Four Comings Of Jesus Christ

        (Note: many words capitalized, and highlighted for emphasis.)   

Many do not know that the Holy Bible reveals 4 Comings of Jesus Christ to earth, and each coming reveals God’s redemptive and eternal plan for believers, from Adam and Eve, to the present and beyond. The 4 Comings of Jesus Christ to earth can be summarized as such: The 1st Coming of Jesus Christ was for our SALVATION, to save us. The 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ in the person of the Holy Spirit was for our SANCTIFICATION, to help us to be holy. The 3rd Coming of Jesus Christ in the Rapture is for our GLORIFICATION, to make as like Christ, and the 4th and final Coming of Jesus Christ is for our CORONATION, to crown us as kings and priests to reign on earth with Jesus Christ for a 1000 years Re5:10,20:6. The 4 Comings of Jesus Christ is God’s ultimate plan for man, to be in the image and likeness of God, to be like Jesus Christ forever, and to rule and reign with Him forever.

The Bible states that Adam was made in the image and likeness of God Ge1:26,27. But since Adam fell and contrary to the Bible, many incorrectly believe that we are still in the image and likeness of God. As proof that we are NOT, man is corrupt, evil, and immoral; we sin, we die and decay, and will perish w/o Jesus Christ as our Saviour. The apostle Paul said ‘All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God’ Ro3:23; ‘Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that ALL have sinned’ Ro5:12. But God never dies. God is holy and eternal, and will always exist forever.

Thus, the purpose of the 4 Comings of Jesus Christ to earth is to redeem us, sanctify us, glorify us, and to restore us into God’s image and likeness. Paul said we are ‘..heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; IF so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also Glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the GLORY which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the Sons of God’ Ro8:17-19. We will examine the 4 Comings of Jesus Christ to earth in this context of God restoring man into God’s image and likeness, to be manifested as Sons of God like Jesus Christ Ro8:19.

JESUS 1ST COMING- GOD CAME IN THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST TO DIE FOR OUR SINS

The prophet Isaiah prophesied ‘Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel (God with us Mt1:23) Is7:14. Isaiah continued ‘For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the gov’t shall be upon his shoulder: and His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace’ Is9:6; A child.. a Son..The Mighty God..The Everlasting Father..The Prince of Peace- God Himself! God came in the person of Jesus Christ to earth to ‘..save his people from their sins’ Mt1:21.

After 4000 years, when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God finally came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ to give His life for our sins. Jesus was brutalized, crucified and died for our sins, so we would not perish, but have everlasting life. Jesus said ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved’ Jn3:16,17.

Jesus suffered and died for our sins. He was then raised from the dead, and ascended bodily into heaven. Here Jesus was sent to be the Saviour of the world. This was Jesus 1st coming! No longer was animal blood sacrifice necessary to atone for our sins Lev4:21. John wrote ‘But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin’ 1Jn1:7. Jesus ‘..washed us from our sins in his own blood’ Re1:5.

THE 2ND COMING OF JESUS CHRIST IN THE PERSON OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

‘In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, LET HIM COME UNTO ME, AND DRINK.  He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.  (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet GLORIFIED.)’ Jn7:37-39. After his crucifixion, death, and upon His resurrection, Jesus was GLORIFIED. Jesus then came to believers by His Spirit on the day of Pentecost Acts2:4, and they were all then filled with the Holy Ghost, and even today. Jesus said ‘..how much more shall your heavenly Father give the HOLY SPIRIT TO THEM THAT ASK HIM?‘ Lk11:13.

While ministering on earth, Jesus told his disciples He must leave them in order to send them another Comforter, and COME AGAIN TO THEM. This relates to Jesus 2nd coming to us in the person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said ‘And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU COMFORTLESS: I WILL COME TO YOU’ Jn14:16-18. Jesus continued ‘Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go NOT away, the Comforter will NOT come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.. A little while, and ye shall NOT see ME: and again, a little while, and YE SHALL SEE ME, because I go to the Father’ Jn16:7,16. This was Jesus 2nd Coming to us as the Comforter, aka the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit.

