in this period which deals with these issues is an interpretation of the book of Revelation by Anious from Viterbo. In this interpretation, he considers the first fifteen chapters of the book of Revelation, as prediction of events in the world and the Church until the fall of Constantinople and introduces the Prophet of Islam as the anti-Christ. He also considers the sixteenth and seventeenth chapters as the prophecy of Turks’ victories and the eighteenth and nineteenth chapters as the prophecy of the appointment of a victorious emperor by the Pope and his victory over the Turks and believes that the twentieth chapter is the prophecy of the Church’s millennial rule over the world (McGinn, 2001: 8).

Important Christian Interpretations on the Second Coming of Christ- Part 4

6. Interpretation of the Christ’s resurrection in the modern era

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries because of the new scientific and industrial developments and the dominance of rational thinking methods, many of the principles of Christian belief was questioned and even denied; In contrast, some Christian thinkers began efforts to reconcile religion with science and justify these issues. Scientists began exploring biblical texts and criticizing them thematically, historically and linguistically and from that time until now they have offered certain ideas and votes on the theological, ideological and historical issues and also for justifying the differences related to the eschatology in various sections of New Testament so that they can find answers for the conceptual challenges which are posed to doctrines like the Christ’s Second Coming (Lane, 1380: 37).

Liberal critics and theologians, such as Schleiermacher, believed that the teachings of the Christ is the message of peace and friendship and has merely moral and spiritual aspects and whatever is mentioned in the Bible about the Apocalypse, Armageddon and similar issues as his quotations are faked by the gospel writers and Jesus himself has not spoken on these topics (Grant, 1963 175-176).

At the end of the nineteenth century, people like Albert Schweitzer rejected the liberal views and said that the heart of the Christ’s teaching is his message of salvation and eschatology and without it (his Second Coming) Christianity will have no meaning and originality.

Currently, there is general agreement on the essence of the Christ’s message that is and the promise of the realization of a divine kingdom; however, there are controversies in how to interpret the sayings which are quoted from Christ on this subject. Some believe that Jesus has only spoken about the salvation and the kingdom of heaven and anything about the signs of the Apocalypse (such as cataclysmic cosmic, Dajjal, etc.) that can be seen in different parts of the New Testament are taken from the Jewish Revelations.

Others have said that the audiences of Jesus were Jews who were familiar with revelation and Jewish eschatology and thus the Christ expressed his words in the form of their perceptions and expectations as well as their intellectual issues and he used words and interpretations which were understandable and acceptable for them. However, while he was talking with the apostles, he uttered his intentions explicitly and without any mythical staging and revelatory imaginations (Dodd, 1958: 237-238).

Rudolf Bultmann (1884-1967 AD), the famous theologian and scientist and founder of the school of “Demythologization”, regards the language of the Bible as the language of myth and the language of mental imagination and says under the interpretations and images of this language lies other meanings which should be recognized and translated into the modern intelligible language. The essence of Christian eschatology, which is expressed in the form of interpretation and mythical conceptions, is the invitation to the “election” and making the ultimate decision (Bultmann, 1985: 90).

Teilhard de Chardin, the contemporary Christian thinker, believes that the universe is in a general and constant evolutionary process and its goal is the full realization of the will of God and being united with Him. In the twentieth century theologians like Jürgen Moltmann (born 1926) once again became interested in the historical Jesus and the concepts such as resurrection and Second Coming of Christ and rejected the liberal theologians. Moltmann in his famous book, called “Theology of Hope”, which was written in 1964, has regarded the hope for Christ’s Second Coming as the most important factor in the life and thought of the individual and the church (Sadiq Nia, 2009: 242).

However, in Christian scientific communities, the debate over issues related to this doctrine continues; issues such as whether the Kingdom of God had started in the church and its ultimate realization will be in the church? Is the Kingdom of God something social and will it occur as a great global upheaval revolution or will it be realized gradually and in stages?

Is it something individual and the person himself should achieve it through moral development and spiritual evolution? Should we accept what the Bible says by its exact words, in its rudimentary meanings and wait for the Second Coming of Christ and all its signs and such issues? In the following a brief explanation on contemporary interpretations of Catholics and Protestants will be presented.

1-6. An example of contemporary Catholic interpretation of Christ’s Second Coming.

On October 11, 1992, the thirtieth anniversary of the opening of Second Vatican Ecumenical Council (Latin: Concilium Oecumenicum Vaticanum Secundum) and the fourth pontifical year of the John Paul II, the religious teachings book of the Catholic Church was published under his own supervision. This is the latest example of official and classical teaching of Christianity which is presented in the form of a book containing all the needs of the Catholic Christian by the powerful pontifical institutions In the Roman Catholic Church. In many parts of the book, the doctrine of Christ’s Second Coming and its dimensions are mentioned as an emphatic religious belief.

In the seventh article of the first chapter of the book, entitled “He will return from there to reign the living and the dead”, it is emphasized that the Christ will have a Second Coming with glory, although the Christ is already reigning through the church: “Christ died and became alive to reign the living and the dead” (Romans 14: 9). The Christ’s ascension into heaven shows his humanly participation in the power and authority of God.

Jesus Christ is the Lord: All powers of heaven and earth in his hands. He is “far above all rules and authorities, powers and dominions”; as the God the father “placed all things under his feet” (Ephesians 1: 20-22). Christ is the Lord of the universe and history. Human history and indeed all creation, is gathered within him, and will reach to climax in an excellent way. (ibid. 1:10; I Corinthians 15: 24, 27-28)

Christ is as head to the body of church as he is the Lord. (Ephesians 1:22). Christ after he was taken up into heaven, and glorified, and fulfilled his mission, will be at peace on the earth in his church. Ransom is the source of authority that Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, rules the church. “The kingdom of Christ already exists secretly in the church” and “is the origin and beginning of the Kingdom on earth” (Ibid. 4: 11-13).

