No. 753
“Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more.” (John 14:19)
According to the views of the various creeds, our Lord is to return visibly to the natural eyes of men, riding upon a literal cloud, blowing a literal trumpet, shining with a dazzling literal light and blasting the literal universe into atoms. This view is usually presented to frighten people into repentance; however, a close examination reveals that this view not only contradicts reason and facts, but the light of the Bible as well.
Such beliefs are drawn from a literal interpretation of figurative scriptural passages, such as parables, symbols and dark sayings, which must of course be interpreted figuratively. Not only does this view rest upon a false scriptural interpretation, but upon logical analysis its absurdity becomes apparent. How could people on the opposite side of the earth from His arrival see Him coming? How could a literal trumpet blow loud enough to be heard all over the earth without bursting the ear drums of those near it? A candid, reverent and careful study of the Scriptures reveals the fact that our Lord’s return is to be invisible to men’s natural sight, while being visible to their mental sight, the eyes of their understanding.
PROOFS THAT HIS RETURN IS TO BE INVISIBLE
We find there are ten lines of Biblical evidence proving that the Lord’s return is to be invisible to men’s natural sight:
(1) No man can see the glorious body of the divine nature. The light from the glorified body of Christ would instantly blind the natural eyes of men, as Saul was blinded by the light of the Lord’s presence on the way to Damascus. (Acts 9:3-9) The glorified Christ being the express image of the Father, if men were to see the Lord’s body itself, they would instantly drop dead, as no one can see Him and live. (Exod. 33:20; Heb. 1:3; 1 Tim. 6:16)
(2) Jesus will no more be seen by human beings. While the Lord’s Church will see Him when they are changed with Him (1 John 3:2), Jesus plainly taught that no others of mankind will: “Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.” (John 14:19) Jesus here referred to Himself as being forever invisible to mankind in His glorified resurrection body. This is clearly shown to be the case by the language of St. Paul: “Who only [the Father excepted – 1 Cor. 15:27] hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom [in His glorified condition] no man hath seen, nor can see.” (1 Tim. 6:16) These passages very clearly show that since our Lord’s glorification, He has been and forever will be invisible to men’s natural sight.
(3) His return is to be thief-like. When a thief comes to break into a house he does not carry a bright light and blow a trumpet, shouting to announce that he has come to rob the house. Jesus said, “Behold, I come as a thief.” (Rev. 16:15; 2 Pet. 3:10) The thief in the night comes silently, stealthily, concealing his presence from his unsuspecting victims. The Lord comes in a similar manner, unknown to the world. But just as a thief may make his presence known by certain signs to his accomplices awaiting him in the house, so the Lord promised to make known to His faithful watching saints the fact of His return by certain signs and proofs. (Matt. 24:3-33) The Apostle tells us that the world is not to be aware of the Lord’s return because of its thief-like manner, but that His awake and watchful people are to be aware of it. (1 Thess. 5:1-6) If the world were to see His return with their natural eyes, they would of course be aware of it. Hence the world not being aware of it proves that they are not to see Him in His Second Advent.
(4) The heavenly phase of the Millennial Kingdom (Jesus and the Church) is invisible. The Kingdom of God in its glorified condition and heavenly phase will consist of Jesus and His faithful followers and it will be invisible to mankind, as Jesus expressly states: “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor shall they say, Lo here, or, Lo there; for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” (Luke 17:20-21, Darby) Men will not be able to see Christ and His Saints when they come to rule even though the Kingdom is present, in their midst. Hence it must be invisible, if it cannot be seen by people’s sight. The Kingdom of God being invisible, and Jesus being a part of that Kingdom, He must be invisible to human eyes in His glorified condition.
(5) It will be as in the days of Noah. Jesus gives a strong proof of the fact that mankind will not see Him in His Second Advent: “For, just as the days of Noah, so, will be the presence of the Son of Man; For, as they were in those days that were before the flood, feeding and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, – until the day Noah entered into the ark; And they observed not, until the flood came and took away all together, so, will be, the presence of the Son of Man.” (Matt. 24:37-39, Rotherham; see also Luke 17:26, 28-30)
Jesus here compares the period just before the flood to the period of His own second presence just before the Great Tribulation. In the days of Noah before the flood, the people were engaged in the ordinary activities of life but were ignorant of the impending trouble because they did not believe the preaching of a coming flood. Likewise the people will not believe the testimony about the coming tribulation and its cause, Christ’s Second Presence, and will continue with the ordinary activities of life.
