The Parousia As Mentioned In The Bible

By Janet Thomas


The Bible is the main reference that Christians use in order to know about and study the second coming of their savior Jesus Christ. In Greek language, this is known as the Parousia wherein the term literally translates into the word coming. This would actually signify the second coming of Jesus Christ on to the world when the earth as at its extinction.

What is interesting about this event is that it may pertain to two events in the Bible that involve the return of the Messiah. These two events are known as the rapture and the second coming. In order to understand more, it is important to look deeper into the verses that these events pertain to.

The first event that one should take a look at would be the rapture which is further discussed in the book of Thessalonians. According to the book of Thessalonians, the Christ will be descending to earth from Heaven to take back all of his children and bring them to Heaven. The ones who did not believe in Christ will be left behind and have to suffer a deadly seven year tribulation.

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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