THE DOCTRINE OF
CHRIST’S RETURN
A Look
at what the Bible Says
Since God has revealed Himself to us in
Scripture, and the doctrine that He wants taught in His church is
nothing other
than what the Bible says; it should be obvious that those who refuse to
teach
what the Bible says, or affirm that it is true, do so
because another authority has replaced the authority of Scripture
in their lives.
GOD’S
DESCRIPTION
OF WHAT
Matthew 24
30 And then the sign of the Son of
man will
appear in heaven: and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and
they
will see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and
great
glory.
31 And he will send his angels with
the sound
of a great trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the
four
winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Matthew 25
31 ¶ When the Son of man comes
in
his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then
he
will sit on the throne of his glory:
32 And all nations will be gathered
before
him: and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd
separates his sheep from the goats:
33 And he will put the sheep on his
right
hand, but the goats on his left.
34 Then the King will say to those on
his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared
for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was hungry, and you gave me
food: I
was thirsty, and you gave me drink: I was a stranger, and you took me
in:
36 Naked, and you clothed me: I was
sick,
and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer
him,
saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you?
or thirsty, and give you
drink?
38 When did we see you a stranger, and
take you in? or
naked, and clothed you?
39 Or when did we see you sick, or
in prison,
and go to visit you?
40 And in answer the King will say to
them, I
tell you truly, Inasmuch as you have done it
to one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it
to me.
41 Then he will say to those on his
left, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for
the devil
and his angels:
42 For I was hungry, and you gave me
no food:
I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink:
43 I was a stranger, and you did
not take me
in: naked, and you did not clothe me: sick, and in prison, and you did
not
visit me.
44 Then they will also answer him,
saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or
naked,
or sick, or in prison, and did not help you?
45 Then
he will answer them, saying, I tell you
truly, Inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you
did not
do it to me.
46 And these will go away into
everlasting
punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
John
29 And will come out; those who have
done
good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the
resurrection of damnation.
John
1Thessalonians
17 Then we which are alive and
remain will 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.
Revelation 20
11 ¶ Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat upon it, from whose
presence the
heavens and earth fled; and there was no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand
before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened,
which is the book of life: and the dead were
judged according to what they had done, as it was written in the books.
13 And the sea gave up the dead that
were in
it; and death and hell gave up the dead that were in them: and everyone
was
judged according to their works.
14 And death and hell were thrown
into the
lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whoever was not found written
in the
book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a
new
earth: for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.
2Corinthians 5:10 For we must
all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done
in his
body, according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad.
Romans
2Timothy
4:1 and the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his
kingdom.
EVILDOERS
SHALL BE CAST INTO THE
Matthew
41 The Son of man will send forth his
angels,
and they will weed out of his kingdom those who sin, and all who lead
others to
sin;
42 And will throw them into a furnace
of fire:
where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.
Mark
46
Where
their worm does not die, and the
fire is never put out.
Revelation
Revelation 20:10 And the devil who deceived
them was
thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false
prophet are, and they will be tormented day and
night for ever and ever.
Revelation
HOWEVER, WE ARE ALL EVILDOERS
Romans
11 There is no one who understands,
there
is no one who seeks after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way,
they are together become unprofitable; there is no one who does good,
no, not
one.
13 Their throat is an
open sepulchre; with their tongues
they have used deceit; the poison of asps is
under their lips:
14 Whose mouth is full
of cursing and bitterness:
15 Their feet are
swift to shed blood:
16 Destruction and misery are
in their ways:
17 And the way of peace have they not
known:
18 There is no fear of God before their
eyes.
23
For
all have
sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
THEREFORE, ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT
ONLY THOSE WHO TRUST IN CHRIST WILL NOT BE
CONDEMNED
1John 1:7
The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all
sin.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no
condemnation for
those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the
Spirit.
before God.
Romans 4:3 For what does the scripture say?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.
4 Now when a man works his wage is
not
determined by grace, but by debt.
5 However when a man does not work, but
trusts in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for
righteousness.
6 Even as David also describes the
blessedness of the man, to whom God imputes righteousness without works,
7 Saying, Blessed are
they whose iniquities are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Romans
1John
Romans 9:33
As it is
written, Behold, I
lay in Zion a stumbling-stone and rock of offence: and
whoever believes on him will not be put to shame.
CONCLUSION
The Biblical record of Christ’s
return is just as much a doctrine of Scripture as anything else that
the Bible
says (2Timothy
“The pure doctrine is simply
nothing else, absolutely nothing else, than the pure Word of God.” (Law
and
Gospel, page 349) “Neither ought
any doctrine be taught or heard in the
church but the pure Word
of God, that is to say, the Holy Scriptures; otherwise accursed be both
the
teachers and hearers together with their doctrine.” (Martin Luther)
Gary
Ray Branscome