How can it be that Jesus could be present and yet the people in general be ignorant of this fact, as well as of the coming time of trouble? If they were able to see Him, of course they would know of His presence and would expect the trouble to follow. The fact of their ignorance of His presence necessarily implies that He is hidden from their natural eyes.
(6) The Lord’s second presence will be manifested by symbolic light. Jesus declares that as the natural sun manifests its presence by the natural light which it gives out, so He will manifest His Second Presence by the symbolic light of Truth, which He will give out at that time. This is Jesus’ statement: “For, just as the lightning [bright shining, i.e. the sun] goeth forth from the east, and shineth unto the west, so, shall be the presence of the Son of Man.” (Matt. 24:27, Rotherham; see also Luke 17:24) The Greek word astrape has unfortunately been translated here as “lightning.” It should have been translated “bright shining” as it is in Luke 11:36, where the light of a candle is described.
That lightning is not a correct translation is obvious when we consider that lightning does not always come out of the east and flash to the west. It may come from any and every direction and usually flashes over only a part of the heavens. Sunlight on the other hand, always comes from the east and then shines to the west. This shows that astrape should have been translated “bright shining” in the verse in Matthew just as it was in the verse in Luke, where “lightning” would have obviously been an incorrect translation because we cannot catch lightning and put it on a candlestick!
When we understand our Lord to refer to the bright shining of the sun, we can readily see the comparison that He is making. As the sun manifests its presence gradually, moving from east to west, so our Lord manifests His presence gradually by the light of Truth that He emits as the “Sun of righteousness.” (Mal. 4:2) He first shines upon His watchful and early-awake Church: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” (Isa. 60:1-2) He will later shine upon the whole world: “And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” (Isa. 60:3; John 1:9). Men will recognize our Lord’s presence, not by natural sight, but by their eyes of understanding, recognizing Him as present by the light of Truth that He sheds upon them.
(7) Every eye will see Him. Certain scriptures show that all mankind, including Israel, will “see” the Lord in His Second Advent and others teach that in His glorified condition no man can see Him. When these passages are harmonized, the invisibility of our Lord to men’s natural eyes at His return is obvious. In Revelation, we read the following regarding our Lord’s Second Advent: “Behold, he cometh with clouds [of trouble in the Great Tribulation]; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him.” (Rev. 1:7) If we interpret the “clouds” of this passage literally we would make the passage teach nonsense since literal clouds could not be seen by everyone the world over. If we interpret the expression “every eye” in this passage as literal or natural eyes, we would make the passage contradict Jesus’ words that “the world seeth me no more” (John 14:19) and the Apostle’s assertion that “no man hath seen, nor can see” Jesus in His glorified condition. (1 Tim. 6:16)
Reverence for God’s Word should preclude us from interpreting Scriptures in contradiction of one another. How may we interpret these and similar passages and preserve the harmony of the Bible? The answer is evident: 1 Tim. 6:16 and John 14:19 are literal and refer to the literal sight. Therefore, the eyes of Rev. 1:7 must be figurative and refer to our mental sight – our eyes of understanding. This verse, therefore, evidently means that our Lord’s Second Presence will be accompanied with clouds of trouble and that the eyes of understanding in all people including even the Jews will be opened to a proper knowledge of Him. It is this sense of “seeing” that St. Paul refers to when he says, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” (Heb. 2:9) Certainly he does not mean that we see Him with our natural eyes, but rather with our mental eyes of understanding.
The character of the book of Revelation warrants such an interpretation. The opening verse of that book shows that it is a book of symbols: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.” (Rev. 1:1) He gave the Revelation in signs or symbols – He “sign-ified” it. Hence it would be natural to interpret the clouds, eye and seeing of Rev. 1:7 symbolically. That the passage refers to the Jews who pierced Him as seeing Him, clinches the matter because Jesus told them on the Wednesday before His crucifixion (two days before the Jews last saw Him with their natural eyes), that they would not see Him again until His Second Advent when they would hail Him with the acclamation, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” (Matt. 23:39) Natural sight could not be meant here, because they saw Him with their natural eyes two days after He uttered these words. This shows that those who pierced Him would see Him during His Second Advent, not with their physical sight, but with their mental sight.