Since the Ascension, God’s plan began its realization. We are already in the “last hour” (I Peter 4: 7). The last era of the world is with us now and renewal of the world has already been started irreversibly and currently it is even ahead of schedule indeed; for the Church on earth has been awarded true holiness though it is not complete (I Corinthians 10:11). The kingdom of Christ through the miraculous signs that its declaration is associated with the church, already indicates its presence (CCC, 1994: No. 667-70).

Another part of this article, entitled “waiting for the time when everything are put under his dominance”, citing several verses from the Bible, refers to Christ’s Second Coming: Although the kingdom of Christ exists in the church today, However, it has not reached it perfection yet by Return of the King to the earth with “glory” (Matthew 25: 31). Forces of evil still oppose this kingdom although they are basically defeated by the Passover of Christ (II Timothy 2: 7).

Until all things are put under his control, “Until a new heaven and a new earth are realized, where righteousness dwells. The church, moving along its route on the rites and institutions which belong to the present age, bears a sign of the transient world with itself and lives among beings who whine in miseries and are waiting for the advent of the sons of God” (See II Peter 3: 13; Romans 8: 11-22 and I Corinthians 15: 28). With reference to these explanations it can be said that the Catholic Church is influenced by the teachings of Augustine and is committed to his spiritual interpretation (CCC, 1994: 237).

2-6. Protestant Christian Interpretations of Christ’s Second Coming and the new Christian Sectarianism

Reformation and Protestant church leaders had a tendency towards Millennial Kingdom and emphasized on the concept of the Second Coming of Jesus and his royal role. Their emphasis on these teachings cased the emergence of these emotions and attitudes among Catholics. Luther and other Protestants called the Pope or the pontifical institutes Anti-Christ. This made the apocalypse-believing Catholics to analyze the events in the light of this belief and for instance, consider the separation of Protestants from Rome as a negative sign of the end of the world or for example, consider Luther as the anti-Christ or its scout (Sadiq Nia, 1388: 241).

An important issue in Protestantism is to transform the millennialism from a mere belief, or hope to political and pragmatic movements. Prior to the formation of Protestantism, there were two types of Christian millennialism: One was a millennialism for the elite and it was encouraged by scholars like Joachim of Fiore and had a theological form; and the other one was the millennialism of Commoners which was not based on classical texts but on oral literature of the church and had wider audience. The prophets of this type of millennialism prophesied during the wars using astrology.

Protestantism transformed the millennialism into a force for revolution and protests and in fact became a bridge between millennialism of the elite and millennialism the commoners. When the pontifical institute shifted to the Anti-Christ movement, the church could no longer inhibit the millenarian forces. On the other hand, the Protestant doctrine of the priesthood of all individuals and the eligibility of everyone to study the Scriptures caused the emergence of numerous men and women prophets who could foretell the future. The translations of the Scriptures to local languages by Protestants also caused this common prophecy to find a new force for its approval (David L, 2000: 341).

The emergence of millenarian cults and messianic movements can be truly considered as the most profound social and political effects of belief in the doctrine of Christ’s Second Coming. These movements which were formed in atmosphere of Protestantism school of thoughts, aimed to take steps to achieve a desirable status by criticizing the status quo. These groups and movements, despite their theological differences in some aspects, they have a common profound belief in the idea that the time of Christ’s Second Coming is very close. (Sadiq Nia, 1388: 248-251).

Modern interpretations of Christ’s Second Coming have had Influence on the development of new sects among Christians and caused these cults to grow increasingly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Nevertheless, these sects – that is better to call them “social movements” – can be studied in sociological and theological dimensions in a sense that concentrating on one of these dimensions cannot make one to ignore the other dimension.

Protest against the status quo and trying to reach the ideal situation has been as influential in the formation of these cults (Rechrd, 2000: 245) as the theological and religious belief in Christ’s Second Coming at the Apocalypse and the endeavor for hastening it. These millenarian cults, by referring to the Bible, believe that Jesus Christ will have a Second Coming at the Apocalypse and will bring the happiness Millennium. These literal interpretations can be seen in cults like Advantists, Jehovahs Withesses, Mormons, etc. which requires addressing them in another chance.

7. Conclusion

Except for the liberal theologians who, in a period, had denied all the teachings of Christianity, even the historical existence of the Christ, there has been no writer and theologian in Christianity who denies the Christ’s Second Coming. Obviously, this does not mean that all the given interpretations in this context are the same. Rather different interpretations of this doctrine have been presented. Diversity and difference of these interpretations, which sometimes causes confusion and difficulties in understanding this doctrine, has originated from two factors:

One is the different and sometimes disparate images that the Bible has given of this event, and the other is the influence of the conditions of the era, social conditions and theological approaches of Christian scholars in the interpretation of this doctrine.

One end of these interpretations is the belief in the imminent and bodily Second Coming of the Jesus Christ which had some followers in the early Christian church and the other end is the virtual interpretation of the Christ’s Second Coming which, although traces of it can be found in the teachings of Paul, but it was Augustine who developed it. In the middle Ages, although there was no interest to understand meaning of Christ’s Second Coming, but some Christian theologians promoted it. Joachim of Fiore, also known as Joachim of Flora, was one of them and the most important one.

After the religious reformation movement, attentions towards this doctrine were doubled and the Protestants followed the early Fathers of the Church and followed this doctrine in their social and political life. However, Catholics preferred to adhere, with more flexibility, to the Augustine’s interpretation of the Christ’s Second Coming. Contemporary Christians considering the churches that they follow provide an interpretation of Second Coming of Christ.

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Source: masaf-intl.com