Jesus said ‘..John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.. ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem.. unto the uttermost part of the earth’ Ac1:5,8. In Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, Jesus came to the disciples by filling them with His Spirit. This was Jesus Christ 2nd coming to earth in the person of the Holy Ghost to fill them supernaturally with His Spirit, to teach, lead, guide, to show them of things to come, and to use them for His name and Glory Jn14:26,15:26,16:13,14,Ro8:14. This was a brilliant move of God, for NOW JESUS COULD BE IN EACH ONE OF US, and with every believer everywhere by His Spirit in them, instead of being only in one place at one time. This is Jesus Christ 2nd Coming to earth by BAPTIZING US WITH THE HIS SPIRIT. 

There are several accounts in the book of Acts of Jesus 2nd Coming in the person of the Holy Ghost to believers. After Philip preached salvation to the Samaritans, Peter and John went to pray for them to receive the Holy Ghost. Ac8:14-17 state ‘Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost’. Another account was when Peter in a vision was sent to witness Jesus Christ to the centurion Cornelius, his family and friends in Caesarea. While Peter was speaking ‘the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word.. on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God’ Ac10:44-46.

In another incident, the apostle Paul meeting 12 disciples on the way to Ephesus, asked ‘Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said.. We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.. when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied’ Ac19:2-6. Since the day of Pentecost, many even today have been baptized with the Holy Ghost, spoke with tongues and magnified God. This is how Jesus Christ came to the believers in the person of the Holy Ghost!

This 2nd Coming of Jesus in the person of the Holy Spirit is of utmost importance for OUR PERSONAL SANCTIFICATION– to purify us, to make us  holy, to be READY, and to CHANGE us one day into the image of Christ to be taken up in the coming Rapture Jn14:3,Tit2:13,14. Paul wrote ‘And the very God of peace SANCTIFY YOU WHOLLY; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ‘ 1Th5:23.

Paul also wrote ‘..God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through SANCTIFICATION of the Spirit and belief of the truth’ 2Th2:13; ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk NOT after the flesh, but after the Spirit’ Ro8:1. He said ‘..they that are in the flesh CANNOT please God. But ye are NOT in the flesh, but in the Spirit, IF.. the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have NOT the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.. But IF the Spirit of (God) that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, (God) that raised up Christ from the dead shall also QUICKEN your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you’ Ro8:9-11.

We must have the Holy Spirit in us to QUICKEN US into a glorified body one day, to be taken in the Rapture: Paul stated ‘..flesh and blood CANNOT inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall NOT all sleep (die), but we shall all be CHANGED, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible.. we shall be CHANGED’ 1Co15:50,51. Paul wrote ‘we all.. are CHANGED into the same image from Glory to Glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord’ 2Co3:18. We all need the Holy Spirit working in us in order to be GLORIFIED, to be taken one day in the Rapture!

JESUS 3RD COMING- HIS SECRET COMING IN THE RAPTURE OF THE SAINTS

The Bible also speaks of the 3rd coming of Jesus Christ- His secret coming in the Rapture to take us bodily with Him back to heaven. Jesus spoke of the Rapture when he said ‘Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I WILL COME AGAIN, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also’ Jn14:1-3.

Paul then said ‘For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to MEET THE LORD IN THE AIR: and so shall we ever be with the Lord’ 1Th4:15-17.

Paul continued ‘How shall we ESCAPE, if we neglect so great SALVATION; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him’ Heb2:3. The coming RAPTURE OF HIS SAINTS is our great ESCAPE, our SALVATION, our REDEMPTION, our BLESSED HOPE, our REWARD, and our GLORIFICATION, to be like Jesus Christ in heaven!

Paul wrote ‘When Christ, who is our Life, SHALL APPEAR, then shall ye also appear with Him in GLORY’ Co3:4. The apostle Peter said ‘And WHEN THE CHIEF SHEPHERD SHALL APPEAR, ye shall receive a CROWN OF GLORY that fadeth not away’ 1Pe5:4. Then the apostle John wrote ‘And now, little children, abide in him; that, WHEN HE SHALL APPEAR, we may have confidence, and NOT be ashamed before Him at His coming’ 1Jn2:28, and finally ‘Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, WHEN HE SHALL APPEAR, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM; for we shall see Him as He is’ 1Jn3:2. Paul wrote ‘..we are changed into the same image from GLORY to GLORY, even as by the Spirit of the Lord’ 2Co3:18, and ‘the Lord Jesus Christ.. shall change our vile body, that it may be FASHIONED LIKE UNTO HIS GLORIOUS BODY, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things..’ Php3:20,21.