(8) He will return in the same manner as He left. One of the most misapplied Bible passages on the manner of our Lord’s return is this: “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11) This passage, addressed to the disciples who witnessed His ascension, is usually interpreted to mean that they (and by extension everyone else) will see Him come again with their natural eyes just as they saw Him go into heaven with their natural eyes. This interpretation assumes that the point of comparison is that He was seen going and will be seen again coming. However, the passage does not state that He will be seen when He comes again. Clearly the point of comparison in this passage is between the manner of His going and the manner of His coming again.
We can learn certain things about the manner of His return from the manner in which He went: (1) He went secretly so He returns secretly (“as a thief in the night”). When He went, none but His disciples knew of it at the time; the world was unaware. Likewise, none but His faithful followers are to know of His return in its first stages; the world is to be unaware. (2) He went away without startling the world, quietly and without fanfare (no literal trumpet, etc.); hence He returns quietly and without fanfare, without startling the world. (3) He went away blessing those He left; hence He returns, blessing first His waiting Church and later the world of mankind. (4) His divine body was invisible to the natural eyes of human beings when He went away, although He manifested Himself to His disciples by His works. He is likewise invisible to the natural eyes of mankind when returning, although He is manifested as present by His works.
(9) Our Lord’s return could not occur until the “man of sin” is revealed. The Thessalonians had mistakenly inferred from St. Paul’s first epistle to them that the Lord’s Second Advent had already set in; therefore the Apostle wrote the second epistle to them to correct this mistaken impression, among other things. Had the Apostle believed the Lord’s return would be visible to the natural eyes of men, that He would be seen blowing a literal trumpet, riding on a literal cloud, etc., he would have simply pointed out to the Thessalonians that none of these things had yet occurred. The fact that he did not use that argument is strong evidence that it was not correct. St. Paul alone of all human beings saw the glory light that emanated from our Lord’s glorified body, and he lost his natural vision as a result. He consistently taught that no human being ever saw our Lord’s glorified body or could see it and live. (1 Tim. 6:16)
St. Paul instead presented an argument that was direct and logical. He appealed not to their sense of sight, but to certain predicted but unfulfilled signs that must precede the Second Advent. He told the Thessalonians that our Lord’s return could not set in until Antichrist, the Papacy, had arisen through a falling away from the true faith and practice of Christianity. Antichrist must first rise to power, accomplish its dreadful reign, be revealed, and its main teachings and powers be consumed. Thereafter Christ would come again and annihilate Antichrist. (2 Thess. 2:3-9)
When St. Paul wrote those words, that falling away was at most only in its earliest stage and pagan Rome still stood in the way of Antichrist’s birth. Its rise to power was still future and its ultimate revelation and destruction would come at the Lord’s Second Advent: “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” (2 Thess. 2:8) Since none of these things had yet occurred, Christ’s Second Advent had not yet set in.
St. Paul had previously taught the Thessalonians that the Lord’s return would be invisible, otherwise they would never have fallen into the error of believing that it had already occurred. St. Paul’s arguments in refuting that error clearly imply that he and they believed that our Lord would be invisible to human eyes at His return. St. Paul pointed out the unfulfilled prophetic signs which must precede Christ’s Second Advent, thus proving that our Lord was not present at that time. His arguments would have been clumsy, indirect and decidedly weak if the Lord were to be visible to the natural eyes of all mankind at His return, but they were cogent, direct and clear proof when considered in the context of the invisibility of the Lord’s return.
(10) Jesus is now a spirit being. Since His resurrection, our Lord is no longer a human being, but a spirit being. As a spirit being, He of necessity has a body that is invisible to our natural sight. Hence the manner of His return must be invisible.
Having given the Bible evidence that the manner of the Lord’s return is to be invisible to men’s natural sight, we now consider the Bible proofs that He is now a spirit being.
