The Second Coming
When we come to the Lord's second advent, Christadelphians
find themselves in a strange position. We believe, as stated plainly in most
common creeds, that Jesus will return to earth to judge the living and the dead.
The difference is, each and every Christadelphian believes it wholeheartedly,
and has nothing that he or she would want to put in its place. And in a world
where contemporary opinion often runs contrary to the word of God, this absolute
and uncompromising conviction of so ancient a belief is yet another position
that sets us apart.
It is our firm conviction, then, that the Lord will return in
glorious bodily form from heaven (Act 1:11). We believe that, when he comes, he
will find a world unwilling, on the whole, to receive him; indeed, to the
contrary: willing to engage in open rebellion against him (Psa 2; Rev 19:19).
Christadelphians also believe that Christ will, as he must, establish political
rule over the kingdom of the world for himself (Dan 2:44; Rev 20:4). We believe
that Israel, brought back to Palestine from all nations, will repent from its
former wickedness in crucifying him (Zec 12:10) and will then see him there in
his glory. (We do not believe, as does the "Church of Christ", that the "Kingdom
of God" began when the church was established on the day of Pentecost; the
"church" and the "kingdom" are two very different Biblical concepts.) We believe
that the Lord's coming will be accompanied by the raising of the dead (2Ti 4:1),
so that those who have known him may be judged before him according to their
works (Dan 12:2; Joh 5:28,29). Then, we believe, and then only, will immortality
be conferred in a physical body upon those whom the Lord finds faithful,
immortality along with an endless inheritance in a blessed earth (2Ti 4:8; Phi
3:20,21; Mat 5:5).
From those men who believe the earth will be destroyed
forever, and the righteous rewarded in heaven, we must stand apart. From those
who, while professing to believe in the ultimate return of the Lord Jesus,
reduce the hope to unimportance by their more immediate hope of heaven, we must
also stand apart if we are to stand for the true teaching of the
Scriptures.