The 3rd Coming of Jesus Christ in THE RAPTURE IS CALLED HIS SECRET COMING because, only those who are watching, praying, pure, holy, and READY will BE GLORIFIED, and to then be taken bodily into heaven. Only those who are READY when He returns, will Jesus take them with Him, like in the days of the great flood when only 8 people, Noah and his family were saved; or the 5 wise virgins who were ready with oil in their lamps Mt25:4. Jesus said ‘Be ye therefore READY..’ Mt24:44, Lk12:40; ‘WATCH ye therefore and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to ESCAPE all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man’ Lk21:36. In order to be taken in the RAPTURE, we must be pure in heart, in order to first SEE HIM. Jesus said ‘Blessed are the PURE IN HEART: FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD’ Mt5:8, AND BE LIKE HIM 1Jn3:2.

Paul said ‘Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep (die), but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed’ 1Co15:51,52. The RAPTURE will occur swiftly and quickly. He said ‘LOOKING for that BLESSED HOPE, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and PURIFY unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works’ Tit2:13,14. We must purify ourselves Mt5:8, 1Jn3:2,3.  Paul said ‘Follow peace with all men, and HOLINESS, without which NO MAN SHALL SEE THE LORD’ Heb12:14.

The 3rd Coming of Jesus Christ in THE RAPTURE is our Escape, our Reward, our Blessed Hope, and our GLORIFICATION, to be like Him 1Jn3:2. Paul wrote ‘For whom (God) did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON, that (Jesus) might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom God did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also GLORIFIED’ Ro8:29,30. He said ‘To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this Mystery among the Gentiles; which is CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of GLORY’ Co1:27. Jesus prayed the Father ‘And the GLORY which thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are One’ Jn17:23. Jesus 3rd Coming in the Rapture is to GLORIFY us to be like Him, and take us bodily into heaven.

THE 4TH COMING OF JESUS CHRIST- HIS PUBLIC RETURN TO RULE ON EARTH 

The apostle John said ‘Behold, He cometh with clouds; and EVERY EYE SHALL SEE HIM, and they also which pierced him: and ALL kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him’ Re1:7. Here everyone still living shall see him and many shall mourn because they had rejected Him.

John gave the account of Jesus 4th Coming, his PUBLIC RETURN to rule on earth: ‘And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war.. He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.. out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword.. He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

And.. on his thigh a name written, King of Kings, and LORD of Lords.. And I saw the Beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the Beast was taken, and with him the False Prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the Beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone..’ Re19:11- 20.

Jude wrote ‘And Enoch also, the 7th from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with 10 THOUSANDS of his saints’ Jude14. This is the 4TH COMING OF JESUS CHRIST, His Public Return to establish His kingdom and rule on earth with His saints! Jesus returns to earth with 10000s of his Raptured and Glorified Saints; to smite the nations, battle with the Beast and the kings of the earth, destroy them, and to cast both the Beast and the False Prophet into the lake of fire, and to rule the nations with a rod of iron and in righteousness!.

At JESUS 4TH COMING, HIS PUBLIC RETURN to rule on earth, this is also the time of the CORONATION of the sons of God to be kings and priest unto God, to be rulers with Him. John wrote ‘And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth’ Re5:10: ‘And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them.. and they lived and reigned with Christ a 1000 years’ Re20:4; ‘Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the 1st resurrection: on such the 2nd death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a 1000 years’ Re20:6, in God’s Millennial Kingdom!

Jesus said ‘And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron..’ Re2:26,27; ‘He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my SON’ Re21:7. The Raptured, the Glorified Saints, the Sons of God, the Overcomers will rule and reign with Jesus Christ on earth in the Millennial kingdom.

In summary, the 1st Coming of Jesus Christ is for our SALVATION, to save us from our sins. The 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ in the Baptism with the Holy Ghost is for our SANCTIFICATION, to help us to be holy. The 3rd Coming of Jesus Christ in the Rapture is for our GLORIFICATION, to make us like Christ, to be like Him, and the 4th and final Coming of Jesus Christ to earth is for our CORONATION, to be crowned as kings and priests to reign on earth with Jesus Christ for a 1000 years. Thus, the 4 Comings of Jesus Christ to earth represent God’s ultimate plan for those whom He had chosen in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and the Sons of God, according to the good pleasure of His Will Ep1:4,5,9. Jesus said ‘Surely I come quickly’. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus‘ Re22:20.