PROOFS THAT JESUS IS NOW A SPIRIT BEING
That the Lord since His resurrection is no longer a human, but a spirit being, can be demonstrated to be scriptural from twelve standpoints:
(1) God’s Word directly tells us that Jesus is now a spirit being. St. Paul expressly states that the Adam of the Garden of Eden was not a spirit, but a human being, and that the last Adam, our resurrected Lord, is a spirit: “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.” (1 Cor. 15:45-46) He then shows that the first Adam had an earthly body made of material substances while the second Adam, our Lord, had a body made of spiritual substances: “The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.” (1 Cor. 15:47) These verses prove that our Lord was raised from the dead a spirit being with a spirit body, and not a human being with a human body.
In addition, St. Paul directly calls our Lord Jesus a spirit: “Now the Lord is that Spirit.” (2 Cor. 3:17) He later writes: “Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now [and] henceforth know we him [so] no more.” (2 Cor. 5:16) He no longer knew Christ as a human being, although he had once known Him as such, before our Lord’s death. This shows that Jesus was then no longer a human being although He had previously been a human being. Another scripture is strongly to the point: “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.” (1 Pet. 3:18) These verses prove that our Lord is now a spirit being and invisible to our natural sight.
(2) The joint-heirs of Jesus are to be spirit beings. The saints were promised spirit bodies: “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption . . . It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.” (1 Cor. 15:42, 44) The Scriptures clearly teach also that the bodies which the saints receive in the resurrection are just like Jesus’ resurrection body: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2)
The same thoughts are taught in other scriptures: “As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” (1 Cor. 15:48-49 – see also Phil. 3:21) Thus these verses prove that the saints receive spirit bodies in the resurrection and their bodies are like our Lord’s resurrection body.
(3) Jesus has inherited the Kingdom of Heaven, which flesh and blood cannot inherit. A human being cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven unless he gives up his humanity and becomes a spirit being: “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” (1 Cor. 15:50) Humanity cannot be transubstantiated and taken to heaven. To gain the heavenly resurrection one must be changed from human nature to a spiritual nature; the human body is not converted into that of another nature, as St. Paul clearly teaches. (1 Cor. 15:50-54)
This was also Jesus’ teaching to Nicodemus: “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water [the Truth] and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-8) One must become a spirit being to enter the glorified phase of the Kingdom of Heaven. One born of the Spirit can come and go like the wind, invisible to mankind. Jesus became a spirit being at His resurrection. (Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5; Heb. 1:3-5; Acts 13:33)
(4) Jesus is now the exact image of the Father’s person. While in the flesh, Jesus was “a little lower than the angels” as St. Paul declares. (Heb. 2:9) Being lower than the angels is an essential attribute of the human nature (Heb. 2:6-7), but the Bible clearly teaches that since His resurrection Jesus is higher than the angels. He is a divine spirit being – the exact image of the Father’s Person. (Heb. 1:3)
(5) Jesus became human only to ransom us. Jesus only became human so that He could die as our ransom, so that He could “taste death for every man.” (Heb. 2:9) Having fulfilled the purpose for which He became a human being, He had no more need of the human nature; therefore, we may be sure that He no longer has it. He is now a spirit being and as such must be invisible.
(6) Our Lord was not eternally reduced to a lower nature. Had our Lord taken back His humanity when He arose from the dead, He would be eternally reduced in nature. While in His pre-human condition, He was next to the Father and higher than the angels, but He became lower than the angels when He gave up His pre-human nature. If He had taken back and eternally retained His humanity in His resurrection, He would thereby be everlastingly lower than the angels and eternally degraded in nature. However, the Scriptures clearly teach that instead of now being lower than the angels, He is highly exalted above them. (Heb. 1:3-5; Eph. 1:20-22; Phil. 2:9-11; Rev. 5:11-13) Hence He did not take back His humanity in His resurrection and is now a spirit being.
(7) Jesus did not take back the ransom price. The Ransom doctrine is the basic doctrine of the Bible. The Scriptures teach that Jesus gave up His perfect humanity as our Ransom price. (Matt. 20:28; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; John 6:51) Had He taken back His humanity – His flesh – when He arose from the dead He would have taken back the Ransom price and thus invalidated His entire redemptive work. He would have left us in irretrievable ruin and made the entire Plan of God a failure! This fact alone demonstrates that the doctrine that our Lord arose from the dead a human being is false and the doctrine that He arose from the dead a spirit being is true.
