Objection 61: Christ's second coming is not literal but spiritual. He comes to the Christian at conversion or at death.
There is a sense in which Christ comes to us at conversion. When we accept Him He comes into our hearts by His Spirit and guides our lives.
But please notice that the spiritual experience of the Spirit's coming into the lives of the apostles was contingent on Christ's going away. Said the Master:
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” John 16:7
If I do not go away, said Christ, the Helper/Comforter [Holy Spirit] will not come to you. See, also, John 14:26: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
Obviously, we experience Christ through His Spirit, but only when Christ is not physically present with us, but experiencing Christ through the Spirit of God is not the same thing as the Second Advent. And, yes, Christ did promised his disciples that he would really return, physically:
Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if not, I would have told you. 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 14:1-3)
Paul spoke to the Thessalonians in similar vein when he declared:
“ For they themselves declare . . . how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” 1 Thess. 1:9-10.
Paul teaches that the converted, those who turned to God from idols, were to wait for the second coming of Christ “from heaven.” If the converted are to wait for God to return from heaven, then obviously the conversion experience itself cannot be the Second Advent.
When Christ came the first time, His advent was literal. He was a real being among men. Even after His resurrection He said to His disciples, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see.” Luke 24:39. What basis is there for concluding that His Second Advent will be less real? If He came literally and physically the first time, He will surely come literally and physically at the Second Advent.
When Christ ascended, two heavenly messengers said to the disciples, “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. Couple with this the statement of Paul: “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven.” 1 Thess. 4:16. Not a mere “spiritual influence” will come again, but “this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven.”
We read also that when Christ comes, the brilliance of that coming lights the whole heavens, and its blinding glory causes the wicked to flee in terror. Further, we read that when Christ comes, the dead are raised to life, and these, accompanied by the living righteous, are caught up to meet the Lord in the air:
Matt. 24:27: “For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Rev. 6:14-17: “Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
John 5:28-29: “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”
1 Thess. 4:15-17: “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
Only when one is ready to spiritualize away the plainest teaching of Scripture can he support the idea that the second coming of Christ is merely spiritual. But when words are deprived of their obvious meaning, then there is no foundation for a discussion of what the Bible teaches.
The evidence that establishes that the Second Coming of Christ is his literal, physical return to this earth, and not the experience of conversion, also establishes that Christ’s second coming cannot be at death. The wicked do not flee in terror at the death of a righteous man, nor are the righteous raised from the dead at death; but these things will characterize the Second Advent.
“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.” Rev. 1:7.