Christ’s Return—Will You See It?

“I AM coming again.” These words compose no ordinary farewell message. They were spoken by Christ Jesus the night before he gave up his life on behalf of the world of mankind. (John 14:3) That promise to return has been the basis for hope for persons around the globe during all centuries since. Surely planet Earth and all humanity on it were never in sorer need than now of the peace, health and life that Christ’s return in Kingdom power promises.—Matt. 25:31-34; Rev. 21:4.

Millions claim to hold this hope. In 1960, when the Gallup Poll interviewed a cross section of persons of all faiths throughout the United States as to whether they thought Jesus Christ “will ever return to earth,” 55 percent of those questioned answered “Yes.” Yet, one vital fact is generally ignored by those who express hope in a return by Christ Jesus. What is that?

In the same fourteenth chapter of John, Jesus told his faithful apostles this: “A little longer and the world will behold me no more, but you will behold me, because I live and you will live.” (John 14:19) The Greek word kosmos, translated “world” in this verse, refers to mankind. So, then, Jesus here plainly declared that the world of mankind on earth would not behold him again following his death, but that his apostles would because ‘they would live.’ Where? In the heavens as spirit sons of God, even as Jesus had explained to them in the previous verses. His home was to be their home also. That is why the apostle Paul said, “Even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, certainly we now know him so no more.”—2 Cor. 5:16.

So it is not a literal, visible, fleshly return by Christ Jesus, but a spiritual one that is the hope held out by God’s Word, the Bible. Does this rob the promise of Christ’s return of any of its joy or limit its blessings to a select few? Not at all. God himself is eternally invisible to men, yet this does not reduce in the slightest his power to act and accomplish his purpose. (Ex. 33:20) Similarly, his returned Son, though invisible to men, will by means of his kingdom finally cause God’s will to be done on earth as in heaven. Endless blessings can be yours if you now put this hope to work in your life. Read this magazine regularly for further understanding of Christ’s return and its eternal benefits.