How Will Jesus Christ Return · 06. September 2020

Will Jesus Come Back in the Spiritual Body or in the Flesh When Taking His Believers?

By Shi Li

Nowadays, the last days have arrived. I believe that the brothers and sisters from different denominations are all paying close attention to the return of the Lord Jesus. The Lord once promised us: “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 to myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3). For this reason, we are all eagerly expecting that the Lord will come again to bring us into the kingdom of heaven. However, with regard to the means of the Lord’s return, each denomination has a different understanding of it. There are mainly two points of view. Some denominations believe that as the Lord left in a spiritual body, then when coming to rapture us, He will certainly appear to us in a spiritual body. But, others hold a different idea. They believe that the Lord will reveal Himself to us in the form of flesh when coming back. Anyway, in what form the Lord will return is related to whether each of us Christians can be raptured. Therefore, we must make it clear, so as not to be abandoned by the Lord.

In Which Way Will the Lord Jesus Come to Take His Believers?

The pastors used to explain the following scriptures, “You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). “Behold, he comes 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. Even so, Amen” (Revelation 1:7). And they told us: Because the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven in a spiritual body after His resurrection, He will thereby come and appear in a spiritual body to rapture His believers. Many believers, convinced of these words, are watching heaven and clouds and are impatient for His spiritual body to appear. Nowadays, the prophecy of the four blood moons has been fulfilled, and the great disaster is about to fall. We, however, have yet to be taken before God’s throne. Based upon this fact, I began to doubt what the pastors had said. And then, I searched the Bible carefully. I saw there are many scriptures mentioning the prophecy of the Son of man’s coming, such as, “For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:27), “Be you therefore ready also: for the Son of man comes at an hour when you think not” (Luke 12:40), “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 scriptures all mention the words “the coming of the Son of man” “the Son of man comes,” and also say when the Son of man returns, “first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.” I thought: Given that He is called the Son of man, doesn’t it mean that He will be born of man? For example, our loving Lord Jesus appeared as an ordinary man, and needed the basic necessities of life like a normal person. However, His substance is divine, and He is the incarnate God Himself. Here, the Lord said that He would return as the Son of man in the last days, which must mean that God will still incarnate and appear in the image of the Son of man to do His work among us in the last days. If the Lord reveals Himself to us in His spiritual body after resurrection, walking through walls and suddenly appearing beside us and disappearing, then we will be scared out of our wits and prostrate before Him in worship. Who would dare to reject His return? In that case, would not the prophecy of the Lord Jesus “But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation” be spoken in vain? So, only when the Lord Jesus returns in the flesh will the prophecy be fulfilled. Therefore, it is most probable that the Lord Jesus will return as the Son of man to take His believers, which means God will become flesh with the outer shell of normal humanity to work among us.

For What Will the Lord Come as a Normal Man?

When making a close study of the Bible, I knew: When coming again in the last days, the Lord will do the work of separating sheep from goats, evil servants from good servants, tares from wheat—classing all according to their kind and rewarding the good and punishing the wicked. If the Lord returns in His spiritual body after resurrection, everyone, after seeing seeing Him in His spiritual body, will prostrate and obey before Him out of fear. In such a situation, whether man is good or evil cannot be revealed, nor can he be separated according to his kind. However, if the Lord comes as the Son of man, because His external appearance is the shell of normal humanity, it will be easy for mankind to come out in their true colors before Him. It is just as the Lord Jesus became flesh to work among man as the Son of man. At that time, the chief priests, scribes and Pharisees failed to recognize that His essence was God Himself. They treated Him as a common man, and despised His ordinariness and normality. When the Lord Jesus spoke and worked, they did not come to know His divine aspect, much less did they recognize the voice of God. As a result, they did not acknowledge that the Lord Jesus was the coming of the Messiah, but tried every excuse to condemn Him, and joined hands with the Roman government to crucify Him. So, their evil was revealed because of His normality. On the contrary, although those who craved the truth saw the Lord Jesus’ flesh was normal, yet from His work and words, they realized that what He said and did was full of authority and power. For example, a single word from Him could bring the dead back to life and make the sea calm down. Only the Creator possesses this kind of authority. And moreover, they saw the words spoken by Him could bring the people at that time ways to practice. They were certain that His words are the truth, recognized God’s voice, and acknowledged that He was the coming Messiah. Thus they followed Him, and gained His blessings and grace. I thought of the Lord Jesus’ words, “The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:41-42). From His words, I realized: In the last days, when the wheat and tares are separated, the Son of man shall send forth His angels to cast the tares into a furnace of fire. When it mentions the Son of man sending forth His angels, it refers to God incarnate. This way, isn’t it that tares and wheat, goats and sheep, evil servants and good servants will all be revealed and separated by God’s incarnate flesh? Therefore, the Lord Jesus is so wise in returning to flesh, it really exposes people.

How Can We Recognize the Returned Son of Man?

Searching the Bible, I saw these scriptures, “However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come” (John 16:13). “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:29). “And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:47-48). From the Lord’s words, we know that, when “the Spirit of truth” comes, He will still utter His words; that is to say, God will personally incarnate to express His voice and words among man. He will unfold the prophecies said by the Lord Jesus and in Revelation, and tell us of the destination of mankind. Furthermore, He will do the work of judgment in the last days and show man the way of being saved. From this, we can conclude that the One who can express the truth to do the work of judgment in the last days is the incarnate God, the returned Lord Jesus. Consequently, the key to waiting for the Lord’s return is paying attention to listening for God’s voice. As long as we are able to recognize His voice, we can see His appearance, welcome the returned Son of man, and then be raptured before His throne, enjoying the watering and supply of the living water of life.

From: Grow in Christ

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