(8) God’s perfect character would not allow Him to violate His oath to Jesus. God promised with an oath that if Jesus continued faithful unto death He would exalt Him above all other natures. If God had resurrected Jesus in the human nature, despite the fact that Jesus had been faithful to the last degree, He would thereby have degraded Him in nature forever and would have violated His oath to Jesus to make Him heavenly, spiritual, “as the stars of heaven.” (Gen. 22:16-17; Gal. 3:16; Heb. 6:17-20) The perfection of God’s character and His promise and oath to Jesus guarantee that Jesus was resurrected as a spirit in the highest of all spiritual natures, the divine nature.
(9) Jesus is a fully developed New Creature. Jesus passed through the various stages of character development as a New Creature from begetting to the birth of the Spirit. The Scriptures assure us that His character reached perfection as a New Creature, a perfect spiritual character. (Heb. 2:10; Heb. 5:8- 9) Hence His affections were completely detached from earthly things and fully attached to heavenly things. (Col. 3:1-4)
As a New Creature all His aspirations were crystallized in heavenly-mindedness, and thus were unchangeably adverse to the earthly-mindedness of human nature. This implies that if He had been raised from the dead as a human being, He would have proceeded to sacrifice His humanity again unto death. But the Bible teaches us, “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.” (Rom. 6:9) Therefore He was not raised from the dead a human, but a spirit being.
(10) A human being could not hold the office of Savior. A human being would be unable to minister to the countless needs of God’s children scattered all over the earth. A human being could not thwart the attempts of Satan, the demons and fallen men against His Elect. A human being could not bind Satan and his fallen angels, destroy Satan’s empire and establish God’s Kingdom. A human being could not awaken all the dead, restoring their individualities and personalities. A human being could not restore the human race to perfection and the earth to paradise through a mediatorial reign. Nothing short of a divine being could do all these things, which will constitute the chief features of His ministry to the world of mankind in the Millennial Age. Therefore, as a divine being He is forever invisible to men’s physical sight.
(11) A human being could not hold the office of God’s Vicegerent. The Bible most clearly teaches that God does all things by Christ. (1 Cor. 8:6; Matt. 28:18; Eph. 1:20-23; Phil. 2:9-11; Phil. 3:21; Col. 1:15-19; Heb. 1:3-5; Rev. 5:11-13) This means that He is the Father’s Vicegerent throughout the universe. The duties of such an office cannot be performed by a human being. To mention but one item among millions, how could a human being, a being lower than an angel, exercise control over angels, heavenly principalities, powers, thrones, dominions, cherubim and seraphim? Accordingly, we see that He is no longer a human being, but a spirit being.
(12) Jesus’ various appearances to the disciples after His resurrection prove He is not a human being. After His resurrection and before His ascension, Jesus appeared to the disciples in different bodies that He created, sometimes appearing through closed and locked doors. In doing this He had the two-fold purpose of proving to them that He was alive from the dead, and that He was changed in nature from a human to a spirit being. The disciples believed, in harmony with God’s Word, that the dead are dead and therefore can know and do nothing. (Eccl. 9:5) Thus His simple act of announcing Himself to be alive and doing something when He appeared to them were sufficient proof to them that He was alive from the dead. From His appearances to them in different bodies, they gradually drew the conclusion that none of the bodies that they saw was His real resurrection body and that His resurrection body was spiritual and could not be seen with human eyes. Thus He convinced them quickly that He was alive, and gradually that He was no longer a human being, but a divine spirit being.
Based on all the above evidence, it is conclusively proven that Jesus is now a spirit being of the divine nature and that He will forever remain invisible to men’s physical sight. Therefore, the Lord’s return is to be invisible to men’s natural sight, though visible to their mental perception.
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The above is derived from Chapter VIII of Epiphany Volume 17, The Millennium, written by Brother Paul S.L. Johnson. It has been condensed and edited to adapt it to the paper format.
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