📖 Biblical Definition
The Second Coming is the bodily, visible, glorious return of Christ to judge the living and the dead and consummate His kingdom. Acts 1:11 promises: this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Real body, real return, witnessed in real time. Not symbolic; not figurative; eschatologically decisive.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
(Composite.) The bodily, visible, glorious return of Christ to consummate His kingdom and judge the world.
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Apostolic preaching uniformly anchors hope in the Second Coming: 1 Cor 15:23 (at his coming), 1 Thess 4:15-17 (the descent), Titus 2:13 (that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing), Heb 9:28 (shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation).
The four major millennial views (premillennial, postmillennial, amillennial, with dispensational variations) differ on the relation of the Second Coming to the millennium and the tribulation, but all confess the bodily personal return.
📖 Key Scripture
Acts 1:11 — "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."
Hebrews 9:28 — "Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation."
1 Thessalonians 4:16 — "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God."
Revelation 1:7 — "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern Christianity often spiritualizes the Second Coming; the apostles preached a real bodily return.
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Acts 1:11 sets the standard: this same Jesus... shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go. As bodily as the ascension was, so bodily the return. The apostolic hope is not symbolic ascension into general spiritual presence; it is a bodily Person returning.
Revelation 1:7 adds visibility: every eye shall see him. The Second Coming is not a private mystical encounter but a public planetary event. Christians who outgrow this hope have outgrown the apostles.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek parousia (presence, arrival) and epiphaneia (appearance) are the key terms.
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Greek parousia — presence, arrival; technical term in NT for the Lord's return.
Greek epiphaneia — appearance, manifestation; the visible aspect.
Usage
"Real body, real return, witnessed in real time."
"As bodily as the ascension, so bodily the return."
"Christians who outgrow this hope have outgrown the apostles."