Does the Lord Really Return the Same Way He Left as We Think?
Hearing the news that the Lord will return in the flesh in the last days, some people think, “The Lord Jesus ascended to heaven upon a white cloud in His resurrected spiritual body, so the Lord must return in the resurrected spiritual body appearing to us and we can see Him. The Bible says, “This same Jesus … shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven” (Act 1:11).Why do you say that the Lord will come in the flesh？
God’s word says, “Jesus said that He would arrive as He had departed, but do you know the true meaning of His words? Can it be that He told this group of you? All you know is that He will arrive as He departed, riding on a cloud, but do you know exactly how God Himself does His work? If you were truly able to see, then how are the words that Jesus spoke to be explained? He said: When the Son of man comes in the last days, He Himself will not know, the angels will not know, the messengers in heaven will not know, and all humanity will not know. Only the Father will know, that is, only the Spirit shall know. Even the Son of man Himself does not know, yet you are able to see and know? If you were capable of knowing and seeing with your own eyes, would these words not have been spoken in vain? And what did Jesus say at the time? ‘But of that day and hour knows no man, not the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. … Therefore be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes.’ When that day comes, the Son of man Himself will not know it. The Son of man refers to the incarnate flesh of God, a normal and ordinary person. Even the Son of man Himself does not know, so how could you know?”
We can understand from God’s word that when the Lord returns is unknown to the incarnation of God, and it is also unknown to us. Then we can be sure that the Lord returning is not what we imagine — descending upon clouds in the sky and appearing to us openly. In fact, there are many verses in the Bible that foretell the Lord will come first as the Son of man in secret, such as, “ Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.” (Revelation 16:15). “Therefore be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes.”(Matthew 24:44). “For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.”(Luke 17:24–25). These prophecies all refer to the Lord’s return in the manner of secretly descending in the incarnation. The phrase “as a thief”means that the Lord comes quietly and secretly. Additionally, the “Son of man”” refers to the Lord’s return in the flesh. Let us think about a question: If the Lord Jesus were to descend upon clouds and appear to man in His resurrected spiritual body, all would bow down in worship at the sight of Him, then who would dare to resist and condemn Him? And how could He be rejected by this generation? Just as the Lord Jesus appeared and worked at that time, from the outside, the Lord Jesus looked like an ordinary and normal man and no one knew He is God, so He was resisted, condemned, and finally nailed to the cross. It’s obvious that only the incarnate Son of man can suffer and be rejected by man.
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