Saturday, 22 June 2019

The Parousia As Mentioned In The Bible

By Janet Thomas


The Christian Bible has so many references as to how the world will end and be reborn anew following the return of Jesus Christ. The Greek word for coming is known as the Parousia and this is the term often used to signify the second coming of Jesus Christ. Now, there are two possible events that this would refer to and both are found in the Bible.

Now, one of the more interesting things about this event is that it may refer to two instances wherein Jesus returns to earth. With that, it is actually a vague event that may be up for interpretation. These two possible events refer to the rapture event and the actual second return of Christ to the throne.

With regard to the rapture, one can first take a look at Thessalonians chapter four wherein it states that Christ will come to earth and bring the people who are dead in Christ. This refers to the believers who have kept their faith in the Lord. During this period, the believers will already ascend to Heaven while the ones who do not will be left behind.

If one would read the verse word per word, one will know that the Lord will literally go down to the earth with an archangel. While Jesus will not do much on earth, he will still carry the believers into Heaven. Upon his return to the heavens, the tribulation will begin with the antichrist taking control of the world with wars, pestilence, and famine.

Satan is not mentioned in this seven year tribulation if one would read Thessalonians but the antichrist would be referenced. For those who do not know, the antichrist would be the leader of the world during the seven years of tribulation. The antichrist will try to convince people not to believe in God and would impose suffering onto believers.

Now, the other return of Christ that the Bible refers to would be the actual second coming of Christ which can be found at length in Revelations. According to the book of Revelations, Jesus will directly ascend from Heaven onto earth and defeat all his enemies. There will be a big heavenly war which will result in Christ taking back the throne.

It i in this event that Satan is referenced because Satan will do battle with Jesus. Satan will gather all his followers and demons to the battlefield and have one last showdown with Jesus. According to the book of Revelations, Jesus will finally defeat Satan and God will banish Satan to hell forever.

The thing about interpreting the return of Jesus Christ is that it can refer to two separate events from the Bible that are somehow connected with each other. So when talking about the actual return, one would have to ask himself exactly what return he or she is really talking about. It would refer to either the rapture, which is the first return of Christ without him setting foot on earth or the actual return where the Messiah will do battle with the Devil.




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